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The Spanish Civil War is frequently analyzed through a binary lens: a struggle between a fascist-aligned Nationalist coalition and a Republican alliance defending parliamentary democracy. This framework, however, obscures a transformative third force that fundamentally shaped the conflict’s initial phase and its international reception. In the summer of 1936, the military rebellion triggered not only military resistance but a profound social revolution, spearheaded by the anarcho-syndicalist Confederación Nacional del Trabajo (CNT) and the Iberian Anarchist Federation (FAI). This revolution, characterized by the large-scale collectivization of industry and agriculture, the formation of popular militias, and the de facto implementation of libertarian…