Pete Reads 'The Last Crusade' by Warren Carroll - Complete

Summary

The Pete Quiñones Show

Episode: Pete Reads ‘The Last Crusade’ by Warren Carroll – Complete

Date: August 1, 2026

---

Episode Overview

This sweeping marathon episode features Pete Quiñones reading, reflecting on, and annotating Warren H. Carroll's The Last Crusade, a Catholic history of the Spanish Civil War (1936–39), focused on the religious roots, anti-communist crusading spirit, and the martyrdoms that defined that era. Emphasizing revisionist history and countering the mainstream narrative, Pete foregrounds the ferocious anti-Catholic violence in Republican Spain, counters the simplification of the war as "fascists overthrowing a democracy," and draws pointed analogies between 1930s Spain and contemporary America. Frequent asides highlight the dangers of revolutionary leftism, the necessity of unity against it, and the enduring value of faith, order, and social capital.

---

Main Themes

• The religious nature of the Spanish Civil War and its roots in centuries-old Catholic identity.
• The savagery of anti-clerical violence and the response of Catholic Spain.
• The rise of revolutionary socialism, communism, and anarchism as existential threats.
• The organization, motivations, and eventual victory of the Nationalists led by Franco.
• The role of international communism and the falsification or erasure of history.
• Lessons for today: resisting modern iterations of revolutionary movements that seek to destroy tradition and faith.

---

Key Sections & Timestamps

---

[01:31] – Introduction & Carroll’s Perspective

Main Points:

• Warren Carroll’s book is described as the most impactful work on the Spanish Civil War Pete has read.
• Carroll, a Catholic historian, frames the war as a crusade to save Spain from communism, focusing especially on church persecution.
• Pete chooses this book to counter modern ignorance and deliberate misrepresentations about the origins and nature of the war.

Quote:

“It's the first book I ever read cover to cover on the Spanish Civil War, and it was the one that left the most lasting impact.” – Pete

---

[02:53] – Setting the Historical Stage

Main Points:

• Spain's millennia-long position as the “Sword of Christendom,” history of reconquest and imperial decline.
• By the 1930s, widespread alienation from Catholic tradition, fragmentation of society, and the rise of powerful leftist/anarchist movements.
• 1931: King Alfonso XIII departs after electoral defeats, Second Republic is proclaimed with radically anti-clerical, anti-tradition ethos.
• The new regime enacts punitive measures against the Church: restrictions, expulsions, ending of funding and Catholic education.
• The left’s triumphalism drives further alienation and polarization.

Highlighted Quote [07:46]:

“Do not tell me that this is contrary to freedom. It is a matter of public health.” – Manuel Azania (anti-clerical Spanish PM)

---

[18:19] – Polarization and Revolutionary Organization

Main Points:

• Political landscape: leftist parties (Socialists, Communists, Anarchists), the explicitly Catholic CEDA, resurgence of the Carlists (“The Traditionalist Communion”).
• The Carlists organize through provinces: battalions, youth and women’s groups, with a strong religious mission.
• Formation of National Counter-Revolutionary Front: “Dios, Patria, Fueros, Rey” (God, Fatherland, Local Rights, King).

Notable Reflection:

“The Carlists were convinced that they would soon be fighting another crusade to save the Catholic faith in Spain so obviously threatened by the revolutionaries.” – Carroll

---

[34:48] – The Popular Front Victory and Prelude to Civil War

Main Points:

• 1936 election: the Popular Front coalition wins a narrow parliamentary majority despite a right-wing popular vote.
• Virtually all sides see civil war as inevitable.
• Massive lawlessness, burning of churches, anticlerical violence, strikes, peasant land seizures—anarchy looms.

Quote [39:20]:

“Spain today is in anarchy.” – Gil Robles (CEDA leader)

---

[53:54] – Spring 1936: Collapse, Martyrdoms, and Final Polarization

Main Points:

• Cardinal Goma (Archbishop of Toledo) warns of “most evil” prospects: revolution is “triumphant without scruples.”
• Government impeaches President Alcala Zamora for electoral technicalities; Azania becomes president.
• Relentless church burnings, assassinations, bishops exiled, Catholic schools closed.
• Right & Carlists attempt to unite with military, but internal rivalries and lack of trust persist.

Notable Quote [59:43]:

“God was to be excluded from all Spanish education come what might.” – Carroll

---

[104:17] – July 1936: The Military Coup & Outbreak of the War

Main Points:

• Prolonged negotiations between Army, Carlists, Falange: Carlists insist on Catholic, monarchist principles.
• The assassination of right-wing deputy Calvo Sotelo by Socialist police is the final spark.
• The coup begins with the Moroccan garrison, then spreads; Franco is airlifted from the Canaries in a daring escapade.
• Pamplona and the Navarrese Carlists lead the crusade, marching to defend Catholic Spain.

Memorable Story [112:50]:

“We knew surely that this was by this we would act above all for God, and that the hour had arrived to show with deeds what we had sworn in the face of the ruin of our country...” – Raquete, Juan Ura Lusareta

---

[198:59] – The War as Holocaust: Church Persecution and Martyrdom

Main Points:

• Republican zones: systematic slaughter of clergy, nuns, and devout laity on a scale without modern precedent.
• August 1936: daily martyrdoms, desecration of relics and churches; the Basque provinces the only exception.
• Massive anti-religious propaganda; total closure of churches outside Basque zone.
• Anarchist-controlled Barcelona especially violent and thorough in its destruction of Christianity.

Quote:

“The Church must disappear forever... It is necessary to tear up the Church by the roots.” – Barcelona anarchist newspaper

---

[265:28] – The Alcazar of Toledo: Siege and Symbol of Endurance

Main Points:

• Alcazar becomes the heart in the defense of Catholic Spain: besieged, bombarded, mined, but never surrenders.
• Shocking moral heroism: Col. Moscardo tells his son to accept martyrdom rather than surrender.
• The fortress endures mines, starvation, and persistent attack, until finally relieved by Franco’s army—becomes an eternal symbol for the cause.

Unforgettable Dialogue [367:47]:

“All things possible having been done, we now commend ourselves to God.” – Col. Moscardo

---

[321:58] – “This is a Crusade”: The Catholic Ethos and Franco's Ascendancy

Main Points:

• Mass celebrations and public religious revival in Nationalist Spain.
• Carlist and Church leaders unite: the war is a “crusade” against atheism and revolution.
• Franco formally installed as Generalissimo; state explicitly committed to social justice and defense of the faith.
• Harsh repression, but within the legal framework, of revolutionary crimes after the war.

---

[371:44] – Reflections on Victory and Legacy

Main Points:

• Catholic Nationalists, Falangists, and Carlists ultimately prevail, at enormous cost.
• Carroll and Pete both rebut the accusation that post-war executions or suppression delegitimize the crusade given the severity of revolutionary atrocities.
• Despite Franco’s long-term suppression of “liberalism,” the post-Franco era sees a return to secular democracy.
• Carroll’s final argument: The Spanish Civil War was a justified crusade, a defense of faith and the civilization against a “revolution” rooted in the rejection of objective truth.

Key Statistic:

“The total number of Catholic priests and religious martyred... was 6,832, the greatest clerical bloodletting in the entire history of the Christian Church.”

---

Notable Quotes & Insights

• [07:46] “Do not tell me that this is contrary to freedom. It is a matter of public health.” – Azania
• [167:41] “When God was excluded from Spanish education, come what might.” – Carroll
• [336:36] “You can send us a priest. We want nothing else from you.” – Moscardo to Rojo, at the peak of the Alcazar siege
• [359:19] “Viva Cristo Rey.” – the cry after survival of the Toledo mine
• [321:58] “This is not a war, this is a crusade.” – Bishop of Pamplona

---

Reflections & Commentary

• Throughout, Pete interrupts the narrative to draw explicit parallels with contemporary America, warning of similar revolutionary tactics, demonization of religion, and “anarchist” violence.
• Special guest Carl Dahl provides scholarly depth, Spanish pronunciation, and comparative historical notes (timestamps [293:38]–[366:41]).
• Carroll’s perspective is unmistakably Catholic and anti-communist; Pete openly adopts its tone to polemicize against modern leftism, revisionist historians, and what he sees as “libertarians” unwilling to take sides.

---

Conclusion

Pete Quiñones' reading of The Last Crusade is both a detailed history of Spain’s religious civil war and a passionate, at times polemical, call to present-day vigilance against revolutionary radicalism and anti-Christian movements. The episode is dense with narrative, anecdote, and analysis—a complete primer on the Spanish Civil War as seen through a Catholic traditionalist lens, challenging listeners to rethink the meaning of history, faith, and resistance in times of existential crisis.

---

For Further Study

Refer to the bibliography provided in Carroll’s book (end of episode), and Carl Dahl’s Substack (carldahl.substack.com) for complementary perspectives and literary resources. Listeners are encouraged to evaluate the primary sources and alternative histories for a comprehensive understanding of this pivotal era.

Transcript

[Pete]

Yeah, maxing is so maxing right now, bro. Get ready for spicy chicken maxing because Carl's Jr. Is saving you big with a 5.99 maxed out double stack double stack double stack spicy chicken sandwich. Seriously, just $5.99 double stack spicy chicken. This is unreal value in the Bromosphere. The new spicy chicken Max wallet friendly, Max tasty only at Carl's Jr available for a limited time at participating restaurants.

[Carl Dahl]

Tax un included.

[Pete]

Not valid for use within a combo or a combination with any other offered discount. Here's golf legend John Daly.

[Carl Dahl]

Hell yeah.

[Narrator]

These wins are piling up faster than my divorces. I only spent on Moto, America's social casino. You know, I've won a couple of majors and on Moto I've won majors, grads and epic jackpots on their classic Vegas slots with huge, huge bonus rounds. Motocasino adds new games and awards. Players free coins every single day. Grip it and spend it on Motocasino.

[Pete]

Download the Moto Casino app today. Moto Casino is a social casino board. We're prohibited. No purchase necessary. Visit Moto Us for more details. America's social casino. Yeah, maxing is so maxing right now, bro. Get ready for spicy chicken maxing because Carl's Jr. Is saving you big with a 5.99 maxed out double stack double stack double stack spicy chicken sandwich. Seriously, just 5.99 double stack spicy chicken. This is unreal value in the Bromosphere. The new spicy chicken Max wallet friendly, Max tasty only at Carl's Jr available for a limited time at participating restaurants.

[Carl Dahl]

Tax on included.

[Pete]

Not valid for use within a combo or in combination with any other offered discount.

[Narrator]

I want to welcome everyone to the first reading of book six in my reading series. This book is called the Last Crusade by Warren E. Carroll. It came out in 1996 and it is a short book telling of the crusade to save Spain from communism and death in the Spanish Civil War. It's the first book I ever read cover to cover on the Spanish Civil War, and it was the one that left the most lasting impact. So I've talked about the Spanish Civil War, done some episodes with Thomas on it, did a recent episode with Karl Dahl, and I was thinking about what I wanted to follow up Israel Shahak's book with. I wanted to get away from that subject, but I wanted to get into something that I know a lot of people are interested in, a lot of people still don't know anything about. And I like the way Carroll comes At this book. Warren Carroll was a Catholic historian and the founder of Christendom College. And this book is very well written

[Pete]

and

[Narrator]

