The Spanish Civil War was practice for WWII

Another cool fact: A handful of volunteers that were emigres and veterans from the Russian Civil War fought for Franco under the imperial Russian banner.

“No men ever entered earth more honorably than those who died in Spain.” My grandfather came home, his brother Albert is lying in an unknown grave near Gadesa.

Very interesting topic! The Spanish Civil War was such a highly ideological conflict, maybe the most so in history

You forgot one. Mexico also sent aid to us during the Spanish civil war. They actually sent more help then the US and Canada which decided to not really get involved.

You didn't mention Soviet supplies to the republicans.

I like to believe that the Spanish Civil war has to be the most interesting conflict since the industrial revolution

These brave lads most of whom had sacrificed everything, were considered a embarrassment by a British government hell bent on appeasement. My uncle was not among those who returned. All the family had was his watch returned by one of his comrades. I still treasure it and will pass it on with his story to my great grandson on his 21st birthday later this year.

George Orwell's Homage to Catalonia is worth a read if you haven't already.

but the war only lasts like a year in hoi4

The Catholic Church in Ireland backed Franco and encouraged Irish men to volunteer for god and Franco

Aw, really hoped you would mention the Español Batallón, it was made up of mostly mexican volunteers

Finnish soldiers also did go help the Spanish, on both sides...

One of the names of the spanish civil war is "La guerra entre hermanos" (War between brothers) because it wasnt uncommon that, since it was a war born from mostly ideology, literal brothers were fighting against each other

Imagine going to Spain and fighting against your own countrymen who fought on the other side

Great video thanks for showing it

What an excellent summary. Right to the point, thank you.

Liked it a lot! Only two things were that I'd include that the Soviet Union supplied substantial aid to the Republicans (Communists gotta stick together after all), Mexico under Larenzo Cardenas gave $2,000,000 to the Republicans, and many of the Romanian fascist organization called the Iron Guard went to fight for the Nationalists as well. Romanian involvement was important because two of the most important members of the Iron Guard, Ion Mota and Vasile Marin, were killed in the war and subsequently became seen as martyrs against communism by many Romanians.

I love your channel keep up the great stuff!!!!!

There is a very famous song called Viva La Quinta Brigade which was about the 15th International brigade consisting of mostly Irish men. Great song that explains the Irish Republicans and Irish fascists. Here it is..... 10 years before I saw the light of morning, a comradeship of heroes was laid,from every corner of the world came sailing, the 15th International brigade, they came to stand beside the Spanish people, to try and stem the rising fascist tides, hate and love against the force of evil, Frank Ryan's men came from the other side, and there is more to it

Most of the Irish who fought for the Republic were ex IRA from the War of Independence (1919-21), they voted to transfer to the Lincoln Battalion on 12th January 1937 because some of the officers in the British Battalion had served in the Black and Tans and Auxiliaries during the War of Independence and they wouldn't fight under them. On the Nationalist side Franco couldn't get rid of O'Duffy and the Blueshirts quick enough.the only real action they were involved in saw them mistakenly engage in battle with some Italian Fascists from the same side. O'Duffy refused to leave Spain until Franco gave him a letter stating that "They had fought bravely defending the faith"

One short correction, the Legion Kondor did not only consist of bombers but they had also fighter and reconnaissance groups. All in all great video, never knew that there were that many Austrians fighting in Spain

No mention to the 10s of thousands Moroccan "volunteers" on Franco's side?

Thank you so much for the upload. I have an exam on this exact topic on the 8th

Intresting to know that there were several Norwegians that went to fight along side the nationalists.

Thankyou it was much helpful

Eye opening. Good clip.

I like your channel and have subbed. I like your topic selection. You look at "second or third tier" conflicts which is great, not going over old ground but still covering significant events. I like that you provide good detail and you seem to have a good grip of the cultures involved, such as your excellent pronunciation of nouns. I would like to see you spend some (more) time on theory or biographical aspects of these histories to build a better picture of the people involved and to just paint a clearer picture of the people. Otherwise your videos do have a slight tendency to feel like lists of dataset and events in chronological order. Otherwise, keep up the great quality research. Thanks

Interesting to see the composition of participating nations in this 'civil' war. More than a little surprised to find a mention of Australian combatants. Spain being so far removed from Aus, physically and psychologically. your research is impressive as always.

Keep up the great stuff

Mexico sent volunteers and equipment to Republican Spain.

Have you ever watched Pan's Labyrinth? It's not set during the Civil war, but it does take place very soon after it when the republican/fascist conflict was most definitely ongoing. It's topical, and very enjoyable.

You didn't mention the biggest group of foreign fighters in Spain which were the Moroccans, Spain recruited in North Morocco and thousands of regulares were send to the fronts in Spain. Also important to note is that these Regulares Indígenas (Moorish troops) were battle hardened and had together with the Legion forces (under Franco) a great impact on the battlefield in Spain.

