[danoloan]

while this is most interesting in terms of the topics of orwell's works, it is quite a partisan view of the war.

the reality in Spain was not as simple as foreigners thought, namely "fascism" vs "democracy". in fact, the coup was done by a coalition of many different right wing factions, and amongst them there were right wing republicans and traditional absolutists, not just falangists (spanish catholic fascists). also, they were not the first, as the left already tried a coup just a few years earlier against the right wing government, but failed.

the social and political factors that lead to the war are very, very complicated AND interesting; they can be even more revealing than the history of the Weimar republic and its consequences.

here is a very interesting, neutral and historical insight in what happened in Spain in an informational format:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uz3sqkplGm0 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F4AvQjCcih4 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vYE-kSbgZnU

[zzv]

Orwell was there. His "Homage to Catalonia" is a very sober look at factionism, complexities and absurdities of the conflict. Not a very partisan look at all if you ask me.

[TMWNN]

danoloan knows that Orwell was there; the article mentions Homage to Catalonia. His point, which I agree with, is that he is (somewhat, but noticeably) softer on the Republican side than on the Franco side than in Homage. After reading that book the only way to come away with being substantially more sympathetic to the Republican side than Franco's is because Orwell, the protagonist, fights for the former. It's clear that Orwell believes that had the Republicans won, there would inevitably have been another war between POUM, Communists, socialists, and anarchists. In particular, it seems to me that he substantially softens here the odds of a Soviet victory in said struggle versus what he writes in Homage.

Is it because by 1942 the USSR was ally to the West's life-or-death struggle against fascism? I don't know.