Manuel Goded Llopis


Manuel Goded Llopis was a Spanish Army general who was one of the key figures in the July 1936 revolt against the democratically elected Second Spanish Republic. Having unsuccessfully led an attempted insurrection in Barcelona, he was captured and executed by the Republican government. Previously, Goded had distinguished himself in the Battle of Alhucemas of the Rif War.

Early years

Manuel Goded was born in the city of San Juan, the capital of the Captaincy General of Puerto Rico, a Spanish colony. There he received his primary and secondary education. His family moved to Spain when Puerto Rico became a possession of the United States as an outcome of the Treaty of Paris of 1898 which concluded the Spanish–American War. In Spain he enrolled and was accepted in the Academy of Infantry, a military institution.

Military career

Rif War

Goded graduated from the academy and was assigned to various posts. In 1907, when 25 years old, he held the rank of Captain. In 1919, a rebellion against Spanish colonial rule took place in Spanish Morocco, a Spanish protectorate. The rebel leader in what is also known as the Rif War, was Abd-el-Krim. The Riffians, as the rebels became known, annihilated the army of Spanish General Manuel Fernández Silvestre at the Battle of Annual in 1921 and were poised to attack the Spanish enclave of Melilla. Generals Jose Millan Astray and Francisco Franco, founders of the Spanish Foreign Legion, fought against the Riifians on land and in 1925, Goded lead an amphibious landing at Alhucemas Bay in what is known as the Battle of Alhucemas. This was considered as the beginning of the end of the Rif Rebellion. By 1927, the rebellion had come to an end and Spain recaptured her lost territory. Goded was promoted to Brigadier General and shortly after was named Chief of Staff of the Spanish Army of Africa.

Primo de Rivera Dictatorship and the Second Republic

Goded at first supported the generally rightist dictatorship of Miguel Primo de Rivera, established in 1923 with consent of King Alfonso XIII. However, Goded's eventual criticism of the government led to his removal from his post.
In May 1936, Dr. Manuel Azaña became the second and last President of the Second Spanish Republic. Goded was named Chief of Staff of the Central Army, but was again relieved of his position after a conflict with the government. When rightist officers suspected of conspiring against the government were reassigned, he was exiled to a remote post on the Balearic Islands.

July 1936 Revolt and Civil War

When anti-leftist generals rebelled against the Popular Front government of the Second Republic in July 1936, Goded unsuccessfully led troops in the Catalan capital Barcelona after having taken control of Mallorca and Ibiza. Catalonia, being among the most industrialized regions of Spain was a stronghold of the organized left and Goded's local operations failed. He was captured by government forces on August 11 and imprisoned on the steamship Uruguay. Tried by a Republican military court and compelled to order his remaining troops, via radio, to surrender, he was condemned to die by firing squad. He was executed the following day at Montjuïc in Barcelona.
Goded's death not only decapitated the Nationalist revolt in Barcelona, and thus greater Catalonia, but removed one of the key personal and political rivals to the movement's eventual leader, Francisco Franco.