The Church
The Spanish church is another crucial aspect for analysis when understanding the tensions and divisions in Spain leading to the Civil War. The church held tremendous power and often became involved with matters unrelated to religion, causing controversy and distrust amongst the Spanish people. At times being a sole unifying factor for all of Spain, the Church dominated the nation’s society; its doctrines went unchallenged, massive cathedrals occupied Spanish cities and parish churches were the centre of village life. Liberals saw the Church as having too much power and sought to reduce its influence in areas such as politics and education, causing conflicts to arise between those who loved the Church as it was and those who wanted it reformed. Revolutionary Liberals of 1812 and 1820 set about reducing the Church’s power, by seizing its property, closing monasteries and reducing the pay of clergymen. As a result the Church befriended the rich to have its power restored and bought shares in industrial firms and in the twentieth century the Spanish church was described as ‘the richest shareholder in the country’[1]. As a result, millions of Spaniards rejected church control over time and eventually gave up being Christians, even catalysing many murders of priests. By 1830, not only had much of the once proud empire had been lost, but these ideas had now helped to divide the Spanish people.