Next came a visit to a prison for political prisoners, until lately occupied by the present President and Prime Minister. These paperback editions preserve the original texts of these important books while presenting them in durable paperback editions. Using its best troops, including the International Brigades, the Republicans were able to force the Italians to retreat. They did not destroy the morale of our troops nor depress our rearguard unduly. Mussolini insisted that his forces should be used as a single unit. It wasn’t a straightforward or uniform process. For this reason Mussolini was in no hurry to withdraw the CTV,¹ but he did not seriously consider maintaining a military presence in Spain much beyond the end of the Civil War.² Some discussion took place at the foreign ministry of plans for demobilizing in Spain soldiers... JSTOR is part of ITHAKA, a not-for-profit organization helping the academic community use digital technologies to preserve the scholarly record and to advance research and teaching in sustainable ways. Germany has a great interest in the victory of the insurgents. The italian contribution amounted to 60,000 troops at the height of war and this helped to increase mussollini's poularity. In return for military aid, the Nationalist agreed to allow Italy to establish bases in Spain if there was a war with France. When Benito Mussolini gained power in Italy he began to develop contacts with right-wing forces in Spain. Log in to your personal account or through your institution. Republican losses onset those suffered by the Nationalists, and the equipment captured by the enemy was rapidly replaced. Try logging in through your institution for access. D. Patricia Knight, The Spanish Civil War (1998) There is no indication yet whether the Government or the insurgents are likely to prevail. book By October 23, their tanks ha… The 19thcentury was a tempestuous time in Spain. Everything points to a protracted and sanguinary civil war. These islands play an important part in German plans for the future development of sea-power in the Mediterranean. The twelve miles or so which we finally gained on the road to Madrid lacked miles or so which we finally gained on the road to Madrid lacked strategic value, but this also was the case with the territory re-won by the Republicans. Their northern sector comprised a 200-mile long strip on the Atlantic coast, including the Basque provinces, Santander, and part of Asturias. The Nationalist rebels' initial efforts to instigate military revolts throughout Spain only partially succeeded. Baldwin and Blum now called for all countries in Europe not to intervene in the Spanish Civil War. From mid-August an extravagant Italian Fascist named Arconovaldo Bonaccorsi played a leading role in events there; he soon became known as “Conte Rossi.” His activities, which we will examine in detail in this chapter, illustrate a number of interesting aspects of Italian policy in Spain. In September 1936 a Non-Intervention Agreement was drawn-up and signed by 27 countries including Germany, Britain, France, the Soviet Union and Italy. A perusal of the captured German documents makes plain that one of Hitler's purposes was to prolong the Spanish Civil War in order to keep the Western democracies and Italy at loggerheads and draw Mussolini toward him. This is particularly so in Morocco. All figures relating to numbers of troops - whether Spanish or foreign - in Spain are conjectural, but as far as can 'be judged at the moment there would seem to be between 30,000 and 60,000 volunteers on the Government side and between 80,000 and 100,000 on the rebel side, the latter, of course, bring supplies with an incomparably superior armament. This was done, systematically and fully Italian brigades and their commanders accepted in due course the idea of being flanked on the field by Spanish effectives. → undermined support from the regime from the elites That way, when WW2 would inevitably start, they could guarantee that Spain would not fight against them. In March 1934 Mussolini met a group of Spanish politicians and generals in Rome who were opposed to the Second Republic. In view of this situation, the ambassador suggested that the entire Italian involvement in the civil war ought to be reassessed in the light of its costs and potential risks and benefits.¹. Why did Germany and Italy support the Nationalists during the Spanish Civil War? Soviet forces were instrumental in helping the Spanish People's Republican Army (PRA) keep hold of the country’s main city throughout the entire war. ©2000-2021 ITHAKA. He was not the sort of... Less than one week after the end of the Civil War, the first Italian troops landed in Albania. These agents are taking part in military activities and are also exercising a certain political influence. On the morning of July 29, 1936, twelve days after the military revolt that touched off the Spanish Civil War, a group of twelve Savoia-Marchetti S 81 bombers of the Italian air force assembled at Elmas airport in Sardinia and were hastily repainted to cover over their military markings and numbers.