The British battalion of the international brigades and the Spanish civil war, 1936–39

Abstract

In 1995 the film Land and Freedom brought the Spanish Civil War to life on screen while offering a view of the war as being a popular revolution crushed by unfettered Stalinism in the form of a regular Republican army. However, Dr Hughes here argues that the lack of unity and discipline within the Republican camp was just as much to blame for Franco's victory as the strength of Franco's forces. In ‘fact, Franco took advantage of the lack of organisation in the Republican. ranks and experienced little difficulty in outflanking the militia units defending the road to Madrid. Dr Hughes challenges the view that badly‐disciplined, poorly‐equipped, ill‐led popular militias stood any chance against Franco's Moroccan regulars and Spanish Foreign Legion. The British Battalion and the other foreign supporters for the Republican cause performed prodigious feats of bravery in these trying conditions, and the International Brigades as a whole were a great help to the Republic. But this was not enough since the Republic was disjointed and unable to pull together at the critical moments