The flag of the Second Spanish Republic is one of the few in the world to feature purple. It existed from 1931 to 1939, and when I see it, I think: a short-lived state. I’m Stefan from History Hustle, and I’m in Madrid. In this video, I’ll tell you about this brief republic and why its flag had purple.
To understand the Second Republic, you have to ask: what happened to the first? The First Spanish Republic lasted even shorter, only from 1873 to 1874. It came about after King Amadeo I abdicated, but the new government was immediately paralyzed by infighting between those who wanted a centralized state and those who wanted a federal system. Three conflicts at once made things worse: the Third Carlist War, a colonial uprising in Cuba, and the Cantonalist Revolution at home.
This instability led to a military coup and the restoration of the Bourbon monarchy. In 1874, Alfonso XII returned to the throne, and after his early death, his son Alfonso XIII inherited the crown in 1886. Since he was just a baby, his mother, Maria Christina of Austria, served as regent until he turned sixteen in 1902. A major blow to the monarchy had come four years earlier, in 1898, when Spain lost its last major colonies—Cuba, Puerto Rico, and the Philippines—in the Spanish-American War.
Spain stayed neutral during World War I, and at first it benefited economically by exporting arms and acting as a diplomatic mediator, especially through King Alfonso XIII’s humanitarian efforts. But the post-war years were a disaster. The economic bubble burst, labor strikes intensified, and the 1918 flu pandemic killed 200,000 people. Political stability collapsed further with the rise of radical groups and the 1921 disaster at Annual in Morocco, where a humiliating military defeat against Riffian forces left thousands of Spanish soldiers dead.
The military failure, combined with political assassinations and rumors of the king’s incompetence, fueled an authoritarian shift and deep republican resentment. General Miguel Primo de Rivera staged a coup on September 13, 1923, and ran a dictatorship until his resignation on January 28, 1930. After he resigned, King Alfonso XIII appointed General Dámaso Berenguer to restore the old parliamentary monarchy. But this move was rejected by a growing coalition of Republicans, socialists, and even former monarchists who had lost faith in the crown.
The 1931 municipal elections served as a de facto referendum. While monarchists held on in rural areas, the republican coalition swept the major cities and provincial capitals. Interpreting these results as a clear rejection of his rule, the king abdicated, and the Second Spanish Republic was officially proclaimed in April 1931. Now, about that flag.
The 1931–1939 Republic is the only era since 1785 to break away from the traditional red and gold flag. The Republican tricolor featured three equal horizontal stripes, with purple replacing the bottom red section of the previous national ensign. The exact shade is debated, but both purple and crimson have deep Spanish roots, appearing frequently in royal banners and the heraldry of the Kingdom of Leon. By the nineteenth century, liberals adopted the color to signal their opposition to foreign monarchy and feudal privilege.
Though purple appeared on unofficial banners during the revolution of 1868 and the First Republic, it wasn’t formally codified as the national flag until the Second Republic in 1931. This tricolor remained the official state symbol until it was abolished after Francisco Franco’s victory in 1939. The birth of the Second Republic in 1931 brought an era of intense paranoia, where rival factions constantly suspected one another of plotting subversion. Religion became a primary fault line.
Conservatives championed the Catholic Church as the guardian of national identity, while the left viewed it as a barrier to progress. By 1933, the rise of the right-wing CEDA coalition, which successfully suppressed a northern uprising, along with the emergence of fascist movements, deepened these divides. The 1934 revolution, sparked by CEDA’s entry into the cabinet, further radicalized both sides and set the stage for total conflict. The situation reached a breaking point in 1936 as the left-leaning Republican coalition faced off against the nationalists.
This local struggle quickly became an international proxy war, with the Soviet Union aiding the Republicans while Nazi Germany and fascist Italy bolstered the nationalists. Amidst this ideological theater, Francisco Franco emerged as a pivotal figure—a career soldier who valued rigid discipline over political discourse. Some saw him as a stabilizing force, others as a budding autocrat. Following the narrow Republican election victory in 1936, the new government tried to neutralize potential threats by reassigning right-wing generals to remote locations.
Franco was sent to the Canary Islands, while the coup’s architect, Emilio Mola, was stationed in Pamplona. Though initially hesitant to join Mola’s conspiracy, Franco eventually committed to the uprising. He was moved to Spanish Morocco, where he successfully rallied the elite North African colonial troops and his officers to his cause. A large part of the Second Republic’s existence was overshadowed by the 1936–1939 Spanish Civil War.
The Republicans remained loyal to the Second Republic’s left-wing Popular Front, a diverse coalition of socialists, anarchists, communists, and separatists backed by the Soviet Union. In contrast, the nationalists—Falangists, monarchists, and traditionalist conservatives—received critical support from Nazi Germany and fascist Italy. Initially led by a military junta, the Nationalist cause eventually consolidated under General Francisco Franco, who was named supreme leader in October 1936. Following the Nationalist victory in 1939, Franco established a dictatorship that controlled Spain until his death in 1975.
This video doesn’t focus on the Spanish Civil War, but I found an interesting quote in Anthony Beevor’s The Battle for Spain: “Many Spanish Republicans maintained a naive belief that Great Britain would act as the champion of the underdog in its 19th century tradition. Indeed, the belief that the democracies would eventually deliver them from dictatorship persisted until 1946, 7 years after the end of the Civil War. Certainly, in 1938, there was a conviction in Spain that even British Conservatives would be forced to recognize the necessity of joining the fight against fascism, but they underestimated the deep prejudice of certain governing circles. ”
By the spring of 1939, the Republican defense was collapsing, and the long siege of Madrid neared its conclusion.
Despite the desperate situation, Prime Minister Juan Negrín and his cabinet advocated for continued resistance. This stance was challenged by Republican Colonel Segismundo Casado, who favored a negotiated peace. Casado initiated a coup within the Republic, arresting Communist officials and forcing Negrín into exile. This triggered violent internal conflict in Madrid as Communist and non-Communist Republican factions fought one another.
The Communists were eventually defeated, and their commander, Luis Barceló, was executed following a military trial on March 15. Casado attempted to open a dialogue with Francisco Franco, but the nationalist leader insisted on nothing less than unconditional surrender. On March 26, nationalist forces advanced into the capital, and the remaining Republican defenses were dissolved. The city officially surrendered two days later.
In the aftermath, hundreds of thousands of Republicans were detained and relocated to concentration camps. I’ve covered a lot of other short-lived states. Click right here to see the full playlist.
Thanks for watching, and best wishes from Madrid, Spain.
