Potemkin in Spain? British Unofficial Missions of Investigation to Spain during the Civil War

Abstract

This paper seeks to contribute to the debate on the international repercussions of the Spanish Civil War by analysing the numerous British missions of investigation that visited both sides during the conflict. Drawing on the travellers’ own accounts and the documents from Spanish and British archives among other sources, it argues that these missions were in fact organized tours, first used as propaganda by Republicans and their Comintern advisers, and subsequently copied by Nationalists on a more limited basis. Although some involved genuinely impartial observers, most of the visitors were already committed to the cause they pretended to investigate. Spanish war tourism thus almost invariably succeeded in producing favourable publicity for both sides, yet failed to affect the majority of the British people, who were influenced primarily by their Government’s neutral stance. Regardless of its outcome, the experience aptly illustrates the extent to which persuasion and commitment determined foreign responses to the conflict.