American Commander in Spain: Robert Hale Merriman and the Abraham Lincoln Brigade

Mehr zum Buch

The Spanish Civil War (1936-1939) pitted supporters of Spain's democratically elected Republic—comprising peasants, communists, union workers, and anarchists—against an alliance of nationalist Army rebels and upper-class forces, led by General Francisco Franco. This conflict attracted foreign interests, highlighting competing ideologies of democracy and fascism, and turned Spain into a testing ground for military strategies by Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy. While most Western nations maintained neutrality, individual volunteers from around the globe, including the U.S., flocked to support the Republican cause. Among them was Robert Hale Merriman, an international economics scholar, who, alongside his wife Marion, joined volunteers from fifty-four countries in the International Brigades. Merriman became the first commander of the American Abraham Lincoln Battalion and a prominent leader within the Brigades. This new paperback edition draws on the diaries and correspondence of Merriman and Marion, detailing her experiences alongside him in Spain, complemented by extensive research and interviews. This critically acclaimed work serves as both a biography of a man who risked his life to combat fascism and a vivid account of life during the Spanish Civil War, which foreshadowed the Second World War.