65-669: The Mickiewicz Battalion was a volunteer battalion of the International Brigades during the Spanish Civil War . It formed part of the XIII International Brigade from 27 October 1937 until 23 September 1938, when the International Brigades were disbanded. It was named after Adam Mickiewicz (1798–1855), a Polish poet and patriot. In July 1938 The Battalion took part in the Battle of
130-471: A cloak of legitimacy to Nazi Germany's help to the Spanish rebel military. The leaders of the rebel faction, who had already been denominated as ' Crusaders ' by Bishop of Salamanca Enrique Pla y Deniel – and also used the term Cruzada for their campaign – immediately took a liking to it. The term Bando nacional – much as the term rojos (Reds) to refer to
195-750: A figurehead for the Alfonsists who held a strong presence in the military. The Army of Africa was a field army garrisoned in Spanish Morocco – a legacy of the Rif War – under the command of General Francisco Franco . It consisted of the Spanish Foreign Legion and the Regulares , infantry and cavalry units recruited from the population of Spanish Morocco and with Spanish officers as commanders. The Regulares operated as
260-670: A journalist who fought alongside Esmond Romilly at Cerro de los Ángeles and who later "resigned" from the Thälmann Battalion , describes in his memoirs how he was detained and interrogated by Anarchist border guards before eventually being allowed into the country. A group of 500 volunteers (mainly French, with a few exiled Poles and Germans) arrived in Albacete on 14 October 1936. They were met by international volunteers who had already been fighting in Spain: Germans from
325-606: A landowner and aristocrat, Primo de Rivera assured the upper classes that Spanish fascism would not get out of their control like its equivalents in Germany and Italy. In 1934, the Falange merged with the pro-Nazi Juntas de Ofensiva Nacional-Sindicalista of Ramiro Ledesma Ramos , to form the Falange Española de las JONS . Initially, the Falange was short of funds and was a small student-based movement that preached of
390-461: A mass political movement. In 1934, the Alfonsists, led by Antonio Goicoechea , along with the Carlists, met with Italian dictator Benito Mussolini to gain support for an uprising against the republic, in which Mussolini promised to provide money and arms for such a rising. From 1934 to 1936, the charismatic Alfonsist leader José Calvo Sotelo spoke of the need for the "conquest of the state" as
455-456: A new spirit, a totalitarian polity..." and went on to say "Democracy is not an end but a means to the conquest of the new state. When the time comes, either parliament submits or we will eliminate it." The CEDA held fascist-style rallies, called Gil-Robles " Jefe ", the equivalent of Duce , and claimed that the CEDA might lead a "March on Madrid" to forcefully seize power. The CEDA failed to make
520-487: A problem. Also, many Italians, Germans, and people from other countries joined the movement, with the idea that combat in Spain was the first step to restore democracy or advance a revolutionary cause in their own country. There were also many unemployed workers (especially from France), and adventurers. Finally, some 500 communists who had been exiled to Russia were sent to Spain (among them, experienced military leaders from
585-658: A reminder of the Army's importance in the Nationalist victory. Approximately 47% of the Spanish Republican Civil Guard defected to the rebels during the onset of the civil war. With the highest authority of the Spanish Republican Civil Guard, Inspector General Sebastián Pozas , remaining loyal to the republican government, the rebel units of the Civil Guard were placed under direct command of
650-596: A security measure, non-communist volunteers would first be interviewed by an NKVD agent. By the end of September, the British, Italian and French Communist Parties had decided to set up a column. Luigi Longo , ex-leader of the Italian Communist Youth, was charged to make the necessary arrangements with the Spanish government. The Soviet Ministry of Defense also helped, since they had an experience of dealing with corps of international volunteers during
715-436: A utopian violent nationalist revolution. The Falange committed acts of violence before the war, including becoming involved in street brawls with their political opponents that helped to create a state of lawlessness that the right-wing press blamed on the republic to support a military uprising. Falangist terror squads sought to create an atmosphere of disorder in order to justify the imposition of an authoritarian regime. With
SECTION 10
