1937 in the Spanish Civil War

In 1937, the Nationalists, under the leadership of Francisco Franco began to establish their dominance. An important element of support was their greater access to foreign aid, with their German and Italian allies helping considerably. This came just as the French ceased aid to the Republicans, who continued, however, to be able to buy arms from the Soviet Union. The Republican side suffered from serious divisions among the various Communist and anarchist groupings within it, and the Communists undermined much of the anarchists' organisation.

With his ranks swelled by Italian troops (the Corpo Truppe Volontari) and colonial troops from Spanish Morocco, Franco made additional attempts to capture Madrid in January and February 1937, but failed again.

On February 21 the League of Nations Non-Intervention Committee ban on foreign volunteers went into effect. The large city of Málaga was taken on February 8. On April 26, the German Condor Legion bombed the town of Guernica (Gernika) in the Basque Country; two days later, Nationalist General Emilio Mola's men entered the town.

After the fall of Guernica, the Republican government began to fight back with increasing effectiveness. In July, they made a move to recapture Segovia, forcing Franco to pull troops away from the Madrid front to halt their advance. Mola, Franco's second-in-command, died in a plane crash on June 3. Bilbao fell to the Nationalists in June. In early July, the Republicans counterattacked west of Madrid. The Nationalists repulsed this attack with some difficulty in the Battle of Brunete.

Franco soon regained momentum, invading Aragon in August and then taking the city of Santander (now in Cantabria). On August 28, the Vatican recognized the Franco government. Two months of bitter fighting followed and, despite determined Asturian resistance, Gijón fell in late October, effectively ending the war in the North. At the end of November, with the Nationalists closing in on Valencia, the government moved again, from Valencia to Barcelona.