The Role of Foreigners in the Spanish Civil War

from 1936 to 1939 spain was engulfed in a bloody civil war on the one hand to the nationalists and fascists who fought for Francisco Franco against the Republicans and then the Republicans fought against the rebels for control of power in Spain the conflict was very important for the history of Spain as it was a war between classes religions in very different views of life and ideas of government revolution and counter-revolution it began on a group of generals of the second republic army declared a pronounced a me until a declaration of opposition against the government which started a coup for power in Spain the rebels were successful in many cities in the north and in the East of Andalusia but in places like Madrid Barcelona and Valencia Malaga and Bilbao the rebels failed and so began a civil war between the divided parts of Spain for the next three years millions of Spaniards were fight against one another and many campaigns in battles however the story of the Spanish Civil War is an incomplete one what I was acknowledging the role of foreigners tens of thousands of non Spanish men and women went to Spain to help fight for both the Republicans and nationalists to begin with we're going to have a look at the foreigners who fought for the Republicans the International Brigades were paramilitary communist organizations which was sent to Spain with the help of the Soviet Union and the Comintern 30,000 to 35,000 internationals fought and more than 30 International Brigades between 1936 and 1938 but for which nations did they come to fight the majority of the volunteers were Frenchmen and Italians a little under 10,000 Frenchmen went to Spain to fighting the International Brigades in groups such as the arm cream a ski battalion boom in de Partie battalion and the Honourable Police Battalion around 3,000 Italians joined the Republicans and formed battalions like the battalion figlio and the battalion Garibaldi many partition Italian communists went to Spain as well 2,500 Britons fought in the International Brigade called British battalion 14 years earlier in 1922 Ireland won her independence from Great Britain and Irishmen from both America and Ireland joined the British and Lincoln battalions respectively for Germans and Austrians the situation was rather more complicated as the leader of Germany at the time Adolf Hitler was an ally of Franco and the Nationalists so the volunteers who went to Spain just as those from the other countries were on the far left at the political communists anarchists and socialists for example the Germans formed the Telamon but early on which was named after the Communist politician from the German car biddy party before the Nazis took power in 1933 and Steelman in 1938 Nazi Germany annexed Austria but even so 1500 Austrians went to Spain to form this will disable our bus alone many Belgians around 1600 formed the better you'll see 50 with a few Frenchmen involved 628 Dutchman also went to Spain to help the International Brigades inform the company disease prevention and partially helped form the chap leave nine Nations battalion and edgar and a battalion volunteers from many other countries also came to spain to fight in the International Brigades and defend the Republic however for many who returned home afterwards the war had not ended in the majority of countries to which the volunteers returned home they became hero as their governments could be at war the allies of the Nationalists Nazi Germany and fascist Italy when the former invaded Poland in 1933 in Canada Switzerland and the US the soldiers who returned were treated with suspicion and were watched and were blocked from joining military service for Dutch and Belgian volunteers they lost their citizenships because they had fought for a foreign army however in some countries it was very different for example the soldiers who had fought for the Republic who were German or Italian because their countries were the aforementioned allies of the Nationalists for the majority of the returning soldiers from Europe their countries would soon find themselves invaded in the Second World War and many of those who fought for their public was sent to concentration camps by the Nazis now for the foreigners who fall for the Nationalists there were people from other countries who went to Spain to fight but far fewer than those who went to fight for the Republicans as well as this the government of a few countries aided the Nationalists both in secret and in the open all began with Nazi Germany at the time Jimny was ruled by Adolf Hitler and the Nazis so naturally Hitler supported the Nationalists and Franco who shared similar ideas Nazi Germany sent many bombers and transported the nationalist army of North Africa to Spain so that they could take part in the war German bombers called the Condor Legion bombarded the culturally significant Basque town of Guernica Pablo Picasso would later paint his famous work of the same name showing the horror in the wake of the attack throughout much of the war the Germans held the Nationalists from the air and more than half a million Spanish soldiers were trained by German instructors now for the role of the Italians like Franco the dictator of Italy Benito Mussolini was a staunch fascist and supported the Nationalists in the Spanish Civil War Italy Italy sent the corpo troop a voluntary composed of 60,000 Italian soldiers to Spain to help the Nationalists against the Second Republic both Mussolini and Franco were large supporters of the Catholic Church and Mussolini used the factor Republicans attack priests and nuns as ammunition for his propaganda as well as this.p Italian Navy and Air Force fought in Spain alongside the Nationalists and also stopped rations and supplies entering Republican ports in the time of the Second Republic Portugal and her closest neighbor had a tenuous and often tense relationship and so when the war broke out the Portuguese quickly supported the nationalist rebels those videos were a band of Portuguese volunteers made up of around 10,000 soldiers who helped the nationalist troops in Spain furthermore Portugal sent many supplies over the border munitions firearms bullets to aid the nationalist soldiers and civilians just as with the Republicans there were also people who came over to fight from other countries in International Brigades an Irish fascist group called the blue ships went to Spain to fight for the Nationalists under the command of Ono Duffy as the Irish Brigade this is the flag of the blue shirts 500 French volunteers went to Spain in the Jean d'Arc Company there were also 10,000 soldiers from other countries like the USA Brazil Belgium Great Britain Spanish Guinea Norway and Australia thanks very much for watching my video about the role of foreigners in the Spanish Civil War it's something else I haven't really covered much 20th century history although I do with buy more but this is my first time leaving Germany in the century so let me know if you have enjoyed this now in the future I do plan to make more videos about sort of the Spanish Civil War and not too many I'll be returning to obviously other areas of history as well and but it's quite an interesting one that's in many ways it's a foreshadowing of what is to come in Second World War but then it's also very different as well and I hope you're going to enjoy these these new videos and that you have enjoyed this video as well so if you're interested in seeing more then just click on the links to other videos and don't forget to Like comment and subscribe all I don't history with filbert and I'll see you again soon

Channel: History With Hilbert

Views: 94,278

Keywords: Spanish, Fascism, Spanish Civil War, Civil War, Civil War Spain, War, Battle, Military, Documentary, Spanish Civil War Documentary, History, Spanish History, Franco, Fransisco Franco, Spanish Republic, Pablo Picasso, Guernica, 1936, 1937, 1938, 1939, Spain 1939, Spain 1936

Id: UzfsZhUr5bk

Length: 6min 53sec (413 seconds)

Published: Wed Mar 22 2017