The siege of Madrid was a two and a half year siege of the Republican controlled Spanish capital city of Madrid by the Nationalist armies under General Francisco Franco, during the Spanish Civil War of 1936 to 1939. The city, besieged from October 1936, fell to the Nationalist armies on 28 March 1939. The Battle of Madrid in November 1936 saw the most intense fighting in and around the city when the Nationalists made their most determined attempt to take the Republican capital.
The highest military awards of the Spanish Republic, the Laureate Plate of Madrid and the Madrid Distinction, established by the Republican government to reward courage, were named after the capital of Spain because the city symbolised valour and the antifascist resistance during the long siege throughout the Civil War.