Emilio Mola

This name uses Spanish naming customs; the first or paternal family name is Mola and the second or maternal family name is Vidal.

Emilio Mola
Birth name	Emilio Mola y Vidal
Nickname	El Director (The Director)
Born	June 9, 1887(1887-06-09) Placetas, Villa Clara, Cuba
Died	June 3, 1937(1937-06-03) (aged 49) Alcocero de Mola, Spain
Buried at	Pamplona Cemetery (1937–1961) Valley of the Fallen (1961–present) (40°38′31″N 4°09′19″W / 40.641944°N 4.155278°W / 40.641944; -4.155278)
Allegiance	Kingdom of Spain (1904–1932)  Spanish Republic (1932, 1933–1936) Nationalist Spain (1936–1937)
Service/branch	Army
Years of service	1904–1932 1933–1937
Rank	General
Commands held	Military Governor of Navarre Commander of the Army of the North
Battles/wars	Rif War Spanish Civil War
Awards	Military Medal

Emilio Mola y Vidal, 1st Duke of Mola, Grandee of Spain (June 9, 1887 – June 3, 1937) was a Spanish Nationalist commander during the Spanish Civil War. He is best-known for having coined the term "fifth column".

Early life

Mola was born in Placetas, Cuba - at that time a Spanish province - where his father, an army officer, was stationed. He enrolled in the Infantry Academy of Toledo in 1907. He served in Spain's colonial war in Morocco where he received the Medalla Militar Individual, and became an authority on military affairs. By 1927 he was a Brigadier-general.

Mola was made Director General of Security in 1930. This was a political post and his conservative views made him unpopular with opposition liberal and socialist politicians. When the left-wing Popular Front government was elected in February 1936 Mola was made military governor of Pamplona in Navarre, which the government regarded as a backwater. But the area was a center of Carlist activity and Mola himself secretly collaborated with the movement.

Civil War

In the spring of 1936, Mola joined a group of army officers led by José Sanjurjo who desired to oust the Popular Front government. Mola's energy and organizational ability soon made him the group's chief planner, while Sanjurjo remained a figurehead. Mola, whose codename was director, sent secret instructions to the various military units to be involved in the uprising. After several delays, July 18, 1936 was chosen as the date of the coup. Francisco Franco's participation was not confirmed until early July.^[1] Although events ran ahead of schedule in the Spanish Protectorate of Morocco, Mola waited until July 19 to proclaim the revolt.^[2] When Mola's brother was captured by the Republicans in Barcelona, the government threatened his life. Mola replied: "No, he knows how to die as an officer. I can neither take back my word to my followers and probably you cannot either from yours." Mola then ordered systematic executions in captured cities for the purpose of instilling fear.^{[citation needed]}

The Nationalist coup failed to gain control of either Madrid or other urban areas, though most of the army supported it. As the situation devolved into civil war, Sanjurjo was killed in an air crash on July 20. Mola then became Nationalist commander in the north, while Franco became commander in the south. On September 5, a Nationalist offensive sent by General Mola under Colonel Alfonso Beorlegui took Irún and closed the French border. Mola's forces went on to secure the whole of the province of Guipúzcoa, isolating the remaining Republican provinces in the north.

A junta in Burgos proved unable to set overall strategy thus Franco was chosen commander-in-chief at a meeting of ranking generals on September 21. Mola continued to command the Army of the North and led an unsuccessful effort to take Madrid in October. In a radio address, he described Nationalists sympathizers in the city as a "fifth column" that supplemented his four military columns.^[3]

Death

Mola died on June 3, 1937, when the aircraft in which he was travelling crashed in bad weather while returning to Vitoria. The deaths of Sanjurjo and Mola left Franco as the preeminent leader of the Nationalist cause. This led to the suspicion that Franco contributed in some way to the deaths of his two rivals, but no evidence has been produced.^[2] Generalissimo Franco as Head of the Spanish State granted him the posthumous title of Duke of Mola, Grandee of Spain, and the title was immediately succeeded by his son, Emilio Mola y Bascón.

References

1. ^ Preston, Paul, "From Rebel to Caudillo: Franco's path to power", History Today, July 1986, pp. 24-29 36 (7)
2. ^ ^{a b} Jackson, Gabriel, The Spanish Republic and the Civil War 1931-39, New Jersey , 1967.
3. ^ An early usage of the phrase: "Police last night began a house-to-house search for Rebels in Madrid....Orders for these raids...apparently were instigated by a recent broadcast over the Rebel radio station by General Emilio Mola. He stated he was counting on four columns of troops outside Madrid and another column of persons hiding within the city who would join the invaders as soon as they entered the capital." New York Times October 16, 1936.

Spanish nobility
New title	Duke of Mola 1948	Succeeded by Emilio Mola Bascón

Persondata
Name	Mola, Emilio
Alternative names	Mola Vidal, Emilio; Mola y Vidal, Emilio
Short description	Spanish military commander
Date of birth	June 9, 1887
Place of birth	Placetas, Cuba
Date of death	June 3, 1937
Place of death	Alcocero de Mola, Spain