Just in terms of the complexity of things, researching and writing this episode has been my biggest challenge so far. So much happens and at such a fast pace that it's difficult to understand everything as it is, let alone get it into a chronological video that actually makes sense! The amount of actors both nationally and internationally gives you a feeling that you are writing about a continental, or even global, war rather than one in a relatively small country. It is this way for several reasons, a lot of which you'll know if you watched our last episode on the Second Spanish Republic. But we'd be interested to see what you guys think about the Spanish Civil War? Why was it so complicated? Why does it hold so much significance beyond Spain's borders? Why did it get so violent so quickly? Let us know what you think, we want to hear your opinions. Cheers, Francis. RULES OF CONDUCT STAY CIVIL AND POLITE we will delete any comments with personal insults, or attacks. AVOID PARTISAN POLITICS AS FAR AS YOU CAN we reserve the right to cut off vitriolic debates. HATE SPEECH IN ANY DIRECTION will lead to a ban. RACISM, XENOPHOBIA, OR SLAMMING OF MINORITIES will lead to an immediate ban. PARTISAN REVISIONISM, ESPECIALLY HOLOCAUST AND HOLODOMOR DENIAL will lead to an immediate ban.
You guys weren't kidding about the different in sound quality. But even with the lower sound quality I enjoyed the episode, so I'm sure I'll enjoy this time as well. Ps. thanks Francis for your research and writing, this might be first time I think understand the Spanish Civil War. Keep up the good work
TimeGhost History thank you for your work! Definitely a part if history I know little of but want to learn so much more. I’m curious if there is a centralized place where you put sources or readings? I don’t expect a response but something like this would be cool already picked up a few reading from this series
Franco wasn't perfect, but he was much better than the failing dictatorial and illegitimate second republic. The republican totalitarianism started when they declared their own republic in 1931 based not on a referendum on the monarchy but in fact on a municipal elections where, ironically, the royalists won. Yet, for all over, it was the Nationalists who, despise taking various ideologies from falangists, carlists, conservatives and moderate liberals, helped to heal the wounds and even gave merit to those who, despise fighting as enemys, proved to be noble (Melchor Rodríguez García, the Red Angel story is a good example, an anarchist who saved nationalist and normal prisioners from being massacred, and bcs of that recieved recognition from the Franco Regime, interestingly, once he died in 1972 [still in under Franco Regime], his funeral had not only anarchists but former prisioners who he saved. The anarchists sung the CNT FAI anthem, while the others prayed). Its a matter of fact that no one was a saint without respnsability, however, the republic, whose democracy was highly questionable and masked themselves over fairly good ideas their ilegitime structure couldnt give Spain the stability, reconciliation and peace that Franco himself, not the nationalists whose divisions were hurtful for spain, gave to the country. The war was inevitable since 1931 and truly represents on the field a division between ends and means. Its truly a topic that can be analyzed in 3000 ways. But nevertheless, it show the human nature of people and the fierce and violent clash between ideologys
The history of the Spanish Republic and Civil War is difficult for many to grasp, at least in the US, because the little instruction we receive in modern European History focuses on France, England (not Britain, I'm intentional here), and post 1870 Germany. As you observe, a lot happens in a brief period and seems to come out of no where. Most of us have no knowledge of events in a "long nineteenth century" leading to the Republic. Suddenly there's a new and unfamiliar geography and cast of characters. Additionally, the issues, Socialism, Fascism, Communism, Anarchism, the role of religion, the responsibility of democracies to support one another, foreign intervention, etc, are still issues that often trigger knee-jerk emotional responses.
It got so violent because each side even today hates the other to the point of impossible reconciliation, spain is as a little Austro-Hungarian empire, with language/cultural differences, big differences beetwen the rural and industrialized zones and a king imposed by a dictator that was never removed from power and died peacefully. This will go on forever, we would rather see the others dead than make a compromise.
A piece of Spanish civil war trivia: During a siege of nationalist positions by the republic (toledo if I'm right) the nationalists needed to airdrop supplies into the defenders but didn't have any parachutes for the crates. So instead they tied the boxes to the legs of turkeys which from their flapping would slow down the crates enough so the supplies would survive the fall. While leaving the turkey as an addition ration for soldiers.
Thank you Steve I did not Know that . WKRP in Cincinnati A T.V show in the 70s had an Episode like that . Search For "The Great Turkey Drop ". It Must be an Ohio Tactic ? Nice Vid Indy .
@@marinazagrai1623: Orwell wrote Hommage to Catalunya and Animal Farm from his experiences in Spain. !984 was written from his views and experiences during, but especially after WW2 in Great Britain, he just switched two numbers from 1948 into "1984".
1984 was written about his experience in the communes set up during the war. They controlled every aspect of every citizen within them, to the point of executing anyone even considered to be not 100% towards their revolution.
People often think Orwell was a Stalinist but he was really an anarchist. Anarchist have been fighting with bolsheviks long before The Spanish Civil War. Most of these anarchists had no choice but to work with them in Spain. Even after all of this, Orwell still considered himself an anarchist (libertarian socialist) but definitely not a Stalinist or communist (in the state-capitalist sense of the word). Noam Chomsky has talked about this a time or two.
They've been in the background in many episodes, I made the same comment you made in an earlier "Between Two Wars". Finally they got a spot in the spotlight. :P
Fun fact: in the picture of 4:55 you can see posters for the "Olimpiada popular". It was an alternative Olympiad organized to protest against the 1936 Berlin olympics because the Nazis. It was supposed to start in Barcelona in late July 1936, but because of the coup, never happened. However, lots of the olympic stuff built for then would remain in place, and eventually be used for the 1992 olympics.
One grandfather of mine was going to participate in that Olympiad. His name was Estanislao Eslava and he was swiming champion of Castille. My grandmother, who is 101 old as of today, still remembers that anecdote. P.S.: she also remembers the horrors of war, living in Madrid during all the siege in her 18-21 years. Especially the air raids aiming at the Telefonica, the building of Spanish National Telephone Company, because she lived just at its shadow.
God, I love those longass Spanish names. Makes you think like even the simplest of peasants have at least twenty generations of noblemen in their family trees.
@@yarpen26 When I was in the US Air Force, the officers, specially the women, told me they loved the spanish names. And they were mostly anglos. Spanish is the second language most learned in the world, after The Mighty English, of course..
It is often neglected, because of its little significance in the overall conflict, that the Mexican government lead by Lázaro Cárdenas supported the Republic with rifles and food. When the war was over, Mexico took many refugees who made a significant contribution to the cultural life.
Mexico never signed that foreign non-intervention agreement unlike most of Europe. Read this - themazatlanpost.com/2019/04/02/civil-war-of-spain-what-role-did-mexico-have-in-the-conflict/
Mexico was by far the most overt about its political support for the Republic but the actual extent of aid they could provide was very limited (primarily due to the distance). The government of France clandestinely supplied some aircraft and pilots. Interestingly, despite the staunch anticommunism and Catholic conservatism of the post-Piłsudski Sanacja regime, Poland ended up the second biggest donor of arms to the Republican cause, after the USSR. It was due to the fact that the Nationalists were supported by Germany so aiding Spanish Republicans was the only way for Poland to hit Germany where it hurt, despite ideological differences. In spite of that (although, truth be told, he was probably unaware of it), Franco was a firm Polonophile and he condemned Germany over its invasion of a "fellow Catholic nation". In fact, the Spanish troops sent to the Eastern Front were just about the only soldiers passing through Poland in the period of 1939-1945 which local Poles actually had fond memories of, as only the Spanish didn't treat them like shit-with the exception of the Hungarians during the Warsaw Uprising.
Indeed: Ramon Sender --author of Cronica del Alba. Had he returned to Spain he would have gained the Nobel Prize. Yet he chose to remain because of Mexico's wonderful people and culture. So the Swedes awarded the prize to a nobody fascist maracon named 'Sila'.
In his memoirs of the war, George Orwell mentioned carefully hoarding ammunition from Mexico, as it was superior to anything produced in Spain. Some International Brigade members were issued with Mosin Nagant rifles, made for Russia, but eventually delivered to Mexico. Brigaders called them 'Mexicanskis.'
Thank you for this episode. My family on my father's side were victims of this war and the global war to come, having fled to France only to come face-to-face with the Nazis when France fell. It is this event that forcefully migrated my family that had been in Casares for millennia. Had this event not happened, I doubt I would have been born in the United States. I am lucky that my grandparents were both survivors, when many of their own siblings perished in these wars. It left them scarred for life, and my family still deals with the effects and trauma to this day. Thank you to Indy and the team.
A friend of mine's grandparents were trade unionists for the Spanish Republic and he told me about all that they saw during this time. It was literally both the best of times and the worst of times.
Just an interesting note here, there were around 1500 Yugoslav volunteers fighting for the Republic in the International Brigades. Some of those people were instrumental for the success of the Anti-Fascist Partisan resistance in Yugoslavia several years later. One of the most notable volunteers was Koča Popović who became an artillery captain and took part in most major battles of the Spanish Civil War. The warfare experience that he gained in Spain was instrumental for the Yugoslav resistance, especially in the Battle of Sutjeska (1943) where the main body of the resistance was nearly crushed and Tito captured, all of this luckily avoided with Popović's genius reactions in dire situations. I really hope that one day Indy can take a look at Yugoslav Spaniards (as we call them in Ex-Yu) because the background of those people can explain the effectiveness of the resistance towards overwhelming numbers of invading and Quisling forces.
Rest assured we'll definitely be giving a lot of coverage to the Yugoslav Partisan movement over on our WW2 channel, lots of fascinating people and events to talk about!
Fun Fact: German troops were on both sides of the war. The Kondor Legion for the Nationalists and the Ernst Thälmann Brigade(named after the KPD leader of German Communists) for the Republicans.
The thing is the Republic tends to be Romanticized and all, specially because what came later, but people forget the crimes that happened in the Republic side, because the republican side was hijacked by extremists, from anarchists to communists, and being Spain a very conservative and religious country at the time (in some aspects, still is), Franco in a way was the natural response. We cant say if the republicans/communists won, would be better or worse. Extemism, just brings out more extremism.