it really, it hits you hard. So to get an idea of what happened in the war, he concentrates on certain aspects of the war, especially how the church was targeted and how Catholic Spain responded. So before I start, sort of remind everybody about the reading, the watching of movies and reviewing that Thomas and I are doing freemanthewall.com movies and my partnership with Antelope Hill Press. Anything you order from there, if you put in PQ, all lowercase and check out, you get 5% off. So I'm gonna start reading this one and see how far we get. This is a weird one because it has never been available in electronic form. No ebooks, no anything. So the only copies that I could find were copies that were basically scanned in. And some of them I'm gonna have to, as I scroll, you'll see I may have to even actually turn them because they're sideways and the initial file of this left out two pages and someone inserted them. So, yeah, someone really wanted to get this in an electronic form and they did a lot of work to do it. So. All right, I will start reading winter, January through March. And this is. We're talking about 1936 here. For more than a thousand years, Spain had been the sword of Christendom. Her sons had fought and won the longest war in the history of the world. The 770 year struggle against the Moors, who invaded and conquered Spain from Arabia and North Africa, bringing their Muslim faith, conquered it all. But a tiny mountain, Erie, in the far north, where embattled King Pelayo proclaimed in 722, Our hope is in Christ. This little mountain will be the salvation of Spain. Over that immense spans of time, he and his descendants and their people made their promise good. Acre by acre, mile by mile, they redeemed their lands from its conquerors by their blood. During the 150 years after the completion of the reconquest, Spain opened up America and became the leading power in the world. A long decline was followed by an astonishing rise from the ashes and defiance of would be world conqueror Napoleon Bonus Bonaparte, heir to the French Revolution. But during the remainder of the 19th century, Spain lost her way again. And this time her decline was not only political and economic, but moral and spiritual. The legitimacy of her monarchy was challenged by the strongly Catholic movement known as Carlism. In a series of civil wars, her parliament was discredited by rampant corruption. Her remaining overseas territories were badly misgoverned in 1898, Spain was grotesquely humiliated in a war with the United States in which the Philippine Islands, which she had ruled for more than 300 years, were taken from her without a single casualty to the attacking force, and the Spanish warships sent to hold Cuba were scuttled in the open sea rather than fight a hopeless contest. The wave of national shame which followed was skillfully turned to their own advantage by those who wanted to make Spain less capable, Catholic, and more revolutionary. Large segments of Spanish society were alienated from the national heritage. Among intellectuals taught to despise Spain's Catholic glories, among workers newly come to the cities and torn from their traditional roots, among even rural people in the hot, dry south, where excessively large estates created a gulf between the owners of the land and the laborers on it, and among the restless, angry Catalans of the north, who more and more emphasized their ethnic distinction. From the rest of Spain, the popularity of revolutionary movements grew. National unions of socialists and even anarchists burgeoned to memberships of hundreds of thousands. No country in all history has had nearly so many organized anarchists as Spain in 1931. In proportion to the total population of the country, the Communist party in Spain at the beginning of 1936 was larger than the Bolshevik party in Russia at the beginning of 1917, the year in which it took power. Yet another military disaster in Morocco in 1921 led to a strong patriotic reaction among most of the high ranking army officers, and the installation of one of them, Miguel Primo de Rivera, as dictator. He was not an oppressive ruler, executing no one during his seven years of power, and stepped down willingly when he concluded that he had lost much of his initial support. But his sudden, unexpected departure left a vacuum which weak willed, inexperienced King Alfonso XIII was unable to fill. In municipal elections in April 1931, the cities rejected most monarchist candidates, though in the countryside most of them prevailed. In a manner reminiscent of his unhappy predecessor, Charles iv, who accepted a villa in France from Napoleon in return for his abdication on demand, Alfonso XIII declared, quoting, Sunday's elections have shown me that I no longer enjoy the love of my people. I could very easily find means to support my royal powers among all comers. But I am determined to have nothing to do with setting one of my countrymen against another in a fratricidal civil war. Thus, until the nation speaks, I shall deliberately suspend the use of my royal prerogatives. The feudal king at once boarded a plane for England and never set foot in Spain again. Five years later, that fratricidal civil War came in full measure. A second Spanish republic was promptly proclaimed. The first had failed ignominiously in the late 1860s. Its first prime minister was Niceto Alcala Zamora, but he and Interior Minister Miguel Mora were the only practicing Catholics in his cabinet. The other cabinet members ranged from total indifference to outright hostility to the faith that was so profoundly intertwined with Spain's origins, history, character and national identity. All of them believed, as Manuel Azania, their most prominent leader, openly stated in a major speech in October 1931, that Spain had ceased to be Catholic. The trend did appear to be running in that direction. Not only were the majority of Spanish Catholics non practicing, but in some parishes, mass attendance had virtually ceased. The priests would say most masses alone. Sunday. Masses alone. Socialists and anarchists never tired of painting the clergy as hirelings of the rich upper classes, though in fact, most priests received little more money than their parishioners and most religious religious lived in near poverty. But in these turbulent and disillusioned times, many Spanish people believed the socialist and anarchist charges. In May 1931, about 100 churches and other religious buildings were destroyed or damaged throughout Spain. The Jesuit church on the Calle de la Flor in the center of Madrid was burned to the ground. Though eventually the Catholic Interior Minister Mora persuaded the government's call out the army to stop the attack on the churches. Azania opposed this action, saying that that all the conventos in Spain are not worth the life of a single republican. The republicans in Spain were leftists. They were the revolutionaries. By the fall of 1931, the new regime had presented its constitution, which included prohibition of any financial support of the church by public funds, authorization for the government to expel religious orders, so phrased as to require the expulsion of the Jesuits, a requirement for government approval of every public manifestation of religion, including even the ancient traditional procession on great fiesta days, and an end to all religious education in any school. You've heard that. Oh, the. The rebels in Spain rose up to throw off the republicans. They. They overthrew a republic, an overthrow republic. Does this sound like a republic to you? When even some liberal newspapers criticized these measures, Azania responded. Do not tell me that this is contrary to freedom. It is a matter of public health. There was fierce debate on these constitutional provisions in Spain's parliament. The courts has. Prime Minister Alcala Zamora and Interior Minister Mora resigned at the end of the year. The constitution was approved and Azania became the new prime minister. Rather curiously, Alcala Zamora was elected the first president of the second republic. Despite his Alienation from the government. All European presidents at that time had very limited power, much less than the prime minister. However, the new Spanish constitution did give the president power to dissolve the Cortez and call for new elections once, but no more than once during his five year term in office. Thus did Manuel Lasagna emerge as the leader of his deeply troubled country. For the next two years and again after the epochal election of February 1936, he was very much an intellectual, raised a Catholic and sent to the highly regarded Maria Cristina University at El Escorial, directly across the street from the monastery palace of Philip ii, from which he had directed the lay program of the Catholic reformation in the second half of the 16th century. Azania had lost his faith there. He was a skillful wordsmith, but a political dilettante, as far removed as is possible to be from a man of action. A lonely man because of his extreme physical unattractiveness. He had genuine compassion, but little resolution. As the liberal president of Spain, he was to watch a tide of demonic slaughter sweep over his country, obviously horrified by it, yet unable and unwilling to do anything to stop it. Azania's government fell in 1933 as Catholic opinion in Spain hardened against it after the ranking general of the army, Jose San Jorjo, unsuccessfully attempted a military coup late in 1932 to overthrow it. The government had not yet actually closed the Catholic schools as the Constitution called for, but was scheduled to do so at the end of 1933. Spaniards, who were still Catholics, still a very large number, realized they must act, and the elections that followed Azania's resignation gave them their opportunity. They were a major defeat for the left. Parties and independents of the right gained 201 seats in the Cortez, up from 41 in 1931. Those of the center had 177, down from 152, and those of the left got only 97, down from 247. The largest single party representation belonged to the CEDA, a new and explicitly Catholic party founded that very year, headed by Jose Gilrobles, full of youthful vigor. At 34, an excellent speaker and a loyal Catholic who had consistently and strongly opposed the anti Catholic clauses of the Constitution from the beginning. His party included both monarchists and republicans, and as such was well suited to gain broad support. But with the hesitancy and timidity that were to characterize his political actions, though not his oratory, over the next three critical years, Gil Robles declared before the election that his party did not seek immediately to set up a government Therefore, this task was left to the unprincipled political manipulator Alejandro Larue, head of the misnamed Radical Party of the center, who had indeed been a revolutionary in his youth. But now, at twice Gil Robles age, was willing to get power wherever and however he could find it. Two years later, LaRue and much of his government were discredited in a gambling scandal, and the left had a golden opportunity to recoup the election. And the new Cortez, it shows, marked the emergence of a famous but enigmatic figure of the Spanish Civil War who was buried beside Franco at the Valley of the Fallen. Jose Antonio Primo de Rivera, son of the retired dictator known only by his first two names to distinguish him from his father. Franco is no longer in the Valley of the Fallen. He was disinterred.

[Pete]

Hi, Uncle Lazer. Here America's built on fast cars, fast food and even faster women. Moto Casino's built in America. You know what they're fast at? Fast cash prize redemption. You see, only Moto is US owned and operated. Moto. It's American made. That's who we are and that's who we care about. Play for free at Moto Us Moto Casinos the social casino board were prohibited. No purchase necessary. Visit Moto US for more details. Must be 21/ Moto Casino America Social Casino what's up baby? It's Bretzky and I'm here to tell you that spinquest.com is giving out free sweeps coins. All you got to do is purchase a ten dollar coin pack and guess what? They're gonna give you the coins from a thirty dollar coin pack that lets you play all your favorite games like Blackjack, Wanted Dead or Wild. And we're talking real cash prizes, baby. Spinquest.com Spin Quest is a free to play social casino void. Where prohibited. Visit spinquest.com for more details. Hey everybody.

[Narrator]

Lady luck here.

[Pete]

And we're celebrating America's 250th birthday. Now all summer long I'm going to be celebrating by playing on spinquest.com which is an American owned social casino. It obviously features over a thousand slot games and live blackjack, live craps, live bubble craps. Head on over to spinquest.com get yourself a 30 coin pack for just 10 bucks. Spin Quest is a free free to play social casino void. Where prohibited. Visit spinquest.com for more details.

[Narrator]

And so was so was Primo de He founded the Falange, the Spanish organization which most nearly resembled the totalitarian parties of Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy, we shall see the Falange engaging in assassinations and preemptive assaults of the same kind as were conducted by the radical socialists, Communists and anarchists, though for the purpose of aiding the right the following day was by no means always friendly to the Catholic Church. Yet Jose Antonio himself was, by the admission even of his enemies, a remarkably gentle and charming man, given to poetic, if rather woolly philosophizing, who always remained a practicing Catholic. He felt driven to defend his father and like his father, had little use for representative government, a viewpoint widely held in Spain since the French Revolution. In the end, Jose Antonio proved far more significant as a victim than as an actor in history. More memorable dead than alive in what remained of the Left. In the new Cortez, the Socialists had the majority, 58 seats. The Communists, though they had polled 200,000 votes, had only one seat. The system of proportional representation used in the Second Spanish Republic had many quirks. The anarchists, true to their principles, had refused to run candidates. But the Communists were much more significant than their representation indicated. And the Socialists were deeply split between their two leaders, both of whom had sat in A Zanya's cabinet. Indelisio Prieto and Francisco Largo Caballero. The two men had hated each other for more than 15 years. Prieto had a brilliant mind and was very conscious of it. Largo Caballero did not. Prieto was an excellent writer and speaker. Largo Caballero was neither. Prieto was a genuine democratic socialist. Largo Caballero was a revolutionary who enjoyed being called the Spanish Lenin and though not formally a communist, followed the communist leaders doctrine without deviation. After reading his works while in prison in 1935, Largo Caballero excelled as an organizer and had built up the Socialist built up the Socialist Labor Union ugt of which he was Secretary general, until by 1932 it had over a million members. Prieto, at 50, looked like the cartoon caricature of a capitalist. Hugely corpulent, egg bald, with little pig like eyes. By contrast, Largo Caballero looked avuncular, but younger than his 64 years. He had tremendous energy, always a vital asset in a revolution. He was very popular with the workers, despite his intellectual limitations, was to prove the most dangerous and capable of all the Spanish revolutionary leaders. The Communist Party of Spain, headed by Jose Diaz, formerly an anarchist baker in Sevilla, was still small in numbers, despite its strong vote in the 1933 elections. It worked closely with Lenin's Comintern, the Third International, and had deeply penetrated the Socialists. Loosely organized and split as they were. The secretary for the Socialist Party in the Cortez elected was Carlos Lamoneda, who had been a member of the Communist Party since 1921, though he pretended to change parties during the election campaign, while Alvarez del Vallo, a secret communist, dominated relations between the parliamentary representation and the Socialist Party at large. By late 1935, Del Vallo had become primary ideological guides of Largo Caballero. Santiago Carillo, a future leader of the Spanish Communist Party, was secretary of the Socialist Youth organization. Working through their natural ally, Largo Caballero, the communists were to gain rapidly growing influence in Spain during 1936. All the political elements in Spain which we have discussed, along with the remaining marginalized supporters of the vanquish of the vanished Alfonso xiii, had their counterparts in other countries in Europe during that dark decade of depression and spreading totalitarianism. But there was one large, well organized and totally committed movement that was unique to Spain. The traditionalist communion. The resurrection of Carlism. In the 20th century, the Carlists were the champions of the Spanish Catholic tradition. Their movement came into being in the aftermath of the Great War against Napoleon and and the atheistic spirit of the French Revolution which had become a crusade for Spain. The unworthy Ferdinand VII was king, but he was middle aged, in poor health and childless. His brother Carlos was therefore his heir. Carlos was a dedicated Catholic whose goal was to restore the greatness of the Spain of Queen Isabella and Philip II and make it a bulwark against any revival of revolution. But four years before his death, King Ferdinand remarried and had two children, both girls. A complex legal dispute developed as to whether under the law of royal succession, as it then stood in Spain, a woman could be the ruler. Ferdinand's wife, Maria Christina, was young and liberal. The policies she would espouse as regent for her baby daughter had nothing in common with those of Prince Carlos. Soon after Ferdinand the seven's seventh died, war broke out between his adherents and Maria Christina's. Lasting for seven years, the Carlists were finally defeated in 1840 by the treason of one of their leading generals. Two other Carlist wars followed. The hard fought Third Carlist War, begun in reaction against the First Spanish Republic, ended in 1876 in another Carlos defeat. Its leader, Charles VII of the tradition known therefore as Carlos Septimo, still a young man in his 20s, was forced to leave Spain, but vowed to return and resume the struggle. This is all background, so I'm hesitating to comment, just letting it play itself out. As we get more into the war, I will have more to say. He was never able to do so. And it seemed to almost everyone that history had left him and his movement behind. Despite the increasing weakness and decline of Spain, support for Carlos Septimo and his claim to be the legitimate monarch had shrunk to a tiny minority by the time he died in 1909. Done. His one son, James, half heartedly maintained his father's claims. The Carlos movement, once vigorous and popular throughout the whole northern half of Spain, survived in an attenuated form only in the province of Navara and at full strength in it in the mind of its great theoretician, Jose Vasquez de Mela de mea. Then, in October 1931, six months after the flight of King Alfonso II 13th to England, and five months after the assaults on the Catholic churches and monasteries, James died without issue. The Carlos secession was a man whose very existence nearly everyone in Spain had forgotten. Carlos Septimo's brother Alfonso, a commander at his brother's side during the third Carlos War, now 82, who had been living in exile in Italy and Austria for no less than 55 years, his commitments of the Carlos cause never wavering, he took the name Alfonso Carlos, assumed command of what was left of the Carlos movement, renamed it the Traditionalist Communion, and saw it expand throughout Spain. In two and a half years, its membership grew to nearly a million. Alfonso Carlos chose Manuel Falconde, a brilliant young lawyer from Sevilla, to lead it deleted in Spain as Secretary General. Under Falconde's dynamic leadership, by April 1935, there were some 700 Carlist councils in all parts of Spain, 350 study circles, each with a priest as spiritual director, 250 active youth groups, 300 women's groups, numerous workers groups and at least a skeleton organization. In every province, two major daily newspapers supported Carlism, along with a wide circulated weekly which was explicitly a Carlist organ. There were Carlist libraries, orchestras, choirs, folk dance societies, dramatic societies and sports leagues. Furthermore, Falconde, who had been in Prison in 1932 with a young colonel named Jose Varela, they had both taken part in General Sanjuro's San Jorjo's abortive uprising that year and and there had converted Varela to Carlos. Varela trained the Carlos militia, known from the days of the First Carlos War of the 1830s as the to a high level of fighting skills, skill weapons were found for them, some from abroad, some locally manufactured. They were organized into battalions, companies and platoons. Every man wore the traditional Carlist emblem, a red beret. By the beginning of 1936, their strength had reached 30,000 nationwide. With large additional numbers of potential recruits available in Nevada. Where a solid majority of the people were Carlist. Ever since the Second Spanish Republic was established in 1931. With its anti Catholic constitution. And old warrior Alfonso Carlos had emerged as though out of a time machine to become their leader. The Carlos had been. Carlos had been convinced that they would soon be fighting another crusade to save the Catholic Spain. The Catholic faith in Spain so obviously threatened by the revolutionaries. And their sympathizers. And other anti Catholics in the Republic. This was indeed their destiny. It was the Carlos who proclaimed the Last Crusade. And above all carried its banner. In October 1934, Largo Caballero had called a general strike in Madrid. Whose only result was to have him thrown in prison. Where he spent the next year reading and glorifying in Lenin's works. Catalan separatists and the miners of the northern mountain province of Asturias. Had risen in armed revolt. And been harshly suppressed by the government. Azania was imprisoned for months. Though he had nothing to do with the rebellion. And the left vowed revenge. The Left vowed vengeance a year later. When Alejandro Larue's son and three leading members of the Radical Party. Were found guilty in October 1935. Of accepting bribes to introduce a new type of roulette wheel. Called the Strap Perlo into Spain. Thereby making it impossible for the prime minister. Widely believed to be personally involved in the scandal. To continue to govern. Gil Robles finally made his move to head a government. He also demanded major revisions of the 1931 Constitution. President Alcala Alcala Zamora opposed any change in the constitution. And feared and envied Gil Robles. Consequently, he refused to ask him to form a government. Though no other leader in the Cortez was in a position to do so. And decided to call for new elections. The constitution provided that the president could only dissolve the Cortez once. During his five year term of office. But Alcala Somora rather speciously argued that the first Cortez of the Second Republic. Which he had dissolved in the fall of 1933. Did not count because it was also a constituent assembly. He had a caretaker government set up under Manuel Portela Valladares. An active freemason and historian of Spain's ancient Brazilian history. Heresy, who was not even a member of the Cortez. Nor were several of the ministers he selected. Gil Robles declared with some reason that the president was acting outside the law. And was so angry that the. That he. That he asked some leading generals. To consider military action against the government. But they refused to take it on December 30, 1935, President Alcalia Zamora drafted the decree dissolving the Cortez, but kept it secret for the moment, merely declaring the Cortez suspended. When 10% of the Cortez deputies signed a demand for it to meet immediately, which under the Constitution, had to be obeyed unless the president dissolved the Cortez. Portello Valladeras released the decree of dissolution on January 7, 1936. The decisive election campaign began. Speaking in Madrid on January 12, Largo Caballero set the tone, quoting, before the Republic, our duty was to bring it about. But with the Republic established, our duty is to bring about socialism. And when I speak of socialism, I do not speak of socialism alone. I speak of Marxist socialism. And in speaking of Marxist socialism, I speak of revolutionary socialism. Our aspiration is to conquest to political power method that which we are able to use. Three days later, a Popular Front was formed by five major Spanish parties. The Socialists, the Communists, aanya's Left Republicans, Martinez Barrios, Republican Union and the separatist Catalan esqueta, led by 1934 rebel Luis companies. The Popular Front strategy had been adopted by the Comintern in a major speech by its General Secretary, Georgi Dimitrov in July 1935. It called upon communist and democratic countries to join with other left wing parties to gain power, a tactic rejected by Lenin but favored by Stalin, which had almost succeeded in China in the 1920s until frustrated at the last moment by Chiang Kai Shek. The platform of the Spanish popular front, proclaimed Jan. 15, called for the release of everyone in prison since the 1933 elections, regardless of whether they were political prisoners or common criminals, the reinstatement of all workers and civil servants dismissed since those elections, and retention of the Constitution with no major changes, with educational reform, meaning the closing of Catholic schools to proceed as had been planned by the Azania government. Promises were also made to push land reform, a public works program and social welfare legislation. On January 22, Largo Caballero revealed still more clearly what this program meant in his eyes, quoting, we have always intended to forge a united party that has nothing to do either directly or indirectly with the bourgeoisie, a party that adopts as its standard the armed insurrection for the conquest of power and the establishment of the dictatorship of the proletariat. A party that in case of war will have nothing to do with the bourgeoisie, that ought not and will not lend it aid, a party that, guided by the norms of democratic centralism, achieves a single will unanimous decision. In all its efforts, we are on the way to achieving such a party. End quote. The term democratic centralism was one of Lenin's favorites. His euphemism for absolute totalitarian rule of and by the Communist Party. No recorded statement of Lenin's exceeds in savagery. Largo Caballero's offhand remark in the January 28 issue of his party newspaper El Socialista, quoting, I desire a republic without class warfare, but for this it is necessary for one class to disappear.

