Women in the Spanish Civil War

Essay by KT1994University, Bachelor'sA+, September 2014

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Z3422283 - Kerry Tang

ZHSS3219 - Special Studies (History) II (Spanish Civil War)

Primary Source Analysis

Fyrth, Jim and Alexander, Sally, Women's Voices from the Spanish Civil War, Lawrence and Wishart, 2008. Word count (1047)

When the Spanish Civil War broke out, within the first months, women were recruited into the Popular Front militias, and face uncertain circumstances. The position of women in Spain was a flashpoint of political conflict. When war broke out, society split along ideological lines, calling into social structures, especially those regarding women. Alongside men and children, they defended their cities and villages, built barricades, poured boiling oil on the insurgents and in less pressing moments did as their government directed and delivered food to the men at the front. The women writing in this book are wartime writing, often urgent and immediate in description. The writing in this book do not explore the depths and change in Republican Spain, nor do they explore their own personal motives or selves.

This primary source analysis will explore two sources; an extract by Nan Green from the Republican perspective and an extract by Florence Farmborough from the Nationalist perspective. [1: Fyrth, Jim and Alexander, Sally, Women's Voices from the Spanish Civil War, Lawrence and Wishart, 2008. p.19][2: Frances Lannon, "Women and Images of Women in the Spanish Civil War," Transactions of the Royal Historical Society, Vol. 1, No. 6, 1991, p. 129.][3: ibid., p. 87][4: ibid., p. 314]

Nan Greens extract "Small Beer" from the book Women's Voices from the Spanish Civil War provides her recount of how she came to being the Chief Medical Officer of the 35th Division. Nan Green worked for Spanish Aid in London while her husband George was serving in Spain as part of the International Brigade.