Javier Rodrigo - Fascist Italy in the Spanish Civil War, 1936-1939

Fascist Italy in the Spanish Civil War, 19361939

In this highly important book, Javier Rodrigo examines the role of Fascist Italy in the Spanish Civil War from 1936 to 1939.

Fascist Italys intervention in the Spanish Civil War to provide material, strategic, and diplomatic assistance led to Italy becoming a belligerent in the conflict. Following the unsuccessful military coup of July 1936 and the insurgents subsequent failure to take Madrid, the Corps of Voluntary Troops (CTV, Corpo Truppe Volontarie ) was createdin the words of an Italian fascist anthemto liberate Spain, usher in a new History, make the peoples oppressed by the Reds smile again, and build a fascist Europe. Far from being insignificant or trivial, the intervention of Fascist Italy and Italian fascists on Spanish soil must be seen as one of the key aspects which contribute to the Spanish conflicts status as an epitome of the twentieth century. Drawing on sources ranging from ministerial orders to soldiers diaries, this book reconstructs the evangelisation of fascism in Spain.

This book is the first important study on Fascist Italys role in the conflict to appear in English in over 45 years. It examines Italian intervention from angles unfamiliar to English-speaking readers and will be useful to students of history and scholars interested in twentieth-century Europe, fascism, and the international dimension of the Spanish Civil War.

Javier Rodrigo is ICREA-Acadmia Researcher and Professor of History at the Autonomous University of Barcelona, Spain. He holds a PhD from the European University Institute in Florence and currently coordinates a H2020 European Project on forced displacements in Europe.

Routledge/Caada Blanch Studies on Contemporary Spain

Edited by Paul Preston and Sebastian Balfour

Caada Blanch Centre for Contemporary Spanish Studies ,

London School of Economics, UK

24 Nineteenth Century Spain

A New History

Mark Lawrence

25 Falangist And National Catholic Women In the Spanish Civil War (19361939)

Angela Flynn

26 War in Spain

Appeasement, Collective Insecurity, and the Failure of European Democracies Against Fascism

David Jorge

27 Monarchy and Liberalism in Spain

The Building of the Nation-State, 17801931

Edited by David San Narciso, Margarita Barral-Martnez and Carolina Armenteros

28 Fascist Italy in the Spanish Civil War, 19361939

Javier Rodrigo

Also published in association with the Caada Blanch Centre:

Spain and the Great Powers in the Twentieth Century

Edited by Sebastian Balfour and Paul Preston

The Politics of Contemporary Spain

Edited by Sebastian Balfour

For more information about this series, please visit: www.routledge.com/RoutledgeCanada-Blanch-Studies-on-Contemporary-Spain/book-series/PAULPRESTON

First published 2021

by Routledge

2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN

and by Routledge

52 Vanderbilt Avenue, New York, NY 10017

Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business

2021 Javier Rodrigo

The right of Javier Rodrigo to be identified as author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers.

Trademark notice : Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe.

British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Rodrigo, Javier, 1977 author.

Title: Fascist Italy in the Spanish Civil War, 19361939 / Javier Rodrigo.

Other titles: Guerra Fascista. English

Description: Abingdon, Oxon ; New York, NY: Routledge, 2021. |

Series: [Routledge/Caada Blanch studies on contemporary Spain] |

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Subjects: LCSH: SpainHistoryCivil War, 19361939Participation,

Italian. | SpainForeign relationsItaly. | ItalyForeign relations

Spain. | ItaliansSpainHistory20th century. | Spain. Ejrcito

Nacional. Cuerpo de Tropas VoluntariasHistory.

Classification: LCC DP269.47.I8 R6313 2021 (print) |

LCC DP269.47.I8 (ebook) | DDC 946.081/345dc23

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2020057729

LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2020057730

ISBN: 978-0-367-69178-3 (hbk)

ISBN: 978-0-367-76237-7 (pbk)

ISBN: 978-1-003-16605-4 (ebk)

Typeset in Garamond

by Apex CoVantage, LLC

Acknowledgements

This book exists, thanks to the financial support received since 2019 from the Catalan Institution for Research and Advanced Studies ICREA-Acadmia programme.

I am grateful to my wife Alessandra, my daughter Melania, and my son Carlos, for the last twenty, ten, and two years of my life. Some parts of this book, originally published in Spanish by Alianza Editorial, were read and improved by Francisco Morente, Ferran Gallego, Luca Baldissara, Miguel ngel Ruiz Carnicer, Alan Kramer, David Alegre, Miguel Alonso, Xos Manoel Nez Seixas, Jos Luis Ledesma, Javier Muoz, and Maxi Fuentes. Robert Langham from Routledge and Valeria Ciompi from Alianza made this book possible. Thanks to Richard Carswell and Ariela House for their excellent work translating and revising the manuscript. Parts of this book have been discussed at the Centre for War Studies (University College, Dublin), Universit Ca Foscari (Venice), University of Santiago de Compostela, Complutense University of Madrid, University of Strathclyde (Glasgow), Institute of History (University of Bern), University of Konstanz, the New School for Social Research (New York), Uppsala University, and the Colegio de Mxico (Mexico City). Thanks to Robert Gerwarth, Laura Cerasi, Daniel Lanero, Jos Mara Faraldo, Gutmaro Gmez, Marco Maria Aterrano, Christian Gerlach, Christian Bschges, Sven Reichardt, Federico Finchelstein, David Jorge, and Constantin Iordachi for their kind invitations to share my work. I am grateful for all the comments and criticism received.

Above all, this book is the result of my friendship with Marco Carrubba and his generosity.

I spent the early years of my life in the shadow of the Italian Military Sacrarium at Zaragoza, the tomb of the Italian fascists fallen in Spain. I like to think that my walks there, hand in hand with my parents, put the first interrogation point in the question I have tried to answer in these pages.

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