Foreign involvement in the Spanish Civil War
Encyclopedia
The Spanish Civil War
had large numbers of non-Spanish citizens participating in combat and advisory positions. Foreign governments contributed varying amounts of financial assistance and military aid
to Nationalist forces led by Generalísimo Francisco Franco
and those fighting on behalf of the Second Spanish Republic
, even though all the European powers had signed a Non-Intervention Agreement in 1936.
, aimed at preventing a proxy war
, and escalation of the war into a major pan-European conflict.
On 3 August 1936, Charles de Chambrun presented the French government's non-intervention plan; Galeazzo Ciano
promised to study it. The British, however, accepted the plan in principle immediately. The following day, it was put to Nazi Germany by André François-Poncet
. The German position was that such a declaration wasn't needed. A similar approach was made to Russia. On 6 August, Ciano confirmed Italian support in principle. The Soviet government similarly agreed in principle, so long as Portugal was included, and that Germany and Italy stop aid immediately. On 7 August, France unilaterally declared non-intervention. Draft declarations had been put to German and Italian governments. Such a declaration had already been accepted by Britain, Belgium, the Netherlands, Poland, Czechoslovakia and Russia, renouncing all traffic in war material, direct or indirect. The Portuguese Foreign Minister, Armindo Monteiro
See also: :pt:Armindo Rodrigues de Sttau Monteiro , was also asked to accept, but held his hand. On 9 August, French exports were suspended. Portugal accepted the pact on 13 August, unless her border was threatened by the war.
On 15 August, the United Kingdom banned exports of war material to Spain. Italy agreed to the pact, signing on 21 August. Although a surprising reversal of views, it has been put down to the growing belief that countries could not abide by the agreement anyway. On the 24th, Germany signed. The Soviet Union was keen not to be left out. On 23 August, it agreed to the Non-Intervention Agreement, and this was followed by a decree from Stalin banning exports of war material to Spain, thereby bringing the USSR into line with the Western Powers.
reaching the warring parties of the Spanish Civil War, as with the Non-Intervention Agreement. The Committee first met in London on 9 September 1936.Involved were: Albania, Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Norway, Poland, Romania, Turkey, the United Kingdom, the Soviet Union and Yugoslavia. (Thomas (1961). p. 277.) It was chaired by the British W. S. Morrison
. Charles Corbin
represented the French, Italy by Dino Grandi
, and the Soviets by Ivan Maisky. Germany was represented by Ribbentrop; Portugal, whose presence had been a Soviet requirement, was not represented. The second meeting took place on 14 September. It established a subcommittee to be attended by representatives of Belgium, Britain, Czechoslovakia
, France, Germany, Italy, the Soviet Union, Sweden
, to deal with the day-to-day running of non-intervention. Among them, though, the United Kingdom, France, Germany and Italy dominated, perhaps worryingly so. Soviet non-military aid was revived, but not military aid. Meanwhile, the 1936 meeting of the League of Nations
began. There, Anthony Eden
convinced Monteiro to have Portugal join the Non-Intervention Committee. Álvarez del Vayo spoke out against the Non-Intervention Agreement, claiming it put the rebel Nationalists on the same footing as the Republican government. the Earl of Plymouth
replaced W.S. Morrison as British representative. Conservative
, he often adjourned meetings – to the benefit of the Italians and Germans – and the Committee was accused of an anti-Soviet bias.
On 12 November, plans to post observers to Spanish frontiers and ports to prevent breaches of the agreement were ratified. France and Britain became split on whether to recognise Franco's forces as a belligerent
as the British wanted, or to fail to do as the French wanted.This was subsumed by the news that the Italian and German governments had recognised the Nationalists as the true government of Spain. The League of Nations condemned intervention, urged its council's members to support non-intervention, and commended mediation. It then closed discussion on Spain, leaving it to the Committee. A mediation plan, however, was soon dropped.
The Soviets met the request to ban volunteers on 27 December, Portugal on 5 January, and Germany and Italy on 7 January. On 20 January, Italy put a moratorium on volunteers believing that supplies to the Nationalists were now sufficient. Non-intervention would have left both sides with the possibility of defeat, which Germany, Italy and Russia in particular were keen to avoid.
In May, the Committee noted two attacks on the patrol's ships by Republican aircraft. It iterated calls for the withdrawal of volunteers from Spain, condemned the bombing of open towns, and showed approval of humanitarian work. Germany and Italy said they would withdrawn from the Committee, and from the patrols, unless it could be guaranteed there would be no further attacks. Early June saw the return of Germany and Italy to the committee and patrols. Following attacks on the German cruiser Leipzig
on 15 and 18 June, Germany and Italy once again withdrew from patrols, but not from the Committee. This prompted the Portuguese government to remove British observers on the Spain–Portugal border. Britain and France offered to replace Germany and Italy, but the latter powers believed these patrols would be too partial. Germany and Italy requested that land controls be kept, and belligerent rights be given to the Nationalists, so that rights of search
could be used by both the Republicans and Nationalists to replace naval patrols. A British plan suggested that naval patrols would be replaced by observers in ports and ships, land control measures would be resumed. Belligerent rights would only be granted when substantial progress was made on volunteer withdrawal.
It culminated in a period during 1937 when all the powers where prepared to give up on non-intervention. By the end of July, the Committee was in deadlock, and the aims of a successful outcome to the Spanish Civil War was looking unlikely. Unrestricted Italian submarine warfare began on 12 August. The British Admiralty believed that a significant control effort was the best solution to attacks on British shipping. It was decided by the Committee that naval patrols did not justify their expense and would be replaced with observers at ports.
The Conference of Nyon was arranged for all parties with a Mediterranean coastline by the British, despite appeals by Italy and Germany that the Committee handle the piracy and other issues the conference was to discuss. It decided that French and British fleets patrol the areas of sea west of Malta, and attack any suspicious submarines. Warships that attacked neutral shipping would be attacked. Eden claimed that non-intervention had stopped European war. The League of Nations did report on the Spanish situation, noting the 'failure of non-intervention'. On 6 November, the plan to recognise the Nationalists as belligerents once significant progress had been made was finally accepted. The Nationalists accepted on 20 November, the Republicans on 1 December. On 27 June, Maisky agreed to the sending of two commissions to Spain, to enumerate foreign volunteer forces, and to bring about their withdraw. The Nationalists wished to prevent the fall of the favourable Chamberlain government in the United Kingdom, and so were seen to accept the plan.
government proclaimed itself neutral
; however, the British establishment
were strongly anti-communist and tended to prefer a Nationalist victory. The ambassador to Spain, Sir Henry Chilton
, believed that a victory for Francisco Franco
was in the establishment's best interests and worked to support the Nationalists. British Foreign Secretary Anthony Eden
publicly maintained the official policy of non-intervention but privately expressed a preference for a Nationalist victory. Eden also testified that his government "preferred a Rebel victory to a Republican victory." Admiral Lord Chatfield
, British First Sea Lord
at the time of the conflict, was an admirer of Franco and, with government support, the British Royal Navy
favoured the Nationalists during the conflict. As well as permitting Franco to set up a signals base in Gibraltar
, a British colony, the Germans were allowed to overfly Gibraltar during the airlift of the Army of Africa
to Seville
. The Royal Navy also provided information on Republican shipping to the Nationalists, and HMS Queen Elizabeth
was used to prevent the Republican navy shelling the port of Algeciras
. The German chargé d'affaires
reported that the British were supplying ammunition to the Republicans, as well as passing on information about Russian arms shipments to the Germans. During the fighting for Bilbao
, the Royal Navy supported the Nationalist line that the River Nervión
was mined, telling British shipping to keep clear of the area - and were badly discredited when a British vessel ignored the advice and sailed into the city, finding the river unmined as the Republicans had claimed. Despite this, the British government discouraged activity by its ordinary citizens supporting either side.
There was popular support in both countries for the plan, although whilst in the United Kingdom the socialist Labour Party
was strongly in favour,Alpert (1998) p.65 notes that rank-and-file members of the Labour Party may have been opposed. the political left in France wanted to directly aid the Republicans. The Labour Party would reject non-intervention in October 1937. The British Trades Union Congress
was split. Both the British and French governments were aware of the First World War. France was reliant on British support in general. Blum believed that support for the Republic would have led to a fascist takeover in France, and ultimately no change in Spain. In Britain, part of the reasoning was based on an exaggerated belief in Germany's and Italy's preparedness for war.
The Anglo-French arms embargo meant that the Republicans' only foreign source of matériel
was the USSR while the Nationalists received weapons from Italy and Germany and logistical support from Portugal. The last Republican prime minister, Juan Negrín
, hoped that a general outbreak of war in Europe would compel the European powers, mainly Britain and France, to finally help the Republic, but World War II
would not commence until months after the Spanish conflict had ended. Ultimately neither Britain nor France intervened to any significant extent. Britain supplied food and medicine to the Republic, but actively discouraged the French government of Léon Blum
from supplying weapons. The American Ambassador to Spain was to later condemn the League of Nations
Non-Intervention Committee
, saying that each of their moves had been made to serve the cause of the rebellion, and that 'This committee was the most cynical and lamentably dishonest group that history has known.' Winston Churchill
, initially an enthusiastic supporter of non-intervention, was later to describe the workings of this committee as 'an elaborate system of official humbug.'
Following the withdrawal of German and Italy from patrols, the French considered abandoning border controls, or perhaps leaving non-intervention. However, the French were reliant on the British, who wished to continue with patrols. Britain and France thus continued to labour over non-intervention; whilst they judged it effective, some 42 ships were estimated to have escaped inspection between April and the end of July. In trying to protect non-intervention in the Anglo-Italian meetings, which he grudgingly did, Eden would end up resigning from his post in the Foreign Office. On 17 March 1938, France reopened the border to arms traffic to the now weakened Republic.
Britain and France recognised the Nationalist government on 27 February. Clement Attlee
criticised the way it had been agreed, calling it 'a gross betrayal... two and a half years of hypocritical pretence of non-intervention'.
The U.S. saw Soviet involvement in the 1931 ouster of the Spanish monarchy, though there is little evidence of significant involvement. In 1931, Herbert Hoover
was President of the United States. The U.S. was thus hostile to the new Republican government. Tensions escalated when the Manuel Azaña
government expropriated the pro-fascist ITT Corporation
. When the Civil War erupted after the failed right-wing coup, Secretary of State Cordell Hull
moved quickly to ban arms sales to the Spanish government, forcing the Popular Front to turn to the Soviet Union
for support. From the outset the Nationalists received important support from some elements of American business. The American-owned Vacuum Oil Company
in Tangier
, for example, refused to sell to Republican ships and at the outbreak of the war, the Texas Oil Company rerouted oil tankers headed for the republic to the Nationalist controlled port of Tenerife, and supplied gasoline on credit to Franco until the war's end.
On 5 August 1936, the United States had made it known that it would follow a policy of non-intervention, but did not announce it officially. This isolationism on the Spanish war would later be identified as disastrous by Under-Secretary of State Sumner Welles
. Five days later, the Glenn L. Martin Company
enquired whether the government would allow the sale of eight bombers to the Republicans; the response was negative. It also confirmed it would not take part in several mediation attempts, including by the Organization of American States
. Roosevelt ruled out US interference with the words '[there should be] no expectation that the United States would ever again send troops or warships or floods of munitions and money to Europe'.
On 6 January, the first opportunity after the winter break, both houses of Congress
in the United States passed a resolution banning the export of arms to Spain.It passed by 81 to 0 in the Senate and 406 to 1 in the House of Representatives. (Thomas (1961). p. 338.) Those in opposition to the bill, including American socialists, communists and many liberals, suggested that the export of arms to Germany and Italy should be halted also under the Neutrality Act of 1935, since foreign intervention constituted a state of war in Spain. Cordell Hull
, continued to doubt the extent of German and Italian operations, despite evidence to the contrary. At the same time, the automakers Ford, Studebaker, and General Motors provided a total of 12,000 trucks to the Nationalists. After the war was over, José Maria Doussinague, who was at the time undersecretary at the Spanish Foreign Ministry said, "without American petroleum and American trucks, and American credit, we could never have won the Civil War."
