« Ayudemos a Francia » : les volontaires espagnols dans la guerre franco-allemande de 1870-1871
The Franco-Prussian war, a blind spot in French historical writing, has received all too little attention as a phenomenon of international volunteering. Men of all nationalities flocked to enlist in the army of the Vosges. Of these volunteers none were more enthusiastic than the Spanish republicans,...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | Spanish |
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Casa de Velázquez
2015-05-01
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| Series: | Mélanges de la Casa de Velázquez |
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| Online Access: | http://journals.openedition.org/mcv/6217 |
| Summary: | The Franco-Prussian war, a blind spot in French historical writing, has received all too little attention as a phenomenon of international volunteering. Men of all nationalities flocked to enlist in the army of the Vosges. Of these volunteers none were more enthusiastic than the Spanish republicans, overjoyed to see the Republic restored in France. In september 1870, the federalist republican José María Orense broadcast an appeal to people of his political persuasion under the title «Ayudemos a Francia». He swiftly departed for France to organise his «Spanish legion». From late September to late October, he was busily recruiting, from Bayonne to Dôle via Tours and Bordeaux. Thanks to the support of the French republicans he encountered, he managed to forge a genuinely transnational structure that assured the recruitment, arming and equipping of volunteers and at the same time was a classic example of a political movement. Divided into four different corps, the Spanish fought in the army of the Vosges from October 1870 to March 1871. The military records may not furnish more details of individual volunteers, but they do serve to paint a general picture of a body of foreign volunteers brought together by strictly political considerations. |
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| ISSN: | 0076-230X 2173-1306 |