Examine the role of communism and fascism in the Spanish Civil War

This savage civil war was to drag on for two and a half murderous years. The democracies, always afraid of war, refused to help the republican government in its fight against Fascism. But where they failed, the Communists stepped in and sent arms. Soon, Spain became the battleground of two imperialisms. Faced with Fascist brutality from without, and Communist treachery and terrorism from within, the democratic republicans lost to both.