Scots and the Spanish Civil War

Scots and the Spanish Civil War PDF

Author: Fraser Raeburn

Publisher: Edinburgh University Press

Published: 2020-09-25

Total Pages: 232

ISBN-13: 1474459498

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Drawing on newly-declassified government documents and international archives in Spain and beyond, this book explores the many ways in which Scots responded to the Spanish Civil War (1936-9).

Hampshire Heroes

Hampshire Heroes PDF

Author: Alan Lloyd

Publisher:

Published: 2022-09-15

Total Pages: 0

ISBN-13: 9781913693183

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Between 1936 and 1939, some 2,500 men and women from Britain and Ireland volunteered to support the Spanish Republic in its fight against the fascist insurrection in Spain. Around 40 of them had strong connections with Hampshire. Alan Lloyd has painstakingly researched their stories to provide this record of their contribution as soldiers, nurses, doctors and pilots.

Homage to Caledonia

Homage to Caledonia PDF

Author: Daniel Gray

Publisher: Luath Press

Published: 2009

Total Pages: 256

ISBN-13: 9781906817169

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The Spanish civil war was a call to arms for 2,300 British volunteers, of which over 500 were from Scotland. The first book of its kind, Homage to Caledonia examines Scotland's role in the conflict, detailing exactly why Scottish involvement was so profound. The book moves chronologically through events and places, firstly surveying the landscape in contemporary Scotland before describing volunteers' journeys to Spain, and then tracing their every involvement from arrival to homecoming (or not). There is also an account of the non-combative role, from fundraising for Spain and medical aid, to political manoeuvrings within the volatile Scottish left. Using a wealth of previously-unpublished letters sent back from the front as well as other archival items, Daniel Gray is able to tell little known stories of courage in conflict, and to call into question accepted versions of events such as the 'murder' of Bob Smillie, or the heroism of 'The Scots Scarlet Pimpernel'. Homage to Caledonia offers a very human take on events in Spain: for every tale of abject distress in a time of war, there is a tale of a Scottish volunteer urinating in his general's boots, knocking back a dram with Errol Flynn or appalling Spanish comrades with his pipe playing. For the first time, read the fascinating story of Caledonia's role in this seminal conflict.

British Volunteers in the Spanish Civil War

British Volunteers in the Spanish Civil War PDF

Author: Richard Baxell

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2004-07-31

Total Pages: 305

ISBN-13: 1134345763

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During the Spanish Civil War of 1936-1939 almost 2,500 men and women left Britain to fight for the Spanish Republic. This book examines the role, experiences and contribution of the volunteers who fought in the British Battalion of the 15 International Brigadesasking: * Who were these volunteers? * Where did they come from? * Why did they go to Spain? * How much did they actually help the Spanish Republic? In contrast to recent revisionist interpretations, this work stresses the crucial importance of the war experience itself, rather than political ideology, in the understanding of the volunteers' role and experiences within the Spanish war. This book will be of essential interest to historians and those interested in the Spanish Civil War.

Amateur Armies

Amateur Armies PDF

Author: Stephen M. Cullen

Publisher: Pen and Sword Military

Published: 2020-11-23

Total Pages: 291

ISBN-13: 1526734443

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A history of volunteer armies spanning from the French Revolutionary Wars and the War of 1812 to pre-1914 Ireland and the Bay of Pigs. Amateur Armies examines the military and social history of volunteer armies around the western world from the failed French invasion of South Wales in 1797 to the disastrous anti-Communist invasion of the Bay of Pigs in Cuba in 1961. It brings together some fascinating military actions across more than a century and a half of history and explores the social and political context in the countries involved. Stephen Cullen’s absorbing and original book is the first general survey of the role of amateur armies during the period. Included are chapters on a series of wars in which militias played critical parts. In each case, their actions and effectiveness are described as is the background from which they came, and the social and political circumstances in which they operated. This pioneering study offers a valuable insight into each of the amateur armies covered and opens up an important and hitherto neglected aspect of military history.

