Languages Asturian, Castilian 1936-1937 Belarmino Tomás Legalized by the Second Spanish Republic government 23 December 1936 Capital Gijón | Government Provisional Government Established 6 September 1936 Independence proclamation 24 August 1937 Historical era Spanish Civil War | |
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The Sovereign Council of Asturias and León (Spanish: Consejo Soberano de Asturias y León, Asturian: Conseyu Soberanu d'Asturies y Llión), was an unrecognized state in northern Spain during the Spanish Civil War. Proclaimed on 6 September 1936, it was self-declared sovereign on 24 August 1937, while the region was occupied on 20 October 1937 by Franco's military forces. Belarmino Tomás was the Sovereign Council's first and only President. The capital of the short-lived state was Gijón.
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History
The organism was born on 6 September 1936 as the Interprovincial Council of Asturias and León, by accord of anarchists and socialists, and with representation of all the republican forces in Asturias. On 23 December 1936, the Second Spanish Republic government recognized the Interprovincial Council of Asturias and León as well as other councils in the country (the Regional Defence Council of Aragon and the Interprovincial Council of Santander, Palencia and Burgos) as autonomous entities. Independence was declared on 24 August 1937, when the city of Santander fell to Nationalist forces, leaving the remaining republican forces in Asturias isolated several hundred miles from those republican forces in the southern and eastern parts of Spain. The leaders of the new nation claimed that action of declaring independence was not be a move of defiance against the Republican government, but rather an attempt to concentrate the local defense against Franco's forces in the War in the North campaign. Aid to continue resistance against Franco's forces was requested of the Republican government, then based in Valencia, and although military aid was sent, it arrived the day before the fall of Gijón to the Nationalist forces and the end of the provisional government on 20 October 1937.
Legacy
The city of Gijón proudly proclaims its resistance to Franco's forces and its temporary role as the seat of anti-Franco resistance in northern Spain to this day.