French public opinion over the Spanish Civil War. was divided. While there were exceptions, people’s views on the matter were informed by their politics. As elsewhere, while most of the left supported the Republicans, conservatives and far-rightists took the side of the Nationalists.
Since the leftwing Popular Front was in power when the war broke out, many believed that France might send troops to support the Spanish Republic. However, fears that the situation might escalate and result in another world war prevented the Léon Blum cabinet from doing so. Although the government was openly sympathetic to the Republicans – and secretly supplied them with weapons and planes – until mid-1937, it played an active part in the Non-Intervention Committee.
France’s pro-Appeasement stance did not prevent the creation of pro-Republican organizations and the participation of about 9,000 French men and women in the International Brigades. Most of those volunteers came from the Left – mainly Communists, Socialists, and Anarchists – and made it to Spain by crossing through the Pyrenees or by boat. This was facilitated by the fact that the Comintern’s main recruitment centre and other pro-Republican organizations were located in Paris. The rebels enjoyed the support of the French nationalist Right. Of all the foreign volunteer corps, the French contingent was among the most numerous. While about 500 men made up the bandera Jeanne d’Arc – mostly recruited in far-right organizations – French soldiers could also be found in other battalions. The Francoists could also rely on serious allies in the French far Right.
The conflict had a major on French society at large, during and after the 1936-1939 period. For example, André Malraux and Boris Peskine’s classic film Espoir, Sierra de Teruel, was only publicly released in 1945 and has contributed to shaping the memory of the Civil War ever since. As “Les Phalanges de l’Ordre noir” highlights, the Civil War has been an inspiration in the realm of pop culture. The way French society remembers the Civil War and is aftermath has changed in recent years. The role of La Nueve in the liberation of France has been recovered and sites of memory at some of the concentration camps that housed Republican exiles created.
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