Synopsis

In 1939 a faction of the Spanish army tries to bring down the Popular Front government led by Manuel Azaña. The strike fails and turns into an unexpected civil war which opposed Republicans – the legitimate government party – and the Nationalists – the rebels. Given that the Nationalists had control over the majority of the army, and having received the support of Hitler and Mussolini, they end up triumphing in 1939. This book approaches  the causes of the Spanish Civil war, and the part played by Salazar in supporting the Nationalists, and Hitler’s, Mussolini’s and the International Brigades’ intervention, as well as Picasso Guernica’s work, Miro’s work transformation after the conflict, the war banners of Republicans and Nationalists, the characteristics of the Republic pavilion at the Paris Universal Exhibition in 1937, and the explanation of the republican defeat in the works of George Orwell, Homage to Catalonia, and Ernest Hemingway, For Whom the Bell Tolls.