Germany has a great interest in the victory of the insurgents. The Germans estimated later that they spent half a billion marks on the venture 37 besides furnishing planes, tanks, technicians and the Condor Legion, an Air Force unit which distinguished itself by the obliteration of the Spanish town of Guernica and its civilian inhabitants. https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt13x112j, Italian Intervention in the Spanish Civil War, (For EndNote, ProCite, Reference Manager, Zotero, Mendeley...), ONE THE BACKGROUND OF INTERVENTION: ITALY IN 1936, TWO THE BACKGROUND OF INTERVENTION: ITALO-SPANISH RELATIONS 1922-1936, THREE THE DECISION TO SUPPORT FRANCO: JULY 1936, FOUR THE INTERNATIONALIZATION OF THE CONFLICT: AUGUST-NOVEMBER 1936, SIX AN ITALIAN ARMY IN SPAIN: DECEMBER 1936-MARCH 1937, SEVEN ITALIAN TROOPS IN ACTION: MÁLAGA AND GUADALAJARA, EIGHT INTERNATIONAL TENSION: MARCH-SEPTEMBER 1937, NINE TO THE BITTER END: OCTOBER 1937-APRIL 1939, APPENDIX A. But it is also more than an encouragement, for many of the weapons now in their hands are of Italian origin. The 19thcentury was a tempestuous time in Spain. On the morning of July 29, 1936, twelve days after the military revolt that touched off the Spanish Civil War, a group of twelve Savoia-Marchetti S 81 bombers of the Italian air force assembled at Elmas airport in Sardinia and were hastily repainted to cover over their military markings and numbers.¹ Their crews were made up of members of the air force who had volunteered for a special assignment outside the … All figures relating to numbers of troops - whether Spanish or foreign - in Spain are conjectural, but as far as can 'be judged at the moment there would seem to be between 30,000 and 60,000 volunteers on the Government side and between 80,000 and 100,000 on the rebel side, the latter, of course, bring supplies with an incomparably superior armament. 2- Germany and Italy wanted to gain more land and allies and hoped to find an ally or to convince the Spanish to sit the war out. Further detachments of Italian troops arrived last week in Spain just before the prohibition of volunteers came into force. In March 1934 Mussolini met a group of Spanish politicians and generals in Rome who were opposed to the Second Republic. The presence of sizeable Italian units in Spain during the Albanian crisis was a useful restraint on France lest she should feel inclined to take any serious measures in response to the new Italian aggression. For the insurgents the belief that they have the support of the two great 'Fascist Powers' is an immense encouragement. For this reason Mussolini was in no hurry to withdraw the CTV,¹ but he did not seriously consider maintaining a military presence in Spain much beyond the end of the Civil War.² Some discussion took place at the foreign ministry of plans for demobilizing in Spain soldiers... JSTOR is part of ITHAKA, a not-for-profit organization helping the academic community use digital technologies to preserve the scholarly record and to advance research and teaching in sustainable ways. Instead, it would seem that Russia has given up her intervention altogether. This is particularly so in Morocco. General Francisco Franco was unhappy about this as he wanted the Italians dispersed among his own Spanish units. Shorn of most of her colonies during the first third of the nineteenth century, she had ceased to be a power that really mattered in Europe. At Valencia the first thing we saw was one of the schools for refugee children, which showed clearly the interest in education taken by the Republican government. There is no indication yet whether the Government or the insurgents are likely to prevail. By October 23, their tanks ha… From mid-August an extravagant Italian Fascist named Arconovaldo Bonaccorsi played a leading role in events there; he soon became known as “Conte Rossi.” His activities, which we will examine in detail in this chapter, illustrate a number of interesting aspects of Italian policy in Spain. The latter has applied to the French Government for permission to import arms from France, but so far at least permission has not been given. During the Spanish Civil War Italy sent 80,000 men, of whom almost 6,000 belonged to the Italian Air Force, 45,000 to the army and 29,000 to the fascist militia. The treaty’s importance has been much debated. Negotiations for an Italo-Spanish treaty were begun either before or very shortly after diplomatic recognition was extended. by Anglo-French collaboration and by the existence of a pro-British, pro-French, and pro-League Spanish Republic) of action in Western Europe. The Spanish Civil War broke out in 1936 after more than a century of social, economic and political division. Considering the contributions of Germany and Italy, it seems strange that the Soviets participated in such a small capacity comparatively. Though he had a lot of backing from the Spanish army, he was facing a fierce struggle. Subscribe to our Spartacus Newsletter and keep up to date with the latest articles. Arriving