, almost all in support of the Nationalists.
This included various forms of aid and military support given to both sides by Germany, almost all in support of the Nationalist
faction. It included the formation of the Condor Legion
as a land and air force, with German efforts to move the Army of Africa
to mainland Spain proving successful in the early stages of the war. Operations gradually expanded to include strike targets, and there was a German contribution to many of the battles of the Spanish Civil War. The bombing of Guernica
on 26 April 1937 would be the most controversial event of German involvement, with perhaps 200 to 300 civilians dead. German involvement was also made through various other means, including Operation Ursula, a U-boat
undertaking, and contributions from the Kriegsmarine
.
The Condor Legion spearheaded many Nationalist victories, particularly in the air dominance from 1937 onwards; 300 victories were claimed, dwarfed by some 900 claimed by Italian forces. Spain provided a proving ground for German tank tactics, as well as aircraft tactics, the latter only being moderately successful – ultimately, the air superiority which allowed certain parts of the Legion to excel would not be replicated because of the unsuccessful Battle of Britain
. The training they provided to Nationalist force would prove as valuable, if not more so, than direct actions. Perhaps 56,000 Nationalist soldiers were trained by various German detachments in Spain, who were technically proficient; these covered infantry, tanks and anti-tank units, air and anti-aircraft forces, and those trained in naval warfare.
Probably a total of 16,000 German citizens fought mostly as pilots, ground crew, artillery men, in tanks, and as military advisers and instructors. About 10,000 Germans was the maximum at any one time. Perhaps 300 were killed. German aid to the Nationalists amounted to approximately £43,000,000 ($215,000,000) in 1939 prices.Westwell (2004) gives a figure of 500 million Reichmarks. This was broken down in expenditure to: 15.5% used for salaries and expenses, 21.9% used for direct delivery of supplies to Spain, and 62.6% expended on the Condor Legion. (No detailed list of German supplies furnished to Spain has been found.)
". The use of these troops supported political goals of the German and Italian fascist leaderships, tested new tactics and provided blooding for so they would be ready for battle in any future war.
The Italian contribution amounted to over 60,000 troops at the height of the war. The involvement helped to increase Mussolini's popularity among Italian Catholics, who had remained critical of their ex-Socialist fascist Duce
. Italian military help to Nationalists against the anti-clerical and anti-Catholic atrocities committed by the Republican side worked well in Italian propaganda targeting Catholics. On July 27, 1936 the first squadron of Italian airplanes sent by Benito Mussolini arrived in Spain.
The government of Fascist Italy
participated in the conflict via a body of volunteers from the ranks of the Italian Royal Army (Regio Esercito), Royal Air Force (Regia Aeronautica
), and Royal Navy (Regia Marina
) formed into an expeditionary force known as the Corps of Volunteer Troops (Corpo Truppe Volontarie
, CTV). The maximum number of Italians in Spain, at one time, fighting for the Nationalists, was 50,000 in 1937. Probably a total of 75,000 Italians fought in Spain for the Nationalists. Italians also served in the Spanish-Italian Flechas Brigades and Divisions. The airborne component of Aeronautica pilots and ground crew were known as "Aviation Legion" (Aviazione Legionaria
) and the contingent of submariners as Submarine Legion (Sottomarini Legionari). 6,000 Italians are estimated to have died in the conflict. The New York Times
correspondent in Seville, Frank L. Kluckhohn, reported on 18 August that "... the presence of the Italian destroyer Antonio da Noli here means that an ally has come to help the insurgents."
The Italian Government sent large amounts of material aid to the Nationalists. This aid included:
91 Italian warships and submarines also participated in and after the war, and sank about 72,800 tons of shipping, and lost 38 sailors killed in action. Italy presented a bill for £80,000,000 ($400,000,000) in 1939 prices to the Francoists.
Italian pilots flew 135,265 hours during the war, partook in 5,318 air raids, hit 224 Republican and other ships, engaged in 266 aerial combats, and reported to have shot down 903 Republican and allied planes, and lost around 180 pilots and aircrew killed in action.
's 700 strong Irish Brigade
and the 500 strong French Jeanne D'Arc company of the Spanish Foreign Legion, formed mostly from members of the far-right Croix de Feu. Approximately 8,000 Portuguese, known as Viriatos
, fought for Franco although never as a national unit. Another 1,000 volunteers from countries as diverse as Spanish Guinea, Brazil, Norway, Belgium, the UK, and Australia fought in the Nationalist ranks. In 1937 General Franco turned down separate offers of national legions from Belgium, Greece, and exiled White Russians
made by foreign sympathisers.
Ion I Moţa
, Romanian deputy-leader of the Legion of the Archangel Michael (or Iron Guard
), led a group of seven Legionaries who visited Spain in December 1936 to ally their movement to the Nationalists with the presentation of a ceremonial sword to survivors of the Alcazar siege. While in Spain the Legionaires decided, against the orders given to them in Bucharest
, to join the Spanish Foreign Legion. Within days of joining Mota and Vasile Marin
(another prominent Legionary) were killed on the Madrid Front at Majadahonda
.
After the ostentatious funerals of Ion Moţa and Vasile Marin
, they became a prominent part of Legionary mythology.
's followers ("The Blueshirts
") went to Spain to fight on Franco's side.
On arrival, however, O'Duffy's Irish contingent refused to fight the Basques for Franco, seeing parallels between their recent struggle and Basque aspirations of independence. They saw their primary role in Spain as fighting communism, and defending Catholicism. Eoin O'Duffy's men saw little fighting in Spain and were sent home by Franco after being accidentally fired on by Spanish Nationalist troops.
, Carl Schmitt
, Hilaire Belloc
, Roy Campbell
, Giovanni Papini
, Paul Claudel
, and those associated with the Action Française
. Others, such as Jacques Maritain
, François Mauriac
, and Georges Bernanos
initially supported Franco but later grew disenchanted with both sides.
Among Spaniards, Nobel Laureate Jacinto Benavente
and future Laureate Camilo José Cela
also sided with Franco's forces. Other prominent Spanish writers and intellectuals at the time, such as Miguel de Unamuno
, José Ortega y Gasset
, Azorín, Ramiro de Maeztu
, Ramón Pérez de Ayala
, Ernesto Giménez Caballero
, Gregorio Marañón
, Pedro Muñoz Seca
, Luis Rosales
, Eugeni d'Ors
, Dionisio Ridruejo
, Miguel Delibes
, José María Pemán
, Josep Pla
, and Manuel Machado
all likewise saw Franco as the best option for Spain.
. To pay for these armaments the Republicans used US$
500 million in gold reserves. At the start of the war the Bank of Spain had the world's fourth largest reserve of gold, about US$750 million, although some assets were frozen by the French and British governments. The Soviet Union also sent more than 2,000 personnel, mainly tank
crews and pilots
, who actively participated in combat, on the Republican side. Mexico
also aided the Republicans by providing rifles and food. Other countries (see below) aided the Republican side through sale of weapons and through volunteer military units. Throughout the war, the efforts of the elected government of the Republic to resist the Nazi and Fascist armies and the rebel army were hampered by Franco-British 'non-intervention', long supply lines and intermittent availability of weapons of widely variable quality. The British and French naval embargo allowed Germany and Italy to reinforce their armies in Spain; the embargo hampered only the Soviet efforts to arm the legitimate Republican government.
About 537 Soviet volunteers served in Spain at that time. The maximum number of Soviets in Spain at any one time is believed to have been 700, and the total during the war is thought to have between 2,000 — 3,000. Estimates for Soviet pilots who took part in the conflict are given at 1,000.
The Republic sent its gold reserve to the Soviet Union to pay for arms and supplies. That reserve was worth £63,000,000 ($315,000,000) in 1939 prices. In 1956, the Soviet Union announced that Spain still owed it $50,000,000. Other estimates of Soviet and Comintern aid totaled £81,000,000 ($405,000,000) in 1939 value. The German military attached estimated that Soviet and Comintern aid amounted to:
Much of this material was purchased in France
, Czechoslovakia
, the United States
, Britain
and Mexico
. Mexico furnished $2,000,000 in aid, and another $2,000,000 came from the United States for humanitarian purposes. President Lázaro Cárdenas
saw the war as similar to Mexico's own revolution although a large part of Mexican society wanted a Nationalist victory. The rest of Latin America
sympathized with the Nationalists or was neutral. The Republic was continuously swindled and short-changed in its purchases.
Modern research conducted after the collapse of the Iron Curtain
shows that Poland was second after the USSR in selling arms to the Republic. In the autumn of 1936, indeed, Poland was the only nation to offer arms to the Republic in any quantity. At that time the Republic was in great need as the Nationalists were at Madrid.
The Republic also made poor buys for ammunition. The arms trade has a standard that with every rifle, 1,000 rounds of ammunition are included; with every machine gun, 10,000 rounds are included; and with every artillery piece, 2,400 shells should be included. Otherwise the hardware quickly becomes useless for lack of ammunition. A great bulk of the purchases fell far short of this standard.
Soviet foreign policy considered collective security against German fascism a priority, the Comintern
had agreed a similar approach in 1934. It walked a thin line between pleasing France and not being seen to hinder the World revolution
and communist ideals. This was also the time of the first significant trials of the Old Bolsheviks in Russia. Soviet press and opposition groups were entirely against non-intervention; Soviet actions could hardly had been further from the goal of spreading the revolution.
saw the war as similar to Mexico's own revolution although a large part of Mexican society wanted a Nationalist victory. Mexico's attitude gave immense moral comfort to the Republic, especially since the major Latin American governments—those of Argentina
, Brazil, Chile
, and Peru
—sympathized more or less openly with the Nationalists. But Mexican aid could mean relatively little in practical terms if the French border were closed and if the dictators remained free to supply the Nationalists with a quality and quantity of weapons far beyond the power of Mexico.
Mexico furnished $2,000,000 in aid and provided some material assistance, which included a small amount of American-made aircraft such as the Bellanca CH-300
and Spartan Zeus
that served in the Mexican Air Force
.
including the American Lincoln Battalion
and Canadian Mackenzie–Papineau Battalion, organized in close conjunction with the Comintern
to aid the Spanish Republicans. Perhaps another 3,000 fought as members of the Confederación Nacional del Trabajo
(CNT) and the Workers' Party of Marxist Unification (POUM
) militias. Those fighting with POUM most famously included George Orwell
and the small ILP Contingent
. While not supported officially, many American volunteers such as the Abraham Lincoln Brigade
fought for the Republicans.
'Spain' became the cause célèbre
for the left-leaning intelligentsia across the Western world, and many prominent artists and writers entered the Republic's service. As well, it attracted a large number of foreign left-wing working class men, for whom the war offered not only idealistic adventure but also an escape from post-Depression unemployment. Among the more famous foreigners participating on the Republic's side was George Orwell
, who went on to write about his experiences in Homage to Catalonia
. Orwell's novel Animal Farm
was loosely inspired by his experiences and those of other members of POUM at the hands of Stalinists when the Popular Front began to fight within itself, as were the torture scenes in Nineteen Eighty-Four
. Hemingway's novel For Whom the Bell Tolls
was inspired by his experiences in Spain. George Seldes
reported on the war for the New York Post
. The third part of Laurie Lee
's autobiographical trilogy, A Moment of War, is also based on his Civil War experiences. Norman Bethune
used the opportunity to develop the special skills of battlefield medicine
. As a casual visitor, Errol Flynn
used a fake report of his death at the battlefront to promote his movies. In the Philippines, a pro-Republican magazine named Democracia had writers including anti-fascist Spaniards and Filipino-Spaniards as well as Filipino progressives like Pedro Abad Santos, chairman of the Socialist Party, and Bishop Gregorio Aglipay of the Philippine Independent Church.
