Quiñones de León, Severiano Martínez Anido, and the Monarchist Alternative in the Military Uprising of 1936

Abstract

The specific instructions issued by General Emilio Mola Vidal for the July 1936 uprising outlined a centripetal plan in which Army divisions were to converge on Madrid following the declaration of a state of war. However, the death of General Sanjurjo on July 20, 1936, created a leadership vacuum within the rebel faction. This study examines the role of the monarchist faction in the coup d'état, particularly its attempt to promote General Severiano Martínez Anido as the leader of a Military Directory—a possibility suggested by Emilio Mola himself and orchestrated from Paris by the diplomat José María Quiñones de León. Through the analysis of diplomatic correspondence and press sources, this work demonstrates how monarchist sectors sought to influence the configuration of the rebel military command in the early days of the Civil War. Although Martínez Anido declined the proposal, this episode reveals the intricate internal struggle for control within the rebel faction. The research is structured into three sections: (1) the trajectory of Quiñones de León as a monarchist intermediary, (2) the biography of Martínez Anido and his role in Primo de Rivera’s dictatorship, and (3) the monarchist attempts to shape the leadership of the uprising.