Spanish Civil War
On 17 July 1936 a military uprising led by General Francisco Franco against the elected Popular Front Republican government of Spain triggered a civil war that lasted until April 1939. Hitler and Mussolini swiftly committed aircraft, troops, and advisers to Franco's Nationalists — Germany's Condor Legion tested Blitzkrieg tactics and terror bombing at Guernica in April 1937, a massacre of a Basque market town that shocked the world. The Soviet Union supplied weapons and advisers to the Republic, and the International Brigades brought approximately 35,000 foreign volunteers to fight fascism. Britain and France adopted non-intervention, a policy that effectively favoured Franco by denying the legitimate government its right to purchase arms. George Orwell fought for the POUM militia and wrote 'Homage to Catalonia', capturing the idealism and disillusionment of the left-wing volunteers. Franco's victory in 1939 gave Hitler another friendly dictatorship on France's southern border.
- Year: 1936 CE
- Category: Military
