Rep Weaknesses

• Republican offensives against Nationalist forces in 1937 revealed Republican militias were better suited to street fighting than conventional warfare. The Republican forces were not as well trained or experienced in conventional warfare as the Nationalist army. However, Republican leadership refused to change their tactics as they associated guerrilla warfare with the resistance movement. instead they viewed themselves as the legitimate government of Spain and were determined to fight a conventional war.
• The military supplies from the USSR didn't match the supplies by Mussolini and Hitler. The first delivery of Soviet military material arrived on 4th October 1936, helping Republican forces defend Madrid against early Nationalist assaults. Without this, the Republicans would have faced defeat much sooner. The reduction in Soviet supplies later in the war was one of the key reasons for Nationalists' success.
• The quality of Soviet equipment was poor relative to equipment provided by the Germans. Soviet firearms (rifles/machine guns) were particularly poor - a quarter of rifles supplied were obsolete weapons dating from the 1880s. Obtaining appropriate supplies of ammunition also proved incredibly difficult. The Soviet Union used the Spanish Civil Wat as an opportunity to sell its obsolete weapons at high prices.
• Although, some Soviet equipment was excellent, such as the many of the tanks and aircraft. The T-26 tanks and the Polikarpov I-15 and I-16 fighters were superior, at least in the early months of the war, to anything supplied by the Germans or Italians.
• The Republic faced difficulties in accessing sufficient food supplies. Its problems of production/distribution was made worse with the establishment of agricultural collectives by anarchist groups. By autumn 1936, 2500 agricultural collectives were established, run on the principles of collective ownership. This made co-ordination of food production difficult as although some were prepared distribute to anarchist militia groups, they weren't prepared to supply the regular army. The abolition of money/introduction of a barter economy caused problems in negotiations with the government.
• The Republic faced difficulties in transporting essential food supplies to key cities under siege by the Nationalists. This meant food prices increased - in Barcelona, the average price of food more than trebled during the war. Rationing was introduced to counter widespread hunger. The scarcity of food contributed to falling morale in Republican cities.
• The Popular Army of the republic was organised but lacked military expertise compared to the Nationalist forces.
• The International Brigades were committed but lacked the experience of the Nationalist forces.