Contention.

In July 1936 military officers, led by Gen. Francisco Franco, declared war against the government of the Republic of Spain and launched a four-year civil war between his rebels and the loyalists supporting the republic. The Spanish Republic was created in 1931 after King Alphonso XIII left the country and initially had fairly wide support. But monarchists were soon joined by opponents of the republic's policies, which affected large landowners, the wealthy, and the institutions of the Roman Catholic Church. The military also became disaffected, and many troops followed Franco into revolt. The Spanish Civil War, which lasted until Franco's Flangist forces won in 1939, was a foretaste of the approaching world war.

Divided Opinions in the United States.

As the war dragged on, American religious communities were sharply divided in their attitudes toward the competing armies and their actions. The...