@@andmos1001 yes, officiaI heIp of the german state went to the nationaIists, but there were those within the KPD that fIed germany by this time and who knewhoew their own country was misrun, they saw a chance to fight their own opressors by fightig their aIIy. These were the german voIunteers of the ThaIImann brigade (as part of the InternationaI brigades). These men were not send BY germany, they were germans fighting for the RepubIic and the communist ideaIs. The German soIdiers of the Kondor Iegion (and their weapons) were however soIdiers send by the Reich spain to heIp the NationaIists. Most men from the internationaI brigades didnt because of a government , but in spite of them some brits some americans (the Abraham IincoIn Brigade) and many more. I knew a man that went there and he Iost his own Dutch passport because of it.
@@gordusmaximus4990 the reason for the rise of anarchism and communism was Spains conservatism and extreme power of religious institutions which oppressed the Spanish people for centuries, and the people had enough.
Not so sure about that, remember that there's still a bunch of part 2/3 etc. from previous years. This is probably going to go on for quite a while longer.
Homage to Catalonia by George Orwell gives a good depiction of the complexity of the war from descriptions of the front line to the infighting among different factions in Barcelona.
A useful idiot as Lenin would have called him. The Japanese were fighting in China and soon with the red army during the time of the Spanish civil war.
The katana has samurai associations, and left-inclined Japanese (the Japanese Communist Party was banned) tended not to be samurai or even favourable to feudal remnants. The Japanese army had used occidental-type swords in the Russo-Japanese War and WW1, and the katana-type swords used in WW2 were an interesting throwback, perhaps reflecting armed forces nostalgia for Japan's past.
@@averagejoeschmoe9186 Lenin never said it. We have absolutely no indication that any of the most notorious ideologues of European history were anything less than 100% convinced about the beliefs they preached. We like to think our enemies are callous cynics like that (because it allows us to automatically assume that what they say is just bollocks and anybody who thinks that way must be insane-therefore meriting physical elimination rather than discussion) but truth of the matter is, very few people in life are.
USSR also evcuated some children from Spain. Amd this also somehow forgets about the very uncomfortable topic of Neutrality Patrols aka Britain , France , German , Italy navies chasing cargo ships from USSR.
In 1936, Spain had the 4th world gold reserve. You can imagine the amount of gold we are talking about. But I cant blame the republic, they were in a desperate position. For me, the real victim of the Spanish Civil war was democracy.
The Spanish army made up a lot of the extras in the movie, they were using 70s era American tanks, I recently found some youtube videos of their army firing german made 88s.
As a Spaniard I have to say you've done an amazing job. I was afraid that you would support one side more than the other, but you have treated everything with great prudence. Here, we all have stories of the civil war from our grandparents or parents that even surpass reality. Personally, my great grandfather fought in the war on the Aragon front against the Corpo Truppe Volontarie in the battle of Belchite, one of the bloodiest of the war. I would like to help you in everything you want to know, how life was in the cities and towns during the war, how cultural minorities were treated in Spain or anything else you are curious about(even pronuntiation of cities and Spanish names) The only thing missing in the video is to explore the diversity that existed on each side, how democrats like Manuel Azaña pursued a democratic republican dream or how the Carlists stood against the Falange
From what I read, the Carlists did not like Franco because they simply wanted to wind the clock 150 years back. They didn't want fascists, parties, great rallies, nationalism, just simply the good ole' feudalism. And Franco at the time was by all means part of the revolutionary right that fascists also constituted (even if he by no means shared their anticlericalism). It was only after WWII, when the Western right needed to rid itself of its totalitarian and revolutionary associations in order to stay relevant, that Franco followed suit, toned down the White Terror and reestablished the monarchy.
Thank you for the kind words! It's an honour to know you value what we've done here. We appreciate the offer of help but we won't actually be doing anything on Spain now (Apart from whenever it relates to World War Two over on our other channel). If we ever do more specials on it then we will definitely come to you for help. Sorry to hear you're disappointed about us not going into enough detail on the diversity of both sides. We always try to do history justice but in such a short video, a lot of the finer details have to be passed over.
Subs are back on,thank you. I learned more about this war in 22 minutes than I ever learned in school. Your way of explaining this topic makes a lot more sense than teachers.
Years ago, I had a good friend at work who happened to be from the Philippines. It's really complicated but, his family were Spanish and he was so proud of them being Falangists. When he was a kid in the 1930's all his Aunties would dress up in brown uniforms, strut around, and pose for pictures. He was believe it or else, 8-) a really nice man who was eternally grateful towards the States for coming back and kicking out the Japanese. As Yusuf Mohammed/Cat Stevens sings, 'Oooh baby, baby, it's a wild world'.
The communists or “Republicans” brutality towards the Spanish population before and during the Civil War can be comparable to that of the Japanese during their Pacific campaigns.
Both Filipino and American teamed up to defeat Japan. Japan was difficult to defeat. As Filipinos, in WW2, we were an American colony so we were waiting for General McArthur to return from USA after 3 yrs, with more guns, and firepower. But on the ground, Filipinos, Americans were fighting. What did Filipinos do in the 3 yrs? We were having our own small guerilla fighting by ambush on Japanese on small towns. 1 by 1 3 yrs before WW2 victory is not a peaceful time nor a passive life for both Filipinos during Japanese occupation either
Thanks for fixing the sound. You are epic! Re-recording the entire episode just so sound is crisp and perfect. The sign of a great team and why many people (including me) chose to support you on Patreon
What is maybe not mentioned it that the USSR sent larges amounts of military hardware and troops to fight in the Spanish Civil War. Spain actually paid for the supplies sent by the Soviet Union. Much of Spain's Gold was sent to the USSR for 'safe keeping' but was actually used as 'credit' for Soviet arms etc. The prices paid for the supplies were well inflated and much of the gold was basically stolen. At the start of the war, Spain had the 3rd largest gold reserves on the planet. This may be one factor in the lessening of interest from The USSR in the outcome of the war...
Good point. I agree, Stalin made a huge profit from this war which maybe helped him win the one that followed. One thing is for sure, Spain was well and truly bankrupted after it, and only through the devious machinations of Joan March was it able to pull through.
This episode was the TimeGhost's tour-de-force! Thank you indy and Co. for a masterful concise but thorough explanation of a complex and fascinating topic! Cheers!
IIRC, Canaris meets and befriends Franco during the civil war when he uses foreign contacts to keep the Nationalists supplied and funded. I think he's head of the Abwehr in 1936, but I might be wrong on that regard.
I've never forgotten seeing Picaso's Guernica at the Museum of Modern Art in NYC when I was young. No painting has ever struck me the way that one did. However, it was not hung horizontally, as shown in this vid but, rather, vertically. Very powerful work.
Great summary of a deeply tragic time in Spanish and European history. I would have liked to see more about the foreigners who volunteered to serve in the international brigades - they literally came from around the world. Not just French and British, but Irish, Canadian, Chinese, Americans (I once had the honor of meeting the last commander of the Abraham Lincoln Brigade, Milton Wolf. He told great stories about the war and about Ernest Hemingway who may based the central character Robert Jordan may be have been based him). The most tragic volunteers were the Germans, Italians and Czechs who did not have even have a country to go back to after the war.
There's a 6-part BBC documentary made in the 1980s simply titled "The Spanish Civil War" that I own and have watched a lot, which I recommend to all of you. Parts of it were here on YT a few years ago; I don't know if they're here still.
Many Irish men volunteered for both the fascists through o'duffys blueshirts aswell as the international brigades through men like Frank Ryan. Loved the video.
I read the poor blueshirts hardly saw any action... and when they did they were shot at by Franco's troops, believing them International brigadiers. Poor fellas :(
@@mikiroony There was a graphic comic compiled by Garth Ennis on war, with one set in the Spanish Civil War. The Blueshirts are depicted getting drunk on Spanish wine and then accidentally vomiting on the nationalist general who meets their train.
@@lentejasrojasalvapor1853 At least with Sanjurjo, it wasn his own stupidity that was chiefly responsible for his death. It was also rather disadvantageous for Franco and the fledgling coup.
18:05 "The USSR is losing interest as it become more focused upon...." making a deal with Nazi Germany to carve up Poland and other parts of eastern Europe.
Well it was more focused on facing the reality of the situation the world was currently in. Stain had tried desperately to get Britain and France into an anti-Nazi pact since 1933 but Britain’s policy of appeasement and the constantly unstable French government never led to an agreement. The pact with Germany was meant to stall a German invasion of the Soviet Union until the Soviets were more prepared.
@@alecmcfarlin3364 You mean Stalin tried desperately to make Britain and France give Poland to him. At least that was basically his condition in joining against Hitler, but Hitler offered a better deal.
@@alecmcfarlin3364 And that sure did them well in June 1941, now didn't it? :-P Stalin's viciousness and double dealing were well known, and until Hitler stabbed him in the back he was happy to play along.
marvincz Stalin never officially said he wanted Poland. What he wanted from the allies was for them to convince Poland to join in the anti Nazi pact and let soviet soldiers man the border between Germany and Poland. Poland was very apprehensive about the Soviets and understandably feared them more than Nazi Germany. Still it’s kinda wrong to just shit on The Soviets when for 5 years before the war started, they had been constantly trying to forge an alliance with the west in order to crush Germany.
Cali Curmudgeon It wasn’t that Stalin was known as some backstabbing politician in the west and that’s why they couldn’t forge an alliance, it’s mostly because the western allies, particularly Britain viewed the Soviets as more of a threat than the Nazis.
A lot of Spanish Republican refugees in France ended up in German concentration camps, notably Mauthausen in Austria. I visited the museum there and there was commemorative bunting from various national groups but quite a lot in the Spanish Republic tricolour. The Germans referred to them as "Rotspanier" or "Red Spaniards".
Really good episode, the key clarification of the civil war not being a complete Second World War proving ground (as per more modern literature of the conflict) was a really important point.
Excellent episode. Spain was so devastated and haunted for decades by that war. It was a very personal war. It was about class and religion, central to life in traditional Spain. A good movie about this time is The Spirit of the Beehive (1973 Espiritu de la Colmena). It was heavy with symbolism, getting past censors. Franco var ju rätt vidrig iofs.