[Pete]

Here's golf legend John Daly Hell yeah.

[Narrator]

These wins are piling up faster than my divorces. I only spent on Moto America's social casino. You know I've won a couple of majors and on Moto I've won majors, grands and epic jackpots on their classic Vegas slots with huge, huge bonus rounds. Moto Casino adds new games and awards Players free coins every single day. Grip it. Spin it on motocasino.

[Pete]

Download the Motocasino app today. Moto Casino is a social casino board. We're prohibited in the purchase necessary. Visit Moto Us for more details. What's up fools? Main event J uso here from the wwe when it's just me between matches, it's day one ish. And that means it's Chumba time. With hundreds of casino style games and new titles arriving weekly, there's always something fresh from to try at Chumba Casino. The Daily Boost make it even more fun and have me about to get them all during my downtime. Ready for a fun way to chill out and enjoy a few minutes for yourself?

[Narrator]

Let's ch.

[Pete]

No purchase necessary. VGW group Void where Prohibited by law CTS and C's 21+ Sponsored by Chumba Casino oh, I have had no luck lately. Wait. Lady Luck Britsky. I got you. I've had so much luck on spinquest.com they have all of my favorite games, slot games, live blackjack, craps and bubble craps. You can even get a $30 coin pack for just 10 bucks. 10 bucks for 30. I'm headed over to spinquest.com right now. Spin Quest is a free to play social casino void where prohibited. Visit spinquest.com for more details.

[Narrator]

You still thinking it was just you they overthrew a republic. Three days later in that same newspaper, Largo Caballero openly stated his commitments to communism, quoting I am a Marxian Socialist. Communism is the natural evolution of socialism, its last and definitive stage. On February 9, El Socialista printed this even more explicit statement, though from another source. We are determined to do in Spain what was done In Russia, the plan of Spanish socialism and of Russian Communism are the same. The day before, lecturing on historical panels between the Russian and Spanish revolutions, Left socialist Luis Atakistan said that conditions in the two countries on the eve of revolution were analogous with a strong workers movement and a weak government. He predicted that Spain may very well be the second country where the proletarian revolution triumphs and becomes consolidated. Consolidated, after which it will be protected by the Soviet Union. Just a republic. It's just a republic. I mean, Franco and the boys just overthrew a republic. It's just like ours right now. Some would have it be like ours. Be like this small wonder that Jose Diaz, head of the Spanish Communist party, declared on February 11, there is one man today who has put all his intelligence and all his energy to the service of the United Popular Front in our country, so that when time comes, it will triumph. Comrade Largo Caballero. We could recount the history of the international movement of the Proletariat and see that in the era of Largo Caballero, it is very difficult to find another case of evolution such as his, especially with regards to everything that has occurred in these last days. There is a considerable mass who follow him with a very clear vision because they have hopes of what will follow as a result of the revolutionary position that he has embraced. End quote. Then and since, many have accused the Spanish Right of overreacting to the Popular Front challenge. But the statements here quoted speak for themselves. The goal of the most dynamic and dominant leader of the Popular Front was maximum violent revolution followed by the imposition of a totalitarian state. Largo Caballero headed a union ugt with a membership of more than 1 million. He could count on the support in any revolutionary violence of an anarchist union almost as large. His Socialist opponent, Prieto, was outclassed. He had almost no impact on the campaign. While Largo Caballero was winning most of the local elections in the Socialist Party during these weeks, the election was literally a matter of life and death for Spain. In the words of the most eloquent monarchist deputy in the Cortez, Jose Calvo Sotelo, the possibility must be admitted that on the day after the election, Spain will awaken to the red glare of a stormy Marxist triumph which will cast down our foundations, our history, our spirituality, our economy, our morality and all we are. But this will never be, because God does not wish it and we will not permit it. Inevitably, though reluctantly, because their own divisions were deep, the Spanish right on February 4 formed a national counter Revolutionary front to oppose the Popular Front, including Gil Robles, Calvo, Sotelo and also the Carlists. The political philosophy of the Traditionalist commune rejected any strong central government, parliamentary or otherwise, except for national defense and foreign affairs. They wanted Spain governed by its separate provinces, which always spells their demise. The Carlos motto was Dios, Patria, fueros Rey, God, the Fatherland, local rights and the King, in that order. Therefore, in the past, Carlos had hesitated to run as candidates for the national parliament. But in the moment of crisis, old Alfonso Carlo from Vienna, he would almost certainly have been imprisoned had he set foot on Spanish soil, directed his people, quote, to put up as many candidates as possible in defense of religion and country. Election day was February 16, a Sunday. Making a correct tabulation of the results baffled people at the time and has baffled historians ever since, because of their great complexity, combined with the arcane system for according seats in the Cortez to various regions, and the further complication of recounts, runoffs and special elections held here and there when the initial votes were invalidated by some official body. No two historians agree on exactly how many seats each party finally won. But the Popular Front emerged clearly victorious, with an absolute majority in the Cortez. According to meticulous historian Richard Robinson, the popular front had 263 seats, compared to 133 for the right and 77 for the center, giving it an absolute majority of 26. The popular vote gave a contrary result, a plurality of 4,570,744 votes for the right, 4,340,559 for the Popular Front, 340,073 for the center and 141,137 for the Basque Nationalists, who were separatists, but also mostly good Catholics. The largest representation in the popular front was 88 seats for the Socialists, followed closely by 79 for a Zanya's Republican left. A large majority of the Right deputies were in Gil Robles Catholic SEDA, with 101 seats. The Carlists were next with 15, approximately equal to the 14 seats gained by the Communists. The Falange ran candidates, but they received a minuscule vote of only about 40,000. The Popular Front won all the major cities, but the Right received many votes there. Nevertheless, in Madrid, the right had 186,422 votes, compared to 224,540 for the popular Front. Few had expected the Popular Front to win an absolute majority in the Cortez. Anyone could see the shock effect on the Right would be tremendous and that there was a grave threat of Civil War. At 4 o' clock in the morning on the day after the election, Gil Robles went to Prime Minister Portella Valladeras with a request that he be included in the new government, if only as a typist, to calm the fears of the right, and that the government declare a state of maximum emergency. Port Salvadas. The dithering academic, whom Prime Minister Larue had rediscovered as a politician on a beach in northern Spain in the summer of 1934, was totally out of his depth. In crisis of this magnitude. He was too old, he said, to take any strong measures. All he wanted was to get out of office. Strikes began in Valencia and Oviedo. The anarchists were opening the prisons. General Francisco Franco, the army chief of staff, refused to lead any military action without the approval of someone in a position to speak for the government, which was not given. On February 19, just three days after the election, President Alcala Zamora asked Azania to return as prime minister. He agreed and selected a cabinet. But his was a minority government for the socialists and communists refused to join it. Their goal was now full revolution. The Azania's government first major action, taken February 21, was to release all prisoners, the first plank in the Popular Front program providing instant reinforcement for the revolutionaries and wholly ignoring the constitutional requirement that the political amnesties must be approved by majority vote of the Cortez, which had not yet had time to convene. The next day, the government dismissed General Franco as chief of staff of the army and transferred him to the distant Canary Islands. This made sense from the left standpoint for Franco, the most intelligent and youngest general in the army and a hero of the war in Morocco, was a devout Catholic and dedicated foe of revolution. Just before leaving for the Canary Islands, he told President Alcala Zamora, I can guarantee that whenever circumstances may arise, wherever I am, there will be no communism. But a week later, in a move that defies rational explanation, the government transferred General Emilio Mola, potentially almost as great a danger to them as Franco, from Morocco to Pamplona and Navarra, the heart of armed and resurgent Carlism for the Carlist Val Kande had declared on the day the new government was formed, the traditional communion will fully recover its personality and freedom of movement. Coalition fronts and blocks are done with. The Raiketa were ordered to a state of war readiness. On February 23, the Azania government suspended payment of rent by tenant farmers in the south of Spain, Andalusia and Exeter Madura, and reinstated Luis Campanis who had led the armed rebellion in Catalonia in 1934, as head of the General Litot, the local government of Catalonia. On the 29th, it ordered the rehiring of all workers dismissed after January 1, 1934, for striking with compensation for lost wages and suspended all evictions of agricultural tenants throughout the country. On March 8, several generals known for their conservative views met in Madrid, three of them in transit to new assignments. Franco posted to the Canary Islands, Mola to Pamplona, and former Inspector General Manuel Godad to Balearic Islands in the Mediterranean. Also participating in the meeting was the Carlos Varela, now a general too, former Under Secretary of War Joaquin Fanhoul and several other high ranking officers. None was yet ready to attempt a coup, but they were now perforce beginning to consider what circumstances might make it necessary. They agreed they would have to act if Largo Caballero should become prime minister, if the government should suspend the Civil Guard, the National Police, or if the country should slip into evident anarchy. Varela urged an immediate uprising, but Franco and Mola said they must have more civilian support. It's interesting because we talk about elite theory and there are two elites saying we need to see the people on our side. Before leaving Madrid, Franco had gone to see Prime Minister Azania to warn him about the growing threat of communism in Spain. Like so many other intellectuals before and after him, Azania scoffed at the idea. He might have felt differently had he known of the letter sent March 4 from the Communist Party Central Committee to the Executive Committee of the Socialist Party proposing socialist, communist, worker, peasant alliance groups at all levels, local to national, playing the role of soviets with the terms of alliance to be quoting. Complete independence vi the bourgeoisie and of complete break of the Social Democratic bloc with the bourgeoisie. Prior achievement of unity of action, recognition of the need for the revolutionary overthrow of the domination of the bourgeoisie and the installation of the dictatorship of the proletariat in the form of Soviets. The renunciation of support for the national bourgeoisie in the event of an imperialist war. Construction of the unified party on the basis of democratic centralism, assuring unity of will and of action, tempered by the experience of the Russian Bolsheviks. End quote. The Socialist Executive Committee did not reply to this letter directly, but the next day it proposed a joint committee of two representatives from each of the working class parties of the Popular Front to coordinate their efforts. During March, the Socialist and Communist youth organizations of Spain agreed to merge under the guidance of crypto Communist Alvarez del Vallo, Comintern agent Vittorio Coravia and youth leader Santiago Carillo, former head, future head of the Spanish Communist Party. On March 19, the Madrid section of the Socialist Party, led by enthusiastic followers of Largo Caballero, declared its intention to ask the National Congress of the Socialist Party to unite with the Communist Party. The Madrid Socialists also drafted a new program to be submitted to its next congress. Its preamble was a complete endorsement of communist style ultimate revolution, the destruction of existing society down to its roots. The illusion that the proletarian socialist revolution can be achieved by reforming the existing state must be eliminated. There is no course but to destroy its roots imperceptibly. The dictatorship of the proletariat or workers democracy will be converted into a full democracy without classes, from which the coercive state will gradually disappear. The instrument of the dictatorship will be the Socialist Party, which will exercise the dictatorship during the period of transition from one society to another. Also in March, moderate socialist Gabriel Mario de Coca published a book ending with this. I close my work with an impression of Bolshevist victory in every sector of the Spanish Socialist Party. The socialist parliamentary authority in the court's heads will be impregnated with a strong Leninist tone. Prieto will have few deputies on his side, while Basteto, another moderate Socialist, will be completely isolated as a Marxist dissenter. The outlook that all this leaves for the future of the working class and of the nation could not be more pessimistic. The Bolshevik centipede dominates the proletariat horizon, and Marxist analysis vindicates that it is on its way to another of its resounding victories. End quote. The sense of helplessness and despair before the advancing cataclysm which exudes from these words of Mario de Coca found this counterpoint in the order of The Day on March 7th by Jamie Del Burgo, chief of the Carlos Riqueta of Pamplona, quoting we will fall upon the barricades of the revolution and sweep away forever at the point of our bayonets this filthy foreign Marxism. The crusading hour was indeed approaching. On the next day, March 8, a Sunday revolutionary mob seized control of the southern port city of Cadiz, burning five churches, a convent, a seminary and a Catholic school. When General Franco came to Cadiz two weeks later to embark for the Canary Islands, saw what had happened there, and learned that the military governor of the city had watched the convent burn within sight of his barracks, he exploded in a rare outburst of anger. Is it possible that the troops of a barracks saw a sacrilegious crime being committed and that you just stood by with your arms folded. When the governor replied that the new government in Madrid had forbidden him to intervene in such matters, Franco was unappeased. Such orders, he snapped, since they are unworthy, should never be obeyed by an officer of our army. He refused to shake the governor's hand as he left him 10 hours on

[Pete]

my feet, traffic noise, everybody needing something from me. My head is spinning. I just need the world to stop for one second. But then I get home, shoes off, phone out, and I open Modo Casino. Hundreds of slots, classic table games. It's my instant reset, the variety I want in the quiet I need. Moto Casinos the social casino Prohibited purchase necessary Visit Moto US for more details. Download the Moto Casino app today must be 21/ Moto Casino America Social Casino what's up everybody? It's Bretzky and America is turning 250 and I can't think of a better way to celebrate that than playing on an American owned social casino. Spinquest.com with the all all of your favorite games, live crafts, bubble craps, live blackjack, there's no better place to play for free and win real cash prizes. Spin quest.com Spin quest is a free to play social casino void where prohibited. Visit spinquest.com for more details. Oh, I have had no luck lately. Wait. Lady luck Britsky. I got you. I've had so much luck on spinquest.com they have all of my favorite games, slot games, live blackjack, craps and bubble craps. You can even get a 30 coin pack for just 10 bucks. 10 bucks for 30. I'm headed over to spinquest.com right now. Spinquest is a free to play social casino void where prohibited. Visit spinquest.com for more details.