Nice video

Really loved this one, looking forward to more in the future.. also hearing Hilbert say french gives me a cringy smile, learning french myself.. also made me thirsty for some reason XD.

I love your channel

Fascinating stuff.

Just now reading "The Battle For Spain" by Antony Beevor.Excellent book as are others by the war historian.

There were 2 Romanians who fought for Franco and died in Combat, their funeral was the largest in Romanian history

There were around 3k Polish volunteers, would make sense to mention them instead of the dutch and Belgians.

6 000 odd from Yugoslavia, including Josip Broz Tito. Half died in Spain, the rest were in peril later

Your pronunciations are 10/10

Love " HISTORY WITH HILBERT"..outstanding job on the Spanish Revolution...thank you Jules (Friend of the Abraham Lincoln Brigade)

Mexico was the only country, other than the Soviet Union, to officially give diplomatic and material aid (both for civilian and war use) to the Spanish Republic, going so far as to covertly buy small arms, naval ships and warplanes on the international market under its name to then smuggle to the Republicans (this was necessary given that the large "democracies," the US, Britain, and France were officially "neutral" and as a result had a naval embargo and block on Spain, which let´s be honest, it was a backhanded way of helping the Nationalists win without appearing to be openly helping Franco´s thugs). There were around 5,000 Mexicans that fought on the Republican side, they were largely integrated into the regular Republican forces due to their cultural and linguistic similarities. Additionally, there was also the Benito Juarez Infantry Brigade (named after the first Mexican president) in the International Brigades which was relatively small. After the war, Mexico also welcomed around 50,000 Spanish Republicans as refugees, more than any other country.

I love the songs of the international brigades

It’s sad to see so many commenters with severe misunderstandings and errors about political theory and history. I’ve noticed a disturbing strain within KZfaq history fans that often lament and tacitly support far right and fascist government and militias throughout history. I have even seen a commenter say he/she would actively have fought for the fascist forces of Franco in the name of ‘law and order’. The victory of Franco backed by the Nazi and Mussolini regimes issued in decades of oppressive dictatorship in Spain. This should not be forgotten. It is absolutely true that people fighting against the fascists committing atrocities and war crimes. However this should never be an excuse to reduce the complexities of the civil war to ‘killing reds’. The Marxist Leninist factions funded by the Soviet Union were antithetical to socialism. Socialism is worker control over the means of production with industrial democracy at its core, NOT state ownership and centrally planning authoritarian control. I hope many history fans look further into political history and don’t just take the tired lie ‘Soviet Union = socialism’ as gospel.

Thank goodness you're so multilingual.

The treatment of the catholic church by the republicans was a major source of anger driving support for the nationalists that no amount of fascist propaganda could ever hope to achieve especially in places like Italy, Ireland and latin america. The church during the civil war could be worth a seperate topic on.

Love the authentic pronunciation by the narrator. Clearly a linguist

good pronunciation of latin names. thanks!

AT 5:57 HE SAYS 10,000 BUT WROTE 1,000. WHICH IS IT?

You forgot Mexico

Mexico also helped a lot in the Spanish civil war. I thought it will be mentioned here....the Mexicans supported the Republicans by giving aid , firearms, planes, volunteers (Benito Juárez García volunteer corps), refugee (my great grandfather was a refugee that came to Mexico) etc. In addition to that, Mexico was one of the first nations to deny Francoist Spain entrance to the UN, since the nation was influenced by the axis powers.

The FBI called the Lincoln Brigaders “ premature anti fascists” coming from j Edgar Hoover , I’d consider it a badge of honor

Long life the International Brigades!

As far as I am concerned, WW2 really began in 1936. The people knew it before their governments. We need to not look at history as an affair of Nation-States, but of people and ideas. EDIT: Shucks, no mention of Orwell? I've taken a few courses specifically on the Civil War in Spain. Might I suggest Paul Preston's "The Spanish Civil War: Reaction, Revolution, and Revenge"? It is, to me, the ultimate account of the war.

You didn't mention the involvement of the 300 pruertorrican soldiers that fought in the civil war. Also Francis cousin moved to Puerto Rico and now the Franco family one of the well known families in the west side of Puerto Rico. Later on they formed the fascist party of Puerto Rico but it didnt last.

At 2:33 you say that Belgians around 1600 formed a battalion; did you mean 1900 ?

The republicans included capitalists for example the Union Republicana were free market liberal,therefore capitalist. I got that information about Union Republicana from a computer game.

my great grand father was one of those dutch involved

Nicely done but your delivery is a bit rushed. Don't forget to breathe! Good luck with your project. :)

any list on arsenal used by factions

how much army xp did they get?

i love spanish history p.s. great video

can anyone give me a source for further research on this? i have a paper to write lol

WW2 indeed started before 1939...

You forgot the countless (the figure goes between 65,000-100,000 according to different historians) moroccan mercenaries in Franco´s side.

never mentioned the great mexican help!

what sort of fighting did the SCW see? was it more ww1 or ww2 in style?