Unfortunately, Spanish politics has not changed. It just goes in circles. Just look at Spain today. Right leaning and left leaning parties fighting. Even different parties of same ideologies fighting. And all of them joining political coalitions to try to outmaneuver there opposition. In the meantime, nothing important gets done. They could not even agree for a really long time on having someone lead the government. Just look at the Spanish governments handling of this virus. They really threw the ball away. At times it seems the only one who really knew how to run Spain was Isabela I of Castile. Some might think also Franco but Spain was internationally ostracized most of the time when he ran Spain.
Will there be an episode about the Khalkhin Gol Japanese Soviet conflict? It is barely mentioned in the literature about the conditions of WW II but had an enormous impact on the War as the Battle for Moscow or even the end of the war with August storm. A depiction of that conflict would be an essential asset over most other WW II documentaries. Best regards Dietmar
Weirdly enough, it _is_ legit. People have tried hard to find some evidence that Franco was involved in their deaths, but nope. He was just a lucky bastard.
Yes. Sanjurjo chose to fly in a plane too small for his heavy baggage. When the pilot refused to take off, the General pulled out a revolver and said "Get off the ground". The plane crashed, and the pilot survived. Mola's plane flew into unexpected turbulence.
I highly recommend the six part series The Spanish Civil War on UA-cam. It features people who experienced the war on both sides, people who could speak freely after the death of Franco.
It's often overlooked that the first black flying ace flew for the Republicans during the Spanish Civil War. His name was James Peck with 5 kills second to fellow American volunteer Frank Tinker (8 air-to-air victories) and like Tinker his victories were subsequently unrecognized as the United States wanted to distance itself from the Soviet Union as well as being on the losing side with no one to officially recognize them. Similarly he was denied entry into the USAAC and his story fell into obscurity.
It was mentioned somewhat but I'd also like to point that the civil war also gave German fighter pilots valuable combat experience that, when coupled with the Blitzkriegs of France and Russia, will lead to training and tactics that will produce aces like Erich Hartmann, Gerhard Barkhorn, and Gunther Rall to rack up victories in the hundreds, far and away cementing them as the highest scoring fighter aces in history.
The British helped and supported Franco in exchange for Spain's neutrality in WWII. No one mentions this, but were Spain joined the Axis, kiss goodbye North Africa and Gibraltar. Quote from Wiki on Foreign involvement in Spanish civil war: "As well as permitting Franco to set up a signals base in Gibraltar, a British colony, the British allowed the Germans to overfly Gibraltar during the airlift of the Army of Africa to Seville."
My grandparents families could have had a member murdered by each side. My grandmother hide his brother behind a wall 3 years in Granada. She knew Federico García Lorca by sight. My grandfather was very religious and had to escape from Periana (Málaga) not to be murdered as well. They both did nothing bad. Each war side did. But this is forgotten nowdays. I hope doesnt repeat never again.
Franco was flown from the Canaries to Morroco by a Brit. Major was an author, journalist, adventurer, firearms expert, and a SOE officer. His friend asked him if he could be ready to fly to Africa, with two women as "cover"; Pollard, an anti-Communist who regarded it as "the duty of a good Catholic to help fellow Catholics in trouble", replied: "depends on the girls". Pollard was persuaded by his friends to join the enterprise and he recruited his daughter Diana and her friend Dorothy Watson to accompany him.
I wonder if there is a connection here with the Christero war in Mexico in rhe 1920s. It seems Trotski had a hand in influencing the socialistic/communistic deology there as no doubt Stalin had a hand in the socialism/communism ideology and support in Spain and Germany. I think Mexico was curiously the only country that supported the communist/republicans of Spain. I think the Catholic church did not want the same outcome in Spain which had occurred in Mexico. Maybe why Mexico is no great shakes today.
The USSR gave far more and was in a far better position to although it was not a free donation. There were times when Communists acted to reduce anti-Catholic violence, fearing it was costing the Republicans support - I have read of an instance where they issued a Communist Party membership card to a statue, I think one of Jesus or Mary, to stop Anarchists demolishing it. Actions like this caused them to be sometimes referred to contemptuously as "Communists of the Infant Jesus". George Orwell regarded anti-Catholic actions as natural as the Church owned much of the wealth in Spain. Orwell was almost as hostile to the Roman Catholic Church as he was to Stalinism.
Cardenas, head of the Mexican government, was inclined to the left but not particularly close to Moscow. Giving asylum to Trotsky did not go down at all well with the Soviet authorities.
In the map that shows in 5:04 you guys forgot to mention the other Spanish colonial territories: Sidi Ifni (which, at first, was Republican-controlled but soon fell to the Nationalists), Río de Oro (Nationalist-controlled) and Spanish Guinea (also Nationalist).
Thanks for all the Great episodes. History was my minor in college and one of my favorite subject. A series on the Great Depression and it’s effect around the world would be fantastic. Thanks again Big Fan!
And I must add, that there were minor supporters, Czechoslovakia sold planes and armament to Republicans, Poland emptied it ammo storage and hangars of old equipment at hefty price to both sides. Enough to complete PZL-37 bomber program and then some.
Mexico was a major supporter. Some of it was arms, but a lot of it was food stuffs. In terms of the Nationalist side, they received a lot of aid from US oil companies
I very much recommend the autobiographic trilogy written by Arturo Barea, "La forja de un rebelde", specifically the third volume titled "La llama" in which he portraits the previous time leading to the starting of the war and the war itself in Madrid, ending with the depressing exile and the mistreatment that France gave to the refugees - somehow similar to the way we shamefully treat nowadays refugees from other wars and purges.
Forgive him. As an American, "Cortes" is very similar to the last name of the 16th century Spanish Conquistador, and I and everyone who grew up learning about him in history class and watched such documentaries as Pirates of The Carribean would, when speaking in English, tend to emphasize the "Tes" in Cortes.
@@GaltarDude1138 That's "Cortés", with accent. The "Cortes" (literally "Courts") is one of the ways of calling the Spanish Parliament, mostly in legal texts.
@@podemosurss8316 Podemos URSS I understand, I was just saying not to be too hard on Indy. We don't have diacritical marks in English, except for words with a foreign origin e.g. exposé, maître d’, etc. So Cortes and Cortés as interpreted by us may as well have been the same word at first blush, especially because we like to divest words of their diacritics (you won't typically find the word "résumé" in American job hunting sites, instead they would ask for a "resume," even though it's the exact same thing and pronounced the exact same way.)
@@GaltarDude1138 I'm not being too hard, but his pronunciation when speaking Spanish is reaching comical levels. For example, on his video of 1936 he pulled a perfect French accent...
What is funny is that in the last weeks of his life, Hitler expressed remorse about supporting franco, because after he had won the civil war he reinstated the spanish nobility and established a system that Hitler described as "feudal". Also Hitler was of the opinion that Franco had become a puppet of the catholic church. Hitler went even further: He said that if there hadn't been the possibility of Republican Spain becoming a soviet puppet, and if he had known what Franco would do in the future, he might have supported "the reds".
The artist is Tamara Łempicka. The left-hand painting is called 'Portrait of a Young Girl in a Green Dress' and the right-hand one is titled 'Portrait De Madame Boucard'
I have a friend, a retired British brigadier, whose mother was one of the athletes sent to the ‘alternative’ Olympics in Spain in 1936. As it became obvious the political situation was falling apart the Royal Navy sent a destroyer to pick up the British contingent and bring them home.
The Spanish Civil War is an interesting subject for me, as I hear quite a few modern day Anarchists cite it as an example of how Anarchist societies may work. Without becoming too partisan (simply stating as neutral fact "this is what I've been told"), the downfall of the Anarchists of Catalonia were, as I understand it, a combination of in-fighting with other communists, and the collective steamrolling of the nationalist-backed armies of the Soviet Union and the Fascists. Of course, I think it's fair to say history can't be summarized quite so cleanly, so I doubt this is the be all end all of Catalonia's fall, as well illustrated by this video! Would I be right in saying I've got the general idea of how and why the Anarchist society of Catalonia ended?
I mean Anarchists refused the Power in Catalonia when it was handed for them in a silver platter, and they were de dacto in power in Catalonia, from their principles. Anarchists failed to put much resistance to the Republican Government, which was trying to get the authority back in Catalonia the whole time.
Harold Lawson Organized feudal anarchy can work, post-industrialization “anarchisms”(whether commie, capitalist, or other) really can’t and pretty much throughout the techno-industrialized ‘West’(for starters) only ignorant af+dumb teens, young adults and overly intellectualized academic morons believe in them anyways.
As a interesting fact, the Guernica painting is actually the death of the bullfighter Ignacio Sánchez Mejías, a friend of Picasso, and the painting got bought and renamed by the republicans as a propaganda piece to get international help.
What sources have you used when researching the May Days? I have read Homage to Catalonia and Felix Morrow's Revolution and Counter Revolution in Spain which paint a slightly different picture than your distillation of the events.
Here are the main sources we used researching this episode: -Julián Casanova Ruiz, The Spanish Republic and Civil War. -Gabriel Jackson, Spanish Republic and the Civil War. -Stanley G. Payne, The Spanish Civil War. -George Richard Esenwein, The Spanish Civil War: A Modern Tragedy.
