ABSTRACT
Initiated as an armament, strategic and diplomatic assistance, the fascist intervention in the Spanish Civil War soon made Italy a belligerent country in the conflict. Once failed the initial Coup d’Etat plan, the Corpo Truppe Volontarie (CTV) was created to help Franco, but also as a tool to build fascist Spain and, indeed, fascist Europe. Far from irrelevance or trivialization, this chapter examines a crucial part of the Italian intervention in Spain: a multi-faced combat and war experience. Between 1936 and 1937, Mussolini sent a full expeditionary army of 45,000 soldiers to Spain. It was not created only to defend a geostrategic position. It was on the ground to attack, conquer and vanquish, whether the aim was to annihilate the enemy or pre-emptively defend Fascist against its enemies. As Ciano put it: Italy was at war in Spain to defend Fascist civilization and revolution. In order to better understand the what, the how, the when and above all the why of whole Fascist intervention in Spain, this chapter examines the period from July to November–December of 1936.
