Posted on 10/23/2010 6:56:56 PM PDT by tesbassa
I have thought for nearly twenty years that the social divisions and the alliances within the United States bear a remarkable parallel to those of Spain just prior to the SCW. We don’t want to go there, but it is a real possibility.
It is unfortunate that almost all of the English language literature for this period is decidedly partisan leftist.
btt
“against the barbarism imported from Russia.”
With some help from traitorous American Marxists like the Abraham Lincoln Brigade.
I have read Combat Over Spain by Jose de Larios. He presents more truth about the origins of the war in about 12 pages than in any twelve volumes at a typical public library.
Homage to Catalonia by George Orwell is essential reading for the period too. Very fascinating, as Orwell was a dedicated, Trotskyite leftist who barely escaped with his life from his more Stalinist “comrades”.
The Passionate War by Peter Wyden is left of center, but not insanely so, and does candidly present a lot of the chicanery flourishing between the Kremlin and Madrid, and puts in proper context the relative amounts of ‘foreign assistance’ from Moscow and Paris on one hand, and Rome and Berlin on the other. It was interesting to read of the transfer of virtually all of Spain’s gold bullion from the treasury into Soviet vessels. Quite Wagnerian. Ironic that some of Moctezuma’s gold may now be in the hands of Soros.
The “Abraham Lincoln Brigade” was a very small part of the foreign involvement in the Spanish Civil War. Most of the Brigade members were European leftist.
In addition to the International Brigade, the Soviet Union sent arms and “volunteers”, pilots and ground troops.
Mexico provided $2,000,000 plus 20,000 rifles and 8 pieces of artillery. The Mexicans also provided ground troops. (Although the exact number is difficult to find and historically the combat effectiveness of Mexican troops has been... well...)
Got any reading recommendations for us, either in English or Spanish? I’d be chipping away at the Spanish with a dictionary close at hand, but I could fight my way through. I’m still looking for a good French work on the war in the Vendee, too.
Freep-mail me to get on or off my pro-life and Catholic List:
Please ping me to note-worthy Pro-Life or Catholic threads, or other threads of general interest.
Thanks very much - always happy to save a few bucks these days!
I will check out The Last Crusade.
Orwell is a great read for a number of reasons. Besides the gritty, personal view of the SCW from the Republican trenches, Homage to Catalonia IS WHERE he was enlightened about what the collectivist left is truly and bloodily about. Probably 1984 and certainly Animal Farm would never have been written without Orwell’s experiences recounted in Homage to Catalonia. This was the point at which his non-conformist, left but anti-communist views were crystallized.
Was Franco really that bad of a person? Did he kill millions like Mao, Stalin or Pol Pot, all communists?
Did he seek to wipe out the jewish relgion like Hitler?
He hated communists. HE may have sent help to Hitler, but it was the “Blue Divison” that was made up of soliders that Franco saw as extreme. And those troops fought Russian and didnt really like the German much either. They once held a parade and marched with inflated condoms tied to their bayonets.
The real reason that the left hated Franco was that he fought against leftists. If he towed the Stalin line, he would be a heron in their eyes.
“The “Abraham Lincoln Brigade” was a very small part of the foreign involvement in the Spanish Civil War.”
Yes, I know, but as they were American leftists, their treachery especially should not be forgotten by us.
“Was Franco really that bad of a person?”
Well, I don’t know if he was good or bad as a person, but he hated Commies, that’s for sure. The enemy of my enemy is my friend, and all that :)
I have always found it interesting OTOH that even Franco's hostile biographers have to include the good he did. Look for accounts of his speech in dedicating Spain's Valley of the Dead cemetery which holds the remains of those who died on all sides of the Spanish Civil War, for his steadfast refusal to engage in even discussions of politics (also a Spanish military tradition of refraining) before the Spanish Civil War and for his decision to call from his post in the Canary Islands his friend who was the commander of the garrison at Spanish Morocco to launch the Civil War upon learning of the rape and murder by communist army units ofa large convent of nuns. First he said a rosary and then he made the phone call. Also seek out the story of the defense of the Alcazar fortress and the sacrificial death of a noble son of a Franco general.
Communists everywhere hated Francisco Franco and Chiang Kai-Shek more than they hated anyone else. Each was a genuine hero.
My favorite historian in English of modern Spain is Stanley Payne. He is not left-wing and analyzes the situation more objectively than just about anybody else. Below is a list of some of his books that are relevant to this topic:
A History of Spain and Portugal, 1973
Spanish Catholicism: An Historical Overview, 1984
The Franco Regime 1936-1975, 1988
Spain’s First Democracy: The Second Republic, 1931-1936, 1993
Fascism in Spain 1923-1977, 2000
The Spanish Civil War, the Soviet Union, and Communism 1931-1939, 2004
The Collapse of the Spanish Republic, 1933-1936, 2006
Franco and Hitler: Spain, Germany, and World War II, 2008
In Spanish, Pio Moa is a good writer on modern Spanish history, as is Cesar Vidal. I don’t think the work of either one of them has been translated into English, unfortunately, and their books might be hard to get in the US. You could check Amazon or its Spanish on-line equivalent, La Casa del Libro.
Another interesting book is La Gran Persecucion - Espana, 1931-1939, by Vicente Carcel Orti. Again, it’s only in Spanish, and is quite bloodcurdling. The extent of the left’s attack on the Church (not only the heirarchy and priests and religious, but even lay Catholics who were active in their parishes or in church organizations) has NEVER been discussed in the US.
I knew Franco HAD to be a good guy because the Left hated him so much. They still do (See the movie Pan’s Labyrinth). However history shows a very different view of this so-called Fascist in the books “Spain, the Jews, and Franco” by Chaim Avni and The Mezuzah in the Madonna’s Foot: Marranos and Other Secret Jews: A Woman Discovers Her Hidden Identity by Trudi Alexy.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.