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REPLIES: 1) Albert A. Nofi 2) Jonathan A. Epstein --------------- 1) Albert A. Nofi From: ANofi@aol.com Date: Thu, 4 May 2000 18:50:58 EDT On Wed, 3 May 2000 18:33:24 -0700, Ray A. K. Crawford wrote: > I may have missed it, but I don't recall seeing anyone address > the issue of support (both moral and physical) from Fascist > Italy and Nazi Germany, which I regard as being the deciding > factor in the Nationalist victory in Spain. Without this > support, from the very beginning of the coup against the elected > government of Spain, it is difficult to envision how the > plotters could have maintained their rebellion against the > government. While the government of Spain also received > international assistance, it was not on the same scale of that > rendered to those trying to overthrow it. There is enough evidence available now to demonstrate that Italian and German assistance to the Nationalists was less than Soviet and other assistance to the Loyalists. Stalin sent more aircraft, more -- and better -- tanks, as more troops (in the form of the International Brigades) than did Hitler and Mussolini combined, not that many of the latter were all that valuable. What was important is that Franco got much better use out of his foreign military assistance than the Republicans did; Soviet aid had lots of strings attached, such as the fact that it was channeled largely to units with communist sympathies. Albert A. Nofi --------------- 2) Jonathan A. Epstein From: Jemagica@aol.com Date: Thu, 4 May 2000 18:52:49 EDT Dear Mr. Crawford: You make a very good point. It could also be argued that the aid the Republican government received from the Soviet Union was actually counterproductive--the superior quality of their tanks and planes offset by the purges which destroyed allies of the Spanish government, as well as some of the best officers in the Soviet army. Best wishes, Jonathan A. Epstein Graduate Student CUNY-GSUC ************************************************* *************************************************
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