Skiers in the Service of the Second Republic: The Alpine Battalion during the Spanish Civil War

Abstract

During the Second Republic proletarian sport developed in Castile, with a prominent socialist and communist influence and a clear international scope, bringing physical activity closer to the popular sectors. During the Spanish Civil War leftist social and political organizations understood it as a class-based conflict with sport as a distinctive key element of the working-class and managed to create battalions, some of them closely related to sport. The main objectives of this study are to clarify the formation, development and significance of the Alpine Battalion, and to discuss the role of sportsmen in wartime as a consequence of their political and sport practices. To achieve these targets, archival and press material was analyzed. Results show evidence of the formation of the Alpine Battalion around the Guadarrama range (Madrid) to protect the entrance to the capital city in December 1936 with socialist and communist members. Salud y Cultura, one of the first popular sport associations in Spain, played an important role being the key element to create the battalion. Despite political tensions, the battalion succeeded in creating an adequate environment for sport, culture and political analysis but also helped the Republican war effort until the end of the conflict.