From a more partisan standpoint I reccomend The Last Crusade, which is probably of course presents the war as a battle between communism and Catholicism.
Posted on 06/09/2008 11:52:08 AM PDT by bs9021
Tolling the Red Bell
by: Malcolm A. Kline, June 09, 2008
For many a decade, schoolchildren of all ages have been taught to revere the alleged heroism of the Abraham Lincoln Brigade that fought the forces marshaled by Generalisimo Francisco Franco in the Spanish Civil War. Since Franco received aid from Hitler in the 1930s in his effort to dislodge the government supported by the Soviet Union, the story goes, taking arms against Il Claudio was the equivalent of firing the first salvo at the Nazis.
One year ago, for instance, the University of Washington screened “Souls Without Borders,” a “tribute to the International Brigades, an assortment of volunteers who traveled from over fifty countries to fight against fascism in the Spanish Civil War.”
“Particular attention is paid to the 2,800 Americans who joined in the struggle while still reeling from the Great Depression.”
Such a version of events has allowed the Veterans of the Abraham Lincoln Brigade to call themselves “premature anti-fascists” and to paint their detractors as useful pawns of the Axis. Thus, these American volunteers, whose Soviet ties were documented by several congressional committees and government agencies, were labeled among the “victims of the McCarthy Era hysteria” by their multitude of academic, journalistic and literary admirers.
The question is, how closely does that perception match up with reality? Well, for one thing, Franco apparently never thought of himself as much of a stand-in for Der Fuehrer.
“Francisco Franco, allegedly a quintessential fascist dictator, also refused Hitler’s demand to hand over Spanish Jews, saving tens of thousands of Jews from extermination,” Jonah Goldberg writes in his landmark study Liberal Fascism. “It was Franco who signed the document abrogating the 1492 Edict of Expulsion of the Jews from Spain.”...
(Excerpt) Read more at campusreportonline.net ...
There are five people who saved the world from communist slavery. Two did the dirty work, Franco and Pinochet. The three others were Reagan, Thatcher, and JPII.
The five are the great hero’s of the century. Pinochet and Franco ahd to do some dirty work, but it was most likely necessary.
The Alcazar in Toledo has suffered many sieges over the centuries but one of great importance was that of 1936. The Republicans were fighting to gain control of Conservative, Catholic Toledo. Franco's rebel troops were controlled by Col. Jose Moscardo whose troops were inside the Alcazar, along with women and children. The Alcazar withstood 70 days of heavy bombardment. On July 23rd a Republican officer reached Moscardo by telephone within the Alcazar and the Colonel was informed that Republican forces had kidnapped his 16 year old son, Luis and unless he surrended immediately, Luis would be executed.
To prove that they had his son, he was put to the phone to speak to his father. 'Surrender or they will shoot me' he said. His father replied 'then commend your soul to God, shout 'Viva Espana' and die like a hero.' The Republicans then shot Luis in the head. The fortress held out until it was relieved by Franco's forces in September 1936. In the Alcazar today, the telephone still remains on display.
Thank God for Franco.
Why am I not surprised ?
An excellent read on the subject: “Blood of Spain” by Ronald Fraser. The fighting continues to this day within our own family, divided among Communists, Monarchists, and Republicans. Most, however, spit on the floor at the mention of the Abraham Lincoln brigade.
Comrades And Commissars: The Lincoln Battalion in the Spanish Civil War
by Cecil D. Eby (Author)
Recommended reading (I learned of it on FR)
From a more partisan standpoint I reccomend The Last Crusade, which is probably of course presents the war as a battle between communism and Catholicism.
Incredible powerful comprehensive book, I read this, Darkness at Noon and others trying to understand my Father's hard left 'liberalismo'. The republicans desecrated the graves of dead nuns, they let the soviets abscond with a ship loaded with Spain's treasure. In the end they lost because the Anarchist 'pistoleros' had to take a vote everytime before they obeyed orders to charge into combat. On the lighter side I think it was in a Jonah Golberg column that I read that at that University of Washington screening of “Souls Without Borders” our clueless college students, product of our left wing school boards, booed the 'republicans' and cheered on Franco's Insurgents.
Any so-called American volunteering to fight for the so-called Spanish "Republic" was helping a gang of criminals to deny the Spanish people fundamental rights.
Tanks
And the Monarchists are divided into the Carlistas and the Isabelistas. :-)
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