John Hopkins

By early July 1936, Franco is firmly on board, and the conspirators agree that he is the man they'll need to take command of the Army of Africa, the Spanish military's most effective fighting force.

But there is the problem of how to unite Franco with his troops.

A solution is provided by British intelligence agent and devout Roman Catholic, Major Hugh Pollard.

On the 11th of July, he charters a de Havilland Dragon Rapide aircraft for what appears to be a pleasure trip from London to the sunny Canary Islands.

With his British plane attracting little notice from the Spanish authorities, he picks up General Franco and delivers him to Morocco.

Whether or not the machinery of the British state supported Pollard's actions remains unclear to this day.

The coup begins on the 17th of July 1936, when the colonial army based in Morocco rebels against the republican government.

By the next day, garrisons across mainland Spain are in revolt.

Soldiers quickly take control of the conservative-leaning areas, whose populations largely accept the idea of the military replacing the progressive left-wing government.

Looking to a pattern set by past coups, the generals masterminding the rebellion hope that the entire country can quickly be taken over.

But by 1936, Spanish society has changed and the military can no longer act with this kind of impunity.

By the 19th of July, when Franco joins his troops in Morocco, it is clear that there will be no immediate victory for the military.

Too many citizens are willing to resist, meaning that traditionally more left-leaning places like Barcelona, Bilbao, Valencia and Madrid remain in government hands.

As the coup stalls on the mainland, Franco and his troops are stranded in Morocco.

The navy is still loyal to the republican government and blockades the Straits of Gibraltar, the narrow waterway between Africa and the southern Spanish coast.

So Franco, in dire need of assistance, looks to the fascist regimes already in power elsewhere.

With the arrival of the Army of Africa on Spanish shores, an unsuccessful military coup turns decisively into a full-blown civil war.

While troops in the north of the country fail to win decisive victories, Franco's forces advance rapidly through the south.

Quickly formed anti-fascist militias are no match for these highly trained and well-equipped soldiers, who have no qualms about utilizing staggering levels of brutality.

For the fascists, the mass killings, torture and rape of Republicans are a means by which the nation can be cleansed of the pollution of left-wing ideology.