Emilio Mola

Biography

Emilio Mola Vidal was the indispensable brain behind the 1936 coup — it was Mola, as commander of the Pamplona garrison, who organized the network of conspiring officers across Spain and Spanish Morocco, timed the rising, and coordinated its execution. Franco arrived late to the conspiracy and initially played a secondary role. Mola was also the inventor of the 'fifth column' concept: during the siege of Madrid he told a journalist that four columns of Nationalist troops were advancing on the capital, but a 'fifth column' of secret sympathizers was already inside. The phrase entered global political language. Mola was a harder, more ideologically radical figure than the cautious Franco — he issued explicit orders for the massacre of political opponents to prevent any Republican counterattack. His campaigns in the north drove the Basques back relentlessly. But he never lived to see the war's end. On June 3, 1937, his aircraft crashed into a hillside in fog near Burgos, killing everyone aboard. The cause was almost certainly pilot error in poor visibility, though conspiracy theories have abounded ever since. With Mola dead, Franco's dominance of the Nationalist movement was complete.

Key Battles