#1732798421808780-749: The Comintern and represented the Soviet Union 's commitment to assisting the Spanish Republic (with arms, logistics, military advisers and the NKVD ), just as Portugal , Fascist Italy , and Nazi Germany were assisting the opposing Nationalist insurgency . The largest number of volunteers came from France (where the French Communist Party had many members) and communist exiles from Italy and Germany. Many Jews were part of
845-654: The Communist International to assist the Popular Front government of the Second Spanish Republic during the Spanish Civil War . The International Brigades existed for two years, from 1936 until 1938. It is estimated that during the entire war, there were between 40,000 and 59,000 Brigaders, including some 10,000 who died in combat. Beyond the Spanish Civil War , "International Brigades" is also sometimes used interchangeably with
910-798: The Durruti Column , the IWA , and the CNT . Using foreign communist parties to recruit volunteers for Spain was first proposed in August 1936 by British writer and military theorist Tom Wintringham who had already travelled to Spain, but the idea was not formally raised with the Comintern in the Soviet Union until September 1936—apparently at the suggestion of Maurice Thorez —by Willi Münzenberg , chief of Comintern propaganda for Western Europe. As
975-790: The Russian Civil War . The idea was initially opposed by Largo Caballero , but after the first setbacks of the war, he changed his mind and finally agreed to the operation on 22 October. However, the Soviet Union did not withdraw from the Non-Intervention Committee , probably to avoid diplomatic conflict with France and the United Kingdom. The main recruitment center was in Paris, under the supervision of Soviet colonel Karol "Walter" Świerczewski . On 17 October 1936, an open letter by Joseph Stalin to José Díaz
1040-545: The Spanish Second Republic in 1931. They competed with rival monarchists, the Carlists, for the Spanish throne. After the overthrow of the monarchy of Alfonso XIII, Alfonsist supporters formed the Renovación Española , a monarchist political party, which held considerable economic influence and had close supporters in the Spanish army. Renovación Española did not, however, manage to become
1105-589: The Thälmann Battalion , Italians from the Centuria Gastone Sozzi and French grouped together with Belgians under the Commune de Paris Battalion. Among them was the poet John Cornford , who had travelled down through France and Spain with a group of fellow intellectuals and artists including Wintringham, John Sommerfield , Bernard Knox , Ralph Bates and Jan Kurzke, all of whom left detailed memoirs of their battle experiences. On 30 May 1937,
1170-665: The University of the Basque Country commented on 6 May 2007: The Church, which upheld the idea of a 'National Crusade ' in order to legitimize the military rebellion, was a belligerent part during the Civil War, even at the cost of alienating part of its members. It continues in a belligerent role in its unusual answer to the Historical Memory Law by recurring to the beatification of 498 "martyrs" of
1235-566: The shock troops of the National forces in exchange for a substantial pay. More than 13,000 Moroccan troops were airlifted on 20 Junkers Ju 52 planes supplied by Hitler between the beginning of the conflict in July and October 1936. Their proverbial cruelty and reckless behaviour were not random, but were part of a calculated plan of the Francoist military leaders in order to instill terror in
1300-591: The Agraristas and the Carlistas (among whom were the Requetés). The Falange Española was originally a Spanish fascist political party founded by José Antonio Primo de Rivera , son of the former Spanish leader Miguel Primo de Rivera . The Falange was created with the financial assistance of Alfonsist monarchist funding. Upon being formed, the Falange was officially anti-clerical and anti-monarchist. As
1365-1096: The Battalion continued a heroic defence against tanks and cavalry which saw many of their best men killed, before the order for withdrawal came. This article about the Spanish Civil War is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . International Brigades Central Europe Germany Italy Spain ( Spanish Civil War ) Albania Austria Baltic states Belgium Bulgaria Burma Czechia Denmark France Germany Greece Italy Japan Jewish Luxembourg Netherlands Norway Poland Romania Slovakia Spain Soviet Union Yugoslavia Germany Italy Netherlands Portugal Spain Sweden Switzerland United Kingdom United States The International Brigades ( Spanish : Brigadas Internacionales ) were soldiers recruited and organized by
SECTION 20
#17327984218081430-620: The CEDA aligned itself with similar propaganda ploys to the Nazis, including the Nazi emphasis on authority, the fatherland, and hierarchy. Gil-Robles attended in audience at the Nazi Party rally in Nuremberg and was influenced by it, henceforth becoming committed to creating a single anti-Marxist counterrevolutionary front in Spain. Gil-Robles declared his intention to "give Spain a true unity,
