References To The Spanish Civil War
"Spanish Bombs" praises the heroism of Republicans – who ranged from centrists to revolutionary anarchists and communists – in the Spanish Civil War, a major conflict that devastated Spain from July 17, 1936 to April 1, 1939 and ended in the victory for the Nationalists. It should also be noted that several thousand foreigners fought in this pre-World War II war, mainly the International Brigades supporting the "leftist" group, while Hitler and Mussolini gave military and financial support to the Nationalists. The Nationalists ranged from centrists to Carlists and fascists- under the leadership of Francisco Franco, who ruled Spain for the next 36 years. Many locations and people associated with the Spanish Civil War are mentioned in the song lyrics. Andalucia was one of the first regions of Spain to be overtaken by Franco's National faction in 1936. The Costa Brava in the Republican stronghold of Catalonia contained ports important to the Republican effort. Federico García Lorca, (referred to in the song as Federico Lorca), was a well-known poet from Andalucia who was killed by a firing squad during the war. The Guardia Civil (or "Civil Guard") is a military police force under the control of both the Ministry of Interior and the Ministry of Defence of Spain.
The line "They sang The Red Flag, they wore the black one" contains references to both the red flag as a symbol of socialism and the socialist anthem The Red Flag, as well as the black flag of the anarchists. The Confederación Nacional del Trabajo (CNT), the Anarcho-syndicalist labour union, also flew the red and black flag of anarchist-communism.
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Famous quotes containing the words spanish civil war, civil war, spanish, civil and/or war:
“Stiller ... took part in the Spanish Civil War ... It is not clear what impelled him to this military gesture. Probably many factors were combined—a rather romantic Communism, such as was common among bourgeois intellectuals at that time.”
—Max Frisch (1911–1991)
“We have heard all of our lives how, after the Civil War was over, the South went back to straighten itself out and make a living again. It was for many years a voiceless part of the government. The balance of power moved away from it—to the north and the east. The problems of the north and the east became the big problem of the country and nobody paid much attention to the economic unbalance the South had left as its only choice.”
—Lyndon Baines Johnson (1908–1973)
“The hangover became a part of the day as well allowed-for as the Spanish siesta.”
—F. Scott Fitzgerald (1896–1940)
“The utter helplessness of a conquered people is perhaps the most tragic feature of a civil war or any other sort of war.”
—Rebecca Latimer Felton (1835–1930)
“This war no longer bears the characteristics of former inter-European conflicts. It is one of those elemental conflicts which usher in a new millennium and which shake the world once in a thousand years.”
—Adolf Hitler (1889–1945)