The Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact - ELTE BTK Történelem Szakos Portál
The Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact - ELTE BTK Történelem Szakos Portál
The Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact - ELTE BTK Történelem Szakos Portál
Create successful ePaper yourself
Turn your PDF publications into a flip-book with our unique Google optimized e-Paper software.
and Italian governments agree to the withdrawal of all international troops from<br />
Spanish soil: the Legion Condor and Italian Corpo Truppe Volontarie from the<br />
Nationalist side, and the International Brigades from the Republican side. This<br />
agreement was reached a few days after the the signing of the Munich Agreement<br />
on September 30, 1938 and left the Spanish Republicans under the impression<br />
that they were let down by the international community in the same way as<br />
Czechoslovakia. In a speech at the League of Nations the Spanish Republican<br />
foreign minister Julio Álvarez del Vayo tried one last time to appeal to the<br />
international community and remind them of the danger of expanding fascism,<br />
but the agreement in the NIC over Spain and the Munich Agreement made it<br />
obvious that the League of Nations had failed to preserve peace in Europe and<br />
was replaced by bi- and multi-lateral agreements among the different states. 30<br />
After the latest rejection to help the Spanish Republic and the Munich<br />
Agreement, Spanish and international leftist commentators were only concerned<br />
with one question: which country will be the next to be swapped by the fascist<br />
aggression? Most commentators believed that France would be the next target, as<br />
a contemporary cartoon illustrates: it shows a German and an Italian soldier<br />
marching from the destroyed Spain over the Pyrenees to France following an air<br />
plane dropping bombs on the Eiffel Tower. 31 Also Poland and the Soviet Union<br />
were discussed as being the next potential targets, leaving Stalin discomforted<br />
and after the Munich Agreement without an ally to count on. 32<br />
On April 1, 1939 General Franco officially declared the Spanish Civil War to be<br />
over and the Nationalists to be the winners. Shortly before that date, the Republican<br />
president Manuel Azaña had declared in a speech to the international public what<br />
were the reasons for the defeat of the Spanish Republic: the first and most important<br />
reason for the loss, according to Azaña, was the reaction of the British government in<br />
initiating a non-intervention policy that actually helped the Nationalists. <strong>The</strong> second<br />
reason was the conflict within the Republican zone between communists and<br />
independent leftist groups that weakened the defence. As a third factor, Azaña gave<br />
the military support of Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy to the National side. Franco's<br />
own military power and strategy was only ranked as forth and least decisive element<br />
in the defeat of the Spanish Republic. 33 <strong>The</strong>refore, all three major reasons for the loss<br />
of the Spanish Republic can be seen in the international dimension of the war. Since<br />
scholars agree that the fear of communism was the main motivation behind the<br />
British policy towards the Spanish republic and the communists are blamed for the<br />
escalation of the May Events in Barcelona and consequent political witch-hunts,<br />
communists are connected to the two main reasons given for the loss of the<br />
30 ANONYMOUS: „Von den spanischen Fronten”. In: DVZ 3.39 (25.09.1938), 6.<br />
31 ANONYMOUS: „Der neue Marsch”. In: Neuer Vorwärts 246 (06.03.1938), B1.<br />
32 MORADIELLOS, Enrique: El reñidero de Europa. Las dimensiones internacionales de la<br />
guerra civil española. Península, Barcelona, 2001. 258.<br />
33 Ouoted from: COLLADO SEIDEL, Carlos: Der Spanische Bürgerkrieg, Geschichte eines<br />
europäischen Konflikts. Beck, München, 2006. 164.<br />
99