National Defence Council (Consejo Nacional de Defensa)

Background

The Republican defeat was effectively settled when the Catalan front collapsed in February 1939. Prime Minister Juan Negrín's government took refuge in France, then returned and installed itself at the 'Posición Yuste' near Petrel, Alicante, insisting on continued resistance, but General José Miaja and generals Antonio Escobar and Manuel Matallana reported on 12 February that supplies of clothing, food and aircraft were exhausted and asked to negotiate. Julián Besteiro of the PSOE, who believed Western policy toward the war was driven by anti-communism, had already sounded out British mediation in 1937 and conspired with Casado. The anarchist CNT-FAI demanded a government free of the 'hallmark of dependence on Russia', and Cipriano Mera, commander of the IV Army Corps, was convinced the Republicans would be defeated. Britain and France recognised Franco on 27 February and Manuel Azaña resigned the presidency on 28 February.

The coup of 5 March 1939

Negrín's decree of 2 March, reshuffling the high command and promoting communist officers, served as the trigger. On the evening of 5 March Casado set up his base in Madrid's old Ministry of Finance building, joined by most of his fellow conspirators, and at 10 p.m. the council's formation was announced on Union Radio with the aim of seeking an armistice with the rebels. The council claimed the headship of state in place of the Negrín government, which boarded a plane for France late on 6 March.

Composition

Apart from the presidency, the members held the rank of councillor.

One account holds that Besteiro was offered the presidency but declined, considering that a soldier should hold it. Rafael Sánchez Requena served as secretary for the Syndicalist Party and Toribio Martínez Cabrera was appointed undersecretary by Casado. On 7 March a new National Committee of the Spanish Libertarian Movement was formed with Juan López as secretary-general.

Civil war inside Madrid

The decisive support came from the anarchist CNT-FAI, whose troops, particularly Mera's, overcame resistance. Communist units attacked Madrid from 7 to 12 March; on 11 March they laid down their arms in exchange for a promise of no reprisals. On 12 March the council sentenced to death the communist leaders who had fought its authority and moved to eliminate communist influence in the army by abolishing political commissars, the red star and the clenched-fist salute. The council also abolished the SIM intelligence agency.

Failed negotiations with Franco

The council prepared an eight-point peace proposal requesting political amnesty, time for those who wished to leave Spain, and respect for the lives, liberties and careers of professional soldiers. On 19 March Franco replied that he would not receive senior officers at Burgos as equals and would accept only unconditional surrender. On 23 March Casado's envoys (Colonels Garijo and Ortega) were told the air force must be handed over within two days and the rest surrender by 27 March, with only a vague verbal promise on reprisals. A request for twenty-five days' grace was refused.

Franco did not wait: he ordered the final offensive on the morning of 26 March. Casado's last message to Burgos went unanswered, and Madrid fell without resistance on 28 March. The council held its last meeting on 27 March and left for Valencia, and Casado ordered his troops to disarm. Julián Besteiro remained in the capital, was arrested, sentenced to 30 years by court martial in July 1939 and died in prison in 1940. The Franco regime then carried out large-scale repression against the defeated Republicans.

Exile

Reaching Valencia on 28 March, the councillors were directed by the British consul to Gandia, where at dawn on 30 March Casado boarded the British cruiser HMS Galatea with 143 men, 19 women and 2 children. They were transferred to the British hospital ship RFA Maine on 1 April, reached Marseille on 3 April and went on to Britain. Miaja left by plane for Oran on 30 March, sailed to Mexico in May 1939 and died there in 1958. Casado reached Britain, later moved to Venezuela, and returned to Spain in 1961, where he was acquitted in 1965.