When you have warfare, things happen; people suffer; the noncombatants suffer as well as the combatants. And so it happens in civil war. Emmeline Pankhurst
The following chart depicts the differences and similarities between the Spanish and the Syrian Civil Wars:
| Subject |
Spanish Civil War | Syrian Civil War | |
| Duration | 3 years/1936-1939 | 5+years/2011-Present | |
| Population at onset | 25 million people | 22 million people | |
| Refugees | 400,000 adults/ 200,000 children displaced within Spain
465,000 Fled to France between 1936-1939 One million refugees left Spain following the war in 1939 10% if refugees fled to Europe following the war |
7.6 million displaced within Syria
4 million have fled Syria for other countries Half the population forced to leave their homes |
|
| Deaths during wars | 600,000 | 320,000 including 12,000 children | |
| Foreign Fighters | 35,000 troops from the International brigade
Militias from the USSR on Loyalist side Militias from Italy, Germany, Moors/Nationalist side |
Insurgents from Europe, US, Middle East trained as Jihadists
Assad regime vs. Rebels (Sunnis, Kurds, Supporting states Saudi Arabia. Qatar, Turkey with help from USA and Europe) Goal to remove Assad and create an Islamic state |
|
| 3 Party Pacts & their goals | Germany, Italy, and Japan to spread Fascism throughout the world/ Nationalist side
The International Brigade, USSR, Democratically elected government to stop Fascism/Loyalist side |
Basher-Al-Assad has Russian diplomatic support, Iranian arms supplies and help from Hezbollah/goal to maintain rule of Al-Assad
Ideological war between the Salafism and the Shi’ism of the Iranian Regime |
|
| Lack of involvement of global powers | Nonintervention policy in France, England, US to appease Hitler/ Loyalists suffered from both arms and food embargos, and lack of military support from allies | Fatigue with previous wars results in regional and global powers to remain in the background. | |
| Duty of Insurgents | To eradicate Fascism/Maintain Spanish Democracy | Insurgents trained as jihadists and encouraged to launch attacks in their own countries/kill the infidels/Spread laws of God/Allah/with hope that only Muslims remain on earth.
|
|
| Fighting techniques acquired during the war | Bombing form Airplanes/Hitler’s Blitzkrieg-3 stage | Chemical Warfare | |
| Result of the War | Spanish Civil War was dress rehearsal for WWII
Nationalists won in 1939. Franco was Spain’s dictator until his death in 1975
Movement of thousands of refugees to France, England, and Russia during the war, while following the civil war Argentina, Mexico, Cuba, Chile, USSR |
War still in progress after more than 5 years
Training ground for Paris-style terrorist attacks American alliance with allies is weak and nobody prepared to take its place/Inaction remains in face of the growing death toll/ Risk of a war between the world powers (as occurred in 1939 with the onset of WWII) appears very remote. Movement of thousands of refugees to Jordan, Turkey, Europe creating a geopolitical crisis. |
|
Civil War is the most horrendous type of war. Brothers fight brothers, fathers fight sons, and families are torn apart by different ideologies. There is no safe place to live and the noncombatants must flee from the only home they know due to imminent violence, a collapse in the infrastructure including schools, health care facilities and domiciles, and most importantly for the safety of themselves and their families. Women and children are tortured, shot, or raped, youngsters are forcibly recruited as child fighters, while their homes are frequently destroyed by bombs. Their communities are intentionally isolated due to blockades created by the enemy to prevent any humanitarian assistance. Children are malnourished and sometimes die of starvation, they develop illnesses and/or they are abused or exploited.
Multiple atrocities in both the Spanish and Syrian Civil Wars have occurred. When Syrian refugees in Lebanon and Jordan were interviewed, they reported that the high frequency of rape was the main reason their families fled. In fact, rape and sexual violence is often used as tool to destroy the dignity and social tapestry of the families and communities. Actually, the Moors (mercenary soldiers who fought on the Nationalist side in the Spanish Civil War) were notorious for their systematic mass rapes of women and children. Children are not only victims, but witnesses to the horrors bestowed on their loved one. They see their parents and their siblings murdered before their eyes. How can they ever recover from this brutality?
All of these heinous acts that have been and continue to be inflicted on innocent women and children at the hands of the enemy, the massive destruction of entire towns and the murder of all its citizens, the beheadings, the firing squads etc. are all because of three men, who want more power. Hitler and Mussolini led the charge in Spain and eighty years later, Al-Assad is following in their gruesome footsteps. History continues to repeat itself.
