Churchill, Franco and the Spanish Civil War

Frank Hotchkiss

978 1 911043 26 3

£15.00

Paperback, 208 pages

Winston Churchill in the 1930s is remembered today as a lone voice speaking out against appeasement and for his willingness to confront the growing tide of fascism on continental Europe. In reality, he missed a golden opportunity to oppose German and Italian military aggression and helped to condemn democracy in Spain to an untimely death, ushering in decades of dictatorship.
Using primary and secondary research and embracing the speeches, private conversations and public writing of Churchill, this book shows the development of the ideologies that drove Churchill and Franco from their formative years. Taking us from their early lives, the 1920s and 1930s up to the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War and beyond, it charts the rise of Franco to lead first the Nationalist side and then Spain. It also exposes the different positions taken by Churchill towards the civil war which tore Spain apart over three years. Moving to the outbreak of the Second World War and Churchill’s elevation to Prime Minister, the relationship between the two men is set out, along with the lengths taken by Britain to keep Franco from joining his erstwhile allies, Hitler and Mussolini, and the crucial part played by Churchill in keeping Franco in power in 1945.

A readable look at a fascinating period of the twentieth century, which should appeal to anyone interested in Churchill, the Spanish Civil War or history more generally.