History’s John Broich talks about the efforts of Spanish Civil War veterans to usher in democracy and the hurdles of such reforms in light of the Cold War

“Just Like at Madrid, Comrades!”

Lapham’s Quarterly: John Broich, associate professor of history in the College of Arts and Sciences, weighed in on what led a group of Spanish Civil War veterans to continue combat into World War II, such as dueling with tanks in Libya in 1942; in the hope of bringing representative freedoms to their country, these Spaniards unfortunately saw democracy abandoned following the defeat of Germany in 1945, as the Allies had no appetite for a war in the country’s difficult terrain. The emerging Cold War, Broich points out, made key figures and peoples even less eager to hand a democracy back to Spain’s leftist government—a threat to become a potential ally to the Soviet Union.