Mussolini by Nicholas Farrell

Author:Nicholas Farrell [Farrell, Nicholas]
Language: eng
Format: azw3, mobi, epub, pdf
Publisher: Endeavour Press
Published: 2015-06-08T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter Thirteen – The Spanish Civil War, 1936-9: The Blurring of Good and Evil and the Taking of Sides

His Ethiopian war over, Mussolini quickly joined in someone else’s. This time his motive was not to get turf but to stop others getting turf. Spain had become a republic in 1931 with the abdication of King Alfonso XIII after a revolution of sorts and been in turmoil ever since. In February 1936 the Popular Front, a left-wing coalition supported by the Communists, had won the general election by the narrowest of margins. The new government was divided and impotent. Naturally, the turmoil got worse. Priests, among others, were murdered by government supporters; churches desecrated. Spain, it seemed, was ripe for Communist revolution. To stop this General Francisco Franco — El Caudillo — started a military uprising in Spanish Morocco against the government on 18 July 1936. In Spain itself, simultaneously, other generals arose. The Spanish Civil War began.

Immediately, Franco sought military help from wherever he could get it. He was — if anything — a nationalist, not a Fascist, though he had the support of the Falange — a party which in some ways resembled the PNF. But he shared similar enemies: Communism and democracy. Democracy in Spain — as everywhere if introduced overnight — meant chaos; chaos meant Communism. If Franco failed, Communism would triumph. So Mussolini agreed to help. He envisaged a swift Franco victory and therefore minimal help. ‘Bolshevism in Spain means Bolshevism in France, which means Bolshevism next door.’ he told his wife.[867] Independently, Hitler decided to help Franco as well. Blum in France and Stalin in Soviet Russia agreed instead to help the Republicans. Blum and his Popular Front identified with the Republicans and their Popular Front. Both his and their front existed with the support of the Communists who aimed to use these fronts as the Trojan Horse with which they would launch their revolution. A Republican triumph would also inevitably bring Spain and France into alliance against Italy, which Mussolini did not want either. It might cause strife-torn France to fall to Communism as well. Mussolini made no attempt now or later to persuade Franco to try Fascism in Spain though in March 1937 The Times repeated a rumour that he had suggested the Duke of Aosta become Spanish king.[868] The ‘national’ was too significant a part of Fascism for it to become ‘international’. But to stop Communism Mussolini was determined that Franco should triumph.

All four intervening countries — Italy, Germany, Russia and France — denied their intervening. In Britain, Baldwin aimed to keep the country neutral but referee the contest nevertheless. Many in his party, such as Churchill, wanted Franco to win, not the elected government, because with Soviet Russia involved the Communists quickly gained the initiative. Like Mussolini and Hitler, they feared that a Republican victory would mean the fall of Spain to Communism. Moscow did all it could to fulfil Lenin’s prophecy that Spain would be the next country to go Communist.

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