Looking back on the Spanish Civil War

In the Spanish Civil War there was no alternative for victory: a soldier’s whole identity and ideology were at stake. This was no ordinary war spawned out of political disputes. It was a full-frontal collision between the forces of good and evil (for both sides). The people’s sheer desperation may perhaps explain both the exceptional bravery and brutality displayed between 1936 and 1939. The role of foreign advisers, lying diplomats, business interests, propaganda, media manipulation and the desperate self-sacrifice of civilians would turn out as a blueprint for many conflicts to come in the 20th century. In a sense, the Spanish Civil War was a war ahead of its time.

Right after the war Spain lay in ruins. Total casualties are estimated around 600,000—comparable to English, French and Italian losses during WOII. The proud Spanish empire that once spanned the globe was now reduced to an authoritarian, paranoid dictatorship. Spain kept out of WOII and would continue to play a relatively minor role in European affairs until its migration to a peaceful democracy after Franco’s death in 1975. As opposed to Franco’s nationalism, Spain is today one of the most federal countries in Europe with high-levels of autonomy for each of its 17 regions.

As for the Church: it’s role in the conflict is hard to reflect upon without airing my personal, atheist views on religion as a whole. I shall therefore let you make up your own mind on that, and perhaps come back to this subject in a separate post.

Adolf Hitler must have been very pleased with the outcome of the war: he ‘beat the Soviets’, formed an alliance with Mussolini’s Italy and—most importantly—England and France seemed paralyzed by fear. The Spanish civil war also gives a sense of inevitability to the Russo-German conflict to come—fascism may have won the battle, but the war was far from over. Europe braced itself for things to come.

Looking back it is easy to deem England and France fools or even cowards, but it must be admitted that the escalation could not have been foreseen. A full-scale European conflict was not inevitable until after the 1938 conference of Munich and we can hardly blame England and France for doing all they could to keep the peace. It’s an interesting thought to think that if England and France had intervened in Spain there would not have been a Second World War. Yet it is unlikely that anyone other than the Soviet Union or the United States would have been able to supply the Republic with the quantity and quality of equipment needed to tip the scale.

The Spanish Civil War was so much defined by ideas rather than physical objectives it is nigh impossible to take an unbiased view. I’m sure many will disagree with how the war is looked upon today. When reflecting upon his time in Spain George Orwell said: ‘I am willing to believe that history is for the most part inaccurate and biased, but what is peculiar to our own age is the abandonment of the idea that history could be truthfully written.’