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You Knew It Was Connected to WWII Somehow, Didn’t You?

The war between an all-powerful dictator and a ragtag group of rebels, whose motives range from tribal loyalties and religious fervor to dreams of democracy, is fast becoming the Mideast’s equivalent of last century’s civil war in Spain. Remember that? There were good reasons for America to stay out of the Spanish conflict, including the […]

The war between an all-powerful dictator and a ragtag group of rebels, whose motives range from tribal loyalties and religious fervor to dreams of democracy, is fast becoming the Mideast’s equivalent of last century’s civil war in Spain.

Remember that? There were good reasons for America to stay out of the Spanish conflict, including the fear that if Gen. Francisco Franco lost, the communists would take over Spain. In hindsight, Franco’s victory clearly emboldened his allies, Hitler and Mussolini, and helped to usher in the bloodiest decade in human history, which ended only with the defeat of Nazi Germany and imperialist Japan — and with half of Europe in Communist hands. ~Benny Avni

Ah, yes, the old Emboldening Effect. If it hadn’t been for Franco’s victory, apparently Hitler and Mussolini would have retired to lives of peaceful contemplation. It is somewhat fair to describe the Spanish Civil War as being a “dress rehearsal” for WWII in Europe in that it provided a testing ground for some Axis weapons, and it has been conventional (and largely mistaken) to identify Franco’s regime with contemporary fascism, but it isn’t true that an internal Spanish war “helped usher in the bloodiest decade in human history.” None of the causes of WWII can be found in the Spanish Civil War. What is striking about the Spanish Civil War with the advantage of seventy-five years of hindsight is how significant some contemporaries thought it was and how largely unimportant (for everyone outside Spain) it proved to be.

It isn’t true that “the future of the whole region is increasingly tied to the Libyan crisis.” All the states with the most at stake in Libya are not eager for military intervention. Indeed, it is mostly those states that have no reason to take an interest in the conflict that are calling for action or have been called upon (as the U.S. has been) to lead the intervention. If there is a major regional conflict in the future, it won’t be because of what is happening in Libya, and it certainly won’t be because the U.S. is too reluctant to take military action in the region.

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