Ideology and total war : military intellectuals and the analysis of the Spanish Civil War in Britain, 1936-1943

The recent historical interest in the analysis of the lessons of the Spanish Civil War by the European powers has tended to focus very strongly on the tactical experiences and the study of new military technology. This has led to the implied assumption that much of this analysis took place within a closed, professional military environment. In the case of Britain, however, the military debate on the lessons and significance of the civil war was conducted in a much more public fashion than in many other countries. For this reason, and due to the considerable political controversy over the official government policy of non-intervention, ideology played a significant role in the analyses of the unfolding military drama in Spain. This article considers the way in which ideology affected military interpretations of the conflict – and the employment of these analyses for ideological purposes – by examining the public debate, the reaction of British intelligence and the views of four "military intellectuals" who commented on the conflict in newspaper articles, books, and in memoranda written for military intelligenc