Many artists with right-wing sympathies, such as Ezra Pound
, Gertrude Stein
, Salvador Dalí
, Wyndham Lewis
, Robert Brasillach
, and Pierre Drieu La Rochelle
voiced support for the Nationalists. Brasillach collaborated with Maurice Bardèche
on his own Histoire de la Guerre d'Espagne and the protagonist in Drieu La Rochelle's novel Gille travels to Spain to fight with the Falange. Wyndham Lewis's The Revenge for Love details what he saw as the Communist intrigue leading to war.
Probably 32,000 foreigners fought in the International Brigades
(which probably never exceeded 20,000 at any one time). An estimated 3,000 volunteers fought in other Republican forces during the conflict. Additionally, about 10,000 foreigners participated in medical, nursing, and engineering capacities.
The International Brigades
included 9,000 Frenchmen, of whom 1,000 were killed; 5,000 Germans and Austrians of whom 2,000 died, and also about 3,000 from Poland at the time
. The next highest number was from Italy
with 3,350 men. Then came the United States (2,800 men with 900 killed) and Britain (2,000 with 500 killed). There were also 1,500 Czechs; 1,500 Yugoslavs
; 1,500 Canadians; 1,000 Hungarians and 1,000 Scandinavians, about half of whom were Swedes. The rest came from a "claimed" 53 countries. Seventy-six Swiss were killed and 90 Mexicans fought. Perhaps 3,000 of the volunteers were Jewish. About 200 volunteers were from Palestine (of Jewish and Arab origin).
Approximately one third of Irishmen who fought for Republicans died, a group composed primarily of socialists, trade unionists, and former IRA members. The "Connolly Column
" of the International Brigades was named after the Irish socialist leader executed after 1916 Easter Rising, James Connolly.
Military forces and aid
Military operations
Economic aid and dealings
Spanish Civil War
The Spanish Civil WarAlso known as The Crusade among Nationalists, the Fourth Carlist War among Carlists, and The Rebellion or Uprising among Republicans. was a major conflict fought in Spain from 17 July 1936 to 1 April 1939...
had large numbers of non-Spanish citizens participating in combat and advisory positions. Foreign governments contributed varying amounts of financial assistance and military aid
Military aid
Military aid is aid which is used to assist an ally in its defense efforts, or to assist a poor country in maintaining control over its own territory. Many countries receive military aid to help with counter-insurgency efforts...
to Nationalist forces led by Generalísimo Francisco Franco
Francisco Franco
Francisco Franco y Bahamonde was a Spanish general, dictator and head of state of Spain from October 1936 , and de facto regent of the nominally restored Kingdom of Spain from 1947 until his death in November, 1975...
and those fighting on behalf of the Second Spanish Republic
Second Spanish Republic
The Second Spanish Republic was the government of Spain between April 14 1931, and its destruction by a military rebellion, led by General Francisco Franco....
, even though all the European powers had signed a Non-Intervention Agreement in 1936.
International non-intervention
Non-intervention had been proposed in a joint diplomatic initiative by the governments of France and the United Kingdom. It was part of a policy of appeasementAppeasement
The term appeasement is commonly understood to refer to a diplomatic policy aimed at avoiding war by making concessions to another power. Historian Paul Kennedy defines it as "the policy of settling international quarrels by admitting and satisfying grievances through rational negotiation and...
, aimed at preventing a proxy war
Proxy war
A proxy war or proxy warfare is a war that results when opposing powers use third parties as substitutes for fighting each other directly. While powers have sometimes used governments as proxies, violent non-state actors, mercenaries, or other third parties are more often employed...
, and escalation of the war into a major pan-European conflict.
On 3 August 1936, Charles de Chambrun presented the French government's non-intervention plan; Galeazzo Ciano
Galeazzo Ciano
Gian Galeazzo Ciano, 2nd Count of Cortellazzo and Buccari was an Italian Minister of Foreign Affairs and Benito Mussolini's son-in-law. In early 1944 Count Ciano was shot by firing squad at the behest of his father-in-law, Mussolini under pressure from Nazi Germany.-Early life:Ciano was born in...
promised to study it. The British, however, accepted the plan in principle immediately. The following day, it was put to Nazi Germany by André François-Poncet
André François-Poncet
André François-Poncet was a French politician and diplomat whose post as ambassador to Germany allowed him to witness first-hand the rise to power of Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party, and the Nazi regime's preparations for war.François-Poncet was the son of a counselor of the Court of Appeals in...
. The German position was that such a declaration wasn't needed. A similar approach was made to Russia. On 6 August, Ciano confirmed Italian support in principle. The Soviet government similarly agreed in principle, so long as Portugal was included, and that Germany and Italy stop aid immediately. On 7 August, France unilaterally declared non-intervention. Draft declarations had been put to German and Italian governments. Such a declaration had already been accepted by Britain, Belgium, the Netherlands, Poland, Czechoslovakia and Russia, renouncing all traffic in war material, direct or indirect. The Portuguese Foreign Minister, Armindo Monteiro
Armindo Monteiro
Armindo Rodrigues de Sttau Monteiro , known as Armindo Monteiro, was a Portuguese university professor, businessman, diplomat and politician who exercised important functions during the Estado Novo period...
See also: :pt:Armindo Rodrigues de Sttau Monteiro , was also asked to accept, but held his hand. On 9 August, French exports were suspended. Portugal accepted the pact on 13 August, unless her border was threatened by the war.
On 15 August, the United Kingdom banned exports of war material to Spain. Italy agreed to the pact, signing on 21 August. Although a surprising reversal of views, it has been put down to the growing belief that countries could not abide by the agreement anyway. On the 24th, Germany signed. The Soviet Union was keen not to be left out. On 23 August, it agreed to the Non-Intervention Agreement, and this was followed by a decree from Stalin banning exports of war material to Spain, thereby bringing the USSR into line with the Western Powers.
Non-Intervention Committee
It was at this point that the Non-Intervention Committee was created to uphold the agreement, but the double-dealing of the USSR and Germany had already become apparent. The ostensible purpose of the committee was to prevent personnel and matérielMateriel
Materiel is a term used in English to refer to the equipment and supplies in military and commercial supply chain management....
reaching the warring parties of the Spanish Civil War, as with the Non-Intervention Agreement. The Committee first met in London on 9 September 1936.Involved were: Albania, Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Norway, Poland, Romania, Turkey, the United Kingdom, the Soviet Union and Yugoslavia. (Thomas (1961). p. 277.) It was chaired by the British W. S. Morrison
William Morrison, 1st Viscount Dunrossil
William Shepherd Morrison, 1st Viscount Dunrossil, GCMG, MC, KStJ, PC, QC , the 14th Governor-General of Australia, was born in Scotland and educated at George Watson's College and the University of Edinburgh. He joined the British Army in the First World War and served with an artillery regiment...
. Charles Corbin
Charles Corbin
Charles Corbin was a French diplomat who served as ambassador to Britain before and during the early part of the Second World War, from 1933 to 27 June 1940.- Life and career :...
represented the French, Italy by Dino Grandi
Dino Grandi
Dino Grandi , Conte di Mordano, was an Italian Fascist politician, minister of justice, minister of foreign affairs and president of parliament.- Early life :...
, and the Soviets by Ivan Maisky. Germany was represented by Ribbentrop; Portugal, whose presence had been a Soviet requirement, was not represented. The second meeting took place on 14 September. It established a subcommittee to be attended by representatives of Belgium, Britain, Czechoslovakia
Czechoslovakia
Czechoslovakia or Czecho-Slovakia was a sovereign state in Central Europe which existed from October 1918, when it declared its independence from the Austro-Hungarian Empire, until 1992...
, France, Germany, Italy, the Soviet Union, Sweden
Sweden
Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....
, to deal with the day-to-day running of non-intervention. Among them, though, the United Kingdom, France, Germany and Italy dominated, perhaps worryingly so. Soviet non-military aid was revived, but not military aid. Meanwhile, the 1936 meeting of the League of Nations
League of Nations
The League of Nations was an intergovernmental organization founded as a result of the Paris Peace Conference that ended the First World War. It was the first permanent international organization whose principal mission was to maintain world peace...
began. There, Anthony Eden
Anthony Eden
Robert Anthony Eden, 1st Earl of Avon, KG, MC, PC was a British Conservative politician, who was Prime Minister from 1955 to 1957...
convinced Monteiro to have Portugal join the Non-Intervention Committee. Álvarez del Vayo spoke out against the Non-Intervention Agreement, claiming it put the rebel Nationalists on the same footing as the Republican government. the Earl of Plymouth
Ivor Windsor-Clive, 2nd Earl of Plymouth
Ivor Miles Windsor-Clive, 2nd Earl of Plymouth PC was an English nobleman and Conservative politician....
replaced W.S. Morrison as British representative. Conservative
Conservative Party (UK)
The Conservative Party, formally the Conservative and Unionist Party, is a centre-right political party in the United Kingdom that adheres to the philosophies of conservatism and British unionism. It is the largest political party in the UK, and is currently the largest single party in the House...
, he often adjourned meetings – to the benefit of the Italians and Germans – and the Committee was accused of an anti-Soviet bias.
On 12 November, plans to post observers to Spanish frontiers and ports to prevent breaches of the agreement were ratified. France and Britain became split on whether to recognise Franco's forces as a belligerent
Belligerent
A belligerent is an individual, group, country or other entity which acts in a hostile manner, such as engaging in combat. Belligerent comes from Latin, literally meaning "to wage war"...
as the British wanted, or to fail to do as the French wanted.This was subsumed by the news that the Italian and German governments had recognised the Nationalists as the true government of Spain. The League of Nations condemned intervention, urged its council's members to support non-intervention, and commended mediation. It then closed discussion on Spain, leaving it to the Committee. A mediation plan, however, was soon dropped.
The Soviets met the request to ban volunteers on 27 December, Portugal on 5 January, and Germany and Italy on 7 January. On 20 January, Italy put a moratorium on volunteers believing that supplies to the Nationalists were now sufficient. Non-intervention would have left both sides with the possibility of defeat, which Germany, Italy and Russia in particular were keen to avoid.
Control plan
Observers were posted to Spanish ports and borders, and both Ribbentrop and Grandi were told to agree to the plan, significant shipments already having taken place. Portugal would not accept observers, although it did agree to personnel attached to the British Embassy in Lisbon. Zones of patrol were assigned to each of the four nations; an International Board was set up to administer the scheme. There were Italian assurances that Italy would not break up non-intervention.In May, the Committee noted two attacks on the patrol's ships by Republican aircraft. It iterated calls for the withdrawal of volunteers from Spain, condemned the bombing of open towns, and showed approval of humanitarian work. Germany and Italy said they would withdrawn from the Committee, and from the patrols, unless it could be guaranteed there would be no further attacks. Early June saw the return of Germany and Italy to the committee and patrols. Following attacks on the German cruiser Leipzig
German cruiser Leipzig
The German light cruiser Leipzig was the lead ship of her class . She was the fourth German warship to carry the name of the city of Leipzig.-History:...
on 15 and 18 June, Germany and Italy once again withdrew from patrols, but not from the Committee. This prompted the Portuguese government to remove British observers on the Spain–Portugal border. Britain and France offered to replace Germany and Italy, but the latter powers believed these patrols would be too partial. Germany and Italy requested that land controls be kept, and belligerent rights be given to the Nationalists, so that rights of search
Search and seizure
Search and seizure is a legal procedure used in many civil law and common law legal systems whereby police or other authorities and their agents, who suspect that a crime has been committed, do a search of a person's property and confiscate any relevant evidence to the crime.Some countries have...
could be used by both the Republicans and Nationalists to replace naval patrols. A British plan suggested that naval patrols would be replaced by observers in ports and ships, land control measures would be resumed. Belligerent rights would only be granted when substantial progress was made on volunteer withdrawal.
It culminated in a period during 1937 when all the powers where prepared to give up on non-intervention. By the end of July, the Committee was in deadlock, and the aims of a successful outcome to the Spanish Civil War was looking unlikely. Unrestricted Italian submarine warfare began on 12 August. The British Admiralty believed that a significant control effort was the best solution to attacks on British shipping. It was decided by the Committee that naval patrols did not justify their expense and would be replaced with observers at ports.
