Changes

|title=Homage to Catalonia

|author=George Orwell

|date=June 2003

|isbn=0141187379

}}

Europe in 1936 was a dangerous place. Hitler had occupied the Rhineland, Mussolini was fighting in Ethiopia and what was to become known as the Fascist Axis was gaining ground and power. In Germany and Italy opposition parties were being suppressed and in Spain Franco was leading a revolt against the popularly elected government. The democratic western powers were nervous and following the policy of non-intervention which eventually led to appeasement. Stalin, in the USSR, was cautiously trying to make allies to protect himself against the ascendant right wing powers. The fighting in Spain, however, seemed less fraught with difficulties - it seemed like a clear struggle of democracy against Fascism, and many left-wingers from countries across Europe went to Spain as individuals to join the fight against Franco.