The Irish and the Spanish Civil War 1936 39: Crusades in Conflict (Mandolin)

Rating:
Summary: A defnitive text!
Review: As an Irish person living in Spain for several years, I have often felt the need to know more about and understand why the Irish participated on both sides of the Spanish civil war. Mr Stradling has written a thoroughly researched and definitive text. He has based his conclusions and analysis on facts. There is no partiality towards one party, something which still affects conversations about this topic in Spain and in Ireland. Well done Mr Stradling!!

Rating:
Summary: A defnitive text!
Review: As an Irish person living in Spain for several years, I have often felt the need to know more about and understand why the Irish participated on both sides of the Spanish civil war. Mr Stradling has written a thoroughly researched and definitive text. He has based his conclusions and analysis on facts. There is no partiality towards one party, something which still affects conversations about this topic in Spain and in Ireland. Well done Mr Stradling!!

Rating:
Summary: Highly readable and worthwhile history.
Review: This book examines the contributions of the Irish who fought on both the nationalist and republican sides in the spanish civil war. As Stradling points out, the passing of time has rendered pariahs of the (...) XV Bandera Irish Brigade led by Eoin O'Duffy, and has made glorious heros of those who served with the XV International brigade.

It is a strange situation where the losers of the conflict emerge as the winners in the battle for a place in history.

Stradling demonstrates that the Irish Brigade fighting for Franco were not actually (...). For the most part they were good catholics who were urged by the clergy to go on this "last crusade". They were motivated by cinema newsreels which showed how anarchists and communists defaced churches and murdered clergy in the early part of the Spanish Civil War. The Irish brigade had a terrible time, becoming a political football from the very beginning.

The Irish Government feared that they would succeed in raising 5,000 to 10,000 troops, and that on the conclusion of the Spanish Civil War this veteran army, backed by (...) comrades from Spain, Italy and Germany, might bid to take over Ireland. But the Irish government walked a knife-edge. Outright condemnation of the "crusade" might be seen as anti-catholic.

Similar considerations applied in Spain. General Mola wanted to bring over the Irish brigade under his wing, and have them fight with devout catholic requetes under his control. This did not suit Franco in his bid for overall control.

Amid all this wrangling it is a testament to the organisational abilities of O'Duffy that he succeeded in shipping 700 or so brigaders to Spain. However, he then demonstrated his unsuitability as a leader by spending his time swanning around fancy dinners while his men suffered in filthy wet trenches.

When the Irish brigade (sensibly it seems to me) refused to sarcrifice their lives in pointless charges as the Foreign Legion (Tercio) were wont to do, Franco wanted to be rid of them. They left Spain under a cloud and returned to an Ireland that quickly saw them as an embarrasment.

How differently were percieved the Republican Irish. Men who stepped straight into the cauldron of Jarama, suffered dreadful losses and demonstrated their bravery and their worth by holding up what would have been a killing blow by Franco.

And yet the International brigaders saw just as much farce as their countrymen in the Nationalist trenches 10 kms across the valley. When they found that some of their English officers were former black and tans the ex-IRA men pulled their guns on them. After a tense mexican standoff a group of 40 or so Irish troops were moved from the British to the American (Lincoln) battalion.

All in all this book is a fair and very balanced account of the politics and the experience of the Irish in Spain. And taking the emotion out of the history allows us to see that the differences between the Irish on either side were few. It was subsequent events that lent them their later significance.

Rating:
Summary: Highly readable and worthwhile history.
Review: This book examines the contributions of the Irish who fought on both the nationalist and republican sides in the spanish civil war. As Stradling points out, the passing of time has rendered pariahs of the (...) XV Bandera Irish Brigade led by Eoin O'Duffy, and has made glorious heros of those who served with the XV International brigade.

It is a strange situation where the losers of the conflict emerge as the winners in the battle for a place in history.

Stradling demonstrates that the Irish Brigade fighting for Franco were not actually (...). For the most part they were good catholics who were urged by the clergy to go on this "last crusade". They were motivated by cinema newsreels which showed how anarchists and communists defaced churches and murdered clergy in the early part of the Spanish Civil War. The Irish brigade had a terrible time, becoming a political football from the very beginning.

The Irish Government feared that they would succeed in raising 5,000 to 10,000 troops, and that on the conclusion of the Spanish Civil War this veteran army, backed by (...) comrades from Spain, Italy and Germany, might bid to take over Ireland. But the Irish government walked a knife-edge. Outright condemnation of the "crusade" might be seen as anti-catholic.

Similar considerations applied in Spain. General Mola wanted to bring over the Irish brigade under his wing, and have them fight with devout catholic requetes under his control. This did not suit Franco in his bid for overall control.

Amid all this wrangling it is a testament to the organisational abilities of O'Duffy that he succeeded in shipping 700 or so brigaders to Spain. However, he then demonstrated his unsuitability as a leader by spending his time swanning around fancy dinners while his men suffered in filthy wet trenches.

When the Irish brigade (sensibly it seems to me) refused to sarcrifice their lives in pointless charges as the Foreign Legion (Tercio) were wont to do, Franco wanted to be rid of them. They left Spain under a cloud and returned to an Ireland that quickly saw them as an embarrasment.

How differently were percieved the Republican Irish. Men who stepped straight into the cauldron of Jarama, suffered dreadful losses and demonstrated their bravery and their worth by holding up what would have been a killing blow by Franco.

And yet the International brigaders saw just as much farce as their countrymen in the Nationalist trenches 10 kms across the valley. When they found that some of their English officers were former black and tans the ex-IRA men pulled their guns on them. After a tense mexican standoff a group of 40 or so Irish troops were moved from the British to the American (Lincoln) battalion.

All in all this book is a fair and very balanced account of the politics and the experience of the Irish in Spain. And taking the emotion out of the history allows us to see that the differences between the Irish on either side were few. It was subsequent events that lent them their later significance.