[Narrator]

Later that week, five churches were burned in Grenada, in Granada, and five also in central Madrid, notably the Church of San Luis, which was destroyed by fire without any effort being made to protect it or to save it. Though it stood only 200 paces from the Interior Ministry building, clearly the non intervention orders which the military governor of Cadiz had cited to Franco, were still in effect. The government was much more diligent in cracking down on the Falange, which was officially banned March 16 after its leader, Jose Antonio was arrested on the charge of keeping arms without a license. In the central Spanish city of Albacet on March 17, revolutionaries burned the center of Catholic Studies and two parish churches. Over the next three days, 14 more churches were burned there, most of those in the city and its vicinity, and 375 holy images disappeared the churches destroyed included one built during the 13th century and another containing a statue of Triceps of Christ attributed to barricade. As peasants in southern Spain taking over land from the great estates at the end of March, with no check from the government and later recognition of the land that had seized, they had seized as theirs. Gil Robles urged Azania to turn away from the socialists and communists and toward the center before it was too late. But Manuel Azania was a broken reed. However much he might personally deplore some of what was happening. And he had already made it clear and was to repeat that he did not really deplore the destruction of churches. He had neither the means nor the will to act against it. More and more he was seen as playing the role of Kerensky to Largo Caballero's Lenin. From February 16th to the end of March, 178 buildings, including many churches, had been burned throughout the Spain and 197 more sacked. There had been 169 people killed and many hundreds wounded. Anarchy loomed and was hailed as it approached by the hundreds of thousands of organized anarchists in the great CNT Union. Late in March, Carlist leader Falconde went to Portugal to speak with the exiled Jose San Juro, who had been the ranking general in the Spanish army who led the unsuccessful uprising against the Republic in 1932. He had been born in Pamplona during the Third Carlos War, in which his father had served in the raketta

[Carl Dahl]

and

[Narrator]

been killed in action. Falconde and his aides dressed Sanjuro's son Pepito as a raqueta with his own red beret. Sanjuro was deeply removed and he and the Carlos agreed to support one another with Sanjuro to take command of the raqueta when they went into battle. By now nearly all the Carlos leadership was convinced of the inevitability of war to save the faith in Spain. Plans for a Carlos coup in Madrid were already being made by various Carlos leaders and supported by General Varela. But they were still premature, and official approval for such a venture had not yet been given by Falconde or alfonso Carlos. On March 31, most of the right deputies temporarily withdrew from the Cortez. Many did not return. The revolutionaries were having their way. Government and society were disintegrating. The first general persecution of the Catholics in Spain since the time of the Roman Emperor Diocletian was just over the horizon. All who saw one of the burning churches or heard the insults flung at priests and monks and nuns and devout laymen and women could feel it coming from this war and this persecution. There would be no place to hide. But since Pelayo's last stand, more than 1200 years before, Spain had bred legions of true sons of the church militant. Even after a century of degeneration, many remained who would never submit to the modern infidel. Spaniards had made the longest crusade in the history of the world, the 770 year war of reconquest. Not all of them had forgotten it. Their priests and monks were ready for martyrdom. Their crusading warriors would sell their lives dear to the enemies of Christ. In this very year, they would once again take the cross together and march us to Jerusalem. All right, that's the setup. And we'll start getting into more of the battle and start getting into the battle and the lead up because basically what we're looking at is July. July. I guess the official start of the war would be July 1936. June 1936. But yeah, this is a really good look at the war and look at the. Just exactly what they were up against. That this was not a bunch of fascists, right wingers who were upset that they had lost an election. You see what this was and we'll see more. Imagine, I'm sure everyone knows that the right wins this war. Imagine if they had lost. Until the next time. All right, There were ads during this. If you want to get these episodes. All of my episodes early and ad free. Subscribe over@freeman beyondthewall.com forward/support. You can subscribe there. You can subscribe, subscribestar, Gumroad, Patreon Substack where I'm doing some, doing some videos two, three times a week, extra little 10 minute, 15 minute. And yeah, until the next time. I really hope you're enjoying these readings. Take care. Bye. I want to welcome everyone back to part two of my reading of Warren E. Carroll's the Last Crusade. All right, before we get into this reminder about Thomas and my. Our movie reviews and you go to freemanbeyondthewall.com movies links to them all there. And we're going to do another one real soon, new one, don't know yet. Letting Thomas pick this one out. And then Antelope Hill where if you like to read books like I do, you can go over there. And if you put Pete Q all lowercase in the, in the field when you're checking out, you get 5% off. All right, let's get this going. This chapter is going to run in spring and it will run up to the real kickoff of the fighting. So let's see what this, how this leads up. So, all right. Spring, April through June. This is 1936, Spain's Spanish Civil War. By an unbroken tradition extending all the way back to the fall of the Roman Empire in the west, the Archbishop of Toledo is the Primate of Spain. For Toledo is Spain's ancient capital, crowning a gigantic crag towering over the Tagus river in the midst of a broad, dry plain, Toledo is virtually impregnable to attack. It has never been stormed against a vigorous defense in the whole history of war in Spain. After the Moors had held Toledo for more than 350 years, the Christian. The Christians regained it by negotiations in the time of El Cid. They glorified it with one of Spain's most magnificent cathedrals. Isabelle and Fernando built here their Splendid Church of St. John of the Kings. The banner St. John of Astoria carried into battle against the Turks at Lepanto, hung in Toledo's church at the Holy Cross. In one of its humble parish churches glowed the greatest work of Spain's supreme painter, El Greco, who dwelt in Toledo for most of his adult life. The burial of the Count of Orgas. On May 6, 1931, shortly after the flight of King Alfonso XIII and the formation of the second Spanish Republic, Cardinal Pedro Segura, Archbishop of Toledo and Primate of Spain, issued a pastoral letter urging his flock to respect and obey the new government and to participate actively as Catholics in its political life. But he also made a point of praising the departed king and it was known that he believed the establishment of a republic was not good for Spain. His alleged interference in politics because of these sentiments was made an excuse for the burning and looting of many Spanish churches. A week after the release of his pastoral letter. On returning in June from consultations with Pope Pius XI in Rome, Cardinal Segura was arrested and expelled from the country on the intriguing charge of endangering the public spirit. Two months later the government declared, though utterly without authority to do so, that he was removed as Archbishop of Toledo and stripped of his episcopal rights. The reason given for this action was that he had instructed the Spanish bishops to sell church property and send the money out of Spain before the anti Catholic government could confiscate it. Wish they would have done that when. Never mind thinking about England and oh well. At this point Pope Pius XI was trying to cultivate better relations with the anti Catholic governments in Catholic countries such as then existed in Mexico as well as in Spain. He was hoping that the anti Catholic provisions of the Constitution of the Second Spanish Republic, then still in the drafting stage, might be removed or moderated in response to concessions by the Church. Therefore, in October, the Pope consented to Segura's removal and exile after a long wait, before naming a replacement. In 1933, he appointed as the new archbishop of Toledo Isidro Goma, a Catalan who had been the rector of the seminary at the Archdiocese of Tarragona for more than 20 years, and the bishop of Tarazona. He was reputed to be a political moderate sympathetic to the Catalan nationalists. In 1935, the Pope made him a cardinal. But serious churchmen cannot be measured by political standards. Cardinal Goma could read the signs of the times in the spring of 1936, as well as any Communist or Carlist he knew. They portended far more than a mere strife of parties that for the first time in his Christian history, his country faced a strong possibility of the destruction of his traditional faith. He did not yet believe the time had come to declare openly all that he foresaw. But in a letter to Father Ledechowski, General of the Jesuits, which order had already been expelled from Spain, as Cardinal Segura had been, he let the warning bells toll, quoting with reference now to the general state of things in Spain. Prospects are frankly most evil, with no remedies to be seen. Humanly speaking, the revolution is triumphant without scruples in its advance to secure its grip with the insensitivity of the government in the face of the unheard of atrocities that the Church has suffered in recent weeks, the threat of applying the aesthetic constitution in its totality, the confusion of the political elements of the right, some drawn apart from others by angry grudges, loss of the spiritual rigor of our Christian people, the effect of past disillusionments, economic burdens, the imminence of municipal elections, which will bring revolutionary principles and practices into the heart of the people, fear and cowardice which has debilitated organizations of religious the restriction and reduced circulation of the Catholic press, the imminent establishment of greatly expanded lay education. Such is the spectacle that this moment shows us no remedy for this appears but an extraordinary providence of God. If there were any doubt of the truth of this warning by the Primate of Spain, it was laid to rest by comments made by Prime Minister Azania in the Cortez April 3rd and 16th in response to criticisms of the government's conspicuous failure to protect the churches, quoting the Republican government and the President do not undertake to justify anything or explain anything away. We must examine the situation like men and understand things in their broad human sense. I am scandalized that anyone should state how horrible that three churches have been burned. I also say, if not how horrible. What nonsense. And what a pity. I am persuaded that flames are endemic to Spain. In the past, heretics were burned and today saints, even if in the form of statues or images. Statues or images. For now, continuing attacks on churches and objects of holy devotion were evidently amusing to the chief of the Spanish government in the spring of 1936, a matter for joking rather than for action. But they were no joke to the church's committed enemies or to her committed defenders. On April 3, the Cortez, holding its first formal session since the election, chose Diego Martinez Barrio, a political ally of Azania, as its presiding officer and proceeded immediately and surprisingly to impeach President Alcala Zamora, a move the majority of the cabinet had decided upon the preceding day. The grounds, oddly enough, were his dismissal of the previous Cortez, when the Constitution prohibited the president from dismissing the Cortez more than once in his five year term of office. The oddity was for a government to impeach his president for calling an election that brought them to power. But the Popular Front government did not trust Alcala Zamora, knowing that he remained the Catholic and was opposed to revolution. They feared he might dissolve the Cortez for a third time and call another election and even support a military coup against them. The right regarded Alcala Zamora as a weakling or worse and made no effort to save him. His political fate was sealed. On October 7th. He was removed from office, to be replaced the next month, as was the government's intention from the beginning by Azania, who had no Catholic sympathies nor much use for the military and would do nothing that might return power to the Right. Azania does not seem to have been significantly involved in carrying out the surprising deposition which Salvador de Medaria Madariaga extravagantly condemned as the most glaring denial of logic the history of a free nation can show. Alcalo Zamora left Spain for South America just before the civil war broke out in July and never came back. His removal had virtually no effect on the immediate political situation, but had one important and unexpected long term consequence.

[Pete]

Here's golf legend John Daly. Hell yeah.

[Narrator]

These wins are piling up faster than my divorces. I only spent on Moto, America's social casino. You know, know I've won a couple of majors and on Moto I've won majors, grands and epic jackpots on their classic Vegas slots with huge, huge bonus rounds. Moto Casino adds new Games and awards players free coins every single day. Grip it and spend it on Moto Casino.

[Pete]

Download the Moto Casino app today. Moto Casino is a social casino board. We're prohibited in the purchase necessary. Visit Moto Us for more details. Casino America Social Casino what's up everybody? It's Bretzky and America is turning 250 and I can't think of a better way to celebrate that than playing on an American owned social casino. Spinquest.com with all of your favorite games, live craps, bubble craps, live blackjack, there's no better place to play for free and win real cash prizes. Spinquest.com Spin Quest is a free to play social casino void where prohibited. Visit spinquest.com for more details. What's going on everyone? It's bluff here. And you know what's more American than America's 250th birthday? Supporting American owned companies like Spinquest, America's number one social casino with over a thousand games like live dealer blackjack and craps. They're offering new users a 30 coin package for just $10. Go to spinquest.com and sign up today. Spin Quest is a free to play social casino void where prohibited. Visit spinquest.com for more details.

