Left Unity is our motto, but when unity is put into practice it can be extremely messy. The Left in the civil war was made up of many revolutionary and popular organisations, which cooperated to an extent but were divided by their divergent goals and tactics.
What are your answers for finding ways for multiple left factions to act with unity in times of crisis?
rescue would only come with the general outbreak of war later in 1939. French military strategists were worried about a southern front and drew up a plan for intervention. 5 months is all it'd have to keep on for.
intervention outside a general war was of course completely moot, which is why the Comintern strat of putting on the appearance of parliamentary democracy was a bad call
France barely had enough to hold their eastern front against Germany, who then steamrolled through after the phony war. even IF Britain and France sweep in in 39 and defeat Franco before Italy or Germany could send significant forces over, you think Hitler would just leave a socialist Spain there by itself? no ofc not.
the French would steamroll the nationalists. the Civil War was a parade of military incompetence.
and hey, im trying to win the civil war, if spain subsequently gets occupied by the Nazis that outside the margin of this question lmao (it'd be very peninsular war tho, and really hamper the Nazis tbh)
right but like, once the war starts France doesn't want to over stretch itself. by sending material and supply to Spain you are weakening the German front, which is far more pressing. Franco isn't gonna invade southern France, Hitler is going to invade eastern France, Hitler has a much larger army, and so on. furthermore, once ww2 does start France and Britain have clearly far more pressing things to deal with, why would they start another war with Spain? they didn't invade Spain IRL because it's a waste of resources and men, even though many thought Franco would join the Axis, why in this time would they? there's no logical consistency there, it just weakens France with a new 3 front war and gives Germany an ally that actually wanted to rebuild after the civil war and stayed out of the Axis even when Germany was at its peak IRL. I think it's pure wishful hope the allies would swoop in and fight Franco, this is the same allies that worked with Franco after the war because of anti communism
France was willing to commit in Norway, and Spain is their direct neighbor. Even the British would be uneasy because of Gibraltar.
none of this would be ideological. the Wallies had very little commitment to that. But imperialists' notions of national security are always quite aggressive, and they'd have very good reasons to engage in Spain on those pretenses
the combined allied force sent to Norway was 6000 men, that is virtually nothing. the British were uneasy about Gibraltar, because everybody thought Franco would join the Axis, and then he didn't because Spain was fucked after the war, that didn't bring about a British invasion in IRL 39 so why would it in an alternate 39. modern national security proxy war aggression is very different to being in a major war against another first rate power that's already swallowed Poland whole in weeks. there is literally no strategic reason to invade the entirety of Spain, bringing all those men and resources into the war they were not involved in, because they might invade Gibraltar, which again was already a threat IRL that was taken into consideration. if you're in a bar fight you don't punch some guy sitting on his own in the corner in case he joins the fight maybe
with italians and possibly germans engaged in the conflict. frankly the french wouldnt care sans axis support for franco, but they were so they did. they couldnt ignore a much more concerning enemy on the border than in our timeline
i'll cede that the french might be persuaded not to intervene if all italian and german units were withdrawn, franco insists neutrality, but that would open a crazy can of worms with the effective edge of the nationalist army suddenly dissappearing.
I think at that point, after the fall of France, Franco is just gonna let the Germans back in though ain't he even if Franco stays out of the axis like he did IRL, Hitler still hates communists regardless of if Franco joins the axis or not. I really don't think in the wider geo political sphere a socialist Spain could survive the way the Soviet Union could in its struggle against imperialism unless the war is avoided entirely and the soviet union and socialist spain are able to spend years building up a military ready to resist imperialism and fascism
the SCW remains a perennial tradegy
:spanish-republican:
it is, it really is. what we should take from it is a clear lesson that left unity requires unity, trust, and an actual united front. being the most pure anarchist/marxist leninist means nothing when the fascists put a bullet in your head lined up against a wall. even if the SCW was doomed all along, its mythology is a very strong pillar to modern socialist revolutionaries
well put. unity isnt just a word. its praxis.
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