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Foreign Support for the Republicans in the Spanish Civil War, Foreign…
Foreign Support for the Republicans in the Spanish Civil War
In 1936, Republicans had superior foreign support (successful defence of Madrid) but from 1937, this was much lower than the support that the Nationalists received, which ended up being a decisive factor in their defeat.
USSR secretly supplied the Reps with military equipment (tanks & aircraft).
Soviet-supplied Polikarpov I-15 & I-16 fighters gave Reps aerial control in 1936 but supplies were limited and dwindled (648 aircrafts supplied, far less than Nats). No aircrafts in 1938 & 1939.
Republican France refused to support Republican Spain as it would risk their relationship w/Britain (crucial in opposing Italian & German actions in Europe & Africa in 1936.
Britain = anti-communists therefore would not support Rep, they were in coalition w/communists.
France initiated the
Non-Intervention Agreement
, signed by Germany, USSR, Italy and UK along w/others which pledged not to support Spain (selling/sending weapons, preventing Rep from being armed effectively or gain assistance).
Although supplied in large quantities, Soviet weaponry lacked quality: rifles and machine guns were outdated (some dated to the 1880s).
The International Brigades contributed approx 35,000 volunteers to the Reps side, but most were inexperienced in warfare and had no effect on the war's outcome.
Foreign Support for the Nationalists in the Spanish Civil War
The Nationalists received a superior level of foreign support from 1937, which played a vital role in there eventual victory.
Germany and Italy supplied twice the amount of aircraft and artillery as the Reps received from the USSR. They supplied 34,436 machine guns to the Nats, significantly more than the 20,486 the USSR supplied to the Reps.
German aircraft especially significant in allowing Nats to control the skies from 1937-1939 (the German Condor Legion played a decisive role in the conquests of the northern regions of the Basque country and the Asturias.
In the opening week of the war, foreign transport was vital to mobilise the Nationalist Army of Africa. 1500 elite troops from the Army of Africa stationed in Spanish Morocco were airlifted to mainland Spain by the GAF, then transported in trucks and given air cover by the Italian & German aircraft, helping them to reach the Rep held city of Merida within a week.
Foreign Support for the Nationalists in the Chinese Civil War
Nationalists had the support of the Americans. USA gave $798 million in military supplies from 1945-49, plus over $1 billion in other types of aid.
Historian Freda Utley has indiciated that only $360 million of this amount was used correctly to buy efficient supplies, the rest was wasted or went into the pockets of GMD officials and supporters.
The US foreign minister, Secretary of State Dean Acheson, stated in Aug 1949 that he believed the Nats should have won the war, but equipment misuse and corruption prevented victory.
The USA imposed a ban on weaponry sales between 1946 and July 1947 to get the CCP and GMD to attend peace talks. This could have weakened the GMD when it still had a chance of winning the war. Once this ended, supplies did not come in quickly, some arriving in early 1949 when the war was almost over.
Foreign Support for the Communists in the Chinese Civil War
Soviets oversaw the transfer of 900 Japanese aircraft, 700 tanks, 4000 artillery pieces and 12,000 machine guns. Soviets also trained CCP commanders at Russian military training schools.
Captured Nats constituted majority of CCP armaments obtained through raids on arms depots.The CCP lacked airpower and armoured vehicles compared to the Nats, however the adoption of mobile defence tactics and avoidance of conventional battles negated this problem.
In early months of the war, USSR gave the CCP access to stockpiles of Japanese weapons in northern China.
CCP were far more effective at gaining the support of the general population, which is very important when fighting in a civil war