I find it sad that until recently the majority of my knowledge of Spain's Civil War came from Ernest Hemingway's "For Whom the Bell Tolls." Not that Hemingway wasn't a great writer, he was and was very knowledgeable of Spain, my knowledge of Spain, however should come from something more factual. Spain's modern history has been a dark cloud in most American students minds. It seems to me that from the beginning of the Spanish civil war, until recently the United States has completely ignored Spain. Not only in history books but a large part of the disregard of Spain was due to UN trade boycotts. Around 800,000 people died in the Spanish Civil War and almost 750 of them were Americans yet this is information I've had to discover on my own. "For Whom the Bells Tolls" is about one of the Americans who fought for the Republic and this novel is where I learned that Americans were fighting for the Republic of Spain. Almost 3,000 American volunteers fought for the Spanish Republic during the war. Why did the United States ignore the fact that a fascist uprising was threatening democracy in Spain? Why did American citizens have to take up arms to defend the Republic that their country would not? These are questions that interest me and that I will answer in my paper.
In the late 19th and early 20th century Spain had lost the Spanish-American War and the Moroccan War placing much blame on the shoulders of the monarch King Alfonso XIII. Due to social unrest in the country Alfonso appointed Miguel Primo de Rivera as dictator to restore peace to Spain. The anger of the people only intensified with this change of power, suspension of the constitution and the high unemployment rates and inflation. Miguel Primo went to Paris in exile, leaving Alfonso to resume power. Hard times caused the Spanish people to call for political, social, economic, and agrarian reforms. Alfonso, once again unable to control his country, eventually agreed to democratic elections in 1931.