on the scene in October-November 1936, when the city’s fate was on a knife edge, they rolled into battle at the crucial moment. The main body of Republican territory included the Mediterranean coast from the French border to Marbella, 50 miles northeast of Gibraltar. The civil war is of particular interest to Germany because the victory of the insurgents would open the prospect (closed. By the end of 1936 there were 3,000 members of the Black Shirts in Spain. However, after coming under pressure from Stanley Baldwin and Anthony Eden in Britain, and more right-wing members of his own cabinet, he changed his mind. We were allowed to talk to them freely and we asked them how they came to be here. Why didn't the Soviets do more to intervene in the Spanish Civil War, and secure communism in Spain? In rural areas with a strong right-wing political presence, Franco's confederates generally won out. By this time their numbers had increased to 30,000. Italian losses (at Guadalajara) included considerable stocks of equipment, among which 16,000 shells, 12,000 hand grenades, and 628 boxes of rifle ammunition. Though German aid to Franco never equalled that given by Italy, which dispatched between sixty and seventy thousand troops as well as vast supplies of arms and planes, it was considerable. Before the battle was fought Franco had pointed out that Italian contingents, made up of militias officered by men who were not always professional soldiers, needed reorganization and training. The German influence is strongest in the Balearic Islands. The Spanish Civil War began on July 17, 1936, when generals Emilio Mola and Francisco Franco launched an uprising aimed at overthrowing the country's democratically elected republic. Everything points to a protracted and sanguinary civil war. The roles of the major powers are outlined and compared and cartoons relating to the non-intervention committee are analysed. Some 5,000 French volunteers also succeeded in reaching Spain just before closing time. → undermined support from the regime from the elites Western democracies such as Britain and France were reluctant to become involved in the Spanish Civil War for fear that they may escalate or broaden the conflict. She also disposes of a powerful organization for political and military espionage, which works behind a diplomatic and educational facade. TEXT OF THE SECRET ITALO-SPANISH AGREEMENT OF NOVEMBER 28, 1936, APPENDIX B. In view of this situation, the ambassador suggested that the entire Italian involvement in the civil war ought to be reassessed in the light of its costs and potential risks and benefits.¹. The goal of the Princeton Legacy Library is to vastly increase access to the rich scholarly heritage found in the thousands of books published by Princeton University Press since its founding in 1905. Originally published in 1976. During the failed offensive at Guadalajara, the Italians had 400 killed, 1,800 wounded and had 500 men taken prisoner. All Rights Reserved. John F. Coverdale finds that while Italy's support was essential to Franco's victory, Rome exercised very little influence on his decisions. It exacerbated the internal strife in France between Right and Left and thus weakened Germany's principal rival in the West. It wasn’t a straightforward or uniform process. In December Benito Mussolini began sending large numbers of Black Shirts to Spain. The Republicans held the Nationalist for over a week before launching its own counter-offensive on 18th March. Over the next three months Mussolini sent to Spain 130 aircraft, 2,500 tons of bombs, 500 cannons, 700 mortars, 12,000 machine-guns, 50 whippet tanks and 3,800 motor vehicles. Edexcel. Why did Italy and Germany support the Nationalists during the Spanish Civil War? Favorite Answer. In August 1936 France, Great Britain, Germany, Italy, the Soviet Union and Portugal all gave either their support or signature to a non-intervention pact which sought to ban supplies of arms, aid or men to either side of the Spanish civil war. In 1874… These agents are taking part in military activities and are also exercising a certain political influence. Strikes To support the fascist regime of Generalissimo Franco. Co-ordination and liaison services had to be established or speeded up to assure a fuller understanding between the respective Staffs, and to keep commanding officers suitably informed. That way, when WW2 would inevitably start, they could guarantee that Spain would not fight against them. Guernica in the aftermath of the bombing by German and Italian aircraft during the Spanish Civil War. In practice, politically motivated volunteers from other countries streamed in to fight for both sides, including 2,800 Americans idealistically supporting the Republic (President Ronald Reagan later honored their courage in spite of their choosing to fight on “the wrong side,” which induced my father to ask if that made Francisco Franco y Bahamonde, Benito Mussolini, and Adolf Hitler the “right side”). 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