A six-part television documentary on the Spanish Civil War. Made in the early eighties, it still provides the opportunity to hear testimony from eyewitnesses. A fair and even account intended to convey the facts without choosing sides or culprits per se. This episode did a fairly thorough job of describing and explaining how extra-judicial killings and massacres of civilians were so rampant during the conflict and perpetrated by both sides. Another important topic that I believe is rarely well understood is the nature of the anti-nationalist side as it was made up of (among many other political groups) republicans loyal to the newly chosen system (democracy) and anarchists composed mainly of trade union members. In fact, anarchist ideas were adopted by a very large portion of the Spanish working class. The concept that for anarchists, regardless of how much they believed that fighting the fascists was necessary and thus shared a common objective with the republicans, the very nature of their system of beliefs didn't allow them to form a functioning army because that would require authority, organized discipline, hierarchy, commanders, and submission to orders, which all go entirely against the most important tenets of anarchism. Therefore, how could the left ever have been able to create a unified front against Franco's forces?
A good historical documentary. At the summary of this episode, a dour foreshadowing is offered as it mentions again the huge number of executions committed by both sides that were more explicitly described during the episode and says, "...and still the war was only four months old. It was to rage for another two and a half years..."
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