The civil war that ravaged Spain in the years leading up to World War II has been a footnote to the greater conflicts in Europe in the early 20th century.  But it had much greater implications; in some ways it became an extension of the Russian civil war.   It was a testing ground for the Nazi war machine, and it allowed Hitler to see how far he could push the boundaries with France, Britain and Russia, years before the Molotov-Ribbentrop pact or Chamberlain's infamous "peace in our time".

The Spanish Civil War was a harbinger of things to come.  We should all pay close attention because tensions that exist now have a lot of similarities to what Spain was dealing with close to 100 years ago.

Enjoy part 1.