On the 17th, the coup plotters of the African Army had seized the Spanish protectorate of Morocco, and on the 18th the conspirators led by General Gonzalo Queipo de Llano had risen in Seville, and also in Cordoba.

The military commander of Granada, general Miguel Campins, was forced to sign the war proclamation, while the Nationalist troops and militias managed to quickly take control of the city center.

On March 8, the leftists organized a large rally at the Los Cármenes stadium that later toured the city, calling for the annulment of the election results, which were believed to have been fraudulent due to pressure and intervention by the local caciques.

Then, other groups set fire to the Isabel la Católica Theater, the Colón and Royal cafés, and the headquarters of the conservative newspaper Ideal, whose machinery was destroyed and the premises burned to the ground.

[6] The premises of the Popular Action (Spanish: Acción Popular, AP) party and of the Acción Obrerista of the CEDA were also set on fire, the chocolate factory owned by a local CEDA leader, the Granada Tennis Club, the Convent of San Gregorio el Bajo and the Church of El Salvador, which was practically destroyed.

[7] As a result of the serious riots of March 10, the police arrested more than three hundred people and carried out numerous house searches, seizing a large number of weapons both in the city of Granada and in the province.

The electoral failure of the rightists meant a strengthening of the Granada Falange, which at the level of all Spain had been very weakened after the illegalization of the party and the decapitation of its leadership.

[13] Upon his arrival in Granada, Torres Martínez found a complex situation: a tramway strike and another of garbage collectors, the leftist councilors of the city council at odds with each other, and various problems in some towns of the province.

[17] Initially, the visible head of the military conspiracy in Granada was General Llanos Medina, but the government knew of his conspiratorial activities and on July 10 he was dismissed and transferred.

[30] On July 18, Granada was in a tense atmosphere; the military governor, General Campins, condemned the uprising in Morocco, while Popular Front organizations demonstrated throughout the day.

[33] Although he met strong popular resistance in several parts of the city, Queipo de Llano managed to dominate the urban center and the Tablada airfield.

The Minister of War, General Luis Castelló, called Campins to tell him to organize a column to go to Córdoba and put an end to Colonel Cascajo's uprising; however, the officers of the garrison were not very much in favor of this idea.

After Commander Rodríguez Bouza visited and groped the head of the Guardia de Asalto, Captain Álvarez, the latter finally agreed to join the uprising.

[43] At 16:30 the secretary of the local Popular Front Committee, Antonio Rus Romero, received a telephone call informing him that the troops at the Artillery Barracks were forming up and were ready to leave.

The general told Torres Martínez that he had no record of that and again insisted on the loyalty of his officers; he concluded that he would pay a visit to the Artillery Barracks, from where he would call to confirm that nothing was happening.

In view of that situation, he tried to leave, but his aides blocked his way; one of them suggested that he declare a state of war and sign the military proclamation (which the conspirators had already drafted).

[46] Under the leadership of Colonel Antonio Muñoz, at 17:00 the garrison troops left their barracks located on the outskirts of the city and headed for the urban centre.

[47] In front of the Guardia de Asalto barracks, located on the Gran Vía, a truck with soldiers was stopped and immediately afterwards the assault guards joined the uprising.

[48] The rebels headed towards the surroundings of the Civil Government, which was protected by a section of 20-25 assault guards under the command of Lieutenant Martínez Fajardo and with orders to shoot.

At 18:00 Captain Nestares arrived at the police station that was in Duquesa Street, very close to the Civil Government, after which the policemen joined the rebels.

[51] While this was happening in the Civil Government, the urban police of Granada left the city hall towards the Plaza del Carmen, placing themselves at the orders of the battery that had been installed there.

Also taken prisoner was the mayor Manuel Fernández Montesinos,[note 4] when he was in his office[51] For its part, a group of military under the command of Major Rosaleny went to the Radio Granada building, at number 27 Gran Vía, and occupied it without difficulty.

[52] An armed group of military men headed towards the Gunpowder and Explosives Factory of El Fargue, located in the outskirts of Granada, on the road to Murcia.

[54] One of those who occupied the airfield was the pilot Narciso Bermúdez de Castro, who would later found the famous Patrulla Azul (Spanish: "Blue Patrol").

Shortly after, coming from Madrid, three Nieuport-Delage NiD 52 fighters sent to support the resistance of the loyalist forces in Granada arrived in Armilla, but were immediately captured.

[60] On the morning of 22 July, Radio Granada announced an ultimatum to the defenders: three hours would be granted for the women and children to leave the neighborhood and concentrate at various indicated points, while the men were to abandon their weapons and remain in their homes with their arms raised, and white flags were to fly from the balconies; if these orders were not complied with, the artillery would again open fire starting at 2:30 pm.

At the same time, white flags began to appear hanging from balconies and windows, a situation that the rebels took advantage of to start entering en masse inside the Albaicín.

[55] By July 25, the uprising had triumphed in Granada and surrounding towns, but these found themselves isolated in the middle of the Republican zone,[65] since most of the province remained loyal to the Republic.

The isolation ended when in mid-August the African forces commanded by General Varela managed to link Granada with the rest of the revolted area.

[87] Among all these deaths, the best known has been that of the writer and poet Federico García Lorca, who after the triumph of the military uprising had taken refuge in the house of the Rosales family, recognized members of the Granada Falange.