Spanish civil war international brigade - Politics Forum.org | PoFo

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Inter-war period (1919-1938), Russian civil war (1917–1921) and other non World War topics (1914-1945).
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#13649374
My question is "What happened to the men who fought in International brigade after the war?" Of course those Men who were not from those countries who directly aided respective sides in the war..

Were they imprisoned or interrogated in their native countries?? What was their fate??
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By Fasces
#13649386
They went home by decree of the League of Nations in 1938. Those whose homes did not welcome them were given honorary Spanish citizenship by the Spanish Republic. They were likely treated like any new government treats foreign mercenaries by the Francoists after the Civil War.
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By MB.
#13725461
I'm only familiar with the famous British Battalion of the international brigade and this is a very interesting question.
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By Ter
#13725469
The father of my first girl friend in Europe was a volunteer in the international brigade against Franco.
He had one eye missing and my parents warned me that he was a crazy man.
I did not broach the subject when I met him and he didn't look dangerous to me.
His daughter, my love, emigrated to Israel and is now a leftist militant for the Palestinians.
She married someone else, an intellectual from left field :(

Ter
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By fuser
#13725505
British Battalion of the international brigade


Wikipedia article stops at their arrival at victoria station. What happened next??
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By MB.
#13725507
Oh i'm not an expert. They fought a number of actions and Orwell wrote the book Homage to Catalonia about the experience. Oddly, that's one of the few Orwell books I haven't read. Although apparently he wasn't even in the BBIB.

Here is the ORBAT:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internatio ... onal_units

"31 January 1937 16th British Battalion Irish, Basque, Catalonian & British 23 September 1938 Demobilised"

The wiki articles does seem to cover some of the engagements:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Battalion

More about the BBIB's role and formation:

http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/SPbritish.htm
By Quantum
#13732460
In certain countries like the USA and Canada, Republican veterans were either barred from military service or were not promoted during WWII because they were considered a political risk and were subjected to surveillance by intelligence agencies.

In the case of fighters who originated from countries with fascist governments like Germany, Italy etc., they were persecuted by the state for their activities and Soviet veterans were also persecuted at home because their presence in Spain was considered to be a threat to the state.
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By AuContraireVoltaire
#14006370
MB. wrote:Oh i'm not an expert. They fought a number of actions and Orwell wrote the book Homage to Catalonia about the experience. Oddly, that's one of the few Orwell books I haven't read. Although apparently he wasn't even in the BBIB.

Here is the ORBAT:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internatio ... onal_units

"31 January 1937 16th British Battalion Irish, Basque, Catalonian & British 23 September 1938 Demobilised"

The wiki articles does seem to cover some of the engagements:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Battalion

More about the BBIB's role and formation:

http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/SPbritish.htm

I've read Homage to Catalonia. Orwell only ever fired one shot before being wounded in the throat and sent home. His service was very uninteresting and his brigade saw very little combat during his service time.
#14006397
Indeed, he was a middle class intellectual looking for adventure. But it's a pretty standard text to give to novices on the subject because it's well written, and from the point of view of an Englishman that doesn't know much more than the reader probably does.

Someone I know in Ireland did his thesis on the Irish who left to fight. Most, as far as I remember, came back and joined a political party and mostly retired. Those who fought for Franco were embraced by Blue Shirts and Fine Gael while the Republicans were embraced by Fianna Fail and the IRA. But I never really got into it, so take it with a grain of salt.
#14006444
The Republicans, as far as I'm aware, opposed any form of Spanish nationalism and even acted against it by granting Basque autonomy. There were a few elements in the Communist or Anarchist movement that can be described as National-Communist (one such guy opposed the Communist International or whatever it was and suffered as a result, maybe someone here can pinpoint him), but the overwhelming majority was keen on turning Spain into a Marx-materialist bridgehead for West European political assaults. How this ragtag band of anarchists and commies would have led Spain to prosperity remains a mystery to me.

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