British News Media And The Spanish Civil War

Author : John Randolph Hubbard
Publisher :
ISBN 13 :
Total Pages : 0 pages
Book Rating : 4.:/5 (45 download)

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Download or read book British Public Opinion and the Spanish Civil War, 1936-1939 written by John Randolph Hubbard and published by . This book was released on 1950 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "The Spanish Civil War made a profound impression on British public opinion. The preceding crises had scarcely stirred the by then accustomed and comfortable English lethargy. The general attitude toward the Abyssinian debacle had been that there could hardly be anything catastrophic about the disappearance of a remote and backward African empire, although some irresponsible persons would have had Britain become involved. And as for the Rhineland, was there anything criminal about a nation reclaiming its own territory in order better to defend its own frontier? But the Spanish war, by reason of its propinquity, its rapid assumption of an international character, and the veritable confusion of issues, was something else again, and the British public took notice. Every facet of public opinion was tinctured with the Spanish news. The halls of Parliament, Trafalgar Square, the Albert Hall reverberated with dramatic perorations inspired by the Spanish struggle. Government spokesmen repeatedly went to the country in defence of national policy. The newspaper and periodical press appealing to every stratum of intellect was filled with explanations, interpretations, entreaties--and sometimes straight news, for the Spanish struggle inspired some of the best, and some of the worst, reporting in British journalistic history. From the pulpits, Christian dogma was intoned in support of one or the other of the Spanish factions with equal felicity. Issues were abundant for the most discriminating taste: democracy, communism, fascism, socialism, Christianity, international morality, pacifism, rearmament, Imperial defence, appeasement, collective security, humanity, peace. Britain's great political parties stood revealed in strange raiment; the Conservatives had become the pacifists and Labor the champion of an aggressive foreign policy. On Spain, the greatest statesman of the modern era was caught up in ideological toils from which he never quite managed to extricate himself. The Non-Intervention Agreement was the first calculated venture in British appeasement, and the resignation of Mr. Eden, the first tangible result. From all this mélange of sensation and sentiment there emerged one incontestable fact: regardless of the consequences, the vast majority of the British people were determined to escape involvement in the Spanish embroglio and to maintain a peace for which some were willing to pay any price, and others almost any price. This tragic and almost psychopathic dread of conflict was perhaps the clearest manifestation of the British reaction to what Anthony Eden was moved to call the 'War of the Spanish Obsession.' It is worthy of examination"--Leaves iv-v.