In Spain, the five-year period following the proclamation of the Republic in April 1931 was marked by physical assaults upon the property and public ritual of the Spanish Catholic Church. In July 1936, a right-wing military rebellion divided Spain geographically. During the first six months of the conflict, innumerable religious buildings were destroyed and almost 7,000 religious personnel were killed. During this period of rapid social, cultural, and political change, anticlerical acts became both a catalyst and a symptom of social change. This book explores the motives, mentalities, and collective identities of the groups involved in anticlericalism, during the pre-war Spanish Second Republic and the Spanish Civil War.