The Madrid Distinction was one of the highest military awards of the Second Spanish Republic. It was a decoration related to the Laureate Plate of Madrid. which was established by the Second Spanish Republic in order to reward courage. In the same manner as the Laureate Plate of Madrid, it was named after Madrid, the capital of Spain, owing to the city symbolizing valour and the defence of the Second Spanish Republic during the long Siege of Madrid, which lasted from November 1936 through March 1939 during the Spanish Civil War. Unlike the Laureate Plate of Madrid, the Distintivo de Madrid displayed the former coat of arms of Madrid and not the red star, a symbol often associated with communist ideology.