As somebody who has taught the Spanish Civil War in some depth as a Sixth Form topic, I was horrified yesterday to watch a programme on The Military Channel which decided to rewrite history with a pure leftwing slant.Not a single incorrect fact was given as the programme used archive film and interviews with British and Irish members of The International Brigade BUT the material was ultra selective and presented dishonestly.
As such, it was diminished and became nothing less than propaganda.
The Republican Government which was so awful that it fomented the rightwing backlash escaped without comment. Franco was portrayed as a simple baddie rather than the more complex, extreme Roman Catholic which formed his basic motivation.
The countless atrocities by the Republicans - many of which pre-dated the uprising - go unmentioned and the rapes and massacres of nuns and priests were conveniently sidelined.
Fascists were presented as the devil incarnate and communists as angelic heroes - no balance whatsoever.
The programme failed to get across the point that a largely (but not exclusively) hard left government was in a war situation with its own hard right army.
The programme failed to show that from these positions, the right fell into the arms of Hitler whilst the left fell into the rather less generous hands of Stalin.
If Franco is portrayed in the same league as Hitler and Mussolini then the director should have asked the question as to why Franco, on meeting Hitler at Hendaya, and after receiving large amounts of military help, told the fuhrer to 'get stuffed' and refused to lend any help in World War 2.
Even George Orwell's descriptions of the conflict in his ' Homage to Catalonia' were presented in honest fashion.
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