The failings of the Republican Forces during the Spanish Civil War were in large part due to the internal conflict among the different political factions. These groups, united only by their opposition to the Nationalist rebels, discovered early in the conflict that their alliance was fleeting. The two factions that were primarily responsible for this antagonism were the Anarchists and the Stalin/Comintern backed Communists. This infighting weakened the Republican forces greatly, already low on supplies and training it was their war to lose. In early February, 1937, the Republicans lost control of the Málaga province in one of the most embarrassing defeats of the war. The Republican forces were under prepared for the armored warfare that would …show more content…
Noam Chomsky, perhaps the most famous Anarchist thinker of our time argued that the Anarchists revolution was threatening the international power structures that be. That the “masters do not want the ignorant and meddlesome outsiders to run their own affairs, because they'll do it at their own interest.” He contended that a successful Anarchist revolution would lead to a domino effect and the global system of “hierarchy, domination, and centralized control” will be lost. Communists, Liberals, and Fascists alike felt threatened, so they “united” to stop this revolutionary action before the workers of the world would take notice. While Chomsky acknowledges that these fractions were enemies he asserts that: ”…the first task, for the first year, was to make sure that the popular revolution was crushed”. This analysis of the Anarchists aggressors’ motives is true in most respects. However, it must be recognized that Chomsky, an Anarchist himself, is biased. From an objective analysis of Chomsky’s and Orwell’s statements and historical events, It can be deduced the Anarchists felt threatened by the other Republicans and vice versa. As a result, the Anarchists became uncompromising in quest towards a revolutionary Catalonia. By being so steadfast in their ideology, the Anarchists alienated themselves from the rest of the Republicans as they desperately wanted to maintain their independent “state”. Their objective was opportunistic to say the least. This effort made the Anarchists a liability to the republican efforts as they were rarely able to capitulate in their revolutionary goals. Coordination between the Anarchists and the other Royalist factions was
Julio Cortazar was a teacher, worked for UNESCO, and became a political activist while working for UNESCO (Colbert, Kanter, Ryan, & Sugana 2012). George Orwell was a member of the Indian Imperial Force, but always had a strong political view of the world (“George Orwell”, 2014). Cortazar was largely influenced by Pinochet and the Cuban Revolution (Colbert, Kanter, Ryan & Sugana, 2012). Orwell was largely influenced by the rise in dictatorships that was rapidly occurring (SparkNote Editors, 2007). Cortazar and Orwell both were able to incorporate their strong political opinions into their writing.
Francisco Franco (1892-1975) was a lifelong military leader. He rose through the ranks until the early 1930s, when he found himself, a right-wing monarchist, in the middle of a left-wing republic. He was demoted, but later rose up again, and by 1935 he had been named chief of staff of the Spanish Army, a position he used to get rid of left-wing figures and their military institutions. When the left- wing social and economic structure of Spain began to fall, Franco joined the rebellion. He soon led an uprising and took control of Spain after the Spanish Civil War (1939). From then unti...
...y records from August of 1982 connected the General to Operation Sofia. These documents detailed a series of counterinsurgency sweeps though Guatemalan regions to kill the enemy guerillas and destroy their bases with extreme force.
Messenger, A, David.. “Spain during World War II.” Canadian Journal of History 3(2007):530. eLibrary. Web. 23 Mar. 2014.
middle of paper ... ... You don’t have a revolution in which you love your enemy, and you don’t have a revolution in which you are begging the system of exploitation to integrate you into it. Revolutions overturn the systems. Revolutions destroy the systems.”
In the early 20th century, the Progressive Era would dominate for nearbly two decades in the United States and its system. This Progressive Era would be a result of Anarchism. Anarchy actions would take over in the U.S. ,and Anarchism would arrive in the nation, in 1901 during the attempted assassination of President McKinley. Little did they know the assassin’s name would be Leon Czolgosz, who investigators would later discover that Czolgosz would be apart of anarchism. Anarchy propagated the idea that governments and laws only served to restrict the freedom of individuals, and prevented them from practicing their own liberty; therefore this anarchists would act with violence in order to reform or shape the system differently. “Anarchist violence had claimed the pro-business president of the U.S. Worse, anarchism represented only the tip of
Hi I'm doing my report on the Spanish American War. In the following pages I will be giving information on how and why the war started, major battles, and the results of the war. I will also include stories from people on the battleship Maine.
