by Dan Gilfeather

Created on: April 05, 2007   Last Updated: August 24, 2010

In these dangerous times we live in, we can almost on a daily basis view images of the consequences of war from various parts off the world on our nightly news programmes and documentaries. The 26th of April may pass many of us by as no significant date to remember; yet the events of what happened to a small town in the Basque region 70 years ago on this date should be held in the same regard as 9/11, the 7th of December 1941 and the 1st of September 1939. For the destruction of Guernica by Nationlist airforces, spearheaded by the dive bombers of the Condor Legion is arguably one of the most defining moments of 20th century history with dire consequences for countless peoples since.

It was the beginning of strategic bombing on civilian areas.

Nevertheless, attacking civilian populations during wartime was nothing new. For instance, the 1914-18 conflict saw the shelling of Grimsby by the German imperial Navy as well as the zeppelin raids over London. Further, with the RAF in it's infancy, bombing raids carried out over rebel villages in Iraq and India were the beginnings of the airplane being used on targets other than an opposing military force. However, these raids were only carried out by singular craft with very little coordination or tactics involved, whilst the design and payload of these planes were not yet at a stage where they could carry sufficient ordinance as those which appeared later on in WWII.

Unfortunately for the people of Guernica, aircraft development, particularly in a re-energised Germany, had made some great leaps whilst the Luftwaffe had been secretly training in Russia on new tactics in aerial warfare. These new planes and tactics were to be tested in the civil war that had broken out in Spain in 1936 with the military uprising by anti-democratic monarchist/fascist forces.

By April 1937, the Nationalists and Republicans were fighting a terrible war which was in danger of becoming a stalemate similar to the trench warfare in France during the Great War. To achieve any chance of success, both sides sought the aid of foreign powers to come to Spain.

On this part, the nationalists had a distinct advantage. Ignoring the ban on foreign intervention and the arms embargo that was in place at this time, Italy and Germany were to send arms, planes and troops to fight alongside the forces of Franco.

The republic however found their ports blockaded by the Royal Navy and had to rely almost soley on foreign volunteers, as well as arms and advisers

• 1
• 2
• Next Page >>