Francis, you do a great overview of the conflict (as I understand it) in a short time. This is to your credit. If I may, I'd like to mention two points, one relatively minor, one far more significant. a) you state, in relation to the Non-intervention Pact something like (sorry, I'm doing this from memory, only watching it one time) "This was a total farce." This statement implies all sides were dishonest/cynical about this agreement. From my reading (ok, mostly Hugh Thomas' book, but also Arthur Koestler, George Orwell and others) this is not the case. GB and France signed it and in the main, kept to it. It was Italy and Nazi Germany that signed the treaty with absolutely no intention whatsoever of keeping to the agreement. So it wasn't a total farce - it was one-sided dishonesty and cyncism. b) You state that the USSR then came to aid the Republic. OK, this is true. But, there was a significant difference between the "aid" offered by Uncle Joe, and that of Mussolin and Hitler. The latter pair offered genuine aid - ie Franco didn't have to pay for the assistance immediately (if at all, I forget). In contrast, dear Uncle Joe made the Republic pay IN GOLD for his (inferior) weapons. This ripped the core out of the Central Bank reserves, greatly undermining the Republic's financial credibility. And with that, when the Republic did not begin to recover, but continue losing territory and assets, dear Uncle Joe pulled the plug. Hugh Thomas stresses in his book that this was hugely significant to the outcome of the war. c) An extra point. You are quite right that the bombing of Guernica caught international attention, but the strange thing is that there had been other, very similar bombings and straffings of civilians in the war, most notably of Durango a few days previously - which just never 'caught on' in the public's imagination. Probably, in large part, by Picasso's painting and some 'exhuberant' reporting by foreign media on the Guernica actions. Fully understand that this is a minor point when you only have 30 minutes for a complex 3 years of history. Regards
Thanks for the kind words, it's a complicated topic which was difficult to write on. As to your points: a) I think your understanding of "farce" is wrong. Describing something as a farce means that is is empty, a sham, or obviously ridiculous. You're right that only certain sides were dishonest about their commitment to non-intervention, but that one-sided dishonesty is usually exactly what makes something a farce! Calling something a farce offers no implication that all sides are dishonest. b) In such a short space of time its difficult to go into the differences in aid from foreign powers. However, Indy does mention that the quality of arms from the USSR were inferior to what Italy and Germany offered, and that Stalin was losing interest. At the same time, and as Indy mentions, we shouldn't forget the fact that Soviet aid was very significant to the war effort. Soviet planes were largely responsible for the Republican victory at Madrid. c) Again in such a short space of time, we can't go into every battle or bombing. Indy mentions Guernica precisely because of the reasons you detail. It became emblematic of the war.
Done. Awesome your work explain so much things about the world and conflicts who existed till the end of the century; some myths explained, and the chain of events that led to ww2. Kudos and keep up the good work
The Spanish Civil War is my personal favourite point in history for political conflict, when Communists fought Anarchists and Marxists despite uniting against the even larger right wing forces
As a Christmas gift my kids got me a copy of Frank G Tinker's book "Some Still Live" on his experiences as an American mercenary pilot flying for the Republicans during the war. He was credited with 8 kills. He doesn't go into the politics much. More of a travelogue of his own experience fighting alongside Spanish and Soviet pilots and his description of interacting with the locals.
It is indeed such a complex conflict to study and explain. I feel like even we Spaniards have almost no interest in it due to all the blurring lines, politics, backstabbing. And just general confusion that the conflict was surrounded with. I love that you made many videos lately about the civil war in my country, here attitudes go from complete ignorance due to lack of information or interest, to even still being a bit of a taboo specially for our elder which in my experience talking with some that were kids or teens back then, always ends quickly with them referring to it as a horrible part of their lives they rather forget about. It is still a very unexplored and forgotten part of our past that I hope 1 day will receive more attention, I guess some wounds are still fresh. Maybe it is because despite never being openly talked about, the right and left wing parties of today still consider their side back then was the "good" one, and nobody wants to push that wedge again to far.
Take care TimeGhostArmy. I'm a Spaniard and here in Spain the Civil War is still discuted, and our society is highly divided just like in 1936. And one thing: in the map you used of Spain Gijón is in the site where the capital of Asturias is: Oviedo. Gijón is more north. I know all of this since I'm from Oviedo xd Greetings
"Just like in 1936"? Nope. Whatever you may say about Spain today, we're _not_ in the brink of a civil war. People aren't going to start killing each other in the streets :P
@@jorgecas5678 Of course there is left and right; the left-right divide has been the main constant in Western politics for two centuries. But we aren't murdering each other in the streets, and that's what counts.
Hi Chris! The paintings in the background are originally made by the Art Deco artist Tamara de Łempicka. The left-hand one is called 'Jeune Fille en Vert' (Young Girl in Green) and the right-hand one 'Portrait de Madame Boucard'.
Unfortunately in a video only about 20 minutes long we have to be really selective in what we cover. Portugal wasn't as big a player as Germany or Italy and we didn't even give that much coverage to them! Something we have to be careful of in a conflict like this overloading the narrative with actors and groups which will only make things more confusing. Hopefully you weren't too disappointed and still enjoyed the video.
@@TimeGhost I understand the condensed form of the conflict, but one of the initial objectives of the nationalists was to have control over the Portuguese-Spanish border as a supply zone! But I liked the video! I hope you are doing well in Germany or whatever country you are in! Keep up the GREAT work! Cheers from Portugal!
World war 1 was the collapse of the old monarchy system throughout Europe and beyond. This lead to a vaccum of how societies should be governed. The complexity comes because many different ideas and versions of these ideas were put forward and tried. Nobody really knew what would work - communism, demoracy, etc. But all these ideas had believers and ruthless ones at that. When you believe you are right and are willing to have your opposition die if they refuse to accept it - then violence is always going to be brutal. This was a new age but the generation was used to old familiar systems that had disappeared. Change was new going to be easy and it was not.
Have you given any thought to examining the Spanish Civil War in more depth? It is an almost forgotten war, but one that had major consequences later on.
@@handle1603 but it's Spain isn't it? They were communists, but Stalin didn't lead them. And don't you think what falangists were bad guys in this conflict?
![What if the Spanish Fascists Lost the Civil War? - WW2 feat. Hearts of Iron IV [sponsored]](/img/n.gif)
Just in terms of the complexity of things, researching and writing this episode has been my biggest challenge so far. So much happens and at such a fast pace that it's difficult to understand everything as it is, let alone get it into a chronological video that actually makes sense! The amount of actors both nationally and internationally gives you a feeling that you are writing about a continental, or even global, war rather than one in a relatively small country. It is this way for several reasons, a lot of which you'll know if you watched our last episode on the Second Spanish Republic. But we'd be interested to see what you guys think about the Spanish Civil War? Why was it so complicated? Why does it hold so much significance beyond Spain's borders? Why did it get so violent so quickly? Let us know what you think, we want to hear your opinions.
Cheers, Francis.
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You guys weren't kidding about the different in sound quality. But even with the lower sound quality I enjoyed the episode, so I'm sure I'll enjoy this time as well.
Ps. thanks Francis for your research and writing, this might be first time I think understand the Spanish Civil War. Keep up the good work
TimeGhost History thank you for your work! Definitely a part if history I know little of but want to learn so much more. I’m curious if there is a centralized place where you put sources or readings? I don’t expect a response but something like this would be cool already picked up a few reading from this series
Franco wasn't perfect, but he was much better than the failing dictatorial and illegitimate second republic. The republican totalitarianism started when they declared their own republic in 1931 based not on a referendum on the monarchy but in fact on a municipal elections where, ironically, the royalists won. Yet, for all over, it was the Nationalists who, despise taking various ideologies from falangists, carlists, conservatives and moderate liberals, helped to heal the wounds and even gave merit to those who, despise fighting as enemys, proved to be noble (Melchor Rodríguez García, the Red Angel story is a good example, an anarchist who saved nationalist and normal prisioners from being massacred, and bcs of that recieved recognition from the Franco Regime, interestingly, once he died in 1972 [still in under Franco Regime], his funeral had not only anarchists but former prisioners who he saved. The anarchists sung the CNT FAI anthem, while the others prayed). Its a matter of fact that no one was a saint without respnsability, however, the republic, whose democracy was highly questionable and masked themselves over fairly good ideas their ilegitime structure couldnt give Spain the stability, reconciliation and peace that Franco himself, not the nationalists whose divisions were hurtful for spain, gave to the country. The war was inevitable since 1931 and truly represents on the field a division between ends and means. Its truly a topic that can be analyzed in 3000 ways. But nevertheless, it show the human nature of people and the fierce and violent clash between ideologys
The history of the Spanish Republic and Civil War is difficult for many to grasp, at least in the US, because the little instruction we receive in modern European History focuses on France, England (not Britain, I'm intentional here), and post 1870 Germany. As you observe, a lot happens in a brief period and seems to come out of no where. Most of us have no knowledge of events in a "long nineteenth century" leading to the Republic. Suddenly there's a new and unfamiliar geography and cast of characters.
Additionally, the issues, Socialism, Fascism, Communism, Anarchism, the role of religion, the responsibility of democracies to support one another, foreign intervention, etc, are still issues that often trigger knee-jerk emotional responses.
It got so violent because each side even today hates the other to the point of impossible reconciliation, spain is as a little Austro-Hungarian empire, with language/cultural differences, big differences beetwen the rural and industrialized zones and a king imposed by a dictator that was never removed from power and died peacefully. This will go on forever, we would rather see the others dead than make a compromise.
A piece of Spanish civil war trivia: During a siege of nationalist positions by the republic (toledo if I'm right) the nationalists needed to airdrop supplies into the defenders but didn't have any parachutes for the crates. So instead they tied the boxes to the legs of turkeys which from their flapping would slow down the crates enough so the supplies would survive the fall. While leaving the turkey as an addition ration for soldiers.
Thank you Steve I did not Know that . WKRP in Cincinnati A T.V show in the 70s had an Episode like that . Search For "The Great Turkey Drop ". It Must be an Ohio Tactic ? Nice Vid Indy .
That was in a besieged outpost in Córdoba, not in Toledo.
@@podemosurss8316 fair enough I was going from memory and didn't check
Steven Wills However Turkeys dont fly.
@@xmaniac99 That's why they were dropped from a plane... They didn't want them to fly, just to act as a makeshift parachute.
Side note: This is the war in which George Orwell fought in, and inspired some of his books.
Wraithweave...1984 all over!
In other words, shaped his views on Stalinists.
@@marinazagrai1623: Orwell wrote Hommage to Catalunya and Animal Farm from his experiences in Spain. !984 was written from his views and experiences during, but especially after WW2 in Great Britain, he just switched two numbers from 1948 into "1984".
1984 was written about his experience in the communes set up during the war. They controlled every aspect of every citizen within them, to the point of executing anyone even considered to be not 100% towards their revolution.
People often think Orwell was a Stalinist but he was really an anarchist. Anarchist have been fighting with bolsheviks long before The Spanish Civil War. Most of these anarchists had no choice but to work with them in Spain. Even after all of this, Orwell still considered himself an anarchist (libertarian socialist) but definitely not a Stalinist or communist (in the state-capitalist sense of the word). Noam Chomsky has talked about this a time or two.
