In 1122 Alfonso the Battler founded the Confraternity of Belchite to defend the frontier between the Christian kingdoms and al-Andalus. On June 15, 1809, during the Peninsular War French and Spanish forces fought in the Battle of María near the town. Between August 24 and September 7, 1937, during the Spanish Civil War, loyalist Spanish Republican forces fought General Franco's rebel forces in the Battle of Belchite in and around the town. After 1939, a new town was built near the ruins of the old one, which remain a ghost town as a memorial to the war.
