Yugoslav Volunteers in the Spanish Civil War
Eighty years after rebel army officers began an uprising that plunged their country into a bloody fratricidal conflict, the Spanish Civil War (1936-1939) continues to spark passionate debates both in Spain and internationally. What initially seemed to be a local conflict on Europe’s periphery quickly drew in other countries and exploded into an ideological battlefield gripping the world’s attention. Tens of thousands of antifascists flocked to defend the Republic against Franco’s Nationalists, many of them joining the legendary International Brigades. This publication chronicles the involvement of nearly 2,000 Yugoslav volunteers who joined this heroic struggle to fight fascism in Spain as Europe increasingly slid towards total war. Drawing upon unpublished archival documents, interviews, memoirs, and contemporary newspapers, Yugoslav Volunteers in the Spanish Civil War recounts the dangerous journey of Yugoslav volunteers to Spanish battlefields, the military and political conflicts they faced, their experience in French internment camps, and their final return to their homeland to fight in the ranks of Tito’s Partisan forces. Additionally, this volume offers insights into controversies surrounding Tito’s role in organizing the Yugoslav volunteers, provides an overview of the latest research on the Spanish Civil War, and reflects on why this conflict still resonates today.