No pasaran

What happened to the the US volunteers for the Republican Army in Spain? No mention of the Abraham Lincoln brigade or the George Washington Brigade?

Excellent discussion, but I'm perplexed by the omission of direct reference to 3,000 U.S. volunteers. Did hear the Lincoln Battalion referred to in passing. Maybe I'm sensitive.

5:48 the leader of Ressurectionist Ireland in HOI4 (if you change Ireland's ideology to fascism)

Viva Cristo Rey

At around 1:40 you mispronounced figlio by pronouncing the g. I love the video just making constructive criticism :)

Kind of similar to whats going on in Libya with countries all getting involved... maybe they are practicing for WWIII

What a shame that you didn’t mention how Mexico aided the Republican forces during the war

Great video but could you speak a bit slower next time please.

Las brigadas internacionales tuvieron más de 80.000 efectivos, a esto hay que añadir, varios miles de soldados rusos, en cuanto a material la lista es muy larga, haría falta mucho tiempo para exponerla.

The fact that Mussolini supported the church really amazed me beacuse from the sources i do study, they always show them on a stance more related to an " enemy of my enemy" situation, based on their mutual hatred of Marxism. Considering that Benito used to be a Socialist and remained an Atheist troughout his life, not to mention the strong Nihilistic influences on his take of Fascism. But perhaps i got my information wrong, or he took more pro-christian personal views troughout his later years .One way or the other this video has encouraged me to study the subject even further. Thanks!!!

400 Greeks fought Against nationalists[under Colonell Franco ], most of Them Where workers in Cargo Vessels[of the varius Greek Merscant fleet and members of the Communist Part ]for the Nationalistic side i dont have any information..

>Mussolini told Italians that the communists were attacking priests and nuns >narrator calls this "propaganda" lol wut

since my specialty in history is between the founding of Rome and the Battle of Bosworth I didn't even konw Spain had a civil I thought its was a coup d'etat

The battalion was called: Cuervo de Ejercito Marroqui

There were very fine people, on both sides.

no mention of the Romanians...

Mussolini was atheist and Franco wasnt fascist, he wwas a conservative Monarquist,

No mention of the Africanistas or Moroccan soldiers who fought for the Nationalists.

The old Spanishregular army had been demoralized by the series civil worsen the19th century.The Spanish Legion was an attempt revive disciplined, high morale regulars by emuladingthe French Foreign Legion.It worked so well that,bythe time pressures between right and leftward reaching the boiling point. Francohad the most professional infantry Spain under his command, a force sufficient to alter the balance between the rival forces the oncoming civil war. Admiral Cervera held the Navyforthe Republic, while many the Air Forceyrnded toward the Republic. But Franco threw the Legiononto the scales in the Nationalist side, carrying the Spanish Armyin Moroccowith them.As result the balance of forces was against the Republic from the start, once Franco air-lifted his troops into mainland Spain. The Republic had the Navy, most of the Air Force,the left wing parties, unions andstudentsagainst professional infantry hardened by a nast war with the Rifsin Africa!Plusthe traditionalist factions from the civil wars-the Carlistas,the Falangistsand various Cathloicand anti-communist organizations!

How many Americans fought on the Nationalist side?

Mussolini wasn't a large supporter of the Catholic Church. He was in fact extremely anti-clerical and was criticized quite harshly by many of the more revolutionary Fascists when he signed the Lateran Pacts.

What about the Moroccans?

Not sure about the assertion that far fewer foreign volunteers on the rebel nationalist side. I've seen the opposite assertion made that more foreigners volunteered to fight for the rebel nationalists than for the loyalist republicans.

around 1600 lads came from Yugoslavia to fight for the Republicans., almost half of them being Croats

What an interesting documentary, I wonder what Spain would be like today if franco had not rescued it from the grasp of communism and anarchy ?

Spanish Civil War was truly a tragic Ideological Mess

My great great grandad we think joined the British Battalion as he was a British Communist and went all around Europe fighting for socialist and communist movements. Because of this when my grandad did his national service he wasn’t able to sign for the army although he fit the criteria and signed an order where he wasn’t allowed to talk about it because if they put him in the army they thought he might defect to Eastern Europe and they were worried in case he would become a spy.

there where many more german soldiers that helped the facists than you list here. the german army and luftwaffe where sweapping their soldiers. There wasent many there at a given time. but after the spanish war there had been many german soldiers serving there. Germany also had panzer soldiers serving in spain. it was also in spain that germany invented their tactic with a leader and a wingman. witch gave them an edge in the first part of ww2 until the allied copyed their tactics.

The dictator of Greece at that time, I. Metaxas, forbade any intervention, but there were some communists who fought with the Republicans and, I think, fewer who supported the Nationalists...

not mentioning the urss help to the republic and all the gold given its just a joke