1495-570: The CEDA to kidnap) on 13 July 1936 which sparked fury on the political right and helped legitimize the military coup against the republic. When the war broke out, Infante Juan , the son of Alfonso XIII and heir to the Spanish throne, requested the permission of Franco to take part in the Nationals' war effort by enlisting as a member of the crew of the cruiser Balaeres , which was nearing completion. He promised to abstain from political activities, but Franco refused, believing that he would become
1560-425: The Civil War. The priests executed by Franco's Army are not counted among them. It continues to be a Church that is incapable of transcending its one-sided behaviour of 70 years ago and amenable to the fact that this past should always haunt us. In this political use of granting religious recognition one can perceive its indignation regarding the compensations to the victims of Francoism. Its selective criteria regarding
1625-488: The Ebro crossing the river and initially advancing quickly attacking and capturing many Nationalist troops at La Venta de Camposines, before moving on to near Gandesa . By September 1938 they were dug in defending a difficult position on the road from Corbera d'Ebre under constant bombardment and machine gun fire, the only respite being at night. They continued to dig trenches and lay barbed wire. After an artillery bombardment,
1690-459: The Falange in the hope that they would create a Nazi-like regime in Spain. Debt owed by Franco and the Nationals to Germany rose quickly upon purchasing German material, and required financial assistance from Germany as the Republicans had access to Spain's gold reserve . Upon the outbreak of the civil war, Portuguese Prime Minister António de Oliveira Salazar almost immediately supported
1755-462: The Falange were the original supporters of the military coup d'état against the republic. The Carlists held a long history of violent opposition to Spanish liberalism , stemming back to 1833 when they launched a six-year civil war against the reformist regency of María Cristina de las dos Sicilias . The Carlists were strongly intransigent to any coalition with other movements, even believing that no non-Carlist could have honest intentions. During
1820-593: The Falange, under his leadership, under the name Falange Española Tradicionalista y de las JONS . Both Falangists and Carlists were initially furious at the decision, Falangists in particular saw their ideological role as being usurped by the Catholic Church and their revolution being indefinitely postponed. Upon unification and seizure of leadership by Franco, Franco distanced the party from fascism and declared "The Falange does not consider itself fascist; its founder said so personally." After this announcement,
1885-485: The First World War like "Kléber" Stern , "Gomez" Zaisser , "Lukacs" Zalka and "Gal" Galicz , who would prove invaluable in combat). The operation was met with enthusiasm by communists, but by anarchists with skepticism, at best. At first, the anarchists, who controlled the borders with France, were told to refuse communist volunteers, but reluctantly allowed their passage after protests. Keith Scott Watson,
1950-656: The Francoist and the Republican governments were present, the Holy See allowed the Nationalist pavilion to display its exhibition under the Vatican flag , for the rebel government's flag was still not recognized. The Holy See was one of the first states to officially recognize Franco's Spanish State, having done so by 1938. Regarding the position of the Holy See during and after the Civil War, Manuel Montero, lecturer of
2015-449: The National forces. Salazar's Estado Novo regime held tense relations with the Spanish Republic that held Portuguese dissidents to his regime in it. Portugal played a critical role in supplying Franco 's forces with ammunition and many other logistical resources. Despite its discreet direct military involvement – restrained to a somewhat "semi-official" endorsement, by its authoritarian regime, of an 8,000–12,000-strong volunteer force,
Mickiewicz Battalion - Misplaced Pages Continue
2080-490: The Nationalist army until after the war ended. Italy under the Fascist leadership of Benito Mussolini supported the overthrow of the republic and the establishment of a regime that would serve as a client state to Italy. Italy distrusted the Spanish Republic due to its pro-French leanings and prior to the war had made contact with Spanish right-wing groups. Italy justified its intervention as an action intended to prevent
2145-594: The Nationals with material, specialists, and a powerful air force contingent, the Condor Legion German expeditionary forces that provided airlift of soldiers and material from Spanish Africa to Peninsular Spain and provided offensive operations against Republican forces. Nationalist forces were supplied with tanks and aircraft, including the Panzer I , Messerschmitt Bf 109 and Heinkel He 111 . The Spanish Civil War would provide an ideal testing ground for
