The Clash was a highly influential punk rock band formed in 1976 in London, England. They originally consisted of Joe Strummer, Mick Jones, Paul Simonon, and Nick Headon. Their third album London Calling, released in 1979, was critically acclaimed and considered one of the best albums of the 1980s. It brought them greater popularity in the United States. The Spanish Civil War was a major conflict that devastated Spain from 1936 to 1939 between Spanish army generals and the government of the Second Spanish Republic. The nationalists forces defeated the Republicans, establishing a dictatorship under General Francisco Franco.