Spanish Civil War

1936-1939

A Spanish republic was established in 1931 made up of

democrats and reformist socialists

The Popular Front (antifascist) gained control of the government in 1936

Many army officers such as General Francisco

Franco found the left wing coalition unacceptable

Francisco Franco with Mussolini. Italy supplied troops and equipment to support the Fascist cause in Spain

The Spanish Civil War is often referred to as a “dress rehearsal” for World War II

German-supplied Junkers Ju-52 during the Spanish Civil War

The town of Guernica was used as target practice for Luftwaffe pilots

Guernica today

Guernica by Pablo Picasso

Innocent civilians were strafed with machine gun fire and bombs were

dropped on homes and public buildings

The republican government called on western nations to help them in their struggle against the rebel nationalist armies. France, Britain

and the US stayed neutral

Weapons the nationalists used

in the civil war

The Soviet Union provided some aid in the form of war materials and equipment

for the republican government

Spanish women also served as defenders of the republican government

International Brigade volunteer from

Liverpool, England

Private citizens from around the world joined the fight against fascism

US volunteers formed the Abraham Lincoln Brigade

George Orwell volunteered and

fought on the side of the P.O.U.M.

(Party of Marxist Unity) during the

Spanish Civil War

Orwell was seriously wounded by a shrapnel wound to the neck

On the Aragon front: Orwell is the tall figure

standing in the center, Eileen Blair (wife) is crouching in front of him

Orwell wrote Homage to Catalonia about his experiences during the civil war

“Smash Fascism”

The following images are loyalist posters urging people to fight for the government…

“Anti-Fascists! Think of those who are fighting!"

"Workers! Peasants! Unite for Victory!"

"Peasants, the land is yours"

Iron Column Fighting Brigade: "For a free humanity! For anarchy!"

Anti-Illiteracy: "Illiteracy blinds the spirit. Study, soldier"

Capra’s famous photo of a loyalist soldier at the moment of death…

Government troops (loyalists) in snow sprinkled trenches firing

on the outskirts of Madrid

A republican (loyalist) soldier takes cover in east Madrid

The war ended with the fall of Madrid in March 1939

400,000 people died in the war and Fascism prevailed in Spain

200,000 people were

executed under the

Franco regime in the

following years…

"They wrote in the old days that it is sweet and fitting to die for one's country. But in modern war there is nothing sweet or fitting in your dying. You will die like a

dog for no good reason."

--Ernest Hemingway after witnessing the brutality of the Spanish Civil War

The Franco dictatorship lasted until 1975