Ernest Hemingway wielding a Mosin Nagant while fighting for the Republicans during the Spanish civil war, 1937
Ernest Hemingway wielding a Mosin Nagant while fighting for the Republicans during the Spanish civil war, 1937
Incidentally, Orwell fought in the Spanish Civil war as well under the POUM, and went on to write a book about it. What he saw in Catalonia solidified him as a Democratic Socialist for the rest of his life, and soured him on totalitarian communism after seeing how the communists betrayed the Anarchists and the POUM, which inspired him to write Animal Farm.
For a deeper history on the Spanish Civil War, I'd highly recommend this excellent documentary series.
Homage to Catalonia is amazing, highly recommend.
I recently read this and was surprised at how good it was. I loved Orwells Animal Farm, but didn't like 1984 that much, so I wasn't expecting to enjoy it; I read it more to get some insights of the war. But the book is not just informative, it is also really funny at times, and the story is just wild.
I second this recommendation.
Betrayal is a bit of a hefty charge to be leveled against anyone by the guy who turned government informant and denounced writers he thought were too communist to the British government.
The Soviets did shoot him before he did any of that. Like idk what your definition of betrayal is, but mine includes shooting your comrades
is this the late modern equivalent of volunteering to fight in Ukraine
It's eerily similar. Another modern instance would be the International Freedom Battalions in Rojava, which were directly inspired from the International Brigades of the Spanish Civil War.
No one could ever accuse Ernest Hemingway of being a boring person:
I’m sure he had political reasons, but it also provided material for For Whom The Bell Tolls.
Fun fact, he went as a journalist and violated international laws by participating, which there is scant evidence he actually did any fighting himself.
