The outcome of the Spanish war was settled in London, Paris, Rome, Berlin — at any rate not in Spain.The much-publicized disunity on the Government side was not a main cause of defeat.At the outbreak of war the average Spanish factory-worker did not even know how to fire a rifle (there had never been universal conscription in Spain), and the traditional pacifism of the Left was a great handicap.To nationalize factories, demolish churches, and issue revolutionary manifestoes would not have made the armies more efficient. The Fascists won because they were the stronger; they had modern arms and the others hadn't. No political strategy could offset that.The most baffling thing in the Spanish war was the behaviour of the great powers.By that time one did not need to be a clairvoyant to foresee that war between Britain and Germany was coming; one could even foretell within a year or two when it would come.
George Orwell