Sotelo's Assassination 1936

• The assassination of Jose Calvo Sotelo in July 1936 gave general Mola, military commander of Pamplona, the pretext to launch his coup.
• Sotelo's murder was a reprisal for the murder of Jose Castillo, a prominent LW member of the Assault Guard. His colleagues in the Assault Guard retaliated by targeting RW figures. Their initial target was Gil-Robles, but they were unable to locate him and instead arrested and killed Sotelo.
• Although the government wasn't involved in the murder, Gil-Robles accused the government of ordering the assassination. The murder also convinced many in the middle class that the government should end. Sotelo's murder was evidence that the government had either begun murdering its own citizens or had lost control of the country.
• Mola used the assassination to claim it was the first step to a communist plot to overthrow the government. Although this was false, it was widely believed as leading figures on the left had been discussing revolution for some time.
• The murder convinced Franco to take part in the coup. Franco concluded that the republic was planning to kill leading figures on the right and therefore he joined the movement to overthrow the government.