The Spanish Civil War: Rehearsal for a World War?

The Spanish Civil War began in July 1936 when Nationalist army officers, among them General Francisco Franco, who soon became their leader, rebelled against the elected Republican government. The conflict quickly drew in foreign powers: Germany and Italy sent troops, aircraft and weapons to Franco, while the Soviet Union supplied the Republic. Britain and France led a Non-Intervention Agreement, but Germany and Italy openly ignored it. About 35,000 to 40,000 foreign volunteers joined the International Brigades to fight for the Republic.

On 26 April 1937 German and Italian aircraft bombed the Basque town of Guernica, an attack that Pablo Picasso turned into a famous painting. Franco's victory in April 1939 created a long-lasting dictatorship. Historians often call the war a rehearsal for World War II, since it tested new tactics and showed the democracies' reluctance to act, though it was also a Spanish conflict rooted in deep domestic divisions over religion, land and class.