The Siege of Alcazar

Italian society was a true home front for the so-called “Spanish war”. Without an immediate threat or territorial gain or colonial prestige; without promises of work or even material compensation; and on top of it all, in violation of international agreements the government had signed, it was difficult to justify a military intervention thousands of kilometers away. It is no surprise that much of Italian society were suspicious of the initial announcement of assistance to the rebel troops in Spain. This was especially true of the popular classes, who were facing increasing unemployment and an increasing cost of living, and a large part of the middle class, which did not look favorably on the Alliance with Nazi Germany. The war also rekindled the hopes of the anti-fascist opposition that fought to defend the Spanish Republic.

For these reasons, a large propaganda campaign showing the advantages, and even the need, of intervention was launched in the press, the movies, and the arts. The major newspapers sent war correspondents to Spain. The most important were Gian Gaspare Napolitano, Lamberti Sorrentino, the novelist Curzio Malaparte, Sandro Sandri, Achille Benedetti and Guglielmo Danzi, director de la Press and Propaganda Office (Ufficio Stampa e Propaganda, USP) in Salamanca. Exemplary letters from combatants were published in newspapers and in commemorative books like Legionari di Roma in terra ibérica (Roman Legionnaires on Iberian Soil), the cover of which had overlapping images of a Fascist soldier and a Roman legionnaire against a map of Spain. After the war, some veterans published their diaries or memoirs. Among them was Licio Gelli, who would become famous years later for participating in neofascist conspiracies.

The Fascist regime created a rhetorical and visual discourse of the war by means of the documentaries produced by the Instituto Luce, the model for Spain’s No-Do, and movies like The Siege of the Alcazar (1940) directed by Augusto Genina. The Catholic Church contributed to these propaganda efforts through its newspapers, its pastoral letters, and the sermons of the parish clergy, supporting the “Crusade” against the supposed enemies of religion.

FJMS