«Seis y media docena»: la propaganda de atrocidades de la Guerra Civil y su impacto en Gran Bretaña

Abstract

The article analyzes the propaganda battle engendered by the atrocities committed in both areas of Spain during the 1936-39 Civil War, as well as its effect on British public opinion. Drawing on the propaganda of both sides, contemporary memoirs, and Spanish and British archival sources, it is shown that the Nationalists´ campaign against the «Red terror», inspired on the model of British propaganda in World War I, forced Republicans to launch a counter-campaign against «Fascist» terror and air raids on open towns. Despite their differences in technique and content, both campaigns were equally lurid in tone and contained a great deal of exaggerations and inventions —that is why they tended to cancel each other out. Although Spanish atrocity-propaganda helped to mobilize the supporters of each side, the bulk of British opinion took it as another proof that both were equally savage, and that Non-Intervention was the best policy for Britain.