Fighting for Franco - by Judith Keene (Paperback)

About the Book

During the Spanish Civil War many groups on the European right were galvanised by the Nationalist cause. This book recounts the experiences of a number of foreign volunteers, all of whom saw their engagement in Spain as a means of promoting their own political causes at home.

Book Synopsis

One of the enduring myths of the Franco state was that the Nationalist forces that won the Civil War consisted of patriotic Spaniards while the Republic was defended by a rag tag army of foreign 'reds.' During the Spanish Civil War, however, many groups on the European right were galvanised by the Nationalist cause. European fascists, conservative Catholics and those uneasy with liberal democracy in general rallied to the figure of Franco, who appeared to be holding the line against secularism, modernism and Bolshevism. This book recounts the experiences of a number of foreign volunteers, including the brigades of White Russians, Romanians, Irish and the French volunteers in the Jeanne d'Arc battalion, all of whom saw their engagement in Spain as a means of promoting their own political causes at home. There were also individual women and men, from the New World and the Old, who were moved by religion, politics or simply adventurism to join up with Franco. The book reconstructs their motivation and the mindset which took them to Spain. It thus casts a new light on Nationalist Spain and on the specific concerns of a wide variety of right-wing movements between the wars.

Review Quotes

"Thus, a study of the subject of those who chose to 'Fight for Franco' is greatly needed...Alas, Fighting for Franco does not quite fill that need. Judith Keene...betrays a strong Republican bias which tarnishes her treatment of the subject...Moreover, Keene fails to compare these people with those who served the Republic...The problems with this work begin early...The book also betrays a lack of knowledge of Spanish military terminology...Although Fighting For Franco has some interesting anecdotes about the experiences of some of the volunteers for the Nationalists, and should be read by specialists in the Spanish Civil War, it is not the definitive treatment of the subject." -A.A. Nofi, NYMAS Review, 2008--Sanford Lakoff

About the Author

Judith Keene is Senior Lecturer of History at Sydney University.