As American cities burn, the political divide deepens, and a true hatred develops between Left & Right factions, a hot civil war no longer seems impossible.

For that reason, I’ll do a short thread on a great book on the Spanish Civil War, & the lessons it may have for us in .

The book is a memoir of Peter Kemp, a smart, religious, upper class Englishman who left Cambridge to take part in the international struggle against Communism, which had then manifested in Spain.

He was one of the few Englishmen to serve in Spanish Foreign Legion & meet Franco.

The war was two sides, made of a collection of factions, similar to what US split would be.

NationaIists = Catholic, Monarchist, & RW Political Groups

Republican = Communists, Anarchists, Liberal forces hoping to create a Leftist liberal democracy, heavily controlled by Moscow

A fascinating account of urban & rural civiI war in a Western nation, his story provides lessons for current .

The first is the existence of "International brigades."

If anything happens here, expect ppl from around world to come & join.

As in , most will join the Left.

The second is the Left’s brutality.

You’re seeing a taste of it now in .

Spain, too, experienced Leftist mob vioIence, violent targeting of Christians, property owners & middle class.

During the war, everything was exponentially more brutal.

Third, the Leftist establishment will open prisons to fill their paramiIitary units.

In , Leftist politicians, unions & advocacy groups passed “amnesty,” and immediately enrolled the criminals in miIitias.

Kemp said this directly led to the worst horrors in War’s early years.

Fourth is the importance of securing strategic resources.

Franco always said securing Wheat was as important as securing cities.

Most rural/white/working-class areas will side w/ the Right, but there will be struggles over other important industries, factories, & raw materials.

Fifth is the military strengths of the Left.

Just like today's Leftists, they often lacked training & discipline.

BUT.

They almost always had overwhelming numbers, willingness to be far more brutal, & were still led by highly capable Leftist military professionals & equipment.

The Sixth is the role of the media.

The Nationalists HATED the press, which openly sympathized w/ the Communists mutiIating bodies & torching churches.

The Press even lied about Guernica, infamous battle, city torched by the Left as they fled, but blamed entirely on the Right.

The seventh, is the importance of Christianity.

The devout Nationalists were heavily inspired by Christianity, maintaining traditions & parades.

The Left despised it.

The Spanish Civil War, like the one in America will be, was heavily influenced by a love or hatred of Christ.

One sad story stood out.

Welcomed in after liberating a small town from Leftists, Kemp wondered why there were no local priests.

He later learned that Leftists would come from big cities & towns, many of the villagers, & burn/crucify the priests.

Expect the same here soon.

Eighth is more just overall tactics & daily life, that make it worth reading.

Months of sitting around doing nothing but drills & patrols.

Followed by brief but insane battles & near-death escapes.

War is brutal, unforgiving, and very kind & smart people don't make it.

Ninth is the importance of Franco's tactics.

Wars often center around the taking of symbolic cities.

But Franco knew better.

He had the chance to take Madrid, but left to destroy the Republican army exposed near Teruel.

It's this sort of wise thinking that turned the tide.

Finally, the book itself is a great, easy-to-read story (only 158 pages) of a young man in a Civil War, defending a Nation & its Tradition against Communism.

Nothing can quite prepare you for the future, but I'm happy I read this, & hope we fair as well.

https://www.amazon.com/Mine-Were-Trouble-Nationalist-Account/dp/B08673MBF1