Cultural Intervention in the Spanish Civil War: A Comparative Analysis of Nazi and Fascist Propaganda

Abstract

This article analyses Fascist and Nazi propaganda during the Spanish Civil War, asking how both nations exploited the conflict and how they interacted with each other and the emerging Francoist state. In so doing, the article highlights the propagandistic value of Nazi-fascist cultural policy and sheds light on the development of the Nazi-fascist alliance. It shows how despite Italy being in many ways at the forefront of the intervention, the development of tight Nazi-falangist relations, among other factors, led to the replacement of Fascist Italy by Nazi Germany as a model for the rebirth of the nation in Spain. This, in turn, sheds light on the Nazi-fascist Alliance, showing how Italy's wide-ranging propaganda originated from a place of self-perceived weakness rather than strength. German–Italian relations were marked by a complex and non-linear dynamic of admiration and jealousy, collaboration and competition, which made itself evident in the Spanish conflict and beyond.