[Narrator]

One of the most republican generals, Gonzalo Chiepo Deano, a rakishly handsome, arrogant and contentious figure who had been thrown in jail by Primo de Rivera and had turned against the Catholic church while enrolled in a seminary in his youth, had a daughter married to Alcala Zamora's only son. Quiepo Dellano was outraged by the impeachment of his daughter's father in law. On April 13, he visited General Mola, now in Pamplona, to tell him he wished to join in the rising against the government being planned and soon persuaded General Miguel Camanelas, Another Republican stationed at Segovia, to do likewise. Quiepo Deano, a man of extraordinary dash and daring, unfortunately almost his only admirable qualities, played a vital role, if not always savory role, in the history of the first months of the Spanish Civil War. Had it not been for the removal of Alcalo Zamora, he would probably have fought on the other side. His initial service to the Rising was indispensable, but later his cruelty and injustice traduced its Catholic and crusading character. April 14, two days after Easter, with the fifth anniversary of the establishment of the Second Spanish Republic. The day before falungists had shot and killed on a Madrid street a judge who had sentenced one of their members to 30 years in prison for murdering a distributor of socialist newspapers. During the public commemoration of the anniversary in Madrid, an unidentified man, probably a for longest, attempted to kill a zanya with a bomb. A zanya was not injured, but one of the assault guards, a police force generally loyal to the government, shot and killed a member of the Civil guard whose loyalties were mixed like the army's, whom he believed was preparing to shoot a zanya. To think that the revolution could be stopped by shooting the helpless Azania was the height of folly. But logic did not flourish in Spain during these tumultuous days. The funeral of the civil guardsmen three days later was the occasion for a gun battle between socialists and falungists during the funeral procession and another between falungas and assault guards at the cemetery. Lt. Jose Castillo of the assault guards played a leading part in the cemetery battle, earning him the bitter hatred of the falungists. At least 12 people were killed in the fighting. Gil Robles, speaking in the Cortez, delivered another solemn warning, quoting, when we, the parties that act within legality begin to lose control of our masses, we begin to appear failures in their eyes. The idea of violence to fight against persecution starts to germinate among our people. A time will come when, as a citizen, as a citizenly obligation of conscience, we shall have to turn to our masses and tell them, within legality, you have no protection, because the law, which is the supreme guarantee of the rights of citizenship, does not enjoy the government's support. In our party. We cannot defend you with anguish. We must tell you to go to other organizations, to other political nuclei that offer you at least the attraction of revenge. End quote. At a public meeting on April 18, the day after the bloody funeral of the civil guardsmen, the Socialist Party of Madrid formally demanded that the forthcoming National Congress of the Socialist party call openly for the dictatorship of the proletariat, seizure of all church property, and suppression of all religious orders. Once again, the centrality of the religious issue in the buildup to as well as the waging of the Spanish Civil war was unmistakably demonstrated just across the French border in the Pyrenees. Prince Javier of Bourbon Parma, now the designated heir of the childless Alfonso Carlos, to whom the religious issue was central, also had taken up residence of the little town of Saint Jean de Luz during Holy Week. Every few days he conferred with Val Kande, or the Carlist military leaders in Nevada. The Carlist continues to operate independently of the regular army generals, except for Varela, who was imprisoned in Cadiz during April and Sanjurjo exiled in Portugal. General Mola, though stationed in the capital of Carlos, Nevada, was not yet working with them. During the latter part of April, he crossed the Rubicon with a confidential circular letter to selected officers whom he felt he trusted, quoting the most grave circumstances through which the nation is passing owing to an electoral pact, the immediate consequence of which has been made to make the government prisoner of the revolutionary organizations is faithfully leading Spain to a chaotic situation that could only be avoided by means of violent action. Therefore, the elements that love the country must of necessity organize themselves for rebellion with the aim of conquering power and imposing, therefore, order, peace and justice once again. What most people know about the Spanish Civil War is that a freedom government was elected and a bunch of evil right wingers sought to overthrow it. When you start telling them about the amount of churches that were burned, the amount of clergy that were killed, the bombings of, of the bombings of civilians that were blamed on the nationalists, Franco's people, I mean, they don't. They've been told something. I really think, though, right around right now, people are really open to hearing alternative, you know, revisionist history from revision of sources. I think people just realize that, you know, I think there was a meme going around. If the news is fake, just think how fake history is. So that's why I'm doing this. Mayday was marked by strikes and parades in most of the principal cities of Spain. Thousands marched down Castellana street in Madrid making the clenched fist salute, singing the Marxist hymn International, carrying portraits of Lenin, Stalin and lago. Caballero Prieto, speaking in Cuenca in central Spain, called for socialist entry into a zanio's government and denounced, quote, excesses that leave behind, as evident of the people's exertions, some charred images, some burnt altars or some church doors blackened by flames. End quote. He warned of the growing danger of a military coup. Largo Caballero's followers accused him of supporting such a coup and began threatening his life. Began threatening his life. These were not idle threats. Before the month was over, Prieto was shot at and wounded by some of Largo Caballero's militant followers while speaking at a socialist rally in a sea house, barely escaping in a car through a hail of bullets. Sounds peaceful, right? I mean, this is the, you know, this guy's on their side, basically. I mean. During May, membership in the Spanish Communist Party reached 60,000, a total, a total comparable to the listed membership of the Socialist Party, not counting membership in the giant UGT union on May 4, a number of churches in Madrid were attacked. Three nuns and two lay women were killed by a mob and several monks and nuns attacked and severely beaten. Early in May, Carlist Prince Javier was in Portugal, conferring with General Sanjuro. They agreed that if the Carlists and the Spanish army rose together against the government, Sanjuro would head a provisional government for the restoration of the monarchy, not specifying the monarch to be restored. But if the Carlist had to rise alone, Sanjuro would support Alfonso Carlos as king. Sanjuro sent a letter to Mola by the prince which assumed he would lead any army uprising which might take place, and another letter to Alfonso Carlos declaring his respect and adherence to him, if not quite a full endorsement of Alfonso Carlos claim to be king. This was very close to it. Sanjuro seemed on the verge of becoming a Carlist, as Varela had done. On May 10, a special electoral college convened for this one occasion overwhelmingly voted Azania president of Spain. The electoral meeting was enlivened by fist fights in the corridors between supporters of Largo Caballero and Pirieto. On the same day, the anarchist union CNT was holding its National Congress at Zaragoza, capital of Aragon in northern Spain. It denounced the Yesanya government as too conservative and voted to accept Largo Caballero's offer of revolutionary syndical unity so long as the Socialists continue to refuse collaboration with the moderate Left or the existing political system of the Republic and to move directly toward the total destruction of the existing political economic order. Yeah, this is just a republic, Right. It's like North Korea. People's Republican. Just Republic. Yeah. Follow the names. Yeah. National Socialists. Yeah. They were Marxists. Yeah, it's right. In the name Socialist Right. Fuck up morons. The Congress's political program included the closing of all churches, the seizure of all factories and all tracks of more than 50 hectares of land by the people who would then set up the Confederation of Autonomous Communes, which was the only form of government acceptable to the Anarchists. They need not have worried about the Socialist Party entering the government despite Prieto's call for it. On May 12, the socialist deputies in the Cortez voted 49 to 19 against doing so. The Left newly elected president Azania. This left newly elected president no alternative but the formation of another minority government staffed by Left Republicans, but spurned by both Socialists and Communists. He then gave this thankless task to Santiago Cesaras Quiroga, a thin, nervous, tubercular Galician with a burning hatred of the Church but little capacity to lead a few Days before becoming prime minister, Cesaro Quiroga had told Calvo Satelo that social revolution does not worry me. Most of his cabinet ministers were drawn from Azania's Left Republican Party. Speaking to the Cortez for the first time as Prime Minister on May 19, Cesar Esquiroga pledged total hostility to fascism and said he needed no support outside the Popular Front. Despite the excesses of the Falange, still forming a small minority of the Spanish right, Fascism was hardly a principal danger in Spain at that moment. As Galvo Saltello declared in a thundering speech before the Cortez May 29, quoting Parliament is haughtily, pompously presiding over the Spanish anarchy. The legislative power gives an impression of normality, while all the other powers, the whole of Spanish life, are the personification of chaos, disorder and abnormality. You are living on anarchy because to repress it you would have to forfeit the political oxygen which these extreme forces give you. Have the courage to die slaying anarchy and Spain will be saved. On May 30, Mola, writing to Sanjuro, recognized the older gentleman general's leadership and rights ahead the provisional government to set up after the projected military coup. While Sanjuro acknowledged Mola as director of the plans for the army rising, Muller's plans included a fallback to Carlos Nevada and a fight to the finish there if the rising failed elsewhere. During June, he made the first specific assignments of officers to command the rising in various cities, though many of them were later changed. But the two most important assignments did not change. General Franco and Colonel Juan de Yaake to Morocco. Despite being separated from Spain by the Straits of Gibraltar, Morocco was vital to the uprising because since the RAF war, in which the native Muslims of Morocco had first defeated the Spanish and then been defeated by them, the greater part of the Spanish professional army was stationed there. Only soldiers of long service could be counted on to follow orders to strike against the constituted government without qualms and danger of mutiny. This was especially true of the numerous Moroccan Muslims the Spanish had taken into their army, who cared nothing at all for the policies of Spain. Yaque, a blunt and hard hitting soldier who was one of the few high ranking Spanish officers then to sympathize with the Falange, was already in Morocco and could plan the rising there in advance. Franco was isolated on the Canary Islands out in the Atlantic and would have to be brought to Morocco, where he had gained a high reputation for courage and good fortune in the war against the Muslim rebels. Despite his relative youth, he was 44 he was one of the highest ranking Spanish generals. He had been commandant of Spain's military academy and thereby had come to know most of the officers. Though usually cold and aloof in public and a poor public speaker, he could be charming in personal conversation, was not overbearing in manner, and was generally well liked and trusted. Most officers in personal touch with him would obey him in a crisis. No one then thought of Franco as the leader of the general's uprising. That was to be Sanjudo as soon as he could be brought in from Portugal. For the time being, it was mola. But Francisco Franco was destined to become Claudio of Spain for 38 years, one of the most controversial figures in modern history. In presenting Franco, we must first divest ourselves of myth. He was not a tyrant or an oppressor, and certainly no totalitarian. He may have been too severe toward his enemies, but he never enslaved his own people. He was not eager for power, though he came to believe God had chosen him to save Spain from destruction and persecution of his fellow Catholics. He did not allow elections to choose a government or a completely free press, because to him that meant a return to the revolutionary anarchy of the second Spanish Republic. But during all his years of rule after the Civil War, the Spanish people could say that they like, say what they liked in the cafes and plazas and regularly did so. He opposed Hitler, frustrating him and his plans by sheer stubbornness. In 1940, the year of Hitler's great power, he didn't oppose him. Hitler asked him for help. If I can think three or four specific things that he wanted that wouldn't tax an army that had just gone through the war and Hitler sending the Condor Legion to basically help win the Spanish Civil War. He expected something in return and he didn't get it. So going on, he accepted arms from Germany and Italy during the Spanish Civil War because no one else would give or sell him any. And the Soviet Union was supplying Largo Caballero's government with large quantities of some of the best weapons. In the spring of 1936, in the Canary Islands, Frank Goh walked in the valley of the Shadow. He and his adored wife and daughter were under 24 hour guard against assassination. Always a strong Catholic, his faith became far more profound under these conditions. In the words of Stanley Payne, a noted historian of Spain, his thoughts turned more to religion than at any previous time in his life. Franco's practice of almost daily devotions dated from these months. This intensified religious life in turn contributed to what eventually became a sense of mission of Franco. Paul Johnson has well said, quoting The Nationalists won the Spanish Civil War primarily because of the capacity and judgment of Franco. Though Franco was an unlovable man and is unlikely ever to win the esteem of historians, he must be accounted one of the most successful public men of the century. His cold heart went with a cool head, great intelligence and formidable nerves of courage and will. The soldier statesman he most resembled was Wellington, a figure much admired in Spain. Franco thought war was a hateful business from which gross cruelty was inseparable. It might sometimes be necessary to advance civilization. He was in the tradition of the Romans, the Crusaders, the Conquistadors, the Tercios of Parma. Franco was never a fascist or had the smallest belief in any kind of utopia or system. I will have to correct that. I mean, they won. They wouldn't have won that war without Adolf's help. I think Franco would would admit that going on. Franco was short and pudgy and looked insignificant except for his large and commanding dark brown eyes. But he had a lion's heart and a steel hard backbone. More than any other man, he saved Spain from the worst faith that could befall any nation in the 20th century conquest by communism, giving his people instead a generation and a half of peace, security, prosperity and personal, if not political freedom, in which the Catholic faith was restored and flourished throughout the country. The Valley of the Fallen will stand against the sky as his monument when all the venomous critics are dust. When all his venomous critics are dust. Well, I think we know what happened. During the spring of 1936, many Catholic schools throughout Spain were closed and some physically destroyed. On June 3, Cedar Cortez, deputy Pabon said that in central Castile alone, from April 20 to May 15, that's 25 days, 79 schools of with over 5,000 pupils had been burned down or closed. On June 4, Gil Robles, with most of the SEDA deputies, walked out of the court says because of what was being done to the Catholic schools. But the government was obdurate. Socialist deputies stressed that the constitution required the closing of Catholic schools and should now be rigorously enforced. On this point, Education Minister Barnes declared on June 4 that the Catholics must leave their schools because they had not done enough to develop secular state education. When they controlled the government, God was to be excluded from all Spanish education come what might. On June 4, Mola had his first meeting with a major Carlist leader, Jose Oriol Carlis, chief in Alava province. Oriol offered Mola full support in his planned uprising and put him in touch for the first time with Val Conde On June 9, Mola met with the Count of Radesno, a Navarrese who had been secretary General of the traditionalist communion for all Spain. Before Falcon Day. He promised Rodesnos that the old red and gold flag of Spain, which the republic had abolished, would be flown by the armies of the uprising. Meanwhile, on June 5, Mullah circulated a secret memorandum on how Spain would be governed after the military coup. The existing constitution would be suspended and, the court says, dismissed in a directory of officers consisting of a president and four others would act as provisional government, ruling by decree. Until a new constituent assembly met. However, the republic would be maintained rather than the monarchy restored, and the church and state would continue to be separated. This was contrary to Carla's goal. So on June 11, Falconde sent Jose Zamanillo to Mola with a set of firm Carlos conditions for supporting the military uprising Mola was planning. It was to be conducted under the red and gold flags of the monarchy. Mola had already promised that to Radesno the republican constitution was to be scrapped. The state was to be Catholic rather than secular. Secular political parties were to be abolished and a corporate state established in which different social elements were represented, rather than the whole population of legislative districts voting for representatives of the Cortez. 5 the provisional government must have a carless member of education, propaganda and church relations, while the minister for local government and corporations was to be either a Carlist or someone fully acceptable to them. Mola repried, replied to Zaminillo two days later that these terms were inadmissible and would commit the new state to sectional interests. On June 16, Val Conde came to Pamplona to meet Mola. They conferred all day at the Irish monastery near Estea, which had been the Carlos capital during the Third Carlos War, 1870-76. Mola, unyielding, gave Falconde his memorandum on June 5 stating his intention to maintain the republic and the separation of church and state. Falconde reiterated the demands he had sent to Zaminillo to make on June 11. The two stubborn men did not like each other and clash repeatedly. No progress was made. On that same day in Madrid, Gil Robles presented the latest statistics on revolutionary destruction since the February elections. 160 churches totally destroyed, 269 mainly political murders and 1287 assaults in the same category. Quoting. A country can live under a monarchy or republic with a parliamentary or presidential system, under communism or fascism, but it cannot live in anarchy. Gil Robles Crud now, alas, Spain is in anarchy. During the next few days, Miguel Mara, the second Republic's first Minister of the Interior spoke out after a long silence. Spain, he said, confronted nearly 3 million revolutionaries in the anarchist union CNT and Largo Caballero's militant socialist union UGT about 1 1/2 million in each. The Republic which he had helped to create had been transformed into a tool of the revolutionaries. Miguel Mora, a Republican who was to support the government during the Civil War, spoke the simple hard truth which quotations already presented in this book have amply proved, but which many historians of the Spanish Civil War and its causes still refuse to face. Quote Today the Republic is no more, though I would like to believe unconsciously that the tool of the violent revolutionary sector of the working class is which, shielded by the liberal democratic system and the blindness of certain leaders of the Republican parties, is preparing in minute detail an assault on the government and the extermination of capitalist and middle class society. They tell us this themselves in their newspapers and public meetings. If the Republic is to be this, it is inexorably condemned to swift extinction in the hands of those who claim to be its defenders, or, which is more probable at the hands of a reaction from the opposite direction. On June 23, Franco made a last appeal to the government by writing to Prime Minister Kasaras Quiroga, warning him that recent events were imperiling the discipline of the army, a rather transparent reference to the prospect of a military coup. Kasarovskiraga did not reply. The next day Mola signed his approval of the planned over rising of the regular army in Morocco under Colonel Yagweh, to be signaled by a coded telegram which Mola would send at the appropriate moment. All his arrangements with the generals were made, but he held up the signal while he continued his negotiations with the Carlists. Though Mola did not like the Carlist political program, he had come to realize that without active Carla support, at least in Nevada, there would be no rising there. The Estonian troops stationed there under his direct command were unreliable, since their province, which had revolted against the government of Leroux and gil Robles in 1934, had been deeply penetrated by the Left. Mola probably knew that the Carlis were also sufficiently well organized and prepared in many other parts of Spain to make their support exceedingly valuable. Indeed, only they could give the rising a genuinely popular characteristic, make it more than a strictly military coup. On June 30th he met with three principal Nevada's Carlist leaders, the Canada Resno, Joaquin Baleztena and Jose Martinez Bedesan. They seem more flexible to him than Falconde, more eager to join the rising, regardless of the nature of the new government it would install. But the Carlis were highly organized to represent throughout Spain and had a strong military force in being that Ekete ready to put into the field. Mola needed the support of the whole communion and only Falconde could give it to him. The stakes were very high. Military coups have come frequent in history, have been frequent in the history of Hispanic countries, and sometimes their governments last for many years, but none injure for very long. Historically speaking, military men can rescue a country and rule it through a time of crisis. A particularly gifted general like Franco may rule for a lifetime, but in the end, the soldiers will return to their barracks and civilians must be found to govern. Without clear new principles to guide it, civilian government would reflect at best merely the personal interests of its leader. At worst, a renewal of revolution. The new Catholic Spain, which the Carlisle saw could not be built by generals alone. The Carlos must have a major part in creating it, because in the end only they fully understood and could preserve it. Mola would not give them that role. Franco, wholly non ideological as he was, never really understood the Carlist nor gave them power. But Sanjuro, son of father slain in the third Carlos war, might have done so. He was their hope, and to him they now turned. All right, so all of this is just building up to getting Franco out of Canary to Morocco and then getting everybody back to the mainland from North Africa. I think the history of this is incredibly important because it's basically a religious war. And I think anybody who is very familiar with the Spanish Civil War and what led up to it can look at the United States right now and see that they could. This is a lot of that echoes here. So just to. I wanted to do this again, say this again because it's pretty incredible when you start looking at the numbers here. It was. Yeah. Trying to find the numbers of how many. Yeah. So I said during the next few days, Miguel Mora spoke a long. Spain, he said, confronted nearly 3 million revolutionaries in the anarchist union CNT. So the anarchist union CNC had 3 million revolutionaries ready to fight. And we're talking about the most vile, some of the most vile, disgusting people who've ever lived. You'll find out Largo Caballero's militant socialist Union UGT about 1 1/2 million in each. Not much better people. So you're looking at 5 million revolutionaries. And if I do a quick little population count for see if I can pull up Spain's population in 1936. 6. So in 1936, five. They had there were 5 million revolutionaries, leftist Marxist scum in a country of 25 million people. One fifth of the country was revolutionary scum. And there was still more. There was still a larger section of the country that was going to side with the government. Yeah, this is just about a republic, right? They wanted freedom and they wanted peace, and evil right wingers rose up and overthrew them. Next episode we'll get into July and that's really when things start going the they hit the gas pedal. I'm looking at my little every dating