You are Legend

You are Legend PDF

Author: Graham Davies

Publisher: Welsh Academic Press

Published: 2018

Total Pages: 0

ISBN-13: 9781860571305

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"Mothers! Women! When the years pass by and the wounds of war are stanched; when the memory of the sad and bloody days dissipates in a present of liberty, of peace and of wellbeing...speak to your children. Tell them of these men of the International Brigades." Dolores Ibarruri, 'La Pasionaria, ' Madrid 1938. Almost 200 Welshmen volunteered to join the International Brigade and travelled to Spain to fight fascism with the Republicans during the 1936-1939 Spanish Civil War. Whilst over 150 returned home, at least 35 died during the brutal conflict. You Are Legend is their remarkable story. Lovingly and thoroughly researched by Graham Davies, You Are Legend outlines the motives, values, and actions of the volunteers from Wales by exploring the social, cultural, religious, and political context of Wales during the 1930s. It also provides a fascinating insight into who they were and their political backgrounds, and follows their journeys to Spain and their experiences in a series of key battles fought by the British Battalion before documenting their deaths or safe return to Wales. Politically active as trade unionists, members of the Communist or Labour parties, and hunger marchers, many were unemployed miners and most were working class with the fighting spirit of the coalfield and the impoverished. Unprepared and sometimes incredulous, these volunteers became immersed in a civil war which created a rupture in the heart of Spain that has never fully healed. You Are Legend is the first book to fully document all of the Welsh volunteers.

Unlikely Warriors

Unlikely Warriors PDF

Author: Richard Baxell

Publisher: Aurum

Published: 2012-09-06

Total Pages: 400

ISBN-13: 1781310823

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When a Nationalist military uprising was launched in Spain in July 1936, the Spanish Republic’s desperate pleas for assistance from the leaders of Britain and France fell on deaf ears. Appalled at the prospect of another European democracy succumbing to fascism, volunteers from across the Continent and beyond flocked to Spain’s aid, many to join the International Brigades. More than 2,500 of these men and women came from Britain, Ireland and the Commonwealth, and contrary to popular myth theirs was not an army of adventurers, poets and public school idealists. Overwhelmingly they hailed from modest working class backgrounds, leaving behind their livelihoods and their families to fight in a brutal civil war on foreign soil. Some 500 of them never returned home. In this inspiring and moving oral history, Richard Baxell weaves together a diverse array of testimony to tell the remarkable story of the Britons who took up arms against General Franco. Drawing on his own extensive interviews with survivors, research in archives across Britain, Spain and Russia, as well as first-hand accounts by writers both famous and unknown, Unlikely Warriors presents a startling new interpretation of the Spanish Civil War and follows a band of ordinary men and women who made an extraordinary choice.

Fighting for Republican Spain 1936-38

Fighting for Republican Spain 1936-38 PDF

Author: Barry McLoughlin

Publisher: Lulu.com

Published: 2014-08-06

Total Pages: 256

ISBN-13: 1291968393

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There were 230 Irish-born among the volunteers in the International Brigades fighting fascism in the Spanish Civil War. This book focuses on the six volunteers from Limerick. It uses Russian files to paint a general picture of the involvement of the Brigades, especially in the British battalion of the 15th Brigade. The book commences with the persecution of the Irish Left in the 1930s and explains the reasons why Frank Ryan led a contingent to Spain in December 1936. It examines the tension between Irish and British leaders in Spain, the major battles of 1937, the imprisonment of Frank Ryan in Spain and his role in German exile. The final chapter is the first attempt to describe in detail one of the most gruesome episodes that occurred in the British battalion: the semi-judicial murder of a Limerick volunteer, the machine-gunner Maurice Emmet Ryan during the Ebro battle in August 1938. Finally, 60 pages of statistical data of all the Irish participants in the Brigade's history.