Foreign Intervention for the Nationalist Victory in the Spanish Civil War - Coursework Example

How Far Was Foreign Intervention Responsible for the National Victory in the Spanish Civil War? Section A: Plan of the Investigation The following investigation is going to tackle the way foreign intervention was accountable for the victory of Nationalists in the Spanish Civil War. This topic is actually of everlasting importance especially nowadays when military conflicts reached their zenith in many parts of the globe. For this purpose, I am going to draw on the historical and the critical method to question the credibility of the tragic events pertinent to the Spanish Civil War. I am also going to use varied sources, namely books and articles and essays that are available in the World Wide Web. The sole objective of my investigation is to measure the tremendous impact which certain foreign countries exerted on the Spanish Civil War and whether they are to be held guilty and blameworthy for supporting the rebellious subjects during the Civil War or not. From this perspective, it seems relevant to address the following question: to what extent was foreign intervention responsible for the National victory in the Spanish Civil War? Section B: Summary of Evidence Waged between the Republicans and the Nationalists for a period of three years (from 1936 to 1939), the Spanish Civil War was indeed a ferocious conflict that has both destroyed and devastated Spain. The conflict has began immediately after an attempt of a coup d’état triggered by a herd of dissatisfied Spanish Army generals who declared themselves the new authority in Spain wielding much excessive power. Remarkable is that the hierarchy of the Catholic Church, the Spanish landlords and some of the industrialists and financiers did not hesitate an instance to afford instinctive and unconditioned support to the military insurgency. These people have developed some kind of phobia and aversion for the elected government’s schemes for reform and sought to create a state of chaos and disorder in Spain with the aid of some foreign countries. My intervention therefore is to shed light on the divergent aspects of the Spanish Civil war, focusing mainly on the way foreign countries intervened in it in shaping National victory. As a matter of fact, the rebellious Spanish subjects were backed up by the conservative Spanish Confederation of the Autonomous Right (Confederación Española de Derechas Autónomas, or C.E.D.A), monarchists known as Carlist groups, and the Fascist Falange (Falange Española de las J.O.N.S.).1 Prominently, the military purely Spanish conflict has ended with the defeat of the Republican government, the victory of the right-wing generals and the foundation of a dictatorship under the auspices of General Francisco Franco. The outcome of the Civil War has also shown that the right-wing parties would soon join the state party of the Franco regime. The most striking point about the Spanish Civil War was the fact that the Republicans did receive great support from both the Soviet Union and Mexico. Whereas, the proponents of the rebellion, the Nacionales (Nationals) as the Spanish people call them, did receive great military support from their neighboring country Portugal, the Nazi Germany and the Fascist Italy. Scholars who historicized the Spanish Civil War alleged that the United States was somewhat impartial and it did not side with any party as far as the internal Spanish military conflict is concerned. Nevertheless, it should be emphasized that some corporations from U.S such as Texaco, General Motors, Ford Motors and The Firestone Tire and Rubber Company have all endowed greatly the Nationalist rebellious subjects with their constant supply of trucks, tires, machine tools and fuel.2 Paul Preston tells us: “The pro-Nazi president of Texaco oil company, Thorkild Rieber, for instance, risked six million dollars by supplying the fascist Nationalists with a substantial proportion of their oil needs on credit. He was penalized with a small fine.”3 It is obvious that the Spanish Civil war has led to many tensions all over Europe in the lead-up to World War II. Political analysts, at that time, would remark the numerous misunderstandings and communication breakdown between the Communist Soviet Union, the the Fascist Italy and Germany. Dubbed as “the first media war”, the Spanish Civil War prompted both writers and journalists to develop long essays and articles in an attempt from them to “to support the cause”.4 Not surprising is that some very outstanding and celebrated figures have covered the war, including for example the American writer and journalist Ernest Hemingway, the greatest correspondent of the 20th century American travel writer and journalist Martha Gellhorn, the English author George Orwell and the Hungarian great war photojournalist Robert Capa. It is worthwhile mentioning that the nationalists or the disciples of Franco found it difficult to win the war which lasted for about three bloody years. Many atrocities and massacres were committed on both sides of the war. Apart from the military fighters, many civilians were injured, killed and detained due to their political inclinations or their religious beliefs by both sides. We may venture that “the Civil War had been won by a rightist coalition which had arisen in response to the reformist challenge of the Second Republic. Franco rarely missed an opportunity to boast that he had eliminated the legacy of the Enlightenment, the French Revolution and other symbols of modernity.”5 Section C: Evaluation of Sources Obtaining sufficient and adequate information relevant to our investigation is not an easy and effortless experience. Undeniably, a galaxy of hurdles is most likely to hinder the investigation process we are undertaking. These hurdles have to do with the validity and the reliability of the collected pieces of information. Hence, due to certain factors which