I like the skeletons with the:
"See no evil,
Hear no evil,
Speak no evil"
There must be a fourth : "Do no Evil"
They've been in the background in many episodes, I made the same comment you made in an earlier "Between Two Wars". Finally they got a spot in the spotlight. :P
I've been enjoying watching them climb around the set for the last few months.
Not to mention the Heinkel 111, carefully purged of any swastikas that might result in demonetization ;)
@@Charlesputnam-bn9zy so often forgotten that one
Fun fact: in the picture of 4:55 you can see posters for the "Olimpiada popular". It was an alternative Olympiad organized to protest against the 1936 Berlin olympics because the Nazis. It was supposed to start in Barcelona in late July 1936, but because of the coup, never happened. However, lots of the olympic stuff built for then would remain in place, and eventually be used for the 1992 olympics.
Op delivered.
One grandfather of mine was going to participate in that Olympiad. His name was Estanislao Eslava and he was swiming champion of Castille. My grandmother, who is 101 old as of today, still remembers that anecdote. P.S.: she also remembers the horrors of war, living in Madrid during all the siege in her 18-21 years. Especially the air raids aiming at the Telefonica, the building of Spanish National Telephone Company, because she lived just at its shadow.
A lot of workers were there for the games, so when the coup started they started to fight back
Really cool - thanks!
As a Spaniard I think this is the most neutral and well explain video of the civil war I’ve ever seen,well done 💪🏻
Fully agree, really difficult to condensate that tragic story in 20 minutes. Really great work.
Neutral? You say that like it’s a good thing
@@Butterratbee To communicate the history? Yes, always. The moralizing should come after understanding.
Not neutral at all fucking communist
@viriatoos
My father's cousins fought in the war... and from what they told me, this is ok.
The woman on the cover of the video was Marina Ginestà i Coloma, who died in 2014.
Thank you. That picture is something that I've always looked at, and wondered if she survived
She reminds me of Dafne Keen from Logan.
God, I love those longass Spanish names. Makes you think like even the simplest of peasants have at least twenty generations of noblemen in their family trees.
That is such a beautiful image. Her face says so much.
@@yarpen26 When I was in the US Air Force, the officers, specially the women, told me they loved the spanish names. And they were mostly anglos. Spanish is the second language most learned in the world, after The Mighty English, of course..
It is often neglected, because of its little significance in the overall conflict, that the Mexican government lead by Lázaro Cárdenas supported the Republic with rifles and food. When the war was over, Mexico took many refugees who made a significant contribution to the cultural life.
Mexico never signed that foreign non-intervention agreement unlike most of Europe. Read this - themazatlanpost.com/2019/04/02/civil-war-of-spain-what-role-did-mexico-have-in-the-conflict/
@@ab9840 I know. Of course it didn't! Thanks for the link.
Mexico was by far the most overt about its political support for the Republic but the actual extent of aid they could provide was very limited (primarily due to the distance). The government of France clandestinely supplied some aircraft and pilots. Interestingly, despite the staunch anticommunism and Catholic conservatism of the post-Piłsudski Sanacja regime, Poland ended up the second biggest donor of arms to the Republican cause, after the USSR. It was due to the fact that the Nationalists were supported by Germany so aiding Spanish Republicans was the only way for Poland to hit Germany where it hurt, despite ideological differences.
In spite of that (although, truth be told, he was probably unaware of it), Franco was a firm Polonophile and he condemned Germany over its invasion of a "fellow Catholic nation". In fact, the Spanish troops sent to the Eastern Front were just about the only soldiers passing through Poland in the period of 1939-1945 which local Poles actually had fond memories of, as only the Spanish didn't treat them like shit-with the exception of the Hungarians during the Warsaw Uprising.
Indeed: Ramon Sender --author of Cronica del Alba. Had he returned to Spain he would have gained the Nobel Prize. Yet he chose to remain because of Mexico's wonderful people and culture. So the Swedes awarded the prize to a nobody fascist maracon named 'Sila'.
In his memoirs of the war, George Orwell mentioned carefully hoarding ammunition from Mexico, as it was superior to anything produced in Spain. Some International Brigade members were issued with Mosin Nagant rifles, made for Russia, but eventually delivered to Mexico. Brigaders called them 'Mexicanskis.'
I'm in lockdown and the only good thing is watching you guys. I hope you're all good.
Thanks, Victor. Stay safe too!
*major actor decides to travel*
Planes: *aight imma crash*
Who is imma?
@@kenanacampora imma = i am gonna
@@kenanacampora im yo mama
Lots of rumors Franco was behind Mola's plane crashing to solidify his position
Thank you for this episode. My family on my father's side were victims of this war and the global war to come, having fled to France only to come face-to-face with the Nazis when France fell. It is this event that forcefully migrated my family that had been in Casares for millennia. Had this event not happened, I doubt I would have been born in the United States. I am lucky that my grandparents were both survivors, when many of their own siblings perished in these wars. It left them scarred for life, and my family still deals with the effects and trauma to this day. Thank you to Indy and the team.
You're very welcome! It sounds like you have quite the family history. We're glad we can provide some further insight into what shaped it.
Last time I was this early, spain was already split between Castile and Aragon
A friend of mine's grandparents were trade unionists for the Spanish Republic and he told me about all that they saw during this time. It was literally both the best of times and the worst of times.
How many churches did they burn?
Just an interesting note here, there were around 1500 Yugoslav volunteers fighting for the Republic in the International Brigades. Some of those people were instrumental for the success of the Anti-Fascist Partisan resistance in Yugoslavia several years later. One of the most notable volunteers was Koča Popović who became an artillery captain and took part in most major battles of the Spanish Civil War. The warfare experience that he gained in Spain was instrumental for the Yugoslav resistance, especially in the Battle of Sutjeska (1943) where the main body of the resistance was nearly crushed and Tito captured, all of this luckily avoided with Popović's genius reactions in dire situations.
I really hope that one day Indy can take a look at Yugoslav Spaniards (as we call them in Ex-Yu) because the background of those people can explain the effectiveness of the resistance towards overwhelming numbers of invading and Quisling forces.
Rest assured we'll definitely be giving a lot of coverage to the Yugoslav Partisan movement over on our WW2 channel, lots of fascinating people and events to talk about!
What was role of those veterans in later postwar Tito's regime and it's oppoistion to Stalin? What side did they took?
Fun Fact: German troops were on both sides of the war. The Kondor Legion for the Nationalists and the Ernst Thälmann Brigade(named after the KPD leader of German Communists) for the Republicans.
Wait, isn’t Germany on the wrong side of this?
*national socialists*
The thing is the Republic tends to be Romanticized and all, specially because what came later, but people forget the crimes that happened in the Republic side, because the republican side was hijacked by extremists, from anarchists to communists, and being Spain a very conservative and religious country at the time (in some aspects, still is), Franco in a way was the natural response. We cant say if the republicans/communists won, would be better or worse. Extemism, just brings out more extremism.
@@andmos1001 yes, officiaI heIp of the german state went to the nationaIists, but there were those within the KPD that fIed germany by this time and who knewhoew their own country was misrun, they saw a chance to fight their own opressors by fightig their aIIy. These were the german voIunteers of the ThaIImann brigade (as part of the InternationaI brigades). These men were not send BY germany, they were germans fighting for the RepubIic and the communist ideaIs. The German soIdiers of the Kondor Iegion (and their weapons) were however soIdiers send by the Reich spain to heIp the NationaIists. Most men from the internationaI brigades didnt because of a government , but in spite of them some brits some americans (the Abraham IincoIn Brigade) and many more. I knew a man that went there and he Iost his own Dutch passport because of it.
@@gordusmaximus4990 the reason for the rise of anarchism and communism was Spains conservatism and extreme power of religious institutions which oppressed the Spanish people for centuries, and the people had enough.
Wow, finally nearing the end of between two wars. Been a heck of a ride.
Not so sure about that, remember that there's still a bunch of part 2/3 etc. from previous years. This is probably going to go on for quite a while longer.
Thanks for coming along!
Didnt George Orwell fight in the international brigade?
No, He was with POUM, which was brutally purged by the stalinists after the "May Days".
Hemingway
Yes. Read his book on his time fighting in Spain. Good read.
He ended up with the POUM almost by chance - he was sponsored by the ILP which had POUM links.
@@blackore64 oh, my bad. Usually when im wrong i usually like to delete my comment but ill keep this one for its correction
Homage to Catalonia by George Orwell gives a good depiction of the complexity of the war from descriptions of the front line to the infighting among different factions in Barcelona.
Yes!
A Japanese fought as a volunteer in the international brigades, he brought his katana and everything.
@Definitely a George Soros funded bot His alias was Jack Shirai
A useful idiot as Lenin would have called him. The Japanese were fighting in China and soon with the red army during the time of the Spanish civil war.
@@averagejoeschmoe9186 He was an expat living in New York, he didn't cared what Japan was doing in that time.
The katana has samurai associations, and left-inclined Japanese (the Japanese Communist Party was banned) tended not to be samurai or even favourable to feudal remnants. The Japanese army had used occidental-type swords in the Russo-Japanese War and WW1, and the katana-type swords used in WW2 were an interesting throwback, perhaps reflecting armed forces nostalgia for Japan's past.
@@averagejoeschmoe9186 Lenin never said it. We have absolutely no indication that any of the most notorious ideologues of European history were anything less than 100% convinced about the beliefs they preached. We like to think our enemies are callous cynics like that (because it allows us to automatically assume that what they say is just bollocks and anybody who thinks that way must be insane-therefore meriting physical elimination rather than discussion) but truth of the matter is, very few people in life are.
Indy, the soviet aid don´t was free, the USSR take the gold reserves of Spain as payment.
It is often overlooked how the Spanish Republicans gave most of their country`s gold reserv to Stalin.
@@jamesdownen8980 Social justice? Give me a break.
USSR also evcuated some children from Spain. Amd this also somehow forgets about the very uncomfortable topic of Neutrality Patrols aka Britain , France , German , Italy navies chasing cargo ships from USSR.
@@ivanmonahhov2314 A few Republican air force pilots escaped to the USSR and took part in WW2.
In 1936, Spain had the 4th world gold reserve. You can imagine the amount of gold we are talking about. But I cant blame the republic, they were in a desperate position.