The Conference of Nyon was arranged for all parties with a Mediterranean coastline by the British, despite appeals by Italy and Germany that the Committee handle the piracy and other issues the conference was to discuss. It decided that French and British fleets patrol the areas of sea west of Malta, and attack any suspicious submarines. Warships that attacked neutral shipping would be attacked. Eden claimed that non-intervention had stopped European war. The League of Nations did report on the Spanish situation, noting the 'failure of non-intervention'. On 6 November, the plan to recognise the Nationalists as belligerents once significant progress had been made was finally accepted. The Nationalists accepted on 20 November, the Republicans on 1 December. On 27 June, Maisky agreed to the sending of two commissions to Spain, to enumerate foreign volunteer forces, and to bring about their withdraw. The Nationalists wished to prevent the fall of the favourable Chamberlain government in the United Kingdom, and so were seen to accept the plan.
United Kingdom and France
The BritishUnited Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
government proclaimed itself neutral
Neutral country
A neutral power in a particular war is a sovereign state which declares itself to be neutral towards the belligerents. A non-belligerent state does not need to be neutral. The rights and duties of a neutral power are defined in Sections 5 and 13 of the Hague Convention of 1907...
; however, the British establishment
The Establishment
The Establishment is a term used to refer to a visible dominant group or elite that holds power or authority in a nation. The term suggests a closed social group which selects its own members...
were strongly anti-communist and tended to prefer a Nationalist victory. The ambassador to Spain, Sir Henry Chilton
Henry Chilton
Sir Henry Getty Chilton , C.M.G. was a British diplomat to Spain during the Spanish Civil War.On arriving in Buenos Aires in September 1933 from his Embassy in Chile, Sir Henry Chilton opened a lengthy and increasingly desperate negotiation with London about the state of his official...
, believed that a victory for Francisco Franco
Francisco Franco
Francisco Franco y Bahamonde was a Spanish general, dictator and head of state of Spain from October 1936 , and de facto regent of the nominally restored Kingdom of Spain from 1947 until his death in November, 1975...
was in the establishment's best interests and worked to support the Nationalists. British Foreign Secretary Anthony Eden
Anthony Eden
Robert Anthony Eden, 1st Earl of Avon, KG, MC, PC was a British Conservative politician, who was Prime Minister from 1955 to 1957...
publicly maintained the official policy of non-intervention but privately expressed a preference for a Nationalist victory. Eden also testified that his government "preferred a Rebel victory to a Republican victory." Admiral Lord Chatfield
Ernle Chatfield, 1st Baron Chatfield
Admiral of the Fleet The Rt Hon. Sir Alfred Ernle Montacute Chatfield, 1st Baron Chatfield, GCB, OM, KCMG, CVO, PC was a Royal Navy officer and held the position of First Sea Lord from 1933 to 1939...
, British First Sea Lord
First Sea Lord
The First Sea Lord is the professional head of the Royal Navy and the whole Naval Service; it was formerly known as First Naval Lord. He also holds the title of Chief of Naval Staff, and is known by the abbreviations 1SL/CNS...
at the time of the conflict, was an admirer of Franco and, with government support, the British Royal Navy
Royal Navy
The Royal Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Founded in the 16th century, it is the oldest service branch and is known as the Senior Service...
favoured the Nationalists during the conflict. As well as permitting Franco to set up a signals base in Gibraltar
Gibraltar
Gibraltar is a British overseas territory located on the southern end of the Iberian Peninsula at the entrance of the Mediterranean. A peninsula with an area of , it has a northern border with Andalusia, Spain. The Rock of Gibraltar is the major landmark of the region...
, a British colony, the Germans were allowed to overfly Gibraltar during the airlift of the Army of Africa
Spanish Army of Africa
The Army of Africa was a Spanish field army that garrisoned Spanish Morocco from the early 20th century until Morocco's independence in 1956....
to Seville
Seville
Seville is the artistic, historic, cultural, and financial capital of southern Spain. It is the capital of the autonomous community of Andalusia and of the province of Seville. It is situated on the plain of the River Guadalquivir, with an average elevation of above sea level...
. The Royal Navy also provided information on Republican shipping to the Nationalists, and HMS Queen Elizabeth
HMS Queen Elizabeth (1913)
HMS Queen Elizabeth was the lead ship of the Queen Elizabeth-class of dreadnought battleships, named in honour of Elizabeth I of England. She saw service in both World Wars...
was used to prevent the Republican navy shelling the port of Algeciras
Algeciras
Algeciras is a port city in the south of Spain, and is the largest city on the Bay of Gibraltar . Port of Algeciras is one of the largest ports in Europe and in the world in three categories: container,...
. The German chargé d'affaires
Chargé d'affaires
In diplomacy, chargé d’affaires , often shortened to simply chargé, is the title of two classes of diplomatic agents who head a diplomatic mission, either on a temporary basis or when no more senior diplomat has been accredited.-Chargés d’affaires:Chargés d’affaires , who were...
reported that the British were supplying ammunition to the Republicans, as well as passing on information about Russian arms shipments to the Germans. During the fighting for Bilbao
Bilbao
Bilbao ) is a Spanish municipality, capital of the province of Biscay, in the autonomous community of the Basque Country. With a population of 353,187 , it is the largest city of its autonomous community and the tenth largest in Spain...
, the Royal Navy supported the Nationalist line that the River Nervión
Nervión
The river Nervión runs through the city of Bilbao, Spain into the Cantabrian Sea .It is also known as Estuary of Bilbao on its final tract, from the joining with Ibaizabal river to the sea.-Geography:...
was mined, telling British shipping to keep clear of the area - and were badly discredited when a British vessel ignored the advice and sailed into the city, finding the river unmined as the Republicans had claimed. Despite this, the British government discouraged activity by its ordinary citizens supporting either side.
There was popular support in both countries for the plan, although whilst in the United Kingdom the socialist Labour Party
Labour Party (UK)
The Labour Party is a centre-left democratic socialist party in the United Kingdom. It surpassed the Liberal Party in general elections during the early 1920s, forming minority governments under Ramsay MacDonald in 1924 and 1929-1931. The party was in a wartime coalition from 1940 to 1945, after...
was strongly in favour,Alpert (1998) p.65 notes that rank-and-file members of the Labour Party may have been opposed. the political left in France wanted to directly aid the Republicans. The Labour Party would reject non-intervention in October 1937. The British Trades Union Congress
Trades Union Congress
The Trades Union Congress is a national trade union centre, a federation of trade unions in the United Kingdom, representing the majority of trade unions...
was split. Both the British and French governments were aware of the First World War. France was reliant on British support in general. Blum believed that support for the Republic would have led to a fascist takeover in France, and ultimately no change in Spain. In Britain, part of the reasoning was based on an exaggerated belief in Germany's and Italy's preparedness for war.
The Anglo-French arms embargo meant that the Republicans' only foreign source of matériel
Materiel
Materiel is a term used in English to refer to the equipment and supplies in military and commercial supply chain management....
was the USSR while the Nationalists received weapons from Italy and Germany and logistical support from Portugal. The last Republican prime minister, Juan Negrín
Juan Negrín
Juan Negrín y López was a Spanish politician and physician.-Early years:Born in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Negrín came from a religious middle-class family...
, hoped that a general outbreak of war in Europe would compel the European powers, mainly Britain and France, to finally help the Republic, but World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
would not commence until months after the Spanish conflict had ended. Ultimately neither Britain nor France intervened to any significant extent. Britain supplied food and medicine to the Republic, but actively discouraged the French government of Léon Blum
Léon Blum
André Léon Blum was a French politician, usually identified with the moderate left, and three times the Prime Minister of France.-First political experiences:...
from supplying weapons. The American Ambassador to Spain was to later condemn the League of Nations
League of Nations
The League of Nations was an intergovernmental organization founded as a result of the Paris Peace Conference that ended the First World War. It was the first permanent international organization whose principal mission was to maintain world peace...
Non-Intervention Committee
Non-Intervention Committee
During the Spanish Civil War, several countries followed a principle of non-intervention, which would result in the signing of the Non-Intervention Agreement in August 1936 and the setting up of the Non-Intervention Committee, which first met in September...
, saying that each of their moves had been made to serve the cause of the rebellion, and that 'This committee was the most cynical and lamentably dishonest group that history has known.' Winston Churchill
Winston Churchill
Sir Winston Leonard Spencer-Churchill, was a predominantly Conservative British politician and statesman known for his leadership of the United Kingdom during the Second World War. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest wartime leaders of the century and served as Prime Minister twice...
, initially an enthusiastic supporter of non-intervention, was later to describe the workings of this committee as 'an elaborate system of official humbug.'
Following the withdrawal of German and Italy from patrols, the French considered abandoning border controls, or perhaps leaving non-intervention. However, the French were reliant on the British, who wished to continue with patrols. Britain and France thus continued to labour over non-intervention; whilst they judged it effective, some 42 ships were estimated to have escaped inspection between April and the end of July. In trying to protect non-intervention in the Anglo-Italian meetings, which he grudgingly did, Eden would end up resigning from his post in the Foreign Office. On 17 March 1938, France reopened the border to arms traffic to the now weakened Republic.
Britain and France recognised the Nationalist government on 27 February. Clement Attlee
Clement Attlee
Clement Richard Attlee, 1st Earl Attlee, KG, OM, CH, PC, FRS was a British Labour politician who served as the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1945 to 1951, and as the Leader of the Labour Party from 1935 to 1955...
criticised the way it had been agreed, calling it 'a gross betrayal... two and a half years of hypocritical pretence of non-intervention'.
United States
Herbert Hoover
Herbert Clark Hoover was the 31st President of the United States . Hoover was originally a professional mining engineer and author. As the United States Secretary of Commerce in the 1920s under Presidents Warren Harding and Calvin Coolidge, he promoted partnerships between government and business...
was President of the United States. The U.S. was thus hostile to the new Republican government. Tensions escalated when the Manuel Azaña
Manuel Azaña
Manuel Azaña Díaz was a Spanish politician. He was the first Prime Minister of the Second Spanish Republic , and later served again as Prime Minister , and then as the second and last President of the Republic . The Spanish Civil War broke out while he was President...
government expropriated the pro-fascist ITT Corporation
ITT Corporation
ITT Corporation is a global diversified manufacturing company based in the United States. ITT participates in global markets including water and fluids management, defense and security, and motion and flow control...
. When the Civil War erupted after the failed right-wing coup, Secretary of State Cordell Hull
Cordell Hull
Cordell Hull was an American politician from the U.S. state of Tennessee. He is best known as the longest-serving Secretary of State, holding the position for 11 years in the administration of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt during much of World War II...
moved quickly to ban arms sales to the Spanish government, forcing the Popular Front to turn to the Soviet Union
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
for support. From the outset the Nationalists received important support from some elements of American business. The American-owned Vacuum Oil Company
Vacuum Oil Company
Vacuum Oil Company was an American oil company known for their Gargoyle 600-W Steam Cylinder Oil. Vacuum Oil merged with Socony Oil to form Socony-Vacuum Oil Company, and is now a part of ExxonMobil.-History:...
in Tangier
Tangier
Tangier, also Tangiers is a city in northern Morocco with a population of about 700,000 . It lies on the North African coast at the western entrance to the Strait of Gibraltar where the Mediterranean meets the Atlantic Ocean off Cape Spartel...
, for example, refused to sell to Republican ships and at the outbreak of the war, the Texas Oil Company rerouted oil tankers headed for the republic to the Nationalist controlled port of Tenerife, and supplied gasoline on credit to Franco until the war's end.
On 5 August 1936, the United States had made it known that it would follow a policy of non-intervention, but did not announce it officially. This isolationism on the Spanish war would later be identified as disastrous by Under-Secretary of State Sumner Welles
Sumner Welles
Benjamin Sumner Welles was an American government official and diplomat in the Foreign Service. He was a major foreign policy adviser to President Franklin D. Roosevelt and served as Under Secretary of State from 1937 to 1943, during FDR's presidency.-Early life:Benjamin Sumner Welles was born in...
