American Volunteers In the Spanish Civil War
Whether a person finds it to be exciting or horrifying, war is known to be intriguing and very, very bloody. However, the reality of most wars are quite disappointing, many were well-unequipped and heavily undertrained. Homage To Catalonia is an autobiography of George Orwell as a militia during the Spanish Civil War of 1936. The war started when two generals led a revolt against the country’s democratically elected republic. Spain was split into two and surrounding countries started to take sides. The Republicans were sided by the Soviet Union, Mexico, and many foreign volunteers while the Nationalists were supported by Portugal, Italy, and Germany (Fascists at the time). After serving his time in Spain, George Orwell will later go on to return to his home in London to later publish his autobiography in 1938. At the time, George Orwell was somewhat a well-known writer and decided to go investigate the conflict in Spain. However, upon his arrival, it felt only right to enroll in the militia and fight for the Republicans. From this point forwards, George Orwell starts the story from here. He discovered the army to be unorganized, the people to be in shambles, and the economy on the brink of collapse. During training, the army was unable to afford proper training, which was problematic since the majority of the army was made of young children trying to earn a buck or two. Once at the front line, George was a little frightened just to notice they were far within the range of the opponents. For the rest of the story, George tells of his disappointing experience on the front line, where instead of fighting the opponent, they end up fighting for necessities. Personally, I found the book to be unique as it took an interesting approach to war. A reader can make out many things from the book such as the overrated wars in history. The writing was spectacular, especially from George, as it made the dull aspects somewhat interesting. Overall, I would rate it a 4/5 because it was really interesting. However, because of the really realistic setting, it felt boring in some parts because there was less action than I hoped for.
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