¹ Their crews were made up of members of the air force who had volunteered for a special assignment outside the country. Because of its ideological nature and the involvement of Germany and Italy, the Spanish Civil War is sometimes considered a ‘dress rehearsal’ for World War II. The goal of the Princeton Legacy Library is to vastly increase access to the rich scholarly heritage found in the thousands of books published by Princeton University Press since its founding in 1905. Guernica in the aftermath of the bombing by German and Italian aircraft during the Spanish Civil War. Immediately the Spanish working classes demanded that the reforms legis lated during the period from 1931 to 1933 be put into operation. A number of factors made it highly unlikely that Mussolini would at this point seriously consider withdrawing from Spain or sharply reducing... After the fall of Santander and the final elimination of the northern front, a prolonged period of quiet ensued as Franco prepared his forces for yet another assault on Madrid. During this period, the commander of the CTV was changed once again, and its forces strengthened and reorganized. That is to say, a 'Fascist' Spain would, for Germany, be a means of 'turning the French flank' and of playing a part in the Mediterranean. General Francisco Franco was unhappy about this as he wanted the Italians dispersed among his own Spanish units. To support the fascist regime of Generalissimo Franco. It does not seem that any Russian volunteers or war material have reached Spain during the last few weeks. From the very beginning the Fuehrer's Spanish policy was shrewd, calculated and far-seeing. Half a million people died in this conflict between 1936 and 1939. Neither stretch of ground could influence the future conduct of the war or its outcome. She also disposes of a powerful organization for political and military espionage, which works behind a diplomatic and educational facade. The author concludes that participation in the Spanish Civil War was less important than is generally believed in determining Italy's entrance into World War II on Hitler's side, and that it did not significantly weaken her armed forces. * They wanted to expand their empire To acquire agriculture to support the future war … In rural areas with a strong right-wing political presence, Franco's confederates generally won out. It mirrored the political disputes occurring in Europe at the time between Fascism and democracy on one hand and the opposition to godless Communism on the other. But their victory made an impact on foreign public opinion which time has tailed to erase. The Germans estimated later that they spent half a billion marks on the venture 37 besides furnishing planes, tanks, technicians and the Condor Legion, an Air Force unit which distinguished itself by the obliteration of the Spanish town of Guernica and its civilian inhabitants. All Rights Reserved. The Spanish Civil War began on July 17, 1936, when generals Emilio Mola and Francisco Franco launched an uprising aimed at overthrowing the country's democratically elected republic. This branch has been strongly reinforced by newcomers from Germany during the last few weeks. In an article published in the review Ejercito, January 1945, Lieutenant-Colonel Lago, of the Spanish General Staff, gave approximate figures of the total losses in the battle: Nationalists, 148 killed, 300 wounded; Italians, 1,000 killed, 2,500 wounded, 800 missing. The Spanish Civil War began on July 17, 1936, when the garrison in Morocco occupied Melilla and Tetuán and gave the signal for a series of army risings throughout the peninsula on July 18, 19, and 20. Franco, for his part, was glad of the offers of support. He insisted that in future the Italians would have to operate in larger units made up primarily of Spanish troops and commanded by Spanish generals. When we asked them how they were being treated, several ran off to fetch samples of the bread they were getting, which they obviously found satisfactory. The Balearic Islands, situated off Spain’s Mediterranean coast between Barcelona and Valencia, were geographically removed from the main theaters of action on the peninsula, and followed a course of their own. The fate of Morocco is naturally of the highest interest to Germany, for if the insurgents are victorious she may hope to secure territorial concessions in Morocco and therefore a foothold in Northern Africa. Amongst the war material shipped to Spain from Italy this month was a consignment of 100 Caproni bombers, which arrived in an aircraft-carrier. The League of Nations was in a critical condition at the end of 1936. The Italians failed to breakthrough on the first day and on the 9th March the Republican Army reinforced the frontline with over 20,000 soldiers. → a factor in Mussolini's decision to invade Abyssinia and intervene in the Spanish Civil War. When the Spanish Civil War broke