Miguel Primo de Rivera forces. Alfonso XIII suspended the monarchy on 14 April 1931, leaving the royal family in Madrid. The act ushered in the Second Republic. Two years later Primo de Rivera's eldest son, José Antonio, founded the Falange, a Spanish fascist party. Both José Antonio and his brother Fernando were arrested in March 1936 by the republic, and were executed in Alicante prison by Republican forces once the Spanish Civil War began in July 1936. The Nationalists led by Francisco Franco won the Civil War and established a far more authoritarian regime. By that time, many Spaniards regarded Primo de Rivera's relatively
Background of the Spanish Civil War as the Asociación Católica de Propagandistas, who had influence over the judiciary and the press. Rural landowners were told to think of the Republic as godless and communist. The second group consisted of organisations that had supported the monarchy, such as the Renovación Española and Carlists, who wished to see the new republic overthrown in a violent uprising. The third group were Fascist organisations, among them supporters of the dictator's son, José Antonio Primo de Rivera. Primo de Rivera was the most significant leader of fascism in Spain. The press often editorialised about a foreign Jewish–Masonic–Bolshevik plot. Members of the