ABSTRACT
On 1 April 1939, the Spanish Civil War 'officially' ended following the unconditional surrender of the Republican forces. With fall of Madrid as a result of surrender rather than conquest, the Second Republic, born with so much hope out of the elections that followed the abdication of Alfonso XIII in 1931, was at an end. Although the Spanish Civil war was to continue for another two months after the fall of Catalunya, the hard-fought battles that had been so costly in terms of human lives throughout the course of the war, were over. A result of flight into exile of important figures from the world of medicine and science was the effect on public health in post-war Spain, where food shortages and widespread hunger were negatively affecting the nation's health. An example in the chapter shows the impact that the loss of medical personnel to exile, both internal and external, was to have on post-war medicine and science within Spain.