[Pete]

app SWAT is another loss gym bros fake CEOs, straight up losers. So now the only app I open is Moto Casino. Because at least there I'm surrounded by winners. Real winners. Thousands of them. While everyone else is in the single swamp, I'm at home relaxing while cycling,

[Narrator]

stacking bonuses, hitting wins, and playing all

[Pete]

my favorite Vegas style games. Moto Casino the only app worth your time. Download the Moto Casino app today must be 21/ Moto Casino America Social Casino Forget everything you had planned for this weekend because you are sitting on your couch and winning from the comfort of your own home. I'm here with Spinquest where you can play hundreds of slot games, all the table games you love, and you could even win real cash prizes. New users $30 coin packs are on sale for [e-mail] Spin Quest is a free to play social casino void where prohibited. Visit spinquest.com for more details. Hey guys, Lady Luck here. Are you going on any road trips this summer? I know I'm going to be going on a bunch of road trips and being that I'm going to be Passenger Princess, I Love playing on Spinquest.com Spinquest has all of my favorite slot games Live Blackjack Live Craps. Head on over to Spinquest right now and get yourself a $30 coin pack for just 10 bucks. Spin Quest is a free to play Social casino void where prohibited. Visit spinquest.com for more details.

[Narrator]

Yep, that's what we're coming up to. All right, so there were some ads during this if you want to get the episodes early and ad free. Freemanmyonthewall.com forward/support. You can support me there. Patreon Subscribestar Gumroad Substack Substack where I'm doing a few extra videos every week. Not very long videos, but just talking about what's on my mind when I first wake up in the morning and looking at anything that's been happening recently or Just Evergreen Topics. So, yeah, do that. And drop in, keep listening, because it's just gonna get. It's gonna get way more insane. I've already read this book. It's gonna get way more insane. I'm trying to get a. A couple guests to come on, actually, and do some reading with me and maybe an expert or two. All right. Until episode three. Take care.

[Pete]

Bye.

[Narrator]

