Spanish Civil War Why significant?
National "A brutal conflict that polarised Spain, pitting the Left against the Right, the anti-clericals against the Church, the unions against the landed classes and the Republicans against the Monarchists" (BBC website)
International A "dress rehearsal" for World War Two: Fascism against Communism, Aggression against Appeasement.
Humanitarian Up to 500,000 people were killed in just 3 years.
Cultural Picasso's Guernica, Orwell's Homage to Catalonia, Hemmigway's For Whom the Bell Tolls, Laurie Lee's A Moment of War – artists and writers saw the conflict as a battle for civilisation and culture against the forces of darkness.