For me, the real victim of the Spanish Civil war was democracy.
"Fantasies of the male menopause"
Why don't we have such wit today...
Oh but wouldn't the mainstream media go absolutely nuts against whoever said this!
I wrote a blogpost about why I hate right wing coups, because this is what it does, it appeals to the male fantasy
We just have meme's now
@@daniels4385 can u send me a link, please? Thank you.
@@UkuleleVillain its a meme bro
Spain still was using german supplied military equipment as late as the 1970s, some of which was used in the filming of PATTON.
I know they had Heinkel he 111, but the bombers were retired in a museum of something like that. I dont remember ir well.
The Spanish army made up a lot of the extras in the movie, they were using 70s era American tanks, I recently found some youtube videos of their army firing german made 88s.
As a Spaniard I have to say you've done an amazing job. I was afraid that you would support one side more than the other, but you have treated everything with great prudence. Here, we all have stories of the civil war from our grandparents or parents that even surpass reality. Personally, my great grandfather fought in the war on the Aragon front against the Corpo Truppe Volontarie in the battle of Belchite, one of the bloodiest of the war.
I would like to help you in everything you want to know, how life was in the cities and towns during the war, how cultural minorities were treated in Spain or anything else you are curious about(even pronuntiation of cities and Spanish names)
The only thing missing in the video is to explore the diversity that existed on each side, how democrats like Manuel Azaña pursued a democratic republican dream or how the Carlists stood against the Falange
From what I read, the Carlists did not like Franco because they simply wanted to wind the clock 150 years back. They didn't want fascists, parties, great rallies, nationalism, just simply the good ole' feudalism. And Franco at the time was by all means part of the revolutionary right that fascists also constituted (even if he by no means shared their anticlericalism). It was only after WWII, when the Western right needed to rid itself of its totalitarian and revolutionary associations in order to stay relevant, that Franco followed suit, toned down the White Terror and reestablished the monarchy.
Thank you for the kind words! It's an honour to know you value what we've done here.
We appreciate the offer of help but we won't actually be doing anything on Spain now (Apart from whenever it relates to World War Two over on our other channel). If we ever do more specials on it then we will definitely come to you for help.
Sorry to hear you're disappointed about us not going into enough detail on the diversity of both sides. We always try to do history justice but in such a short video, a lot of the finer details have to be passed over.
Support one side more than the other???? Franco terrorized Spain for 40 years and was an absolute monster
Subs are back on,thank you. I learned more about this war in 22 minutes than I ever learned in school. Your way of explaining this topic makes a lot more sense than teachers.
Agree with you totally, Karol. The right format. The right length. The right presenter.
Years ago, I had a good friend at work who happened to be from the Philippines. It's really complicated but, his family were Spanish and he was so proud of them being Falangists. When he was a kid in the 1930's all his Aunties would dress up in brown uniforms, strut around, and pose for pictures. He was believe it or else, 8-) a really nice man who was eternally grateful towards the States for coming back and kicking out the Japanese. As Yusuf Mohammed/Cat Stevens sings, 'Oooh baby, baby, it's a wild world'.
The communists or “Republicans” brutality towards the Spanish population before and during the Civil War can be comparable to that of the Japanese during their Pacific campaigns.
Both Filipino and American teamed up to defeat Japan. Japan was difficult to defeat.
As Filipinos, in WW2, we were an American colony so we were waiting for General McArthur to return from USA after 3 yrs, with more guns, and firepower. But on the ground, Filipinos, Americans were fighting.
What did Filipinos do in the 3 yrs? We were having our own small guerilla fighting by ambush on Japanese on small towns.
1 by 1
3 yrs before WW2 victory is not a peaceful time nor a passive life for both Filipinos during Japanese occupation either
Thanks for fixing the sound. You are epic! Re-recording the entire episode just so sound is crisp and perfect. The sign of a great team and why many people (including me) chose to support you on Patreon
Thanks for your support!
What is maybe not mentioned it that the USSR sent larges amounts of military hardware and troops to fight in the Spanish Civil War. Spain actually paid for the supplies sent by the Soviet Union. Much of Spain's Gold was sent to the USSR for 'safe keeping' but was actually used as 'credit' for Soviet arms etc. The prices paid for the supplies were well inflated and much of the gold was basically stolen. At the start of the war, Spain had the 3rd largest gold reserves on the planet. This may be one factor in the lessening of interest from The USSR in the outcome of the war...
Good point. I agree, Stalin made a huge profit from this war which maybe helped him win the one that followed. One thing is for sure, Spain was well and truly bankrupted after it, and only through the devious machinations of Joan March was it able to pull through.
Was ready to start working from home and now... Thanks for keeping me sane Indy.
This episode was the TimeGhost's tour-de-force! Thank you indy and Co. for a masterful concise but thorough explanation of a complex and fascinating topic! Cheers!
You're welcome! Thank you for such a nice compliment!
Orwell's 'Homage to Catalonia' remains the best look at the incredibly confused nature of this war.
Antony Beevors Book is incredible as Always too..
"Mine Were of Trouble" by Peter Kemp gives an excellent perspective from the other side.
Mine Were of Trouble is an equally important outlook on that war
Just how important, at this stage, is Admiral Canaris?
IIRC, Canaris meets and befriends Franco during the civil war when he uses foreign contacts to keep the Nationalists supplied and funded. I think he's head of the Abwehr in 1936, but I might be wrong on that regard.
I've never forgotten seeing Picaso's Guernica at the Museum of Modern Art in NYC when I was young. No painting has ever struck me the way that one did. However, it was not hung horizontally, as shown in this vid but, rather, vertically. Very powerful work.
Great summary of a deeply tragic time in Spanish and European history. I would have liked to see more about the foreigners who volunteered to serve in the international brigades - they literally came from around the world. Not just French and British, but Irish, Canadian, Chinese, Americans (I once had the honor of meeting the last commander of the Abraham Lincoln Brigade, Milton Wolf. He told great stories about the war and about Ernest Hemingway who may based the central character Robert Jordan may be have been based him). The most tragic volunteers were the Germans, Italians and Czechs who did not have even have a country to go back to after the war.
I love your channel keep up the great stuff!!
There's a 6-part BBC documentary made in the 1980s simply titled "The Spanish Civil War" that I own and have watched a lot, which I recommend to all of you. Parts of it were here on YT a few years ago; I don't know if they're here still.
Two weeks until I binge-watch The Great War, Between Two Wars and World War Two.
Many Irish men volunteered for both the fascists through o'duffys blueshirts aswell as the international brigades through men like Frank Ryan. Loved the video.
Did any of them stay and live in Spain after the Civil war?
I read the poor blueshirts hardly saw any action... and when they did they were shot at by Franco's troops, believing them International brigadiers. Poor fellas :(
@DCM88 Never knew about that. Thanks for the interesting facts!
ua-cam.com/video/wRDq29CWM54/v-deo.html
Viva la quinta brigada
@@mikiroony There was a graphic comic compiled by Garth Ennis on war, with one set in the Spanish Civil War. The Blueshirts are depicted getting drunk on Spanish wine and then accidentally vomiting on the nationalist general who meets their train.
What's up with planes and crashing with VIPs on board?
a very beneficial coincidence for Franco don't you think? 🤔
@@lentejasrojasalvapor1853 Desde luego...
@@lentejasrojasalvapor1853 At least with Sanjurjo, it wasn his own stupidity that was chiefly responsible for his death. It was also rather disadvantageous for Franco and the fledgling coup.
VIPs, generals etc. were more likely to travel by plane.
19 people who stood in the way of the Bush family died in Airplane crashes between 1972 and 2002.
18:05 "The USSR is losing interest as it become more focused upon...." making a deal with Nazi Germany to carve up Poland and other parts of eastern Europe.
Well it was more focused on facing the reality of the situation the world was currently in. Stain had tried desperately to get Britain and France into an anti-Nazi pact since 1933 but Britain’s policy of appeasement and the constantly unstable French government never led to an agreement. The pact with Germany was meant to stall a German invasion of the Soviet Union until the Soviets were more prepared.
@@alecmcfarlin3364 You mean Stalin tried desperately to make Britain and France give Poland to him. At least that was basically his condition in joining against Hitler, but Hitler offered a better deal.
@@alecmcfarlin3364 And that sure did them well in June 1941, now didn't it? :-P Stalin's viciousness and double dealing were well known, and until Hitler stabbed him in the back he was happy to play along.
marvincz Stalin never officially said he wanted Poland. What he wanted from the allies was for them to convince Poland to join in the anti Nazi pact and let soviet soldiers man the border between Germany and Poland. Poland was very apprehensive about the Soviets and understandably feared them more than Nazi Germany. Still it’s kinda wrong to just shit on The Soviets when for 5 years before the war started, they had been constantly trying to forge an alliance with the west in order to crush Germany.
Cali Curmudgeon It wasn’t that Stalin was known as some backstabbing politician in the west and that’s why they couldn’t forge an alliance, it’s mostly because the western allies, particularly Britain viewed the Soviets as more of a threat than the Nazis.
What i understand is that nationalists have really bad luck with planes.
Or they don't 👀, I mean that kinda helped franco a lot
If only Franco had... But, actually the air power was one in the side of nationalists.
"luck"
Rudolf Hess, anyone?
I think their bad luck came more from being rivals for Franco than everything else
A lot of Spanish Republican refugees in France ended up in German concentration camps, notably Mauthausen in Austria. I visited the museum there and there was commemorative bunting from various national groups but quite a lot in the Spanish Republic tricolour. The Germans referred to them as "Rotspanier" or "Red Spaniards".
Really good episode, the key clarification of the civil war not being a complete Second World War proving ground (as per more modern literature of the conflict) was a really important point.
Excellent episode. Spain was so devastated and haunted for decades by that war. It was a very personal war. It was about class and religion, central to life in traditional Spain. A good movie about this time is The Spirit of the Beehive (1973 Espiritu de la Colmena). It was heavy with symbolism, getting past censors. Franco var ju rätt vidrig iofs.
