The siege of Madrid was a two-and-a-half-year siege of the Republican-controlled Spanish capital city of Madrid by the Nationalist armies, under General Francisco Franco, during the Spanish Civil War (1936–1939). The city, besieged from October 1936, fell to the Nationalist armies on 28 March 1939. The Battle of Madrid in November 1936 saw the most intense fighting in and around the city when the Nationalists made their most determined attempt to take the Republican capital.
Nationalist soldiers raiding a suburb, March 1937
Nationalist aircraft bomb Madrid in late November 1936. Fiat CR 32s, flown by Italian pilots, provide fighter cover.
The Valle de los Caidos or 'Valley of the fallen', a colossal memorial built by Franco near Madrid after the war, to commemorate dead from both sides.
The Spanish Republic, commonly known as the Second Spanish Republic, was the form of government in Spain from 1931 to 1939. The Republic was proclaimed on 14 April 1931 after the deposition of King Alfonso XIII. It was dissolved on 1 April 1939 after surrendering in the Spanish Civil War to the Nationalists led by General Francisco Franco.
Allegory of the Spanish Republic, displaying republican symbolism such as the Phrygian cap and the motto Libertad, Igualdad, Fraternidad
Workers arrested by the Guardia Civil and Guardia de Asalto during the Asturian miners' strike of 1934
Column of Guardias Civiles during the 1934 Asturian Revolution, Brañosera
Calvo Sotelo dressed in the uniform of the Cuerpo de Abogados del Estado.