The "Little World War" in Spain

In his memoir of the Spanish Civil War, Homage to Catalonia, George Orwell writes of all his favorite aspects of London are "sleeping the deep, deep sleep of England, from which I sometimes fear that we shall never wake till we are jerked out of it by the roar of bombs," foreshadowing the second Great War in Europe.[1] The Spanish Civil War, also called the Spanish Revolution, in many ways predicted the events that were to come during World War II. In fact, the 18 January 1937 edition of Time states that diplomats were referring to the civil war in Spain as the "Little World War," due to the international involvement in the domestic dispute.[2] Indeed, the Spanish Civil War had much in common with the true world war that followed it. The fall of Spain to fascist control certainly provoked the democratic powers in Europe to cease their appeasement policies and confront the axis of evil head on. The fascist victory in Spain was inarguably one of the instigators for World War II. Though the outcomes of the two international conflicts turned out very differently, the Spanish Civil War was nothing less than a small-scale preview of what was to come for Europe during what is now called World War II.

While World War II is a topic studied internationally and at great length, the Spanish Civil War is less well-known. Understanding the not-so-internal conflict occurring in Spain during the interwar years, however, provides insight into how and why World War II unfolded the way it did. As with most civil wars, casualties were very high. Often families were pitted aganst one another, and the culture was ravaged by hatred for one another. In his notes from the war, Miguel de Unamuno writes, "between the one and the other [the two warring divisions] they are carving up Spain."[3] De Unamuno was killed before the conclusion of the war. Hundreds of thousands of Spaniards died fighting in the war, and hundreds of thousands more were exiled afterward[4]