Unfortunately, Spanish politics has not changed. It just goes in circles. Just look at Spain today. Right leaning and left leaning parties fighting. Even different parties of same ideologies fighting. And all of them joining political coalitions to try to outmaneuver there opposition. In the meantime, nothing important gets done. They could not even agree for a really long time on having someone lead the government. Just look at the Spanish governments handling of this virus. They really threw the ball away. At times it seems the only one who really knew how to run Spain was Isabela I of Castile. Some might think also Franco but Spain was internationally ostracized most of the time when he ran Spain.
Will there be an episode about the Khalkhin Gol Japanese Soviet conflict? It is barely mentioned in the literature about the conditions of WW II but had an enormous impact on the War as the Battle for Moscow or even the end of the war with August storm. A depiction of that conflict would be an essential asset over most other WW II documentaries. Best regards Dietmar
So both of Franco's main military challengers to power died in a plane crashes. oh yep seems legit.
Weirdly enough, it _is_ legit. People have tried hard to find some evidence that Franco was involved in their deaths, but nope. He was just a lucky bastard.
Franco didn't even know people saw him as a potential leader, the crash was more than likely unintentional
Yes. Sanjurjo chose to fly in a plane too small for his heavy baggage. When the pilot refused to take off, the General pulled out a revolver and said "Get off the ground". The plane crashed, and the pilot survived. Mola's plane flew into unexpected turbulence.
Sounds like Hitler and Luderndorf.
Planes were dangerous in those days.
can never have enough of these Spanish Civil War episodes, only missing now is one on the Sabaton Channel
One of my pupils writes his thesis about the Spanish Civil War. This video will be of great help.
In what country is that school you speak of?
@@hendriktonisson2915 The Netherlands probably.
I'm writing an alternate history book about this subject so this is very helpful, thanks 👍
"Long live death"....that sounds like something the Polocks would come up with.
I like those three little skeletons on the table.
I was wondering what's hiding behind those blue cards on that huge porcelain thing?
The photos of Franco and Hemingway are a great touch for this one.
See no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil
They're usually sitting on the left side of the screen, close to the three lights.
1
I highly recommend the six part series The Spanish Civil War on UA-cam. It features people who experienced the war on both sides, people who could speak freely after the death of Franco.
It's often overlooked that the first black flying ace flew for the Republicans during the Spanish Civil War. His name was James Peck with 5 kills second to fellow American volunteer Frank Tinker (8 air-to-air victories) and like Tinker his victories were subsequently unrecognized as the United States wanted to distance itself from the Soviet Union as well as being on the losing side with no one to officially recognize them. Similarly he was denied entry into the USAAC and his story fell into obscurity.
One of the leaders of the mainly American Abraham Lincoln Brigade, Oliver Law, was African-American. He was killed in battle in July 1937.
Again, an excellent explanation of a complicated topic. PLEASE DO A SUMMARY ON THE RIF WAR!!!
12:54 nice drift there
It was mentioned somewhat but I'd also like to point that the civil war also gave German fighter pilots valuable combat experience that, when coupled with the Blitzkriegs of France and Russia, will lead to training and tactics that will produce aces like Erich Hartmann, Gerhard Barkhorn, and Gunther Rall to rack up victories in the hundreds, far and away cementing them as the highest scoring fighter aces in history.
The British helped and supported Franco in exchange for Spain's neutrality in WWII. No one mentions this, but were Spain joined the Axis, kiss goodbye North Africa and Gibraltar.
Quote from Wiki on Foreign involvement in Spanish civil war:
"As well as permitting Franco to set up a signals base in Gibraltar, a British colony, the British allowed the Germans to overfly Gibraltar during the airlift of the Army of Africa to Seville."
My grandparents families could have had a member murdered by each side. My grandmother hide his brother behind a wall 3 years in Granada. She knew Federico García Lorca by sight. My grandfather was very religious and had to escape from Periana (Málaga) not to be murdered as well. They both did nothing bad. Each war side did. But this is forgotten nowdays. I hope doesnt repeat never again.
Franco was flown from the Canaries to Morroco by a Brit. Major was an author, journalist, adventurer, firearms expert, and a SOE officer. His friend asked him if he could be ready to fly to Africa, with two women as "cover"; Pollard, an anti-Communist who regarded it as "the duty of a good Catholic to help fellow Catholics in trouble", replied: "depends on the girls". Pollard was persuaded by his friends to join the enterprise and he recruited his daughter Diana and her friend Dorothy Watson to accompany him.
thanks for this episode, really good job. cheers from spain
Josip Broz Tito was one of the foreign fighters in the Spanish Civil War!
It's where he got the name Tito which is like 'favorite uncle' in Spanish.
And George Orwell
@@Yordleton How different was what Tito practiced to Stalinismus?
@@edward9674 Very fucking different
Edvard extremely different, Tito was actually good for Yugoslavia and well loved by her people
I love your videos. As a stamp collector many of my stamps show the leaders that you talk about. It makes that history more interesting. Thank you
Thats cool! Thanks for the support!
I wonder if there is a connection here with the Christero war in Mexico in rhe 1920s. It seems Trotski had a hand in influencing the socialistic/communistic deology there as no doubt Stalin had a hand in the socialism/communism ideology and support in Spain and Germany. I think Mexico was curiously the only country that supported the communist/republicans of Spain. I think the Catholic church did not want the same outcome in Spain which had occurred in Mexico. Maybe why Mexico is no great shakes today.
The USSR gave far more and was in a far better position to although it was not a free donation.
There were times when Communists acted to reduce anti-Catholic violence, fearing it was costing the Republicans support - I have read of an instance where they issued a Communist Party membership card to a statue, I think one of Jesus or Mary, to stop Anarchists demolishing it. Actions like this caused them to be sometimes referred to contemptuously as "Communists of the Infant Jesus".
George Orwell regarded anti-Catholic actions as natural as the Church owned much of the wealth in Spain. Orwell was almost as hostile to the Roman Catholic Church as he was to Stalinism.
Cardenas, head of the Mexican government, was inclined to the left but not particularly close to Moscow. Giving asylum to Trotsky did not go down at all well with the Soviet authorities.
touchy subjects, i apreciate the respect with wich you handle these
In the map that shows in 5:04 you guys forgot to mention the other Spanish colonial territories: Sidi Ifni (which, at first, was Republican-controlled but soon fell to the Nationalists), Río de Oro (Nationalist-controlled) and Spanish Guinea (also Nationalist).
But they wasn't strategic to explain the war. For clarity its ok
Thanks for all the Great episodes. History was my minor in college and one of my favorite subject. A series on the Great Depression and it’s effect around the world would be fantastic. Thanks again Big Fan!
And I must add, that there were minor supporters, Czechoslovakia sold planes and armament to Republicans, Poland emptied it ammo storage and hangars of old equipment at hefty price to both sides. Enough to complete PZL-37 bomber program and then some.
Mexico was a major supporter. Some of it was arms, but a lot of it was food stuffs.
In terms of the Nationalist side, they received a lot of aid from US oil companies
Czechoslovak army helmets were widely used by the Republicans. Interesting that highly Catholic Poland sold to both sides. Pragmatism...
@@stevekaczynski3793 Well, considering hard line communists on Republican side and USSR's involvement it was hard (or easy?) choise for them...
@@tomfu6210 But they sold to the Republic as well, though no doubt for money. So pragmatism.
I very much recommend the autobiographic trilogy written by Arturo Barea, "La forja de un rebelde", specifically the third volume titled "La llama" in which he portraits the previous time leading to the starting of the war and the war itself in Madrid, ending with the depressing exile and the mistreatment that France gave to the refugees - somehow similar to the way we shamefully treat nowadays refugees from other wars and purges.
Indy, Cortes is stressed in the first syllable, not in the last one.
Forgive him. As an American, "Cortes" is very similar to the last name of the 16th century Spanish Conquistador, and I and everyone who grew up learning about him in history class and watched such documentaries as Pirates of The Carribean would, when speaking in English, tend to emphasize the "Tes" in Cortes.
@@GaltarDude1138 That's "Cortés", with accent. The "Cortes" (literally "Courts") is one of the ways of calling the Spanish Parliament, mostly in legal texts.
@@podemosurss8316 Podemos URSS I understand, I was just saying not to be too hard on Indy. We don't have diacritical marks in English, except for words with a foreign origin e.g. exposé, maître d’, etc. So Cortes and Cortés as interpreted by us may as well have been the same word at first blush, especially because we like to divest words of their diacritics (you won't typically find the word "résumé" in American job hunting sites, instead they would ask for a "resume," even though it's the exact same thing and pronounced the exact same way.)
@@GaltarDude1138 I'm not being too hard, but his pronunciation when speaking Spanish is reaching comical levels. For example, on his video of 1936 he pulled a perfect French accent...
Time Ghost partnering with Paradox...
My world is complete
What is funny is that in the last weeks of his life, Hitler expressed remorse about supporting franco, because after he had won the civil war he reinstated the spanish nobility and established a system that Hitler described as "feudal". Also Hitler was of the opinion that Franco had become a puppet of the catholic church. Hitler went even further: He said that if there hadn't been the possibility of Republican Spain becoming a soviet puppet, and if he had known what Franco would do in the future, he might have supported "the reds".
Hitler found Franco disappointing but if he did not know how powerful the Catholic Church was in Spain, he was a fool.
I love the pictures on your walls, especially the one at the left....
The artist is Tamara Łempicka. The left-hand painting is called 'Portrait of a Young Girl in a Green Dress' and the right-hand one is titled 'Portrait De Madame Boucard'
@@TimeGhost thanks a lot!
Sinceramente, gracias, maestro!
Cheers!
I have a friend, a retired British brigadier, whose mother was one of the athletes sent to the ‘alternative’ Olympics in Spain in 1936. As it became obvious the political situation was falling apart the Royal Navy sent a destroyer to pick up the British contingent and bring them home.
The Spanish Civil War is an interesting subject for me, as I hear quite a few modern day Anarchists cite it as an example of how Anarchist societies may work. Without becoming too partisan (simply stating as neutral fact "this is what I've been told"), the downfall of the Anarchists of Catalonia were, as I understand it, a combination of in-fighting with other communists, and the collective steamrolling of the nationalist-backed armies of the Soviet Union and the Fascists.