. Five days later, the Glenn L. Martin Company
Glenn L. Martin Company
The Glenn L. Martin Company was an American aircraft and aerospace manufacturing company that was founded by the aviation pioneer Glenn L. Martin. The Martin Company produced many important aircraft for the defense of the United States and its allies, especially during World War II and the Cold War...
enquired whether the government would allow the sale of eight bombers to the Republicans; the response was negative. It also confirmed it would not take part in several mediation attempts, including by the Organization of American States
Organization of American States
The Organization of American States is a regional international organization, headquartered in Washington, D.C., United States...
. Roosevelt ruled out US interference with the words '[there should be] no expectation that the United States would ever again send troops or warships or floods of munitions and money to Europe'.
On 6 January, the first opportunity after the winter break, both houses of Congress
United States Congress
The United States Congress is the bicameral legislature of the federal government of the United States, consisting of the Senate and the House of Representatives. The Congress meets in the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C....
in the United States passed a resolution banning the export of arms to Spain.It passed by 81 to 0 in the Senate and 406 to 1 in the House of Representatives. (Thomas (1961). p. 338.) Those in opposition to the bill, including American socialists, communists and many liberals, suggested that the export of arms to Germany and Italy should be halted also under the Neutrality Act of 1935, since foreign intervention constituted a state of war in Spain. Cordell Hull
Cordell Hull
Cordell Hull was an American politician from the U.S. state of Tennessee. He is best known as the longest-serving Secretary of State, holding the position for 11 years in the administration of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt during much of World War II...
, continued to doubt the extent of German and Italian operations, despite evidence to the contrary. At the same time, the automakers Ford, Studebaker, and General Motors provided a total of 12,000 trucks to the Nationalists. After the war was over, José Maria Doussinague, who was at the time undersecretary at the Spanish Foreign Ministry said, "without American petroleum and American trucks, and American credit, we could never have won the Civil War."
Germany
Despite the German signing of a non-intervention agreement in September 1936, various forms of aid and military support were given to both sides by Nazi GermanyNazi Germany
Nazi Germany , also known as the Third Reich , but officially called German Reich from 1933 to 1943 and Greater German Reich from 26 June 1943 onward, is the name commonly used to refer to the state of Germany from 1933 to 1945, when it was a totalitarian dictatorship ruled by...
, almost all in support of the Nationalists.
This included various forms of aid and military support given to both sides by Germany, almost all in support of the Nationalist
National Faction (Spanish Civil War)
The National faction also known as Nationalists or Nationals , was a major faction in the Spanish Civil War of 1936 to 1939. It was composed of a variety of political groups opposed to the Second Spanish Republic, including the Falange, the CEDA, and two rival monarchist claimants: the Alfonsists...
faction. It included the formation of the Condor Legion
Condor Legion
The Condor Legion was a unit composed of volunteers from the German Air Force and from the German Army which served with the Nationalists during the Spanish Civil War of July 1936 to March 1939. The Condor Legion developed methods of terror bombing which were used widely in the Second World War...
as a land and air force, with German efforts to move the Army of Africa
Army of Africa
Army of Africa may refer to:*Army of Africa *Army of Africa *Panzer Army Africa...
to mainland Spain proving successful in the early stages of the war. Operations gradually expanded to include strike targets, and there was a German contribution to many of the battles of the Spanish Civil War. The bombing of Guernica
Bombing of Guernica
The bombing of Guernica was an aerial attack on the Basque town of Guernica, Spain, causing widespread destruction and civilian deaths, during the Spanish Civil War...
on 26 April 1937 would be the most controversial event of German involvement, with perhaps 200 to 300 civilians dead. German involvement was also made through various other means, including Operation Ursula, a U-boat
U-boat
U-boat is the anglicized version of the German word U-Boot , itself an abbreviation of Unterseeboot , and refers to military submarines operated by Germany, particularly in World War I and World War II...
undertaking, and contributions from the Kriegsmarine
Kriegsmarine
The Kriegsmarine was the name of the German Navy during the Nazi regime . It superseded the Kaiserliche Marine of World War I and the post-war Reichsmarine. The Kriegsmarine was one of three official branches of the Wehrmacht, the unified armed forces of Nazi Germany.The Kriegsmarine grew rapidly...
.
The Condor Legion spearheaded many Nationalist victories, particularly in the air dominance from 1937 onwards; 300 victories were claimed, dwarfed by some 900 claimed by Italian forces. Spain provided a proving ground for German tank tactics, as well as aircraft tactics, the latter only being moderately successful – ultimately, the air superiority which allowed certain parts of the Legion to excel would not be replicated because of the unsuccessful Battle of Britain
Battle of Britain
The Battle of Britain is the name given to the World War II air campaign waged by the German Air Force against the United Kingdom during the summer and autumn of 1940...
. The training they provided to Nationalist force would prove as valuable, if not more so, than direct actions. Perhaps 56,000 Nationalist soldiers were trained by various German detachments in Spain, who were technically proficient; these covered infantry, tanks and anti-tank units, air and anti-aircraft forces, and those trained in naval warfare.
Probably a total of 16,000 German citizens fought mostly as pilots, ground crew, artillery men, in tanks, and as military advisers and instructors. About 10,000 Germans was the maximum at any one time. Perhaps 300 were killed. German aid to the Nationalists amounted to approximately £43,000,000 ($215,000,000) in 1939 prices.Westwell (2004) gives a figure of 500 million Reichmarks. This was broken down in expenditure to: 15.5% used for salaries and expenses, 21.9% used for direct delivery of supplies to Spain, and 62.6% expended on the Condor Legion. (No detailed list of German supplies furnished to Spain has been found.)
Italy
The Italians provided the "Corps of Volunteer TroopsCorpo Truppe Volontarie
The Corps of Volunteer Troops was an Italian expeditionary force which was sent to Spain to support General Francisco Franco and the Spanish Nationalist forces during the Spanish Civil War...
". The use of these troops supported political goals of the German and Italian fascist leaderships, tested new tactics and provided blooding for so they would be ready for battle in any future war.
The Italian contribution amounted to over 60,000 troops at the height of the war. The involvement helped to increase Mussolini's popularity among Italian Catholics, who had remained critical of their ex-Socialist fascist Duce
Duce
Duce is an Italian title, derived from the Latin word dux, and cognate with duke. National Fascist Party leader Benito Mussolini was identified by Fascists as Il Duce of the movement and became a reference to the dictator position of Head of Government and Duce of Fascism of Italy was established...
. Italian military help to Nationalists against the anti-clerical and anti-Catholic atrocities committed by the Republican side worked well in Italian propaganda targeting Catholics. On July 27, 1936 the first squadron of Italian airplanes sent by Benito Mussolini arrived in Spain.
The government of Fascist Italy
Kingdom of Italy (1861–1946)
The Kingdom of Italy was a state forged in 1861 by the unification of Italy under the influence of the Kingdom of Sardinia, which was its legal predecessor state...
participated in the conflict via a body of volunteers from the ranks of the Italian Royal Army (Regio Esercito), Royal Air Force (Regia Aeronautica
Regia Aeronautica
The Italian Royal Air Force was the name of the air force of the Kingdom of Italy. It was established as a service independent of the Royal Italian Army from 1923 until 1946...
), and Royal Navy (Regia Marina
Regia Marina
The Regia Marina dates from the proclamation of the Kingdom of Italy in 1861 after Italian unification...
) formed into an expeditionary force known as the Corps of Volunteer Troops (Corpo Truppe Volontarie
Corpo Truppe Volontarie
The Corps of Volunteer Troops was an Italian expeditionary force which was sent to Spain to support General Francisco Franco and the Spanish Nationalist forces during the Spanish Civil War...
, CTV). The maximum number of Italians in Spain, at one time, fighting for the Nationalists, was 50,000 in 1937. Probably a total of 75,000 Italians fought in Spain for the Nationalists. Italians also served in the Spanish-Italian Flechas Brigades and Divisions. The airborne component of Aeronautica pilots and ground crew were known as "Aviation Legion" (Aviazione Legionaria
Aviazione Legionaria
The Legionary Air Force was an expeditionary corps from the Italian Royal Air Force. It was set up in 1936 and sent to provide logistical and tactical support to Francisco Franco's Nationalists during the Spanish Civil War, alongside its German equivalent, the Condor Legion, and the Italian ground...
) and the contingent of submariners as Submarine Legion (Sottomarini Legionari). 6,000 Italians are estimated to have died in the conflict. The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
correspondent in Seville, Frank L. Kluckhohn, reported on 18 August that "... the presence of the Italian destroyer Antonio da Noli here means that an ally has come to help the insurgents."
The Italian Government sent large amounts of material aid to the Nationalists. This aid included:
- one cruiser, four destroyers, and two submarines;
- 763 aircraft, including 64 Savoia-Marchetti SM.81Savoia-Marchetti SM.81The Savoia-Marchetti SM.81 Pipistrello was a three-engine bomber/transport aircraft serving in the Italian Regia Aeronautica during World War II...
bombers, at least 90 Savoia-Marchetti SM.79Savoia-Marchetti SM.79The Savoia-Marchetti SM.79 Sparviero was a three-engined Italian medium bomber with a wood and metal structure. Originally designed as a fast passenger aircraft, this low-wing monoplane, in the years 1937–39, set 26 world records that qualified it for some time as the fastest medium bomber in the...
bombers, 13 Br.20 bombers, 16 Ca.310 bombers, 44 assault planes, at least 20 seaplanes, more than 300 Fiat CR.32Fiat CR.32The Fiat CR.32 was an Italian biplane fighter used in the Spanish Civil War and World War II. This nimble little Fiat was compact, robust and highly manoeuvrable and gave impressive displays all over Europe in the hands of the Pattuglie Acrobatiche. The CR.32 fought in North and East Africa, in...
fighters, 70 Romeo 37 fighters, 28 Romeo 41 fighters and 10 other fighter planes, and 68 reconnaissance planes; - 1,801 artillery pieces, 1,426 heavy and medium mortars, 6,791 trucks, and 157 tanks;
- 320,000,000 small arms ammunition, 7,514,537 artillery rounds, 1,414 aircraft motors, 1,672 tons of aircraft bombs and 240,747 rifles.
91 Italian warships and submarines also participated in and after the war, and sank about 72,800 tons of shipping, and lost 38 sailors killed in action. Italy presented a bill for £80,000,000 ($400,000,000) in 1939 prices to the Francoists.
Italian pilots flew 135,265 hours during the war, partook in 5,318 air raids, hit 224 Republican and other ships, engaged in 266 aerial combats, and reported to have shot down 903 Republican and allied planes, and lost around 180 pilots and aircrew killed in action.
Nationalist foreign volunteers
Volunteer troops from other countries fought with the Nationalists but only a few as national units. Among the latter were Eoin O'DuffyEoin O'Duffy
Eoin O'Duffy was in succession a Teachta Dála , the Chief of Staff of the Irish Republican Army , the second Commissioner of the Garda Síochána, leader of the Army Comrades Association and then the first leader of Fine Gael , before leading the Irish Brigade to fight for Francisco Franco during...
's 700 strong Irish Brigade
Irish Brigade (Spanish Civil War)
The Irish Brigade , fought on the Nationalist side of Francisco Franco during the Spanish Civil War. The unit was formed wholly of Roman Catholics by the politician Eoin O'Duffy, who had previously organised the banned quasi-fascist Blueshirts and openly fascist Greenshirts in Ireland...
and the 500 strong French Jeanne D'Arc company of the Spanish Foreign Legion, formed mostly from members of the far-right Croix de Feu. Approximately 8,000 Portuguese, known as Viriatos
Viriatos
Viriatos, named after the Lusitanian leader Viriathus, was the generic name given to Portuguese volunteers who fought with the Nationalists in the Spanish Civil War. In the first weeks of the war the Portuguese army tried to form a Viriatos Legion to aid the right-wing insurgents in Spain...