I want to welcome everyone back to part three of my reading of Warren Carroll's the Last Crusade. I am pretty sure I said in the first two episodes that his middle initial was E and it's actually h. Sorry, Mr. Carroll in heaven. And sorry to the Carroll family. That was dumb. Want to remind you about Thomas and my review of movies. Freemanbeyondhewall.com Movies We've reviewed the great 1984 movie Red Dawn, Taxi Driver from 1976, and Near Dark from 1987, so check those out. Also, Antelope Hill Press, it has some amazing books there. Some books that I have, I have to get around to reading. Some that I haven't. Some I have. If you go there, anything you buy Pew at checkout. All lowercase, 5% off your order. All right, so this July, getting into July 1936, this is the longest chapter in the book. So this is probably. This is probably going to be split up into three episodes. So, yeah, this is basically how everything happens. So let's do this. July. After another meeting of Falconde and Mola July 7 produced no results whatsoever, Falconde sent Antonio Lazarza to Portugal to urge Sanjuro to purchase persuade Mola to make substantial concessions to the Carlis. The critical negotiations of the next week have been much reviewed and discussed by historians who have tended to dwell on the great difficulty Falconde and Prince Javier would have had in holding the Rakete back. If the Rising occurred without them, and therefore to state or imply that Mola could have simply assumed their support and did not really make. Did not really need to make any concessions to them. Also for this reason, the concessions which Lucarlos did eventually obtain from San Juro are dismissed as illusory or unimportant. Though there is some force in these arguments, they have been greatly overstated. Romola could not afford to assume anything. His very life was at stake. If the Rising failed and he was captured, he would be shot. He said later that he would have killed himself if the Carlis had not joined him. He very much wanted a free hand after the Rising began and was prepared to go a long way to get it, but not all the way. Not to a total rejection of all the Carlis sought. They did have some bargaining leverage with him, as Falconde, the lawyer, well knew. Carlism was an old cause which had been thought dead. It had been revived by an extraordinary combination of historical convergences and coincidences. The Carlis would almost certainly never have such an opportunity again. They must make the most of it. Their future depended on gaining strong influence in the new government of Spain that would be established by a successful rising. They must come into the Rising as full partners with a pledge from the military leadership to grant at least a substantial part of what meant most to them. For this they look now to Sanjuro. On July 9, Sanjuro wrote a letter for Lazarza to take back to Falkande and Mola, saying that the Carlis should be allowed to fly the red and gold flag of the monarchy from the beginning, while the regular army at the outset of the rising should fly no flag at all. That the provisional government after the rising should be apolitical, including civilian as well as military members, and should dismantle the Republic, rectify its religious and social legislation, abolish political parties and establish a genuinely new state without the liberal parliamentary system. He made no mention of the Ministry of Education, Propaganda and Church Relations, or of the Ministry of Local Government. Even so, the concessions were large, much of what Falconde had demanded. Lazarzo was overjoyed, firmly believing that Sanjuro had given his backing to the Carlists. When Lazarza presented Sanjuro's letter to Mola July 12, Mola questioned its authenticity. Later it was reported that it lacked a secret countermark, which Sanjuro placed on his genuine letters, and that Sansoro sent a separate emissary to Mola, unknown to Lazarza, to explain that he had only signed the letter to keep the Carlis in the movement. He was not restricting Mola's freedom of action. This report, contained in the Spanish government's official history of the civil war, but not attested elsewhere, is open to grave doubt. For it was very much in the interest of the Franco government after the civil war to deny any commitment had ever been made to the Carlis, who had no significant role in that government, especially since Sanjuro and Mola, who might have set the record straight, were both by then, were by then both dead. On the face of it, the letter is genuine, and Lazarza, who received it personally from Sanjurjo, always insisted that it was. On that same day, apparently without yet knowing the contents of Sanjurjo's letter, Balestena Berrasan and two other Navarrese Carlos leaders went to St Jean Deleuze to confer with Javier, telling him that Mola had agreed to allow the Raquete to use the red and gold flag and the Carlis to administer Nevada after the Rising. Javier said this was not good enough and he would have to contact Alfonso Carlos in Vienna before accepting these minor concessions as sufficient to justify full Carlos support of the Rising. But when pressed, Javier agreed that if the Rising occurred before Alfonso Carlos reply arrived, he would commit the rikete to it the next day. Monday, July 3rd, 13th. Mola, upon receiving the news of the murder of Rightist leader Calvo Satelo the preceding night, set the hour of the Rising in Morocco at dawn 5am Saturday, July 18, with the risings in Spain to come on the following day, Sunday the 19th. On July 14th, Mola wrote to Lazarza formally accepting the conditions stated by Sanjurjo in his letter of July 9, whose authenticity he had allegedly questioned. Martin Blinkhorn's statement that Mola had nothing to lose by doing so is not reasonable. Any leader, even if sure of victory, and no one was sure of victory in Spain at that point, has something to lose by putting political pledges in writing, specifically his freedom of action if he keeps his word or if he does not keep his word. The difficulty he may later encounter in explaining why he did not not keep is more probable that Mola believes Sanjudo wanted his agreement with the Carlos and with the Rising now imminent, decided to comply. The letter from Mola satisfied Falconde and Prince Javier. The Carlos rising in Pamplona was set for Sunday, July 19, one day after the military rising and the Prince and Falconde signed the order to mobilize the echete. Quoting the traditionalist communion with all its forces in the whole of Spain, joins the military movement for the salvation of the Fatherland. Assuming that His Excellency the General Director Mola accepts a program of government along the general lines contained in the letter directed to him by His Excellency General Sanjuro on the 9th of this month, end quote, the Rakete were ordered to recognize officers of the regular army as in overall command of the Rising, but not to fight under any banner, but the red and gold, to keep their own symbols and organization and where possible, to make a consecration of the Sacred Heart and to receive the sacraments in preparation for the crusade they were undertaking. Yeah, I mean, I think if you listen to the first two, you understand just how serious this was. The republican government, the anarchists and the socialists, the communists, they want them all dead. So this is literally another crusade where they're basically fighting for the history of their country. They're fighting for the right to live historically, something that was pretty much taken away from the west after World War II. An indispensable element of Mola's plan for the rising in Morocco was to get Franco there, since he was confident, rightly as it out turned turn rightly as it turned out, that nearly everyone in the army in Morocco would follow Franco if he were present in person. Franco was stationed in the Canary Islands. There was not nearly time enough for a sea voyage, nor had Franco a plausible excuse for making one. He had to come by air. And air transport in 1936 was still largely the preserve of adventurers and inventors. It was still considered unusual and rather daring to fly across the English Channel, though there was a commercial airline making such flights. The author has a footnote here. He says, my parents took it that fall with me, aged four. We nearly froze when the heaters failed. That's really interesting. The overseas flight from the Canary Islands to Morocco was much longer, 150 miles, and no commercial planes flew it. The problem had been foreseen and a plan made to solve it. On July 5, the publisher of Madrid's monarchist newspaper, ABC, called the papers correspondent in London, Luis Bolin, with instructions to charter a plane in England able to fly from the Canary Islands to Morocco. Cost, Bolin was told, was no object. This is in parentheses. One of Spain's wealthiest men, Juan March, who had fled the country the day after the February 1936 election with much of his money provided the funds. The Spaniard, Juan de la Cierva, inventor of the helicopter, was living in London. Bolin knew him well and called upon him immediately. La Cierva sent him to Croydon Airport near London the next day, where a small company called Ali Air Services had a twin engine de Havilland plane to rent, called the Rapid Dragon, which could carry up to seven people. La Cierva suggested he take along another man and two glamorous women to make the party look like tourists. On July 8, they had lunch with Douglas Jerrold, editor of the Catholic periodical English Review. Bolin told Gerald he needed a companion and two young and attractive women to accompany him on a mission to West Africa, whose purpose he could not disclose, but which he was sure the sympathetic Gerald strongly suspected. Gerald suggested a retired Major, Hugh Pollard, who was an expert with firearms and very much of your way of thinking. Pollard was called and agreed to see them at his home. A true British adventurer of the old school, he accepted Boleyn's unique proposition only after a few minutes of reflection and offered his daughter Diana and her friend Dorothy Watson, 19 and 21 respectively, as the glamorous blondes. Diane was overjoyed. Bubbling it's too wonderful for words. I can hardly believe it. The next day, the 9th, Bolin paid Ali Air Services for the rental of the Rapid Dragon and was introduced to the pilot, Captain Cecil Henry William Henry Bebb, young but very competent, with red hair and freckles, blue eyes and an infectious grin. A mechanic and radio operator were also engaged for the trip. At 7:15 in the morning, Saturday, July 11, Bolin, Beb Pollard, Diana, Dorothy, the mechanic and the radio operator took off from Croydon, none but Bolin knowing their mission. Thus did the Rapid Dragon fly merrily into history as its two beautiful feminine passengers flirted with its handsome young pilot under the indulgent eye of Major Pollard. While Louis Boleyn's eyes kept slipping to his watch. As the tense drama of the cataclysmic week unfolds, the reader should always keep one ear open for the drone and rattle of the Rapid Dragon swin engine as its primitive propellers beat through the air, guided always by Cecil Beb's steady hand upon the stick. After a sometimes harrowing 10 hour flight during which the Rapid Dragon iced up over the Pyrenees and nearly ran out of gas over Portugal, since they had only roadmaps to set their course, Beb landed at a military airfield at Espinho, near Porto. At quarter past eight in the evening, Diana and Dorothy helped to charm the lieutenant in charge into not arresting their party and confiscating their plane for their unauthorized landing. This is like a movie. This is unbelievable. I mean, I've read it, so I know, but yeah. That night they dined in style at a restaurant called Escondi, Escondid Inho the little hidden one in Porto, and went on the next morning, Sunday the 12th, to Lisbon. General Sanjuro was staying with his family at a small hotel in that city. But when Bolin went to see him, he found him not at home home. Told he might be at the famous resort of Estudel, 16 miles away, Bolin got a car and sped out there, but still could not find the general. Returning to Lisbon, he amazingly encountered Senjuro in a car in a narrow street. Bolin told him he was going to bring Franco from the Canary Islands to Morocco. Sanjudo assured him that his mission was supremely important since only Franco could be counted on to rally the Moroccan army to the rising. Bolin now decided the time had come to let his English colleagues in on at least part of this tremendous secret. Their destination, he told them, was the Canary Islands. If for any reason he was unable to go all the way there, the major, after landing at the airport on Grand Canary island, the only one big enough to accommodate the Rapid Dragon, was to go by sea to the island of tenerife and contact Dr. Nkaraba in its town of Santa Cruz with the message Galicia salutes France, which would mean the airplane has arrived. He and Diana and Dorothy should then remain on the island for a few days and return to England by sea. To Beb, he said only that his destination was the Canaries and that he would have different passengers for the return journey whom Pollard would present to him. Beb responded right o. Bolin and his passengers reboarded the Rapid Dragon and took off from Lisbon at quarter past four in the afternoon of a very hot day, determined to reach Africa before nightfall. In these days, no one who could possibly avoid it flew planes by night. Near sundown, at quarter of eight in the evening, Captain Bebb landed at Casablanca in French Morocco. At 9:45 that night, a Falangist hit squad shot and killed Jose Castillo, the communist lieutenant, and the assault guards who had shot the falungists in the battle at the cemetery in Madrid in April. On April 17th, at 2 o' clock in the morning of Monday the 13th, a reprisal team of assault guards led by Fernando Condes, a close friend of Castillo, after obtaining authorization from the government's interior minister to arrest some falungas, went to the home of Antonio Goyiche, a close parliament, paramilitarily paramilitary parliamentary roof. Let's do that. Let's try that again. Went to the home of Antonio Goya Eche, a close parliamentary ally of the outspoken monarchist Calvo Satelo, but found Guaiche not at home. Then they went to the home of Gil Robles, but found him gone also. Then they decided to seize Calvo Sotelo himself. Calvo Sotello's life had been threatened twice on the floor of the Cortez by militant socialist Nelkin and Galassa on May 7 and July 1. Early in July, his police escort had been sold by a police official named Aguirre Sanchez not to oppose any attempt to assassinate him. Jose Cavo Sotello did not fear death. Sometimes he seemed to invite it, to hope to become a martyr for Catholic Spain. At the great debate in Cortez June 16 on the collapse of law and order in Spain, he had said, quoting, I recall the answer given by Saint Dominic of Silos to a Spanish king. Sire, my life you may take from me, but more you cannot take. It is not indeed better to perish. Is it not indeed better to perish gloriously than to live in contempt? Informed July 8th of the orders given to Aguirre Sanchez not to protect him from assassination, he remarked that perhaps his murder would inspire the organizers of the projected rising to put aside their differences and unite. So when the fatal knock came upon his door in Velasquez street in Madrid at 3 o' clock in the morning, and his night watchman let Condes and his team of vengeful assault guards into the house on the display of Condes identity identification papers, Calvo Sotello calmly told his wife and daughter that he would let them take him to police headquarters. From there, he said he would telephone them later. Unless these gentlemen are going to blow my brains out. One of them, Victoriano Cuenca, a young Galician Socialist, did precisely that. As their service truck reached the corner of Ayala, Ayala and Velasco streets without stopping or even slowing down, they proceeded to the nearest cemetery. Captain Condeis presented his papers again to the caretaker who opened the cemetery gates. Calvo Sotello's body was dumped inside without identification. The truck drove away almost as soon as they left the cemetery. The driver said, someone will surely denounce us. Conde's replied, don't worry, nothing will happen. Jose del Rey, a friend of Conde, said in confirmation, whoever whispers a word about this is a dead man. We'll kill him in the same way that we killed that swine. Nevertheless, they were arrested the following afternoon. But there was not nearly time left to bring them to trial before the war began. Told of the murder which galvanized almost every opponent of the government and the revolutionaries in Spain, Prime Minister Casitos Quiroga could only say, what a mess they've gotten us into. The news reached Bolin in Casablanca that afternoon, and he instantly realized that he must now have Franco picked up and brought to Spanish Morocco with the greatest possible speed. But it was not clear where Franco could land. Spanish Morocco had only four airfields that could accommodate a plane the size of the Rapid Dragon, the international airport at Tangier, and three military fields. Franco could not risk landing at any of them until he was sure of a friendly reception. Bolin decided that he had to remain in Casablanca to act as liaison between Spanish Morocco, his associate, the market for the Marques de Merito had gone to Tangier for that purpose. And the Rapid Dragon going and returning from the Canary Islands. This would have the additional advantage that only Englishmen and women would now be aboard the Rapid Dragon, diverting any suspicion as to its real mission. Meanwhile, Bev and the mechanic were checking out the Rapid Dragon's engines, and the radio operator had disappeared into the Kasbah, where he was eventually found in an alcoholic stupor. Do you blame him? The disgusted Pollard wanted nothing more to do with him. Beb will find the islands without the bastards help, he told Boleyn. Why not pack him home? I'll seats to everything. My consul will send him back on a tramp steamer, and it won't cost you a penny. On Tuesday the 14th, the funerals of both Calvo Sotelo and Lt. Castillo were held in Madrid. Castillo's coffin was draped in a red flag, befitting the communists he had been men. It was saluted with clenched fists by communist socialists and fellow assault guard. Cavalcazella was buried, as he had requested, in a Franciscan habit. His close associate Goyichea declaimed, quoting before that flag placed like a cross on your chest. Before God that hears and sees us, we make a solemn oath to put our lives to this triple work, to imitate your example, avenge your death and save Spain, which is all one thing. To save Spain will be to avenge your death, and to imitate your example will be the sure way to save Spain. Gil Robles, less inspirational but more pithy, predicted Satelo's blood will drown the government. Immediately after Calvo Satello's funeral, the assault guards in Madrid engaged in another gun battle with Falangas, which produced four dead and several wounded. Largo Caballero, who had been attending a meeting of the Socialist International in London, returned by train to Madrid that day. His advisory. Prieto, who had so often warned about against the coming disaster, was now reconciled to it. For all his relative moderation, he had no doubt which would be his side quoting. If reaction dreams of a bloodless coup d' etat like that of 1923, it is entirely mistaken if it supposes that it will find the regime defenseless. It is deluding itself to conquer, it will have to surmount the human barrier with which the proletarian masses bars its way. There will be, I have said it too many. I have said it many times, a battle to the death, because each side knows that the adversary, if he wins, will give him no quarter. Even if this were the way it had to be, a decisive engagement would be better than this continual bloodletting. About noon On Wednesday the 15th, after taking off from Casablanca at dawn, the Red Dragon landed at the exceedingly primitive airfield in Cabo Llubi in the Spanish Sahara, the closest point on the African continent to the Canary Islands. The garrison at this desert outpost was much impressed by the plane and by Diana and Dorothy. Numerous chickens were killed, plucked and roasted for a banquet in their honor. In Spain it is usual to eat the main meal. In the early afternoon, at which the English party had a little too much to drink, the Spanish commander at Cabohubi radioed the Ministry of War in Madrid to report the group's unauthorized arrival and destination. The staff there forwarded the message to General Franco as commandant of the Canary Islands, directing him to detain them for questioning when they arrived there. But no one tried to detain them at Cabohubi, and by mid afternoon they were flying over the 150 miles of ocean separating the Canary Islands from the island African coast. In just over an hour they had landed at Gondo airport near San Palmas on the island of Grand Canary. Captain Bebb was successful in convincing the authorities that there that their arrival without papers of any kind was a mere oversight by a muddle headed tourists. By muddle headed tourists. The day the Cortez met in Madrid under that day the Quartz has met in Madrid under a standing order for deputies to check all firearms. In the cloakroom, most of the right declared that this was the last session they would attend. Before walking out with almost all his SATA deputies, Gil Robles presented his final statistics on disorder. Since his previous speech of June 16, there had been 61 more killed, 224 more injured, 74 more bombings, 10 more churches burned and nine more priests attacked. Back war, he declared, was now inevitable, quoting when citizens lives are at the mercy of the first gunman. When the government is incapable of putting an end to this state of affairs. Do not pretend that people believe in either legality or democracy. Rest assured that they will turn more and more to paths of violence. And we who are not capable of preaching violence nor of profiting from it, will gradually be displaced by others, bolder and more violent men who will come to harvest this deep national feeling. End quote. Now Franco had to get from Tenerife, where he had been living under the towering two mile high peak of Mount Teed, to Las Palmas on Grand Canary, where the rapid dragon awaited him. At 7:30 in the morning of Thursday the 16th, Pollard, Diana and Dorothy arrived at Tenerife somewhat the worse for a rough Passage. Pollard went immediately to Dr. Gabarda to give him the coded message. Since he knew hardly a word of Spanish, he had to spell it out. Suspicious of this peculiar procedure, the doctor cold shouldered him. Pollard kept him aplomb. Fortunately, Dr. Gabbarda spoke English and Pollard gave him the actual message in that language that the aircraft had arrived. It was transmitted quickly. Soon afterward, a young officer in plain clothes came up to Pollard to say, can the plane fly direct to Spanish Morocco? Is the pilot quite reliable? When will he be ready to leave? The day before, General Amadeo Balmas, military governor of Las Palmas in the Canary Islands, had shot and killed himself during target practice while trying to unblock a jammed pistol. That sounds fishy. His funeral was scheduled for Friday the 17th, giving Franco a good reason for leaving Tenerife to go to Las Palmas in order to attend it it just before midnight, he took ship with his wife and daughter for the inter island journey. But conspiracies to overthrow governments rarely go exactly as planned. In the morning of the 17th, meeting in the map room at Malia, Colonel Juan Se? A Fangist and designated leader of the Rising in eastern Morocco, briefed fellow fus on the plans and distributed arms to them. The traitor in the F in the Falange betrayed the plan. Learning of the betrayal almost as soon as it took place, Colonel Segui went to the Spanish Foreign Legion, its creator and flamboyant commander, Jose Milan Estre, who had lost a leg, an arm and most of his teeth, and had made Hail Death, the Legion's battle cry, and El Novio de la Morta, he who is betrothed to death. Their song was in Argentina, but the men he had trained and inspired were ready for anything. They gave full support to Colonel Segui. With them behind him, he arrested General Manuel Romeros, the commander of the army in eastern Morocco, who was loyal to the government and reputedly the fattest general in the army. He was shot before nightfall and act with the passions and fears of the moment may explain but cannot excuse. Sagui immediately telegraphed Colonel Yake, designated second to Franco in the leadership of the Rising in Morocco, at the city of Quetta, where he was stationed. To report what had happened. He sent a similar telegram to Franco in Las Palmas. By the end of the evening, all of Spanish Morocco except the town of Larace had been secured before the government in Madrid found out what was going on. Larace resisted through the night, but fell to the rebel officers at dawn. Arriving at Las Palmas on the 17th, Franco attended Balmas funeral in the morning. During the afternoon, he walked calmly through the town and arranged for his wife and daughter to board a German ship to sail to safety. He ate dinner late, as is the Spanish custom. At 4 o' clock in the morning of Saturday, July 18, he was awakened to read his telegram from Morocco telling him that the Rising had taken place ahead of time. He wasted not a moment. It does not appear that he had confided in many officers stationed in the Canary Islands about the Rising. Indeed, some authorities believe leave. He had not made his final decision to join it until a few days before. But now he moved with cool and masterful decision and most of the officers followed him. During the next two hours, while most of the people and the soldiers were asleep, he secured the islands occupying their radio stations, powerhouses and reservoirs. He proclaimed martial law and sent telegrams to generals in Morocco and throughout Spain urging them to rally to his cause. Each message message ended with the words blind faith in victory.

[Pete]

Hi Uncle Laser. Here America's built on fast cars, fast food and even faster women. Moto casinos built in America. You know what they're fast at? Fast cash prize redemption. You see, only Moto is US owned and operated Moto. It's American made. That's who we are and that's who we care about. Play for free at Moto US Moto Casinos to Social Casino. We're prohibited. No purchase necessary. Visit Moto US for more details. Must be 21/ Moto Casino America Social Casino hey guys, Lady Luck here. Are you going on any road trips this summer? I know I'm going to be going on a bunch of road trips and being that I'm going to be passenger Princess, I love playing on spinquest.com Spin Quest has all of my favorite slot games. Live blackjack, live craps. Head on over to Spinquest right now and get yourself a $30 coin pack for just 10 bucks. Spinquest is a free to play social casino void. Where prohibited. Visit spinquest.com for more details. What's going on everyone? It's bluff here. And you know what's more American than America's 250th birthday? Supporting American owned companies like Spinquest. America's number one social casino with over a thousand games like live dealer blackjack and craps. They're offering new users a 30 coin package for just $10. Go to spinquest.com and sign up.

[Narrator]

Today.

[Pete]

Spinquest is a free to play social casino void. Where prohibited. Visit spinquest.com for more details.