2210-625: The Republican defence lines. The Army of Africa would be the most decorated unit in the May 1939 victory brigade by the Nationalists; it has been estimated that one in five of its members were killed during the war, a casualty rate twice as high as that of the peninsular forces within the Spanish Nationalist faction. For several years after the war, Franco would have a squadron of Moorish troops act as his escort at public ceremonies as
2275-584: The Spanish Republic included high-ranking officers of the Popular Army such as republican Catholic general Vicente Rojo Lluch , as well as the Catholic Basque nationalists who opposed the rebel faction. Initially the Vatican held itself from declaring too openly its support of the rebel side in the war, although it had long allowed high ecclesiastical figures in Spain to do so and to define
2340-508: The Spanish liner Ciudad de Barcelona , carrying 200–250 volunteers from Marseille to Spain, was torpedoed by a Nationalist submarine off the coast of Malgrat de Mar . The ship sank and up to 65 volunteers are estimated to have drowned. Albacete soon became the International Brigades headquarters and its main depot. It was run by a troika of Comintern heavyweights: André Marty was commander; Luigi Longo ( Gallo )
2405-466: The Western European powers, the republican side mainly depended on Soviet military assistance; this played into the hands of the portrayal in Francoist propaganda of the Spanish Republic as a 'Marxist' and godless state. By means of its extensive diplomatic network, the Holy See used its influence to lobby for the rebel side. During an International Art Exhibition in Paris in 1937, in which both
2470-541: The area near Zaragoza in Aragon , most of Galicia , parts of Cáceres in Extremadura and many dispersed pockets in rural Andalusia where the local society still followed older traditional patterns and was yet comparably untouched by "modern" thought. Politically this faction rallied together various parties and organizations, such as the conservative CEDA, Falangists, Catholics and pro-monarchic movements such as
2535-635: The brigades, being particularly numerous within the volunteers coming from the United States , Poland , France , England and Argentina . Republican volunteers who were opposed to Stalinism did not join the Brigades but instead enlisted in the separate Popular Front , the POUM (formed from Trotskyist , Bukharinist , and other anti-Stalinist groups, which did not separate Spaniards and foreign volunteers), or anarcho-syndicalist groups such as
2600-527: The conflict as a 'Crusade'. Throughout the war, however, Francoist propaganda and influential Spanish Catholics labelled the secular Republic as "the enemy of God and the Church" and denounced the Republic, holding it responsible for anti-clerical activities such as shutting down Catholic schools and the desecration of religious buildings, as well as the killing of priests and nuns by frenzied mobs. Forsaken by
2665-405: The death of José Antonio Primo de Rivera, Manuel Hedilla sought to take control of the Falange, but this was usurped by Franco who sought to take control of the movement as part of his move to take control of the National faction. In 1937, Franco announced a decree of unification of the National political movements , particularly the Falange and the Carlists into a single movement, nominally still
Mickiewicz Battalion - Misplaced Pages Continue
2730-493: The establishment of fascism in Spain at that time. By January 1937, an expeditionary force of 35,000 Italians, the Corpo Truppe Volontarie , were in Spain under the command of General Mario Roatta . The contingent was made up of four divisions: Littorio , Dio lo Vuole ("God Wills it"), Fiamme Nere ("Black Flames") and Penne Nere ("Black Feathers"). The first of these divisions was made up of soldiers;
2795-701: The groups were merged into the FET y de las JONS . After the death of the faction's early leaders, General Francisco Franco , one of the members of the 1936 coup, headed the Nationalists throughout most of the war, and emerged as the dictator of Spain until his death in 1975. The term Nationalists or Nationals ( nacionales ) was coined by Joseph Goebbels following the visit of the clandestine Spanish delegation led by Captain Francisco Arranz requesting war materiel on 24 July 1936, in order to give
