Judith Keene. Fighting for Franco: International Volunteers in Nationalist Spain During the Spanish Civil War, 1936-39. London and New York: Leicester University Press, 2001. x + 310 pp. $39.95, cloth, ISBN 978-0-7185-0126-6.
Reviewed by David A. Messenger
Published on H-Diplo (May, 2002)
A Spanish Labyrinth for the International ety of European and other countries also joined Right the battle in Spain, and Keene's Fighting for Fran‐ The Spanish Civil War is often interpreted as co tells their many stories. the "last great cause" of the Left, or, alternatively, Analysis of the international dimension of the as a "dress rehearsal" for the Second World War, confict in Spain has rightly focused on the larger one that pitted fascism against democracy; it has foreign contribution to the Spanish Republic, pri‐ also been suggested that it was the frst open bat‐ marily in the form of the International Brigades tle of communism and capitalism.[1] All of these which totaled some 35,000 to 40,000 soldiers (p. 2). explanations illuminate the importance of ideolo‐ On the Nationalist side, the assumption has been gy; and most of them were expounded upon by that signifcant foreign involvement was limited those on the Left, especially non-Spaniards, in the to those who were less than volunteers, primarily aftermath of the Republic's defeat by General German, Italian and, to a lesser extent, Portuguese Francisco Franco's Nationalists in 1939. Yet if the soldiers. These three groups together contributed Civil War really did refect broader international somewhere between 100,000 and 120,000 soldiers confict, surely the Right must have had similar to the Nationalist efort (p. 7). Keene, however, is explanations and reminiscences when the battle interested in what she estimates to be the 1200 or was fnished. Indeed, both sides had their interna‐ so true volunteers for Franco, a varied group of tional volunteers who set of for adventure and "pious Catholics, crypto-Nazis, aspiring fascists, ideological strife in sunny Spain. We may more old-style conservatives and anti-Semites of every easily remember the Orwells of the fght, but Ju‐ stripe" (p. 2). Difcult to track down in the many dith Keene skillfully and insightfully reminds us national and non-state archives Keene has exam‐ that the war was not purely one that matched pa‐ ined, these individuals and groups nonetheless triotic Spaniards against an awkward amalgam of provide an important insight into the nature of in‐ international "Reds". Many on the Right in a vari‐ terwar politics and society. The real value of this H-Net Reviews study is not in making any dramatic claim about opposition to the "decadence" of parliamentary the military value of these troops, for that was republicanism that seemed to favor the Left (p. defnitely negligible (p. 293). Rather, Keene high‐ 137). White Russian volunteers, almost all of lights the diverse ideological and other motiva‐ whom came from the Paris emigre community tions for their involvement in Spain, and the ben‐ and had served in the White armies of the Rus‐ eft this provided for many extreme rightist lead‐ sian Civil War, saw the Spanish confict as the frst ers and organizations back in their own countries. step in a march back to St. Petersburg (p. 197). The result is a portrait of a generation, its politics Perhaps the confagration of Spain and the na‐ and personal characteristics, and the Spanish con‐ tional context was strongest in the case of the text which rarely seemed to live up to expecta‐ eight members of the Romanian Iron Guard who tions. volunteered in Spain to defend "Old Kingdom Ro‐ The book is organized as seven separate es‐ mania" that seemed to be the "Castile of the Balka‐ says. The frst reviews the general history of the ns"--"Catholic, rural, patriotic and united" against Civil War. >From here the essays can be examined the Reds, the Hungarians and the Jews (p. 216). In in three sets. Two essays on English-speaking vol‐ the writings of pro-Franco women, "sexually de‐ unteers predominantly study individual cases of praved, cross-dressing 'Reds'" were interpreted as pro-Nationalist travelers and writers and English- overrunning the countryside (pp. 254, 262). Yet in speaking volunteers, although the Irish brigade addition to politics, in their own personal reasons that fought for Franco is also discussed. The next for heading to Iberia, these volunteers echoed set of essays focus on individual groups of volun‐ their counterparts in the International Brigades, teers, French, White Russian and Romanian; the looking for "adventure". Writing of one English fnal chapter is a paper on Franco's female volun‐ volunteer, Peter Kemp, a graduate of Trinity Col‐ teers. In addition to the small numbers involved, lege, Cambridge, Keene states that, politics "were common themes that emerge from a comparative important only so far as they determined on reading of these essays include the political moti‐ which side he joined up." Kemp himself wrote of vations of the volunteers that almost always are his "restless temperament" and saw the war as a defned in terms of their own national context, "splendid chance" to go out on his own (p. 110). the personal motivation of "restlessness" that Once in Spain, the treatment Franco's foreign sends many to Spain, the divisions between lead‐ volunteers received rarely seemed to live up to ers and rank-and-fle, and, most striking, the great their expectations. Individual volunteers like difculty that these foreign volunteers had in ever Frenchman Gaston Penaud were not welcome at really getting organized enough to make any sort military headquarters in Nationalist Spain when of contribution to the cause they wanted to fght they managed to get there on their own and in Pe‐ for. naud's case, he was not directed to the French Volunteers for the franquista cause were driv‐ Joan of Arc battalion; he spent four months in en by their own national political debates, and Spain and never saw any action or even found a they interpreted the Civil War in Spain through rife while hanging around various Nationalist national lenses. This meant, most often, that the military quarters (pp. 156-157). Similarly, the ef‐ confict was seen as part of a larger crusade fort of the one hundred or so White Russians to be against parliamentarianism, Bolshevism and the recognized as ofcers and aristocrats with consid‐ Left in general. Thus Keen characterizes the erable experience from the Russian Civil War was French volunteers, regardless of which extreme unsuccessful; they were enrolled in Spanish units right organization they came from, as activists in as regular soldiers and were not permitted to
2 H-Net Reviews form a separate Russian unit that might be the ba‐ the Joan of Arc battalion in 1937-8, and recruited sis for a revived Imperial Army (pp. 205-207). in Paris and Algeria, the leadership of this battal‐ The real value of Spanish involvement, for ion was inexperienced and unorganized, and the most of these individuals and groups, came not in military value, as observed General Yague, the Spain but at home. The Iron Guard contingent of head of the Spanish Foreign Legion, was negligi‐ eight from Romania had begun as a ceremonial ble (p. 156). This scenario seemed to be preferred delegation meant to bring greetings to Franco; yet by Franco and his associates. The Nationalist in the course of traveling to Spain the suggestion movement courted prominent English-language was made that they volunteer and fght (p. 231). writers and travelers such as Sir Arthur Lunn, a They were enrolled as regular soldiers in the For‐ right-wing Catholic who made two visits to Na‐ eign Legion, and two were killed before they all tionalist Spain escorted by members of Franco's were permitted to withdraw from service and re‐ Press and Propaganda bureau and wrote of his turn to Romania. Their contribution, from a mili‐ visits in a popular book, Spanish Rehearsal, a tary view, was of little value, and on the whole "handbook for Franco's supporters in the English- they were isolated from other soldiers in their di‐ speaking world" (p. 61). Yet the commander of the vision; yet the funeral for the two killed closed six hundred and seventy member Irish Brigade, down the city of Bucharest in February 1937 (p. Eoin O'Dufy, while personally well received by 237). Interpreting the beneft of service in Spain many leading Nationalist generals, had to wait in as primarily propagandistic rather than as mili‐ barracks four months before seeing a month of tarily signifcant did create something of a rift be‐ action in which he disobeyed orders not to re‐ tween the leaders of these small bands of adven‐ treat; the Brigade voted to leave Spain shortly turers and the rank-and-fle. In many cases except thereafter, and Nationalist generals did not have the Russian one, the leaders of these groups had any complaints about this course of action (pp. very diferent experiences than their followers. 