Tag Archives: Barcelona

GEORGE ORWELL AND THE SPANISH CIVIL WAR showing soldiers waving a flag

GEORGE ORWELL AND THE SPANISH CIVIL WAR

It was the day after Christmas in 1936 when George Orwell stepped off the train in Barcelona and followed his map to the recruiting office of the POUM (Partido Obrero de Unificación Marxista), where he volunteered to fight for the Republic in the Spanish Civil War. What little I knew about the war before we […]

Photo of the Falling Soldier illustrating the origins of the Spanish Civil War

THE ORIGINS OF THE SPANISH CIVIL WAR

I knew nothing about the origins of the Spanish Civil War until we moved to Barcelona in 1984. General Franco had been dead nine years but his shadow loomed still over Spain like a cloud over the sun. My wife Valerie had been offered a position at the British Council in Barcelona and we rented […]