Segismundo Casado

Segismundo Casado López (1893, Nava de la Asunción, Segovia – 1968, Madrid) was a Spanish Army officer in the Second Spanish Republic during the Spanish Civil War.

Early life

The son of a military man, he entered the Royal Cavalry Academy at Valladolid at age 15 and reached the rank of major by 1936, serving as head of the military household of President Manuel Azaña.^[1]

Spanish Civil War

After the start of the Spanish Civil War, Casado helped to develop the tactics of the Republican Army in central Spain. He participated in^[2] the defense of Madrid and the battle of Jarama. He was promoted to colonel in 1938 and fought in the battle of Brunete.^[3] In 1938, he was the commander of one army (out of five) in the republican central zone.^[4] In 1939 he was given command of the Republican Central Army.

Casado's coup and the end of the war

On March 5, 1939 Casado, claiming that Prime Minister Juan Negrín was planning a Communist takeover, conducted a coup d'état with the support of the leader of the right-wing of the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party, Julián Besteiro, and disillusioned anarchist leaders and established an anti-Negrín Junta de Defensa Nacional.^[5]

General José Miaja in Madrid joined the rebellion on March 6 by ordering the arrests of Communists in the city. Negrin, preparing to leave for France, ordered Luis Barceló, commander of the 1st Corps of the Army of the Center, to try to regain control of the capital. His troops entered Madrid and there was fierce fighting for several days in the capital. Anarchist troops led by Cipriano Mera managed to defeat the 1st Corps, and Barceló was captured and executed.

Casado then attempted to negotiate a peace settlement with General Francisco Franco, but Franco refused anything less than unconditional surrender.^[6] Surviving members of the Republican Army were no longer willing to fight and the Nationalist Army entered Madrid virtually unopposed on March 27, 1939.

Exile

Casado fled to Valencia where he boarded an English ship at the end of March.^[7] He remained in exile in Venezuela until returning to Spain in 1961.

Further reading

• Beevor, Antony. The battle for Spain. The Spanish Civil War 1936-1939. Penguin Books. London. 2006.
• Burnett Bolloten The Spanish Civil War: Revolution and Counterrevolution UNC Press, 1991 ISBN 0807819069, 9780807819067. Chapter 64 "Segismundo Casado, Cipriano Mera and the Libertarians"
• Thomas, Hugh. The Spanish Civil War. Penguin Books. 2001. London.

Notes

1. ^ Thomas, Hugh. The Spanish Civil War. Penguin Books. 2001. London. p. 299
2. ^ Thomas, Hugh. The Spanish Civil War. Penguin Books. 2001. London. p. 462
3. ^ Thomas, Hugh. The Spanish Civil War. Penguin Books. 2001. London. p. 691
4. ^ Thomas, Hugh. The Spanish Civil War. Penguin Books. 2001. London. p. 814
5. ^ Beevor, Antony. The battle for Spain. The Spanish Civil War 1936-1939. Penguin Books. London. 2006. pp. 391-392
6. ^ Beevor, Antony. The battle for Spain. The Spanish Civil War 1936-1939. Penguin Books. London. 2006. pp. 394-395
7. ^ Beevor, Antony. The battle for Spain. The Spanish Civil War 1936-1939. Penguin Books. London. 2006. pag. 396

Persondata
Name	Casado, Segismundo
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	1893
Place of birth
Date of death	1968
Place of death