By Stewart Lytle
Civil Wars are the bloodiest and most devastating of conflicts. Like the Russian invasion of Ukraine today, which many scholars consider the equivalent of a civil war, the Spanish Civil War of the 1930s pitted brother against brother, killing an estimated 100,000 Republican soldiers and 90,000 Nationalist troops.
The real death toll, as witnessed by Montserrat (Montse) Balaguer in the award-winning novel, Love in War, decimated the civilian population as well. Priests in particular were targeted by the thousands. In the Republican government-controlled zones, between 100,000 and 200,000 civilians were murdered, while in the areas controlled by Gen. Francisco Franco’s Nationalist troops, an estimated 50,000 to 72,000 civilians lost their lives.
The battle between Republicans and Nationalists continues to fascinate historians, novelists and readers of historical fiction and romantic novels alike. I became fascinated with the war reading For Whom The Bell Tolls, Ernest Hemingway’s classic, based on his service on the Republican side. (More about that later).
In my Love in War, inspired by the real-life love story of Montse and Marti Cardo, a childhood rival for Montse’s affections grew up as the spoiled son of a wealthy vineyard owner and town mayor to be an evil Republican Army officer. Ordered by his corrupt superiors to root out Fascist sympathizers and Catholic priests, Captain Felix Castel murders scores of priests and landowners to confiscate their lands for himself and superior officers. He is determined to kill his rival, Marti, to win Montse.
Unlike the American Civil War, which was fought over the issue of slavery, the Spanish Civil War (1936–1939) pitted ideologies against one another. Republicans fought for a democratic, left-wing government, while Franco’s Nationalists pressed for an autocratic, conservative regime.
The Republic, established in 1931 after King Alfonso XIII abdicated, was supported by a spicy soup of left-wing groups of socialists, communists, anarchists and regional nationalists. It drew the support of Russia, a newly formed communist nation; Mexico, and famous European and American artists and writers, who gravitated to the Republic’s ideals of social reforms, economic equality and political freedom.
Among the intellectuals who joined the Republican side were familiar writers like George Orwell, John Don Passos and Hemingway, but also included Russian activist Emma Goldman, the French novelist Andre Malraux, who became France’s Minister of Culture, and Romanian Tristan Tzara, the founder of Dadaism.
The Republican side often warred internally, which weakened it against the more unified Nationalists.
The Nationalists, led by Franco, emerged from a military rebellion against the democratically elected Spanish Republic. It was made up of various conservative groups, including Monarchists, who wanted the King back, Fascists who promoted a totalitarian regime, and the Catholic Church, which sided with Franco’s vision of a unified, Catholic Spain.
Ultimately, the Nationalists wanted and won a centralized state that suppressed regional identities, promoted conservative values and the Church. Franco’s Nationalists sought to end the social
upheaval caused by the Republic’s reforms and restore order and unity. They dreamed of a country that opposed communism, anarchism and other social reforms, while celebrating Spain’s historical
glory.
Franco’s regime, which lasted until his death in 1975, became an authoritarian rule, repressing regional identities, most notably Catalan and Basque, through the use of censorship.
The ideological conflicts of the Spanish Civil War have been vividly captured in literature, offering readers insight into this tumultuous period. Much of the literature, notably Hemingway’s For Whom the Bell Tolls and Orwell’s Homage to Catalonia are written from the Republican perspective.
As a result, modern readers are often left with the belief that the Nationalists were bad, while the Republicans were good.
Some Catalan readers of Love in War express their relief that evil Captain Felix Castell, the tormentor of Marti and Montse, was a Republican Army officer, not a Nationalist officer. “The truth is,” said one reader, “both sides were bad.”
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Notes: Love in War has been awarded five medals since it debuted last year – a gold medal from the Independent Book Publishers Association for historical fiction and three golds and one silver by the International Latino Book Awards.
The novel, published in English and Spanish, was hosted this fall by Kirk Whisler, president of the International Latino Book Awards, at the Guadalajara Book Fair, the largest literary event in the Americas.
For more about Love in War, visit www.loveinwarnovel.com.