out, Mussolini leapt at the opportunity to become involved. Shorn of most of her colonies during the first third of the nineteenth century, she had ceased to be a power that really mattered in Europe. Using hitherto unavailable material from the Italian foreign ministry, Franco's headquarters, and Mussolini's secretariat, John F. Coverdale traces the development of Italo-Spanish relations from the beginning of the Fascist regime. https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt13x112j, Italian Intervention in the Spanish Civil War, (For EndNote, ProCite, Reference Manager, Zotero, Mendeley...), ONE THE BACKGROUND OF INTERVENTION: ITALY IN 1936, TWO THE BACKGROUND OF INTERVENTION: ITALO-SPANISH RELATIONS 1922-1936, THREE THE DECISION TO SUPPORT FRANCO: JULY 1936, FOUR THE INTERNATIONALIZATION OF THE CONFLICT: AUGUST-NOVEMBER 1936, SIX AN ITALIAN ARMY IN SPAIN: DECEMBER 1936-MARCH 1937, SEVEN ITALIAN TROOPS IN ACTION: MÁLAGA AND GUADALAJARA, EIGHT INTERNATIONAL TENSION: MARCH-SEPTEMBER 1937, NINE TO THE BITTER END: OCTOBER 1937-APRIL 1939, APPENDIX A. Italy also supplied 1,800 cannon, 1,400 mortars, 3,400 machine-guns, 6,800 motor vehicles, 157 tanks, 213 bombers, 44 assault planes and 414 fighters. Apparently she hopes to secure concession in the Balearic Islands from them when they are in power. Our opponents did not exploit the seized counter-offensive, as they would have done had they seized Alcolea del Pmar and Medinaceli, only twenty-five miles away from the points where they finally established their lines. At the meeting Mussolini promised the group 10,000 rifles, 10,000 hand grenades, 200 machine-guns and a million pesetas in cash in event of a military uprising. By the end of 1936 there were 3,000 members of the Black Shirts in Spain. None of the far right regimes that rose to power in Europe in the 1930s were identical in their agendas, but the right-wing Nationalists under General Franco were men Mussolini could work with. During the failed offensive at Guadalajara, the Italians had 400 killed, 1,800 wounded and had 500 men taken prisoner. Outside these there was a good-sized gravelled recreation ground in which some fifty men were standing about, looking well clothed and fed. The aid came even after all the European powers had signed a The author concludes that participation in the Spanish Civil War was less important than is generally believed in determining Italy's entrance into World War II on Hitler's side, and that it did not significantly weaken her armed forces. She participated to a degree in the cultural life of the continent, and incorporated into her political institutions some of the typical features of nineteenth-century liberalism, but exercised very little influence on the course of events outside her borders. They took part in the fighting around Madrid and participated in the fall of Málaga in February 1937. When the Italian planes reached Franco in Spanish Morocco on July 30, the situation in peninsular Spain was one of temporary deadlock. This would protect them from enemies. Why Italy's Tanks Performed So Poorly Early in World War II. Italian losses (at Guadalajara) included considerable stocks of equipment, among which 16,000 shells, 12,000 hand grenades, and 628 boxes of rifle ammunition. Relative to Germany's own massive rearmament it was not much, but it paid handsome dividends to Hitler. Guadalajara was a setback for our side, which failed to attain its objectives. During the last few weeks large numbers of Italian and German agents have arrived in Morocco and the Balearic Islands. While the Soviet Union supported the leftists, Italy provided immense arms aid while Germany tested out its experimental aircraft for the right-wing Nationalists. Arriving on the scene in October-November 1936, when the city’s fate was on a knife edge, they rolled into battle at the crucial moment. The International Dimension to the Spanish Civil War This worksheet outlines why the Spanish Civil War was so important in an international sense. Subscribe to our Spartacus Newsletter and keep up to date with the latest articles. By November 28 Filippo Anfuso, Ciano’s personal secretary, had succeeded in concluding a secret treaty with the Spanish. For the insurgents the belief that they have the support of the two great 'Fascist Powers' is an immense encouragement. The governments of Italy, Germany and, to a lesser extent, Portugal contributed money, munitions, manpower and support to Nationalist forces, led by Francisco Franco. The prison consisted of a large well-lit building with a central hall from which radiated staircases to various galleries. The country faced many different reforms, with the liberals advocating for limited powers for the monarchy. Their total strength is estimated at about 10,000, so that there are now at least 70,000 Italian troops in Spain. included, had decided to intervene in the political affairs of Spain if the election returned the leftist parties to power. 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