may be political, religious or racial, authors of a given source are a little bit subjective in their views and apprehension of the Spanish Civil War. Paul Preston, the British historian and Hispanist and the director of the Cañada Centre for Contemporary Spanish Studies, London School of Economics and Political Studies was harsh against Francisco Franco and his troops. He seems to sympathize with the Republicans instead and, in many situations, he was dwelling on his political background and giving his own judgments towards the Spanish Civil War. In this respect, he is quoted as saying that the rebel Franco wasnt a fascist, but something worse simply because he utilized the African mentality of repression and mistreated the Spanish government. The purpose of Paul Preston in his book The Spanish Civil War, it should be argued, is not clearly articulated, but it appears that his purpose is to delineate in minute details the cruelty of Franco’s regime and his association with the Spanish conservatives, the German, Italian and Portuguese fascist governments, big business in the US and elsewhere and also the Catholic Church. The author of The Spanish Civil War, I think, did not hinge on reliable sources as he was merely narrating the incidents of the war. He had not involved foreign participants who were omnipresent like eye-witnesses in the Spanish Civil War and, at times, the statistics he introduces prove inaccurate and dubious. Another source that is less reliable is Wikipedia given its accessibility to a large audience and the tendency of the latter to add if not delete certain data with much freedom. Historians, therefore, ought to be too much circumspect while using this source since it is biased. Let’s consider for example the following quotation that is available in Wikipedia: “The Spanish Civil War had large numbers of non-Spanish citizens participating in combat and advisory positions.”6 The reader feels as if the Spanish Civil war is turning out to be a global war wherein the whole world is involved. The problem with the quotation is that it does not specify the nationalities of these citizens. Such generalizations, you may agree, can lead to lots of misunderstandings amidst nations worldwide. Section D: Analysis There is no doubt that many countries have somehow interfered in the Spanish Civil War between the 17th of July 1936 to the 1st of April 1939. The whole Civil War indeed was the outcome of the complex political differences between the Republicans, who were regarded as the followers of the government of the day and the Nationalists who revolted against that government. Hence, while the first party is said to have a primarily power base, the second party seems rather to have a primarily rural and more conservative power base. The war ended, as mentioned somewhere above, with the defeat of the Republicans. Historical records have demonstrated that many artists, intellectuals, priests and religious people were either executed or forced into exile. Confessedly, the repercussions of the war reverberated far beyond the Spanish borders throughout the whole European countries. The whole struggle was conceived of as a fight between ‘tyranny and democracy’. In other terms, it was regarded as a struggle between ‘fascism and liberty’. Interestingly enough, one can note that the miscellaneous military tactics of the war deployed in Spain would henceforth foreshadow many of the actions of World War II. 7 Once emerged, the rebellion was strongly opposed by the government and urban workers. It is reported that Italy under the leadership of Mussolini and Germany under the leadership of Hitler were determined to send ammunitions to support the emerging rebellious leader-Franco. In addition, few volunteer recruits from other nations joined the party of the Nationalists to fight for the latter’s interests. Historical essays revealed and unveiled that Britain under the British government tried to hold a neutral position, but it happens that the British ambassador to Spain thought that a victory for Francisco Franco was to the benefit of Britain’s best interests in Spain. As a result, he devoted all his time and energy to generously support the Nationalists. As for the United States’ position, it was not so much different from that of Britain. Apparently, the former seems to be neutral, yet surveys have indicated that the Nationalists got important and an instinctive support from some of the greatest American companies. Section E: Conclusion From all that has been said, we come to the conclusion that foreign intervention has really changed the course of the Civil War in Spain. Thus, thanks to the strong support which the Nationalists got from certain countries like Italy, Germany, U.S and Britain, they managed to triumph over the Republicans (loyalists). In my view, Spain, as such, was a suitable testing ground for most sophisticated methods of tank and air warfare and a place where many political agendas were at work. Bibliography: Payne, Stanley Fascism in Spain, 1923-1977, pp. 200-203, 1999 Univ. of Wisconsin Press. Tierney, Dominic. FDR and the Spanish Civil War: Neutrality and Commitment in the Struggle That Divided America.Duke University Press, 2007, pp. 67-8 Thomas, The Spanish Civil War. Vincent Brome, The International Brigades: Spain 1936-1939, London (Heinemann, 1965); Robert Rosenstone, Crusade of the Left: The Lincoln Battalion in the Spanish Civil War, Lanham, Maryland. University Press of America, Inc., 1980. Webography Elizabeth Nash (21 July, 2009). “Shot down - Capas classic image of war.” The Independent. ‹http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/art/news/shot-down--capas-classic-image-of-war-1754405.html. Retrieved 2009-08-08.› Preston, Paul. “The Spanish Civil War: A New book”. October 07, 2009. ‹http://www.skeptic.ca/Spanish_Civil_War_Preston.htm.›  “Spanish Civil War”. October 07, 2009. ‹ http://www.wordiq.com/definition/Spanish_Civil_War.› Read More