, fought for Franco although never as a national unit. Another 1,000 volunteers from countries as diverse as Spanish Guinea, Brazil, Norway, Belgium, the UK, and Australia fought in the Nationalist ranks. In 1937 General Franco turned down separate offers of national legions from Belgium, Greece, and exiled White Russians
White Emigre
A white émigré was a Russian who emigrated from Russia in the wake of the Russian Revolution and Russian Civil War, and who was in opposition to the contemporary Russian political climate....
made by foreign sympathisers.
Ion I Moţa
Ion Mota
Ion I. Moţa [or Motza] was the Romanian fascist deputy leader of the Iron Guard killed in battle during the Spanish Civil War.-Biography:...
, Romanian deputy-leader of the Legion of the Archangel Michael (or Iron Guard
Iron Guard
The Iron Guard is the name most commonly given to a far-right movement and political party in Romania in the period from 1927 into the early part of World War II. The Iron Guard was ultra-nationalist, fascist, anti-communist, and promoted the Orthodox Christian faith...
), led a group of seven Legionaries who visited Spain in December 1936 to ally their movement to the Nationalists with the presentation of a ceremonial sword to survivors of the Alcazar siege. While in Spain the Legionaires decided, against the orders given to them in Bucharest
Bucharest
Bucharest is the capital municipality, cultural, industrial, and financial centre of Romania. It is the largest city in Romania, located in the southeast of the country, at , and lies on the banks of the Dâmbovița River....
, to join the Spanish Foreign Legion. Within days of joining Mota and Vasile Marin
Vasile Marin
Vasile Marin was a Romanian politician, public servant and lawyer. A member of the National Peasants' Party until 1932, Vasile Marin become a prominent member of the Iron Guard.- Biography :...
(another prominent Legionary) were killed on the Madrid Front at Majadahonda
Majadahonda
Majadahonda is a municipality in Spain, situated 16 km northwest of Madrid, in the Community of Madrid. In 2009 the population was 66,585 inhabitants .It lies alongside the motorway A6 Madrid-A Coruña....
.
After the ostentatious funerals of Ion Moţa and Vasile Marin
Funerals of Ion Moţa and Vasile Marin
The Funerals of Ion Moţa and Vasile Marin were a series of wide-scale manifestations in Romania. The two leaders of the Iron Guard were killed in battle on the same day, January 13, 1937, at Majadahonda during the Spanish Civil War while fighting on the side of the Nationalist Spain.The funerary...
, they became a prominent part of Legionary mythology.
Irish volunteers
Despite the declaration by the Irish government that participation in the war was illegal, around 250 Irishmen went to fight for the Republicans and around 700 of Eoin O'DuffyEoin O'Duffy
Eoin O'Duffy was in succession a Teachta Dála , the Chief of Staff of the Irish Republican Army , the second Commissioner of the Garda Síochána, leader of the Army Comrades Association and then the first leader of Fine Gael , before leading the Irish Brigade to fight for Francisco Franco during...
's followers ("The Blueshirts
The Blueshirts
The Army Comrades Association , later named the National Guard and better known by the nickname The Blueshirts , was a right-wing Irish political organisation active in the 1930s....
") went to Spain to fight on Franco's side.
On arrival, however, O'Duffy's Irish contingent refused to fight the Basques for Franco, seeing parallels between their recent struggle and Basque aspirations of independence. They saw their primary role in Spain as fighting communism, and defending Catholicism. Eoin O'Duffy's men saw little fighting in Spain and were sent home by Franco after being accidentally fired on by Spanish Nationalist troops.
International
Due to the anti-clericalism of the Republicans, many Catholic writers and intellectuals cast their lot with Franco, including Evelyn WaughEvelyn Waugh
Arthur Evelyn St. John Waugh , known as Evelyn Waugh, was an English writer of novels, travel books and biographies. He was also a prolific journalist and reviewer...
, Carl Schmitt
Carl Schmitt
Carl Schmitt was a German jurist, philosopher, political theorist, and professor of law.Schmitt published several essays, influential in the 20th century and beyond, on the mentalities that surround the effective wielding of political power...
, Hilaire Belloc
Hilaire Belloc
Joseph Hilaire Pierre René Belloc was an Anglo-French writer and historian who became a naturalised British subject in 1902. He was one of the most prolific writers in England during the early twentieth century. He was known as a writer, orator, poet, satirist, man of letters and political activist...
, Roy Campbell
Roy Campbell (poet)
Ignatius Royston Dunnachie Campbell, better known as Roy Campbell, was an Anglo-African poet and satirist. He was considered by T. S. Eliot, Dylan Thomas and Edith Sitwell to have been one of the best poets of the period between the First and Second World Wars...
, Giovanni Papini
Giovanni Papini
Giovanni Papini was an Italian journalist, essayist, literary critic, poet, and novelist.-Early life:...
, Paul Claudel
Paul Claudel
Paul Claudel was a French poet, dramatist and diplomat, and the younger brother of the sculptor Camille Claudel. He was most famous for his verse dramas, which often convey his devout Catholicism.-Life:...
, and those associated with the Action Française
Action Française
The Action Française , founded in 1898, is a French Monarchist counter-revolutionary movement and periodical founded by Maurice Pujo and Henri Vaugeois and whose principal ideologist was Charles Maurras...
. Others, such as Jacques Maritain
Jacques Maritain
Jacques Maritain was a French Catholic philosopher. Raised as a Protestant, he converted to Catholicism in 1906. An author of more than 60 books, he helped to revive St. Thomas Aquinas for modern times and is a prominent drafter of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights...
, François Mauriac
François Mauriac
François Mauriac was a French author; member of the Académie française ; laureate of the Nobel Prize in Literature . He was awarded the Grand Cross of the Légion d'honneur .-Biography:...
, and Georges Bernanos
Georges Bernanos
Georges Bernanos was a French author, and a soldier in World War I. Of Roman Catholic and monarchist leanings, he was a violent adversary to bourgeois thought and to what he identified as defeatism leading to France's defeat in 1940.-Biography:Bernanos was born at Paris, into a family of...
initially supported Franco but later grew disenchanted with both sides.
Among Spaniards, Nobel Laureate Jacinto Benavente
Jacinto Benavente
Jacinto Benavente y Martínez was one of the foremost Spanish dramatists of the 20th century. He was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1922....
and future Laureate Camilo José Cela
Camilo José Cela
Camilo José Cela y Trulock, 1st Marquis of Iria Flavia was a Spanish novelist and short story writer. He was awarded the 1989 Nobel Prize in Literature "for a rich and intensive prose, which with restrained compassion forms a challenging vision of man's vulnerability".-Biography:Cela published his...
also sided with Franco's forces. Other prominent Spanish writers and intellectuals at the time, such as Miguel de Unamuno
Miguel de Unamuno
Miguel de Unamuno y Jugo was a Spanish essayist, novelist, poet, playwright and philosopher.-Biography:...
, José Ortega y Gasset
José Ortega y Gasset
José Ortega y Gasset was a Spanish liberal philosopher and essayist working during the first half of the 20th century while Spain oscillated between monarchy, republicanism and dictatorship. He was, along with Nietzsche, a proponent of the idea of perspectivism.-Biography:José Ortega y Gasset was...
, Azorín, Ramiro de Maeztu
Ramiro de Maeztu
Ramiro de Maeztu y Whitney was a Spanish political theorist, journalist, literary critic, occasional diplomat and member of the Generation of '98....
, Ramón Pérez de Ayala
Ramón Pérez de Ayala
Ramón Pérez de Ayala was a Spanish writer. He was the Spanish ambassador to England and voluntarily exiled himself to South America because of the Spanish Civil War .-Background:...
, Ernesto Giménez Caballero
Ernesto Giménez Caballero
Ernesto Giménez Caballero , also known as Gecé, was a Spanish writer, film director, diplomat and pioneer of fascism in the country difficult to classify as an European citizen and philosopher as he can be thought as one of the Spanish surrealists not far from Russian- Polish-Italian- "French"...
, Gregorio Marañón
Gregorio Marañón
Gregorio Marañón y Posadillo was a Spanish physician, scientist, historian, writer and philosopher. He married Dolores Moya in 1911, they had four children ....
, Pedro Muñoz Seca
Pedro Muñoz Seca
Pedro Muñoz Seca was a Spanish comic playwright. He was one of the most successful playwrights of his era...
, Luis Rosales
Luis Rosales
Luis Rosales Camacho was a Spanish poet and essay writer member of the Generation of '36. Member of the Hispanic Society of America and the Royal Spanish Academy since 1962...
, Eugeni d'Ors
Eugeni d'Ors
Eugeni d’Ors i Rovira was a Catalan Spanish writer, essayist, journalist, philosopher and art critic...
, Dionisio Ridruejo
Dionisio Ridruejo
Dionisio Ridruejo Jiménez was a Spanish poet and political figure within the Falange...
, Miguel Delibes
Miguel Delibes
Miguel Delibes Setién was a Spanish novelist, journalist and newspaper editor. From 1975 until his death, he was a member of the Royal Spanish Academy, where he occupied chair "e". He studied commerce and law and began his career as a columnist and later journalist at the El Norte de Castilla...
, José María Pemán
José María Pemán
José María Pemán y Pemartín, KOGF was a Spanish journalist, poet, novelist, essayist, and right-wing intellectual....
, Josep Pla
Josep Pla
Josep Pla i Casadevall was a Catalan Spanish journalist and a popular author. As a journalist he worked in France, Italy, England, Germany and Russia, from where he wrote political and cultural chronicles in Catalan.His figure is somewhat controversial for present day Catalans...
, and Manuel Machado
Manuel Machado
Manuel Machado may refer to:*Manuel Machado , Portuguese composer of early Baroque music*Manuel Machado y Ruiz , Spanish poet, part of the Generation of '98...
all likewise saw Franco as the best option for Spain.
Other nationals
See: Nationalist Foreign Volunteers- The Portuguese furnished about 8,000 troops for the Nationalist Side, known as Viriatos after the abortive Viriatos Legion(Legião ViriatoViriatosViriatos, named after the Lusitanian leader Viriathus, was the generic name given to Portuguese volunteers who fought with the Nationalists in the Spanish Civil War. In the first weeks of the war the Portuguese army tried to form a Viriatos Legion to aid the right-wing insurgents in Spain...
). - About 700 anti-Communist Irishmen served in the Irish BrigadeIrish Brigade (Spanish Civil War)The Irish Brigade , fought on the Nationalist side of Francisco Franco during the Spanish Civil War. The unit was formed wholly of Roman Catholics by the politician Eoin O'Duffy, who had previously organised the banned quasi-fascist Blueshirts and openly fascist Greenshirts in Ireland...
under General Eoin O'DuffyEoin O'DuffyEoin O'Duffy was in succession a Teachta Dála , the Chief of Staff of the Irish Republican Army , the second Commissioner of the Garda Síochána, leader of the Army Comrades Association and then the first leader of Fine Gael , before leading the Irish Brigade to fight for Francisco Franco during...
. - Approximately 500 Frenchmen fought for the Nationalists, most in the Jeanne d'ArcJoan of ArcSaint Joan of Arc, nicknamed "The Maid of Orléans" , is a national heroine of France and a Roman Catholic saint. A peasant girl born in eastern France who claimed divine guidance, she led the French army to several important victories during the Hundred Years' War, which paved the way for the...
company of the Spanish Foreign Legion. - Over 1,000 volunteers from other nations served in the Nationalist forces, including Britons, Finns, Norwegians, White RussiansWhite movementThe White movement and its military arm the White Army - known as the White Guard or the Whites - was a loose confederation of Anti-Communist forces.The movement comprised one of the politico-military Russian forces who fought...