George Orwell, noted writer and journalist, arrived in Barcelona, Spain in late 1936 to cover the fight against fascism. Being an avid fan of socialism, he was amazed to see the small glimpse of socialism in action. He was intrigued to say the least, of the classless society he observed there. Barcelona, Spain at this time was held under Anarchist control, and as such most of the old class society rituals were abandoned: tipping, titles, and the old divisions between rich and poor were practically gone. Everyone was equal in this new society, and most of the rich aristocrats had either fled or went into hiding. This being the truest form of socialism and brotherhood Orwell had ever before witnessed he put down his pen and took up arms. Homage to Catalonia, which Orwell later wrote after fleeing to France in 1937, gives his account as a militiaman in the P.O.U.M (Partido Obrero de Unificacion Marxista) Militia, which roughly translates to the Workers' Party of Marxist Unification. At the time this was one of the many anti-fascist factions in Spain, later he remarks joining P.O.U.M with ignorant bliss of what the difference was between any of them.
As one of America's great white fleet ships lay on the bay of Havana Cuba, people started questioning the reason of the explosion. After a couple of days, the Press was informed of the tragic accident, that could have been an attack on the United States. Once the Press was involve there was no doubt it was in accident as the Yellow Press claimed it was an attack. The sinking of the U.S.S. Maine not only claimed one of the Great White Fleet, it also caused over 250 casualties. Although the tragedy of the maine could have sparked the war, there was more reasons why the U.S. declared war. America disapproved of spain and everything they were doing in territories controlled by Spain. Not only was Spain destroying the territories that they controlled, they contravene the Monroe Doctrine. It wasn’t always the bad things that caused the United States to invade Cuba, they also wanted to help them and even govern Cuba to an extent.
The Second Spanish Republic was founded on April 14, 1931 with popular support. However, politics quickly became severely polarized to the Left or Right between 1931 and July 18, 1936. In the 1933 general election, CEDA (The Spanish Confederation of the Autonomous Right) which was founded by Gil Robles after fascist models made coalitions and garnered the largest support. (Preston 18, 62) In 1934...
The Outbreak of the Spanish Civil War To this day the Spanish Civil War is still remembered as the single most pivotal moment in the history of Spanish politics. The only way of understanding how 600,000 Spaniards were killed between 1936 and 1939 is to ask ourselves why the civil war broke out in Spain in 1936. There were a number of reasons which led to the civil war in Spain. The main and most significant being the increased political polarization between the left and right wing parties. This polarization primarily began within Spanish society, which had been characterized by its strong religious beliefs and conservative values, as it remained a strict Roman Catholic country for many centuries.
This book is a compilation of several articles about the Spanish Civil War by different authors each one dealing with a different subject matter. This is useful because it gives different perspectives on the war. However, the accuracy becomes compromised as there are conflicting points of view in the book that rr(a'y cause the information to be less reliable.
The Spanish-American war was the first and biggest step that the United States of America took toward imperialism. It was the war that secured the US as the most powerful country in the world. This war was a benefit to the USA because we gained land, gained respect, and taught a lesson to one of our enemies. In addition to this, the losses that we suffered were almost nothing compared to other conflicts or wars. The Spanish-American war was by no means for the sole purpose of gaining land and respect, the United States freed an oppressed country and took pieces of land that were better off under US control.
... possibility of passing, one being an Internet censorship bill, that would make illegal the social networking sites of which have been instrumental in organizing revolutions across the globe, as well as the occupy movement. The second being the National Defense Authorization Act of which passed the senate by a vote of ninety-three to seven that would allow the indefinite military detention of any American citizen believed to have engaged in terrorist activities and Americans know how loosely defined the word terrorist has become. It seems the very near feature that may very well hold the cause for a proletariat a revolution with revolutionaries that are not hungry for power, but starving for equality. The type of revolution that may ensue is unknown but it is possible for Marx and Rousseau’s dream to come true, if adopted by the majority and entered into willingly.
Contemporary liberal and anarchist philosophy are two very different ways of trying to see what would be the best way to run a society. While discussing these two ideologies, I will try to show how both, in their purist sense, are not able to work effectively in today's society. Contemporary liberals are involved in every day politics, but through over regulation and dependence on government they lose their chances of running a reliable democracy. Anarchists have very good ideas of how a natural society could function without government or modern institutions, but the biggest problem they have is how to get to that point. Both theories look good on paper, but once they hit the real world they change due to alternating conceptions and individual influences.