2860-885: The initial leader of the military coup against the republic, General Emilio Mola . Subsequently, supporters of the CEDA's youth movement, Juventudes de Acción Popular (JAP) began to defect en masse to join the Falange, and the JAP ceased to exist as a political organisation in 1937. The Carlists were monarchists and ardent ultratraditionalist Catholics who sought the installation of Carlist Pretender Francisco Javier de Borbón as King of Spain . The Carlists were anti-republican, anti-democratic and staunchly anti-socialist. The Carlists were so anti-socialist that they opposed both Hitler and Mussolini because of their socialist tendencies. The Carlists were led by Manuel Fal Condé and held their main base of support in Navarre . The Carlists along with
2925-486: The international sphere. In Spain the Francoist side was mainly supported by the predominantly conservative upper class, liberal professionals, religious organizations and land-owning farmers. It was mostly based in the rural areas where progressive political movements had made few inroads, such as great swathes of the Northern Meseta , including almost all of Old Castile , as well as La Rioja , Navarre , Alava ,
2990-477: The last year of its existence, the International Brigades were integrated into the Spanish Republican Army as part of the Spanish Foreign Legion . The organisation was dissolved on 23 September 1938 by Spanish Prime Minister Juan Negrín in a vain attempt to get more support from the liberal democracies on the Non-Intervention Committee . The International Brigades were strongly supported by
3055-423: The loyalists – is considered by some authors as a term linked with the propaganda of that faction. Throughout the civil war the term 'National' was mainly used by the members and supporters of the rebel faction, while its opponents used the terms fascistas ( fascists ) or facciosos (sectarians) to refer to this faction. The military rebellion found wide areas of support both inside Spain and in
3120-447: The only means to secure the establishment of an ideal authoritarian, corporatist state. Sotelo made passionate speeches in support of violent counterrevolution and emphasized the need for a military insurrection against the republic to counter the threats of communism and separatism that he blamed as being caused by the republic. Sotelo was kidnapped and assassinated by political opponents (who were initially searching out Gil-Robles of
3185-401: The onset of middle-class disillusionment with the CEDA's legalism, support for the Falange expanded rapidly. By September 1936, the total Falangist volunteers numbered at 35,000, accounting for 55 percent of all civilian forces of the Nationals. Falange Española de las JONS was one of the original supporters of the military coup d'état against the republic, the other being the Carlists. After
3250-426: The other three of Blackshirt volunteers. Italy provided the National forces with fighter and bomber aircraft which played a significant part in the war. In March 1937, Italy intervened in the political affairs of the Nationals by sending Roberto Farinacci to Spain to urge Franco to unite the various political movements of the Nationalist faction into one fascist " Spanish National Party ". Nazi Germany provided
3315-411: The practice in the National faction of referring to the Falange as "fascists" disappeared by 1937, but Franco did not deny that there were fascists within the Falange. Franco declared that the Falange's goal was to incorporate the "great neutral mass of the unaffiliated", and promised that no ideological rigidity would be allowed to interfere with the goal. Under Franco's leadership, the Falange abandoned
SECTION 50
#17327984218083380-445: The previous anticlerical tendencies of José Antonio Primo de Rivera and instead promoted neotraditionalist National Catholicism , though it continued to criticize Catholic pacifism . Franco's Falange also abandoned hostility to capitalism , with Falange member Raimundo Fernández-Cuesta declaring that Falange's national syndicalism was fully compatible with capitalism. The Spanish Confederation of Autonomous Right-wing Groups, CEDA,
3445-800: The proficiency of the new weapons produced during the German re-armament . Many aeronautical bombing techniques were tested by the Condor Legion against the Republican Government on Spanish soil with the permission of Generalísimo Franco. Hitler insisted, however, that his long-term designs were peaceful, a strategy labelled as "Blumenkrieg" (Flower War). Germany had important economic interests at stake in Spain, as Germany imported large amounts of mineral ore from Spanish Morocco . The Nazi regime sent retired General Wilhelm Faupel as ambassador to Franco's regime, Faupel supported Franco and
3510-444: The religious persecution was squarely, and based on evidence probably rightly, mostly blamed on the government of the Republic. The ensuing outrage was used after the 1936 coup by the nationalist/monarchist faction and readily extended itself. The Catholic Church took the side of the rebel government, and hailed the religious Spaniards who had been persecuted in Republican areas as 'martyrs of the faith'. The devout Catholics who supported