, Americans, Belgians, and Turks. - Probably 75,000 Moroccan RegularesRegularesThe Fuerzas Regulares Indígenas , known simply as the Regulares , were the volunteer infantry and cavalry units of the Spanish Army recruited in Spanish Morocco. They consisted of Moroccans officered by Spaniards...
fought in the Nationalist ranks. Spanish MoroccoSpanish MoroccoThe Spanish protectorate of Morocco was the area of Morocco under colonial rule by the Spanish Empire, established by the Treaty of Fez in 1912 and ending in 1956, when both France and Spain recognized Moroccan independence.-Territorial borders:...
was an independent protectorate at the time so the Moroccans were not Spanish citizens. - Despite its name, the Spanish Foreign Legion, fighting on the Nationalist side, was mostly Spaniards.
- A Legion of Romanian fascists of the Iron GuardIron GuardThe Iron Guard is the name most commonly given to a far-right movement and political party in Romania in the period from 1927 into the early part of World War II. The Iron Guard was ultra-nationalist, fascist, anti-communist, and promoted the Orthodox Christian faith...
with leader Ion MotaIon MotaIon I. Moţa [or Motza] was the Romanian fascist deputy leader of the Iron Guard killed in battle during the Spanish Civil War.-Biography:...
.
USSR
Due to the Franco-British arms embargo, the Government of the Republic could receive material aid and could purchase arms only from the Soviet UnionSoviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
. To pay for these armaments the Republicans used US$
United States dollar
The United States dollar , also referred to as the American dollar, is the official currency of the United States of America. It is divided into 100 smaller units called cents or pennies....
500 million in gold reserves. At the start of the war the Bank of Spain had the world's fourth largest reserve of gold, about US$750 million, although some assets were frozen by the French and British governments. The Soviet Union also sent more than 2,000 personnel, mainly tank
Tank
A tank is a tracked, armoured fighting vehicle designed for front-line combat which combines operational mobility, tactical offensive, and defensive capabilities...
crews and pilots
Aviator
An aviator is a person who flies an aircraft. The first recorded use of the term was in 1887, as a variation of 'aviation', from the Latin avis , coined in 1863 by G. de la Landelle in Aviation Ou Navigation Aérienne...
, who actively participated in combat, on the Republican side. Mexico
Mexico
The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
also aided the Republicans by providing rifles and food. Other countries (see below) aided the Republican side through sale of weapons and through volunteer military units. Throughout the war, the efforts of the elected government of the Republic to resist the Nazi and Fascist armies and the rebel army were hampered by Franco-British 'non-intervention', long supply lines and intermittent availability of weapons of widely variable quality. The British and French naval embargo allowed Germany and Italy to reinforce their armies in Spain; the embargo hampered only the Soviet efforts to arm the legitimate Republican government.
About 537 Soviet volunteers served in Spain at that time. The maximum number of Soviets in Spain at any one time is believed to have been 700, and the total during the war is thought to have between 2,000 — 3,000. Estimates for Soviet pilots who took part in the conflict are given at 1,000.
The Republic sent its gold reserve to the Soviet Union to pay for arms and supplies. That reserve was worth £63,000,000 ($315,000,000) in 1939 prices. In 1956, the Soviet Union announced that Spain still owed it $50,000,000. Other estimates of Soviet and Comintern aid totaled £81,000,000 ($405,000,000) in 1939 value. The German military attached estimated that Soviet and Comintern aid amounted to:
- 242 Aircraft,
- 703 pieces of artillery,
- 731 tanks,
- 1,386 trucks,
- 300 armored cars
- 15,000 heavy machine guns,
- 500,000 rifles,
- 30,000 sub-machine guns,
- 4,000,000 artillery shells,
- 1,000,000,000 machine gun cartridges,
- over 69,000 tons of war material, and
- over 29,000 tons of ammunition.
Much of this material was purchased in France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
, Czechoslovakia
Czechoslovakia
Czechoslovakia or Czecho-Slovakia was a sovereign state in Central Europe which existed from October 1918, when it declared its independence from the Austro-Hungarian Empire, until 1992...
, the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, Britain
Great Britain
Great Britain or Britain is an island situated to the northwest of Continental Europe. It is the ninth largest island in the world, and the largest European island, as well as the largest of the British Isles...
and Mexico
Mexico
The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
. Mexico furnished $2,000,000 in aid, and another $2,000,000 came from the United States for humanitarian purposes. President Lázaro Cárdenas
Lázaro Cárdenas
Lázaro Cárdenas del Río was President of Mexico from 1934 to 1940.-Early life:Lázaro Cárdenas was born on May 21, 1895 in a lower-middle class family in the village of Jiquilpan, Michoacán. He supported his family from age 16 after the death of his father...
saw the war as similar to Mexico's own revolution although a large part of Mexican society wanted a Nationalist victory. The rest of Latin America
Latin America
Latin America is a region of the Americas where Romance languages – particularly Spanish and Portuguese, and variably French – are primarily spoken. Latin America has an area of approximately 21,069,500 km² , almost 3.9% of the Earth's surface or 14.1% of its land surface area...
sympathized with the Nationalists or was neutral. The Republic was continuously swindled and short-changed in its purchases.
Modern research conducted after the collapse of the Iron Curtain
Iron Curtain
The concept of the Iron Curtain symbolized the ideological fighting and physical boundary dividing Europe into two separate areas from the end of World War II in 1945 until the end of the Cold War in 1989...
shows that Poland was second after the USSR in selling arms to the Republic. In the autumn of 1936, indeed, Poland was the only nation to offer arms to the Republic in any quantity. At that time the Republic was in great need as the Nationalists were at Madrid.
The Republic also made poor buys for ammunition. The arms trade has a standard that with every rifle, 1,000 rounds of ammunition are included; with every machine gun, 10,000 rounds are included; and with every artillery piece, 2,400 shells should be included. Otherwise the hardware quickly becomes useless for lack of ammunition. A great bulk of the purchases fell far short of this standard.
Soviet foreign policy considered collective security against German fascism a priority, the Comintern
Comintern
The Communist International, abbreviated as Comintern, also known as the Third International, was an international communist organization initiated in Moscow during March 1919...
had agreed a similar approach in 1934. It walked a thin line between pleasing France and not being seen to hinder the World revolution
World revolution
World revolution is the Marxist concept of overthrowing capitalism in all countries through the conscious revolutionary action of the organized working class...
and communist ideals. This was also the time of the first significant trials of the Old Bolsheviks in Russia. Soviet press and opposition groups were entirely against non-intervention; Soviet actions could hardly had been further from the goal of spreading the revolution.
Mexico
The Mexican Republic supported fully and publicly the claim of the Madrid government and the Republicans. Mexico refused to follow the French-British non-intervention proposals. President Lázaro CárdenasLázaro Cárdenas
Lázaro Cárdenas del Río was President of Mexico from 1934 to 1940.-Early life:Lázaro Cárdenas was born on May 21, 1895 in a lower-middle class family in the village of Jiquilpan, Michoacán. He supported his family from age 16 after the death of his father...
saw the war as similar to Mexico's own revolution although a large part of Mexican society wanted a Nationalist victory. Mexico's attitude gave immense moral comfort to the Republic, especially since the major Latin American governments—those of Argentina
Argentina
Argentina , officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America by land area, after Brazil. It is constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires...
, Brazil, Chile
Chile
Chile ,officially the Republic of Chile , is a country in South America occupying a long, narrow coastal strip between the Andes mountains to the east and the Pacific Ocean to the west. It borders Peru to the north, Bolivia to the northeast, Argentina to the east, and the Drake Passage in the far...
, and Peru
Peru
Peru , officially the Republic of Peru , is a country in western South America. It is bordered on the north by Ecuador and Colombia, on the east by Brazil, on the southeast by Bolivia, on the south by Chile, and on the west by the Pacific Ocean....
—sympathized more or less openly with the Nationalists. But Mexican aid could mean relatively little in practical terms if the French border were closed and if the dictators remained free to supply the Nationalists with a quality and quantity of weapons far beyond the power of Mexico.
Mexico furnished $2,000,000 in aid and provided some material assistance, which included a small amount of American-made aircraft such as the Bellanca CH-300
Bellanca CH-300
-References:NotesCitationsBibliography* Szurovy, Geza. Bushplanes. St. Paul, Minnesota: Zenith Press, 2004. ISBN 0-7603-1478-0.* Taylor, Michael J.H. Jane's Encyclopedia of Aviation. London: Studio Editions, 1989, p. 149.-External links:* *...
and Spartan Zeus
Spartan Aircraft Company
The Spartan Aircraft Company was an American aircraft manufacturing company formerly known as Mid-Continent Aircraft Company and reorganized under the Spartan name in 1928 by oil baron William G. Skelly in Tulsa, Oklahoma. The manufacturing plant was on Sheridan Avenue near the Tulsa Municipal...
that served in the Mexican Air Force
Mexican Air Force
The Mexican Air Force is the aviation branch of the Mexican Army and depends on the National Defense Secretariat . Since 2008, its commander is Gen...
.
International
Volunteers from many countries fought in Spain, most of them on the Republican side. About 32,000 men and women fought in the International BrigadesInternational Brigades
The International Brigades were military units made up of volunteers from different countries, who traveled to Spain to defend the Second Spanish Republic in the Spanish Civil War between 1936 and 1939....
including the American Lincoln Battalion
Abraham Lincoln Brigade
The Abraham Lincoln Brigade refers to volunteers from the United States who served in the Spanish Civil War in the International Brigades. They fought for Spanish Republican forces against Franco and the Spanish Nationalists....
and Canadian Mackenzie–Papineau Battalion, organized in close conjunction with the Comintern
Comintern
The Communist International, abbreviated as Comintern, also known as the Third International, was an international communist organization initiated in Moscow during March 1919...
to aid the Spanish Republicans. Perhaps another 3,000 fought as members of the Confederación Nacional del Trabajo
Confederación Nacional del Trabajo
The Confederación Nacional del Trabajo is a Spanish confederation of anarcho-syndicalist labor unions affiliated with the International Workers Association . When working with the latter group it is also known as CNT-AIT...
(CNT) and the Workers' Party of Marxist Unification (POUM
Poum
Poum is a commune in the North Province of New Caledonia, an overseas territory of France in the Pacific Ocean. The town of Poum is located in the far northwest, located on the southern part of Banare Bay, with Mouac Island just offshore....
) militias. Those fighting with POUM most famously included George Orwell
George Orwell
Eric Arthur Blair , better known by his pen name George Orwell, was an English author and journalist...
and the small ILP Contingent
ILP Contingent
The British Independent Labour Party sent a small contingent to fight in the Spanish Civil War. The contingent fought with the Workers' Party of Marxist Unification and included George Orwell, who subsequently wrote about his experiences in his widely-read account Homage to Catalonia.-Contingent...
. While not supported officially, many American volunteers such as the Abraham Lincoln Brigade
Abraham Lincoln Brigade
The Abraham Lincoln Brigade refers to volunteers from the United States who served in the Spanish Civil War in the International Brigades. They fought for Spanish Republican forces against Franco and the Spanish Nationalists....
fought for the Republicans.
'Spain' became the cause célèbre
Cause célèbre
A is an issue or incident arousing widespread controversy, outside campaigning and heated public debate. The term is particularly used in connection with celebrated legal cases. It is a French phrase in common English use...
for the left-leaning intelligentsia across the Western world, and many prominent artists and writers entered the Republic's service. As well, it attracted a large number of foreign left-wing working class men, for whom the war offered not only idealistic adventure but also an escape from post-Depression unemployment. Among the more famous foreigners participating on the Republic's side was George Orwell
George Orwell
Eric Arthur Blair , better known by his pen name George Orwell, was an English author and journalist...
, who went on to write about his experiences in Homage to Catalonia
Homage to Catalonia
Homage to Catalonia is political journalist and novelist George Orwell's personal account of his experiences and observations in the Spanish Civil War. The first edition was published in 1938. The book was not published in the United States until February 1952. The American edition had a preface...