122-127). This was due to two factors. First, many of these The fnal essay by Keene on the subject of leaders, as stated, were more interested in their Franco's female volunteers is an interesting one. own national situations. Their roles in the foreign The author had uncovered about a dozen case volunteer mission, for the most part, were not as studies, two from nurses who served on the Na‐ military leaders but rather as propagandists who tionalist side, the rest from female travelers and interpreted the Spanish events for other purposes writers, publicists for Franco similar in may re‐ at home. The result was less than focused atten‐ spects to the narratives of English-speaking male tion on the actual management of foreign volun‐ travelers already examined. Keene perceptively teers at the front. Thus they spent a great deal of contrasts the non-traditional status of these single, time traveling through Spain and back-and-forth upper-class writers and broadcasters, many of from Spain to their own countries instead of tend‐ whom traveled alone, with the Catholic, Falangist ing to troops. Chares Maurras and Maxime Real and Nationalist Army interpretation that the ideal del Sarte, respectively leading members of the Ac‐ place for a woman was in the domestic sphere (p. tion Francaise and its paramilitary group 246). Even though the exigencies of war propelled Camelots du Roi, received "red carpet" treatment Falangist and Nationalist Spanish women into in their many visits to Spain, all of which they re‐ auxiliary services like food and clothing distribu‐ lated to their French audiences at home (p. 151). tion, Keene, citing Victoria de Grazia, argues that Yet they did not take leadership over the organiza‐ the status of women was not as fexible on the tion of volunteers. While the Camelots du Roi, as ground in Spain as it was in Fascist Italy (p. 246). well as other groups like the Croix de Feu, created Yet the evidence Keene presents does not further
3 H-Net Reviews the argument along these promising lines. In as‐ defne his movement in terms they understood, sessing female publicists such as the American often in international anti-Communist terms. Yet Jane Anderson, later a propagandist for Hitler in it was clear that within Spain Franco successfully wartime Berlin, Keene concludes that their moti‐ cast himself as a defender of national honor vations for writing about Spain, and their inter‐ against outside infuence, and the treatment of pretations of Franco and his movement,and thus foreign volunteers outside of the Caudillo's pres‐ their experiences, were similar to the men who ence suggested that they were not welcomed by came to join the Nationalist crusade. Their arrival most on the Nationalist side. The dual nature of in Spain may have 'transgressed franquista no‐ the regime as an internally nationalistic one and tions' about women (p. 248), but their experience as a bulwark against international Communism was grounded in their class status, their fervent served Franco well in the years that followed. anti-Communism and their adventurous nature. Note Indeed, Keene concludes that "rather like Franco's [1]. Paul Preston, A Concise History of the other foreign travelers ... these women fltered Spanish Civil War (London, 1996) 6. Spanish events through their own political views and frameworks of meaning which had been formed elsewhere" (p. 283). Obviously sources are limited, but a more detailed exploration of the un‐ comfortable atmosphere such women encoun‐ tered in Nationalist territory would have added to the analysis, especially if compared to and con‐ trasted with the disheartening experiences of many of the male volunteers on the ground. A necessary accompaniment to the literature on the International Brigades, Judith Keene's book on Franco's volunteers is also an important addi‐ tion to the literature on the inter-war Right, for what she ofers is a unique comparative study grounded in the common experience of Spain. The varieties of motivation which propelled both the rank-and-fle and leaders of these movements to head to Spain is striking. In addition, by exam‐ ining the contradictory reaction of the Nationalist side to these volunteers, this reviewer would ar‐ gue that Keene has provided readers with an im‐ portant insight into the workings of what became a thirty-six year regime. Keene concludes that Franco benefted from pro-Nationalist propagan‐ da that sold his side of the Spanish Civil War to various audiences outside of the Peninsula (p. 293). In dealings with foreign volunteers, who came to Iberia ignorant of Spanish realities and burdened by the baggage of their own national political conficts, Franco always managed to re‐
4 H-Net Reviews
If there is additional discussion of this review, you may access it through the network, at https://networks.h-net.org/h-diplo
Citation: David A. Messenger. Review of Keene, Judith. Fighting for Franco: International Volunteers in Nationalist Spain During the Spanish Civil War, 1936-39. H-Diplo, H-Net Reviews. May, 2002.
URL: https://www.h-net.org/reviews/showrev.php?id=6268
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.
5