Publication Date

5-2021

Date of Final Oral Examination (Defense)

3-8-2021

Type of Culminating Activity

Thesis

Degree Title

Master of Arts in History

Department

History

Major Advisor

John P. Bieter, Ph.D.

Advisor

Shaun S. Nichols, Ph.D.

Advisor

Peter N. Carroll, Ph.D.

Abstract

The International Brigades were volunteer military units that fought for the Spanish Republic during the Spanish Civil War from 1936 to 1938. Some 40,000-45,000 men fought in the International Brigades as an act of anti-Fascism, international solidarity, and national preservation. Although many historians have examined the volunteer soldiers’ motivations, wartime experiences, and reintegration into their home societies on a national basis, there has not yet been a global study of veteran reintegration and memorial culture. This global comparative study demonstrates that a state’s acceptance or rejection of their Brigade veterans was dictated by a global anti-Fascist and anti-Communist divide. In nations that underwent an ideological shift from anti-Fascism to anti-Communism after World War II, the veterans were repressed as potential threats and denied access to state-sponsored memory. In response to this exclusion, the veterans created their own memorial cultures. In nations that retained or renewed their commitment to anti-Fascism, the veterans were welcomed into the pantheon of state heroes as these states incorporated the Brigades into their national origin myths.

DOI

https://doi.org/10.18122/td.1791.boisestate

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