. Orwell's novel Animal Farm
Animal Farm
Animal Farm is an allegorical novella by George Orwell published in England on 17 August 1945. According to Orwell, the book reflects events leading up to and during the Stalin era before World War II...
was loosely inspired by his experiences and those of other members of POUM at the hands of Stalinists when the Popular Front began to fight within itself, as were the torture scenes in Nineteen Eighty-Four
Nineteen Eighty-Four
Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell is a dystopian novel about Oceania, a society ruled by the oligarchical dictatorship of the Party...
. Hemingway's novel For Whom the Bell Tolls
For Whom the Bell Tolls
For Whom the Bell Tolls is a novel by Ernest Hemingway published in 1940. It tells the story of Robert Jordan, a young American in the International Brigades attached to a republican guerrilla unit during the Spanish Civil War. As an expert in the use of explosives, he is assigned to blow up a...
was inspired by his experiences in Spain. George Seldes
George Seldes
George Seldes was an American investigative journalist and media critic. The writer and critic Gilbert Seldes was his younger brother. Actress Marian Seldes is his niece....
reported on the war for the New York Post
New York Post
The New York Post is the 13th-oldest newspaper published in the United States and is generally acknowledged as the oldest to have been published continuously as a daily, although – as is the case with most other papers – its publication has been periodically interrupted by labor actions...
. The third part of Laurie Lee
Laurie Lee
Laurence Edward Alan "Laurie" Lee, MBE was an English poet, novelist, and screenwriter, raised in the village of Slad, and went to Marling School, Gloucestershire. His most famous work was an autobiographical trilogy which consisted of Cider with Rosie , As I Walked Out One Midsummer Morning and...
's autobiographical trilogy, A Moment of War, is also based on his Civil War experiences. Norman Bethune
Norman Bethune
Henry Norman Bethune was a Canadian physician and medical innovator. Bethune is best known for his service in war time medical units during the Spanish Civil War and with the Communist Eighth Route Army during the Second Sino-Japanese War...
used the opportunity to develop the special skills of battlefield medicine
Battlefield medicine
Battlefield medicine, also called field surgery and later combat casualty care, is the treatment of wounded soldiers in or near an area of combat. Civilian medicine has been greatly advanced by procedures that were first developed to treat the wounds inflicted during combat...
. As a casual visitor, Errol Flynn
Errol Flynn
Errol Leslie Flynn was an Australian-born actor. He was known for his romantic swashbuckler roles in Hollywood films, being a legend and his flamboyant lifestyle.-Early life:...
used a fake report of his death at the battlefront to promote his movies. In the Philippines, a pro-Republican magazine named Democracia had writers including anti-fascist Spaniards and Filipino-Spaniards as well as Filipino progressives like Pedro Abad Santos, chairman of the Socialist Party, and Bishop Gregorio Aglipay of the Philippine Independent Church.
Many artists with right-wing sympathies, such as Ezra Pound
Ezra Pound
Ezra Weston Loomis Pound was an American expatriate poet and critic and a major figure in the early modernist movement in poetry...
, Gertrude Stein
Gertrude Stein
Gertrude Stein was an American writer, poet and art collector who spent most of her life in France.-Early life:...
, Salvador Dalí
Salvador Dalí
Salvador Domènec Felip Jacint Dalí i Domènech, Marquis de Púbol , commonly known as Salvador Dalí , was a prominent Spanish Catalan surrealist painter born in Figueres,Spain....
, Wyndham Lewis
Wyndham Lewis
Percy Wyndham Lewis was an English painter and author . He was a co-founder of the Vorticist movement in art, and edited the literary magazine of the Vorticists, BLAST...
, Robert Brasillach
Robert Brasillach
Robert Brasillach was a French author and journalist. Brasillach is best known as the editor of Je suis partout, a nationalist newspaper which came to advocate various fascist movements and supported Jacques Doriot...
, and Pierre Drieu La Rochelle
Pierre Drieu La Rochelle
Pierre Eugène Drieu La Rochelle was a French writer of novels, short stories and political essays, who lived and died in Paris...
voiced support for the Nationalists. Brasillach collaborated with Maurice Bardèche
Maurice Bardèche
Maurice Bardèche was a French essayist, literary and art critic, journalist, and one of the leading exponents of Neo-Fascism in post-World War II Europe...
on his own Histoire de la Guerre d'Espagne and the protagonist in Drieu La Rochelle's novel Gille travels to Spain to fight with the Falange. Wyndham Lewis's The Revenge for Love details what he saw as the Communist intrigue leading to war.
International Brigades
International Brigades
The International Brigades were military units made up of volunteers from different countries, who traveled to Spain to defend the Second Spanish Republic in the Spanish Civil War between 1936 and 1939....
(which probably never exceeded 20,000 at any one time). An estimated 3,000 volunteers fought in other Republican forces during the conflict. Additionally, about 10,000 foreigners participated in medical, nursing, and engineering capacities.
The International Brigades
International Brigades
The International Brigades were military units made up of volunteers from different countries, who traveled to Spain to defend the Second Spanish Republic in the Spanish Civil War between 1936 and 1939....
included 9,000 Frenchmen, of whom 1,000 were killed; 5,000 Germans and Austrians of whom 2,000 died, and also about 3,000 from Poland at the time
Second Polish Republic
The Second Polish Republic, Second Commonwealth of Poland or interwar Poland refers to Poland between the two world wars; a period in Polish history in which Poland was restored as an independent state. Officially known as the Republic of Poland or the Commonwealth of Poland , the Polish state was...
. The next highest number was from Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
with 3,350 men. Then came the United States (2,800 men with 900 killed) and Britain (2,000 with 500 killed). There were also 1,500 Czechs; 1,500 Yugoslavs
Yugoslavia
Yugoslavia refers to three political entities that existed successively on the western part of the Balkans during most of the 20th century....
; 1,500 Canadians; 1,000 Hungarians and 1,000 Scandinavians, about half of whom were Swedes. The rest came from a "claimed" 53 countries. Seventy-six Swiss were killed and 90 Mexicans fought. Perhaps 3,000 of the volunteers were Jewish. About 200 volunteers were from Palestine (of Jewish and Arab origin).
Approximately one third of Irishmen who fought for Republicans died, a group composed primarily of socialists, trade unionists, and former IRA members. The "Connolly Column
Connolly Column
The Connolly Column was the name given to the Irish volunteers who fought for the Second Spanish Republic in the International Brigades during the Spanish Civil War. They were named after James Connolly, the executed leader of the Irish Citizen Army...
" of the International Brigades was named after the Irish socialist leader executed after 1916 Easter Rising, James Connolly.
Foreign correspondents
Foreign press coverage of the Spanish Civil War was extensive, with around a thousand foreign newspaper correspondents working from Spain.See also
- SS CantabriaSS CantabriaThe SS Cantabria was a Spanish cargo ship which was sunk in a military action of the Spanish Civil War, off the coast of Norfolk 12 miles ENE of Cromer on 2 November 1938...
Military forces and aid
- Corpo Truppe VolontarieCorpo Truppe VolontarieThe Corps of Volunteer Troops was an Italian expeditionary force which was sent to Spain to support General Francisco Franco and the Spanish Nationalist forces during the Spanish Civil War...
- Italian expeditionary forces- Regio Esercito ItalianoRoyal Italian ArmyThe Regio Esercito was the army of the Kingdom of Italy from the unification of Italy in 1861 to the birth of the Italian Republic in 1946...
- Royal Italian Army - Aviazione LegionariaAviazione LegionariaThe Legionary Air Force was an expeditionary corps from the Italian Royal Air Force. It was set up in 1936 and sent to provide logistical and tactical support to Francisco Franco's Nationalists during the Spanish Civil War, alongside its German equivalent, the Condor Legion, and the Italian ground...
(Aviation Legion) - Italian expeditionary air force - Regia Aeronautica ItalianaRegia AeronauticaThe Italian Royal Air Force was the name of the air force of the Kingdom of Italy. It was established as a service independent of the Royal Italian Army from 1923 until 1946...
- Royal Italian Air Force - La Regia Marina ItalianaRegia MarinaThe Regia Marina dates from the proclamation of the Kingdom of Italy in 1861 after Italian unification...
- Royal Italian Navy
- Regio Esercito Italiano
- Legion Condor - German expeditionary forces
- LuftwaffeLuftwaffeLuftwaffe is a generic German term for an air force. It is also the official name for two of the four historic German air forces, the Wehrmacht air arm founded in 1935 and disbanded in 1946; and the current Bundeswehr air arm founded in 1956....
- German Air force - HeerWehrmachtThe Wehrmacht – from , to defend and , the might/power) were the unified armed forces of Nazi Germany from 1935 to 1945. It consisted of the Heer , the Kriegsmarine and the Luftwaffe .-Origin and use of the term:...
- German Army - KriegsmarineKriegsmarineThe Kriegsmarine was the name of the German Navy during the Nazi regime . It superseded the Kaiserliche Marine of World War I and the post-war Reichsmarine. The Kriegsmarine was one of three official branches of the Wehrmacht, the unified armed forces of Nazi Germany.The Kriegsmarine grew rapidly...
- German Navy Submarine units
- Luftwaffe
- Fuerza Aérea de la República Española (FARE) - Second Republic and Soviet Air forces
- Polish Brigade in Spain - Dąbrowszczacy
Military operations
- Operation Ursula - Uboat
- Operation RügenBombing of GuernicaThe bombing of Guernica was an aerial attack on the Basque town of Guernica, Spain, causing widespread destruction and civilian deaths, during the Spanish Civil War...
- Legion Condor
Economic aid and dealings
- Rio Tinto Mining ConcernRio Tinto GroupThe Rio Tinto Group is a diversified, British-Australian, multinational mining and resources group with headquarters in London and Melbourne. The company was founded in 1873, when a multinational consortium of investors purchased a mine complex on the Rio Tinto river, in Huelva, Spain from the...
- Moscow goldMoscow goldThe term Moscow Gold , or alternatively, Gold of the Republic , refers to the operation by which 510 tonnes of gold, corresponding to 72.6% of the total gold reserves of the Bank of Spain, were transferred from their original location in Madrid to the Soviet Union a few months after the...
Sources
- Thomas, HughHugh ThomasHugh Thomas , is a British historian and life peer.Hugh Thomas may also refer to:* Hugh Thomas , American choral conductor, pianist and educator* Hugh Thomas , Australian rules football coach...
, The Spanish Civil War, 1961 (1st Ed) - Thomas, Hugh The Spanish Civil War, 1986 (3rd Ed) ISBN 9780060142780
- Thomas, Hugh The Spanish Civil War, 2001 (4th Ed) ISBN 9780375755156
- Beevor, AntonyAntony BeevorAntony James Beevor, FRSL is a British historian, educated at Winchester College and Sandhurst. He studied under the famous military historian John Keegan. Beevor is a former officer with the 11th Hussars who served in England and Germany for five years before resigning his commission...
, The Spanish Civil War, 2001 (Reissued) ISBN 9780141001487 - Beevor, Antony, The Battle for Spain, Penguin Books, 2006. ISBN 9780143037651
- Howson, Gerald Arms for Spain, The Untold Story of the Spanish Civil War, 1998 ISBN 9780719555565
- Ascherson, Neal How Moscow robbed Spain of its gold in the Civil War, Guardian Media Group, 1998: review of Gerald Howson, Arms For Spain. Accessed 12 October 2006.
- Spartacus Schoolnet: Soviet Union Series on the Spanish Civil War. Accessed 12 October 2006.
- Compass: The Soviet Union and the Spanish Civil War, April 1996, No. 123 (published by Communist League, UK). Accessed 12 October 2006.
- Othen, Christopher. Franco's International Brigades: Foreign Volunteers and Fascist Dictators in the Spanish Civil War (Reportage PressReportage PressReportage Press is a publishing house specialising in "books on foreign affairs or set in foreign countries, or just books written from a stranger's view."...
, 2008) - Preston, Paul A Concise History of the Spanish Civil War, (London, 1986), p. 107 ISBN 9780006863731
- Podmore, Will Britain, Italy, Germany and the Spanish Civil War ISBN 9780773484917