Emilio Mola(1887-1937)
General Emilio Mola y Vidal was born on June 9, 1887, in Placetas,
Cuba, where his father was stationed as a Spanish Army officer. He
enrolled in the Infantry Academy in 1907, and served in the Spanish
colonial war against the Rif tribes in Morocco, where he was decorated
for bravery. He went on to become director of security in the left-wing
Popular Front government. In Feburary, 1936, he was posted to Pamplona
as military governor. His conservative politics had made him unpopular
with the Communist dominated government, and he joined the plot by army
officers to overthrow it. Mola's energy and drive made him the group's
chief of planning. After Francisco Franco started the revolt in Spanish
Morocco, Mola proclaimed the revolt in effect, which was the start of
the Spanish Civil War, on July 19, 1936. When the chief plotter,
General Sanjurjo, was killed in a plane crash, Mola got command of the
northern Nationalist forces, while Franco commanded in the south. It
was at this time that Mola made a radio address that described
Nationalist sympathizers in Madrid as a "fifth column," the first time
the term was used. Emilio Mola was killed in a plane crash on June 3,
1937, six days shy of his fiftieth birthday. His body was buried at
Pamplona, but was moved in 1961 to the Valley of the Fallen, outside
Madrid.