3575-405: The rise of Bolshevism in Spain. Italy's Fascist regime considered the threat of Bolshevism a real risk with the arrival of volunteers from the Soviet Union who were fighting for the Republicans. Mussolini provided financial support as well as training to the Alfonsists, Carlists, and Falange. Mussolini met Falangist leader José Antonio Primo de Rivera in 1933 but did not have much enthusiasm in
3640-514: The so-called " Viriatos " – for the whole duration of the conflict, Portugal was instrumental in providing the National faction with a vital logistical organization and by reassuring Franco and his allies that no interference whatsoever would hinder the supply traffic directed to the Nationals, crossing the borders of the two Iberian countries – the Nationals used to refer to Lisbon as "the port of Castile". In 1938, with Franco's victory increasingly certain, Portugal recognized Franco's regime and after
3705-421: The substantive electoral gains from 1931 to 1936 that were needed for it to form government which resulted in right-wing support draining from it and turning towards the belligerent Alfonsist monarchist leader José Calvo Sotelo . Subsequently, the CEDA abandoned its moderation and legalism and began providing support for those committed to violence against the republic, including handing over its electoral funds to
3770-423: The term foreign legion in reference to military units comprising foreigners who volunteer to fight in the military of another state, often in times of war. The headquarters of the brigade was located at the Gran Hotel, Albacete , Castilla-La Mancha . They participated in the battles of Madrid , Jarama , Guadalajara , Brunete , Belchite , Teruel , Aragon and the Ebro . Most of these ended in defeat. For
3835-462: The war in 1939 signed a treaty of friendship and non-aggression pact that was known as the Iberian Pact . Portugal played an important diplomatic role in supporting the Franco regime, including by insisting to the United Kingdom that Franco sought to replicate Salazar's Estado Novo and not Mussolini's Fascist Italy. Among many influential Catholics in Spain, mainly composed of conservative traditionalists and people belonging to pro-monarchic groups,
3900-402: The war, the Carlists' militia, the Requetés reached a peak of 42,000 recruits but by the end of hostilities in April 1939 their overall strength had been reduced to 23,000. The Carlists contributed some of the Nationalists' most effective shock troops during the war. The Alfonsists were a movement that supported the restoration of Alfonso XIII of Spain as monarch following the founding of
3965-495: Was Inspector-General; and Giuseppe Di Vittorio ( Nicoletti ) was chief political commissar. There were many Jewish volunteers amongst the brigadiers – about a quarter of the total. A Jewish company was formed within the Polish battalion that was named after Naftali Botwin , a young Jewish communist killed in Poland in 1925. Nationalist faction (Spanish Civil War) The Nationalist faction ( Spanish : Bando nacional ) or Rebel faction ( Spanish : Bando sublevado )
SECTION 60
#17327984218084030-403: Was a Catholic right-wing political organization dedicated to anti-Marxism. The CEDA was led by José María Gil-Robles y Quiñones . The CEDA claimed that it was defending Spain and "Christian civilization" from Marxism, and claimed that the political atmosphere in Spain had made politics a matter of Marxism versus anti-Marxism. With the advent of the rise of the Nazi Party to power in Germany ,
4095-448: Was a major faction in the Spanish Civil War of 1936 to 1939. It was composed of a variety of right-leaning political groups that supported the Spanish Coup of July 1936 against the Second Spanish Republic and Republican faction and sought to depose Manuel Azaña , including the Falange , the CEDA , and two rival monarchist claimants: the Alfonsist Renovación Española and the Carlist Traditionalist Communion . In 1937, all
4160-511: Was arranged for volunteers, for instance, a Yugoslav, Josip Broz, who would become famous as Marshal Tito , was in Paris to provide assistance, money, and passports for volunteers from Eastern Europe (including numerous Yugoslav volunteers in the Spanish Civil War ). Volunteers were sent by train or ship from France to Spain, and sent to the base at Albacete . Many of them also went by themselves to Spain. The volunteers were under no contract, nor defined engagement period, which would later prove
4225-411: Was published in Mundo Obrero , arguing that victory for the Spanish second republic was a matter not only for Spaniards but also for the whole of "progressive humanity"; in short order, communist activists joined with moderate socialist and liberal groups to form anti-fascist "popular front" militias in several countries, most of them under the control of or influenced by the Comintern . Entry to Spain
#807192