An analysis of the Spanish Civil War

A la Sun Tzu;
http://www.dtic.mil/cgi-bin/GetTRDoc?AD=ADA441543&Location=U2&doc=GetTRDoc.pdf

The conclusion is that "the Republicans lost the SCW, but their principles triumphed in the end." To this I would amend SOME of the Republican elements had their principles validated (and I think that most Spaniards are thankful in retrospect that Hispana did not become a Red Satellite state).

JeffinMNUSA

 

Coments about the Link: GOOFS

A) The King was Alfonso XIII. NOT Alfonso VIII , this was the king of Alarcos and Las Navas de Tolosa (Main victory in the whole Reconquista of the chrisians Realms against the Muslims) Yes, the guys changed a X for a V, but it gave me the chance to mention Las Navas .

Basque region of Asturias ????? No man , no.

B) 1931 - 1936 NO mention of the 1934 Revolution The agrarian reforms started in 1932 and the conservative parties keep it.

C) Religious prosecution: "Azaña closed the catholic schools to protec them from arson" No comets needed.

NO mention about the political murders of these days, and the impunity of the criminals, no mention of the death of Calvo Sotelo

No mention of the "Ley de defensa de la República".

D) The revolt started th july 17 with the Franco's flight to the Spanish Morocco, where was The Legion. The next july 18 started the "Alzamiento" . Bando de Estado de Guerra de 18 de Julio

E) The foreing Legion was FRENCH , in Spain was Just "LA LEGION". No mention of the politics INSIDE the republican Army.

F) Surprisingly long reference to the bombing of Guernica, regardless of whether the current studies put the casualties at no more than 400.

G) Great Britain an France refused to help the Republic before the Soviet intervention. In fact France sended more or less clandestinely may planes and weapons. (Bloom goverment was leftisch). Italy provided far more than 250 planes.

H) Mention of Geroge Orwell, NO MENTION of the POUM, o the Homage to Catalonia ... 1984 ...

I) Mention of the Nationalist brutal represion ... NO mention of the republican murders, more than 50.000 felllows killed in a constant retreat.

J) "The nationalist used saboteurs" "fifth column" OH GOD , it was just PROPAGANDA, this was the excuse (argument still used) to kill 8.000 in Madrid, including women and children. They were "enemies of the proletarian revolution"...

H) The partisan "guerrillas" , The maquis , was POST SCW, in fact we don´t need any advisors to launch the guerrilla. What Stalin did with his SCW veterans was to shot them , almost a good part. The purgues, you know.

I) The republicans had lost the war but their principles ultimately triumphed .

Well, Spain now is a parliamentary Monarchy, upss... not a Democratic Republic of the tipe of such a good part of the Frente Popular wanted and fought for. They were defeted. And ultimately, Franco too.

 

Efestos;
There has been this ignoring of the evils committed by some in the Republican forces- and a total blackout on the doings of the NKVD-since Hemmingway. Why? Well it was not what people in academic circles wanted to hear. I myself had been led to believe that the Hemmingway version of the SCW was the correct one, until I met a Spanish lady who called all that into question. Now a historical researcher who ignores evidence because it is inconvenient to his or her ideology is committing a grievous crime of omission-no different than a medical researcher who ignores the facts. Why is not the Hemmingway version of SCW being called a propagandistic fraud? Hemmingway may have been a great writer but he committed an injustice to the cause of a true understanding of the SCW by not reporting the simple truth. I myself have had some experience with news reporters who slant their coverage but that is another story. Hemmingway and the murder of Jose Robles; http://www.webster.edu/~corbetre/personal/reading/koch-robles.html
JeffinMNUSA

PS. So what would have happened if the Republic would have survived or triumphed? Well Hitler would certainly have invaded as he would not have left an NKVD dominated state in his rear. He did seriously consider invading Francoist Spain as it was. I am part way into the Spanish Blue Legion's adventures on the Volhkhov river, and the reason the Azuls stayed on the line after suffering such terrible casualties in the Winter of '41-'42 was to prove something about the qualities of the Spanish fighting man to the Germans (it is interesting that Hitler did not arm his ally as an elite division but rather as a normal Wehrmacht frontline division-ie. bolt action rifles, horse drawn transport, "on the march" training and etc). A thread on Franco and Hitler and the complexities of the situation; http://www.armchairgeneral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=72074 An interesting point that one of the posters alledges is that Spanish agriculture had been devastated by the Civil War and the country had become dependant on Western imports.

 

I guess Mr Hemmingway didn't go out of the Hotel Florida in la Gran Vía, Madrid.

Well, After suffering a revolutionary process in more than half the country, agriculture had to be in a deplorable situation. Moreover appointed minister of agriculture to a guy of the Falange, which implemented a system of public intervention in agricultural production, with the usual disastrous outcome.

The lack of gasoline and the destruction of part of the rail material did not help either the production or distribution of food.

 

Efestos;

guess Mr Hemmingway didn't go out of the Hotel Florida in la Gran Vía, Madrid.
Well middle aged drunkards do not have a lot of physical energy. Too bad Ernest fell down on this job-he could have authored a timeless epic, instead of an insipid piece of propaganda.
JeffinMNUSA