Of course, I think it's fair to say history can't be summarized quite so cleanly, so I doubt this is the be all end all of Catalonia's fall, as well illustrated by this video! Would I be right in saying I've got the general idea of how and why the Anarchist society of Catalonia ended?
I mean Anarchists refused the Power in Catalonia when it was handed for them in a silver platter, and they were de dacto in power in Catalonia, from their principles. Anarchists failed to put much resistance to the Republican Government, which was trying to get the authority back in Catalonia the whole time.
Anyone who say anarchism works is full of shit
Harold Lawson
Organized feudal anarchy can work, post-industrialization “anarchisms”(whether commie, capitalist, or other) really can’t and pretty much throughout the techno-industrialized ‘West’(for starters) only ignorant af+dumb teens, young adults and overly intellectualized academic morons believe in them anyways.
¡No pasarán!
Llegas tarde.
As a interesting fact, the Guernica painting is actually the death of the bullfighter Ignacio Sánchez Mejías, a friend of Picasso, and the painting got bought and renamed by the republicans as a propaganda piece to get international help.
Ah! That's why it seems so unrelated
I’m sorry I have to reply to this comment even four years later to say this is absolutely not true lol
What sources have you used when researching the May Days? I have read Homage to Catalonia and Felix Morrow's Revolution and Counter Revolution in Spain which paint a slightly different picture than your distillation of the events.
Reds bad. Reds thieves. Reds loosed. Thats the true story.
Here are the main sources we used researching this episode:
-Julián Casanova Ruiz, The Spanish Republic and Civil War.
-Gabriel Jackson, Spanish Republic and the Civil War.
-Stanley G. Payne, The Spanish Civil War.
-George Richard Esenwein, The Spanish Civil War: A Modern Tragedy.
Well the anarchists are blaming the reds and the reds the anarchists. It was not the first time the reds stabed the anarchists in the back.
Francis, you do a great overview of the conflict (as I understand it) in a short time. This is to your credit. If I may, I'd like to mention two points, one relatively minor, one far more significant.
a) you state, in relation to the Non-intervention Pact something like (sorry, I'm doing this from memory, only watching it one time) "This was a total farce." This statement implies all sides were dishonest/cynical about this agreement. From my reading (ok, mostly Hugh Thomas' book, but also Arthur Koestler, George Orwell and others) this is not the case. GB and France signed it and in the main, kept to it. It was Italy and Nazi Germany that signed the treaty with absolutely no intention whatsoever of keeping to the agreement.
So it wasn't a total farce - it was one-sided dishonesty and cyncism.
b) You state that the USSR then came to aid the Republic. OK, this is true. But, there was a significant difference between the "aid" offered by Uncle Joe, and that of Mussolin and Hitler. The latter pair offered genuine aid - ie Franco didn't have to pay for the assistance immediately (if at all, I forget).
In contrast, dear Uncle Joe made the Republic pay IN GOLD for his (inferior) weapons. This ripped the core out of the Central Bank reserves, greatly undermining the Republic's financial credibility. And with that, when the Republic did not begin to recover, but continue losing territory and assets, dear Uncle Joe pulled the plug.
Hugh Thomas stresses in his book that this was hugely significant to the outcome of the war.
c) An extra point. You are quite right that the bombing of Guernica caught international attention, but the strange thing is that there had been other, very similar bombings and straffings of civilians in the war, most notably of Durango a few days previously - which just never 'caught on' in the public's imagination. Probably, in large part, by Picasso's painting and some 'exhuberant' reporting by foreign media on the Guernica actions.
Fully understand that this is a minor point when you only have 30 minutes for a complex 3 years of history.
Regards
Thanks for the kind words, it's a complicated topic which was difficult to write on.
As to your points:
a) I think your understanding of "farce" is wrong. Describing something as a farce means that is is empty, a sham, or obviously ridiculous. You're right that only certain sides were dishonest about their commitment to non-intervention, but that one-sided dishonesty is usually exactly what makes something a farce! Calling something a farce offers no implication that all sides are dishonest.
b) In such a short space of time its difficult to go into the differences in aid from foreign powers. However, Indy does mention that the quality of arms from the USSR were inferior to what Italy and Germany offered, and that Stalin was losing interest. At the same time, and as Indy mentions, we shouldn't forget the fact that Soviet aid was very significant to the war effort. Soviet planes were largely responsible for the Republican victory at Madrid.
c) Again in such a short space of time, we can't go into every battle or bombing. Indy mentions Guernica precisely because of the reasons you detail. It became emblematic of the war.
Done. Awesome your work explain so much things about the world and conflicts who existed till the end of the century; some myths explained, and the chain of events that led to ww2. Kudos and keep up the good work
The Spanish Civil War is my personal favourite point in history for political conflict, when Communists fought Anarchists and Marxists despite uniting against the even larger right wing forces
It was not the first time. Check the Kronstadt rebellion and Nestor Makhno.
Oh damn I didn't think I'd see this guy again! Awesome!!
*We are in the last year boys!*
That's right, the end is nigh.
@@Parapon3ra yep.
I love your channel
As a Christmas gift my kids got me a copy of Frank G Tinker's book "Some Still Live" on his experiences as an American mercenary pilot flying for the Republicans during the war. He was credited with 8 kills. He doesn't go into the politics much. More of a travelogue of his own experience fighting alongside Spanish and Soviet pilots and his description of interacting with the locals.
He committed suicide in June 1939, perhaps in despair over the Republican defeat and maybe as a result of PTSD, like many veterans of wars.
You did a great job on this topic.. thanx
hey we're in the late start for hoi4
You were right Indy. This is a perfect starting point for your alternative history :) enerything is "just so" "and "almost" :)
It is indeed such a complex conflict to study and explain. I feel like even we Spaniards have almost no interest in it due to all the blurring lines, politics, backstabbing. And just general confusion that the conflict was surrounded with.
I love that you made many videos lately about the civil war in my country, here attitudes go from complete ignorance due to lack of information or interest, to even still being a bit of a taboo specially for our elder which in my experience talking with some that were kids or teens back then, always ends quickly with them referring to it as a horrible part of their lives they rather forget about.
It is still a very unexplored and forgotten part of our past that I hope 1 day will receive more attention, I guess some wounds are still fresh. Maybe it is because despite never being openly talked about, the right and left wing parties of today still consider their side back then was the "good" one, and nobody wants to push that wedge again to far.
It is also very uncomfortable for the foreign powers , the time when Britain and France aided Mussolini and Hitler.
I love your channel keep up the great stuff!!!!!
Take care TimeGhostArmy.
I'm a Spaniard and here in Spain the Civil War is still discuted, and our society is highly divided just like in 1936.
And one thing: in the map you used of Spain Gijón is in the site where the capital of Asturias is: Oviedo. Gijón is more north. I know all of this since I'm from Oviedo xd
Greetings
"Just like in 1936"? Nope. Whatever you may say about Spain today, we're _not_ in the brink of a civil war. People aren't going to start killing each other in the streets :P
@@ArkadiBolschek The actual Spanish society is divided between left and right just like 1936. Not so much as in 1936,of course.
@@jorgecas5678 Of course there is left and right; the left-right divide has been the main constant in Western politics for two centuries. But we aren't murdering each other in the streets, and that's what counts.
What are the two paintings in the background?
Hi Chris!
The paintings in the background are originally made by the Art Deco artist Tamara de Łempicka. The left-hand one is called 'Jeune Fille en Vert' (Young Girl in Green) and the right-hand one 'Portrait de Madame Boucard'.
Kinda sad that we are now at 1939 it means this series is over soon unless it continues into 1941 for the USA alone.
It can continue until 2020 for Switzerland
@@davidp.7620 It will continue until 3000 for switzerland. Once we reach 2020 we will get real life politics week by week
Uh, my money's on the last episode covering the month/week right before the first episode of World War Two. Just a hunch.
@@skeeterhoney nah... way to obvious
Can I ask who is the girl from the miniature? Is she just some "random" person/soldier or is she someone known?
She was named Marina Ginestà, she survived the war, and died in 2014
She's very much an icon of the war. Her name is Marina Ginestà, go look her up!
They sang the red flag
They wore the black one
what's black on the outside and red on the inside? an anarcho-communist. or a burned communist to a crisp.
I can see why this is glossed over in school. It’s a bit too complicated but thanks for covering it
you forget the help of Portugal in this war!
Unfortunately in a video only about 20 minutes long we have to be really selective in what we cover. Portugal wasn't as big a player as Germany or Italy and we didn't even give that much coverage to them!
Something we have to be careful of in a conflict like this overloading the narrative with actors and groups which will only make things more confusing. Hopefully you weren't too disappointed and still enjoyed the video.
@@TimeGhost I understand the condensed form of the conflict, but one of the initial objectives of the nationalists was to have control over the Portuguese-Spanish border as a supply zone!
But I liked the video!
I hope you are doing well in Germany or whatever country you are in!
Keep up the GREAT work!
Cheers from Portugal!
Cannot wait to see how you guys did the 27th March and a coup in Yugoslavia....
You're about to find out soon!
World war 1 was the collapse of the old monarchy system throughout Europe and beyond. This lead to a vaccum of how societies should be governed. The complexity comes because many different ideas and versions of these ideas were put forward and tried. Nobody really knew what would work - communism, demoracy, etc. But all these ideas had believers and ruthless ones at that. When you believe you are right and are willing to have your opposition die if they refuse to accept it - then violence is always going to be brutal. This was a new age but the generation was used to old familiar systems that had disappeared. Change was new going to be easy and it was not.
Have you given any thought to examining the Spanish Civil War in more depth? It is an almost forgotten war, but one that had major consequences later on.
We have considered that, but we decided to not do that at this moment because it'd be a big project
When I tkink about Spanish Civil war I always think about Ernest Hemingway
the last romantic hero and renaissance man
Read George Orwell's book on his time in Spain if you have not already. Misty eyed and romantic notions of socialism are ground up by reality.
@@handle1603 See my edit. I agree with your analysis of Hemingway.
@@handle1603 but it's Spain isn't it? They were communists, but Stalin didn't lead them. And don't you think what falangists were bad guys in this conflict?
@@handle1603 is there any war without atrocities? Goals and outcomes matter
Really appreciate your videos!!! Thank you so much!!!