[Narrator]

At 5:15 in the morning, Canary Islands Radio Stations began broadcasting Franco's proclamation drafted before his departure from Tenerife brief stating his reasons for taking up arms against Spain's government. Quoting Spaniards. Whoever feels a holy love of Spain, whoever among the army and the navy has made profession of faith in the service of his country, whoever has sworn to defend her from her enemies, the nation calls you to her defense. With each day the situation in Spain becomes more critical. In most of her fields and villages, anarchy reigns. The authority of the government is employed. So foment meant revolution. His proclamation promised a new political order described only in the most general terms. It was also notable for what it did not say. There was no reference to General San Juro and there was no reference to the peril of the church, nor the attacks made on her. The Spanish Civil War was not yet a crusade. At 2 o' clock that afternoon, a short, dark complexion man walked up to the rapid dragon and introduced himself to camp stamped Captain Bebb with a firm handshake. I am General Franco. He climbed into the plane with two companions and a radio operator. Major Pollard, Diana and Dorothy remained on Las Palmas. As they soared over the eastern Atlantic leading to the coast of Africa. Franco took off his uniform, changed into civilian dress so as not to be identified when they landed in French Morocco and tossed the uniform into the sea. They refueled at Agadir. When at length they approached Casablanca a few minutes before 9 o', clock, it was the last stage of twilight. Bolin was waiting at the airport. All police and customs officials had left for the night. Assuming no planes would arrive in the dark, someone turned on the landing lights. A fuse promptly blew and they went out. It was too dark to land without them. Captain Bebb had to make a second approach to the Runway, while fortunately available electrician replaced the fuse immediately after his landing. They had a fast meal of ham sandwiches and beer at the airport and then went to a shabby hotel some distance away from the city. Franco and Boleyn shared a small room where Franco talked until 2 in the morning, reviewing prospects for the rising. With remarkable foresight, which proved almost correct, Franco said that most of the military officers in the country and the country people of Spain, would support his cause from the beginning. But most of the cities in the present rank and file of the army and navy probably would not. That would mean a long war, not a quick takeover. Could they win such a war? Boleyn asked. Franco answered, in the last resort we would take to the hills and from there carry out the kind of guerrilla warfare at which my men excel. The enemy could never beat us, but we shall not have to do that. We have ideals, faith and discipline. Our opponents lack all this. It may take longer than most people think, but in the end, we are certain to win. After just two hours sleep, Franco and Belen rejoined their party at the Casablanca airport at dawn, Sunday, July 19. For the first time, they were asked for their passports. Franco had a diplomatic passport given to him by a friendly official in the Spanish Foreign Ministry, into which he had inserted his own photograph. No one checked the physical description, which did not fit Franco at all. Franco's aide, Salgado, had no passport, but got through by saying that Bolin had it. Once in the air, Franco donned another uniform. They landed at the Spanish Moroccan city of Tetuan, firmly held by the rebel officers. At 7am the historic flight of the Rapid Dragon was completed as General Franco took command of the army in Morocco against the government of Spain. Meanwhile, the betrayal of the rising in Morocco by the Falunga spy had disarrayed its whole program. From early in the morning on Saturday the 18th, the government was on the air, declaring that no one had risen outside Morocco and that the rebellion there would be swiftly put down. The appearance of calm control of the situation given by these radio broadcasts was very far from the truth. Prime Minister Cesaros Quiroga was in a state of near panic, shouting and screaming. At one moment, he blurted in what could have been either a pathetic attempt at humor or a touch of madness, they're rising. Very well. I shall go and lie down. Whenever anyone was listening to the radio, the element surprise was lost. This caused many of the generals who had conspired with Mola to hesitate. One who did not hesitate was Quiepo de Llano in Sevilla. He was assigned to lead its rising, but had only arrived in the city the day before and had just four officers with him. But he moved at once before most of the military men in the city had heard of the rising in Morocco or had time to grasp its significance. In an astonishing demonstration of bluff and bravado, he prevailed. His proceedings would be incredible if they were not well documented. First, he set up his headquarters in a block of offices in a building abandoned because of Sevilla's fierce summer heat. Then he walked unannounced into the office of General Fernandez Villa Abrielle, commander of the army in Andalusia. I have to tell you, quiepo informed the astounded general, that the time has come to take a decision. Either you are with me and my other comrades, or you are with this Government who is leading spade into ruin. When Via Aribria did not respond, Kiebbo declared him and his staff under arrest. Since he had no place to put anybody under arrest, he simply sent them into the next room, which had no lock, turned to a corporal standing nearby in order to shoot anyone who came out of that room. The abashed corporal obeyed, and the equally abashed officer stayed inside. Then Quieppo went to the infantry barracks, where he found that the colonel commanding had drawn up his men in military formation on the plaza. I shake your hand, my dear colonel, Kiepo exclaimed, and I congratulate you on your decision to put yourself on the side of brothers in arms in these hours when the fate of our country is being decided. When the colonel mumbled that he had done no such thing, Quiepo declared him relieved of his command and asked for volunteers to replace him. A young captain raised his hand. Quiepo then told the other officers, you are my prisoners. Like the first group, they accepted their status without protest. At this point, about 25 Carlis, 15 Falangas and a few civil guardsmen appeared to support the rebel general. Later in the day, Quiepo won over the commander of the artillery in Sevilla. He brought his guns into Plaza San Fernando and opened fire on the building housing the civil government, which promptly surrendered. Hearing garbled but alarming reports of these events, the workers of the city began building barricades. But that evening, Chiepa went on the radio. He proved a master of radio propaganda, convincing his listeners that he was fully in charge and would deal mercilessly with anyone who resisted him. And this soon became the fact. Gonzalo Quiepo de Llano has much to answer for. Over the next six months, as military governor for the Nationalists and the south south, he was no crusader, hardly a Catholic. In 1931, he had approved the burning of churches and convents. But if other local leaders of the Rising had displayed half his bold panache, hundreds of thousands of Spanish lives might have been saved. With the Rising successful in Morocco and Sevilla, it would be feasible to bring the veteran soldiers in Morocco into action in Spain, provided they could cross the Straits of Gibraltar without interference. Both sides recognized the vital importance of control of the straits. As soon as Franco's proclamation was broadcast, Navy Minister Jose Gu ordered three destroyers based at Cart on Cartagena to block the straits and bombard this port of Malia in Morocco, from which troops could embark. The officers of the destroyers announced that they supported the Rising. Guido radioed orders dismissing all officers who refused to obey government orders. A young radio officer named Benjamin Balboa seized control of the main naval radio transmitter on the south coast and used it to rebroadcast these orders repeatedly throughout the day. The crews of the destroyers Sanchez. I'm not going to pronounce that name. And Almirante Valdez consequently mutinied against their officers. But on the third destroyer. That sounds like something from Taco Bell, Churuca, the radio was out of order, so the crew heard nothing, and their officers were able to sail the ship across the straits and pick up the first load of soldiers from the Moroccan army. They were landed at Cadiz at dawn and helped Carlos General Varela secure the port city for the Rising. But in the two principal cities of Spain, Madrid and Barcelona, no officer had yet moved. Pressed by his staff, General Franco Llano de la Encomienda in Barcelona told them that if forced to choose, he preferred communism to fascism. Across the French border, in the Pyrenean village of Saint Jean de Luz that day, Falconde gave Joaquin and Dolores Belez Tennis Tena, members of the first Carlos family in Nevada, Prince Javier's instructions for the Rikete to join the Rising. They cross the border and return to Pamplona. Dolores, carrying the written orders in her sandals. In the streets of Pamplona, she heard the young men wearing red berets singing, the holidays are joyful and the girls are pretty and I must go, for I am called by Alfonso Carlos Bourbon. That evening, word went out that every soldier that at Kte of Nevada Navarra, who could reach the main square of Pamplona the next morning, should be there with arms in their hands, ready for war. All during the night they streamed in from hill and valley with exultation on their faces. The crusading hour had struck that same evening at the National Shrine at the Mountain of the Angels, at the exact center of Spain, graced by a great statue of the Sacred heart.

[Carl Dahl]

Heart.

[Narrator]

Some 30 members of the companies of St. Joseph and the Sacred Heart were engaged in nocturnal adoration of Christ in the tabernacle, praying for the salvation of their country and its faith. Knowing that the shrine and the statue would be in grave danger if war broke out, they decided to post a permanent guard of five men on the mountain. It was a quiet night at the Mountain of Angels, but hell was in Madrid. At three o' clock on the morning of Sunday the 19th, the shattered Casares Quiroga resigned as prime minister. Despite his disintegration, he had resisted to the end demands from the militant socialists and anarchists to distribute Arms to the people. Like every well informed man in Spain, he knew what that would mean. But mobs were already breaking into the arsenals. Churches, monasteries, convents and secular buildings thought to be especially symbolic of the enemy, the class enemy, were being set afire. I still can't get over that that how good the enemy's propaganda is that most people believe that the Spanish Civil War was a bunch of fascists who just overthrew democrats. James Klug describes the nightmare scene quoting. Before the dawn of that black Sunday, the 19th of July, leaping flames and rolling clouds of smoke alternately revealed and obscured the commandeering of vehicles, the looting of shops and restaurants, and scenes of even more violent and tragic vengeance on all who resisted and many who simply stood appalled at all this outrage and disorder. All that night the armed rioters massacred their opponents, including many priests and monks. And the glare of the burning buildings, the crash of falling masonry, the incessant reports of firearms, the thunderous passage of of armored cars and other heavy vehicles tearing through the packed streets, the shrieks of the victims and the ferocious cheering of their executioners turned the capital of Spain into an inferno. Long afterward, in his memoirs, the huge bull necked communist combat commander who called himself El Camp, El Campesino the Peasant, one of the few of his kind to survive the Spanish Civil War, said he still could not imagine how one day could have held so much bloodshed in battle as July 19, 1936. At 4 o' clock in the morning of that day, troops under Major Jose Lopez Amor marched out from the Pedralbas barracks toward the center of Barcelona. A generous ration of brandy had been served to them on empty stomachs. Some were told their mission was to crush an anarchist revolt, others that they were only going to march around the city in honor of the People's Olympiad arranged by critics of the regular Olympic Games that were then being held, conducted under Hitler's eye in Berlin. They reached a Plaza de Catalunya in the center of the city and took possession of the telephone building there, but got no further. Other columns which were intended to join them did not even reach the center of town. General Manuel Goded, who had asked to lead the rising in Barcelona and been approved in that assignment by Mola, had not yet arrived from the Balearic Islands where he was stationed. The rising was beginning without a leader. Barcelona had long been the principal center of Spanish radicalism. It had militant left wing organizations of every stripe, from Lago Caballero Socialist through Trotskyite communists and Stalinist Communists. To moderate anarchists who believed they could cooperate temporarily with some government. To radical anarchists who believed they could cooperate with none. These groups mostly hated each other, but they hated conservative and Catholic Spain more. All turned out in the streets to fight. Increasing numbers of soldiers in the Civil Guard joined them. General Godded arrived in the late morning to find the situation out of control. The Plaza Catalunya covered with dead men and dead horses, fires blazing and bullets sweeping the streets. As evening came, his headquarters were stormed and he was captured. He made a radio broadcast which the government rebroadcast all over Spain, calling on his officers and men to lay down arms. Fate has been against me, he said. General Godded had not learned that crusaders did not believe in fate. He was shot on August 12 at the Cathedral of the Holy Family in Barcelona. That day, armed men of the left entered the building, dug up the body of a woman from its grave under the church and placed it in the entrance in full public view. By dawn, Azania had notice. He doesn't say anarchists did this. He doesn't say socialists did this. You bring this up and communists will say no. That was the anarchist. Who cares? You all deserve to die. That's it. By dawn, Azania had asked his old associate, Diego Martinez Barrio, head of the Republican Union Party, to form a government to succeed Casares and Quirogas. It had no support from those now actually dominating the country. Largo Caballero declared he would prevent such a government from taking power by force of arms, if need be. In an absurd, desperate attempt at compromise, Martinez Barrio telephone General Mola and Pamplona to offer him a post in his new government. The house where Mola was living overlooked the Plaza de Castillo, the center square of Pamplona. It was six o' clock in the morning and the Crusade was forming up outside his window. Six thousand rekechetes filled the square with more arriving every minute, singing Carlos songs and Catholic hymns, going to confession, receiving Holy Communion. In Dolores Bales Tena remembers shouts of joy, happy faces to people sweeping off in the land. Lorries, tractors, farm carts, bringing red berets from every side street into the square. Most of the people in their Sunday best. A man in shirt sleeves leap from a lorry crying, here we come. Confessed and communed for whatever God demands. So General Mola told Martinez Bario, Prime Minister of Spain, for just one day. Quote, what you propose is now impossible. Pamplona is filled full of Carlis. From my balcony I can see only. I see only red berets. Everyone is ready for the battle. If I tell these men now that I have made an arrangement with you, the first head to roll would be mine. Mola had the people's army he needed compromised not of comprised not of unwilling conscripts, but of crusaders. Nothing like this had been seen in Europe since the rising of the Vendee in France against the French Revolution. Many of the Decetes, like the Catholic and Royal army of the Vendee, wore Sacred Heart badges on their shoulders and over their hearts. In that square that morning, mothers hung crucifix. In the square that morning, mothers hung crucifixes around the necks of their sons. Some of. Some villages in Navara were virtually depopulated of men. Arahona sent 775 of its 800 men to the Crusade. Records show as many as eight members of the same family enlisted. Sometimes three generations fought together. A famous story from the war tells that Aete who was asked who should be told if he were killed in action. A famous story from the war tells of that Rikete who was asked who should be told if he were killed in action. Jose Maria de Hernan Dorena of the Tercio of Montehora at age 65. He's my father. And if he should be killed too, then tell Jose Maria de Hernandorena of the tercio Hurah, age 15. He's my son. To quote the reminiscences of one young Rakete who enlisted in Navarra that day, Juan Ura Lusareta, to whose adventures during the rest of the apikal year we will periodically return quoting. I never knew so thrilling a sight. So I never knew so thrilling a joy as seized us. We did not know if we would soon be martyrs or victors. We knew surely that this was by this we would act above all for God, and that the hour had arrived to show with deeds what we had sworn in the face of the ruin of our country and the many profanations the Revolution had inflicted continuously upon the church. We remember that it had been said from the pulpit on the day of the February elections. They will not profane these churches without our having defended them to the death. Now, at this moment the time has come to prove that with what exultation did we leap upon the highways. We keep joking with one another in the warmth of the gladness that invaded us. I'll stop right there and pick it up in the next episode. There are ads in this. If you want to get the episodes early and ad free, go to freemanbeyondhewall.com forward/support 5 Ways to do it on my website there. Subscribestar, gumroad, substack, Patreon and yeah, that's it. We will be back for part four and pick this up, this very long chapter. Thank you. See you then. I want to welcome everyone back to part four of my reading of the Last Crusade by Warren Carroll. A reminder about Thomas and my movie reviews. Freemanbeyondhewall.com Movies head on over there. Check it out. Done three movies so far and picked out the next one and then my wow just went right out of my mind. Antelope Hill Publishing if you go there. Anything you buy PQ at checkout all lowercase 5% off your order. All right, let's get into reading. This last part did a number on me. So we'll pick up from where we left off. Still in July wars here the whole of Navarro was secured for the rising this day, and by four days later the 23rd, there were 20,000 Navarrese Riketas in service. General Mola was able to begin sending them out immediately to assist the rising in other areas. 500 went to help take Logrono to the east. It submitted with almost no resistance, somewhat to the disappointment of the eager younger Raquet, who now shouted out their desire to march immediately to Madrid. 1200 requestes called the Tercio of Maria de la Nievas, named for the wife of Alfonso Carlos, went to Zaroga, Zaragoza, to help General Miguel Cabanes gain and hold that city despite its substantial number of anarchists. A still larger number was sent to the small but populous and industrialized Basque provinces of Askaya and Gipuskoa, whose people were predisposed by strong Basque separatist sentiments who opposed military rule despite being mostly good Catholics. Parentheses the third Basque province, Alava, had been secured by the 3,000 raquetes on July 19 in Burgos, capital of Old Castile. Raquetes gathered on the night of July 18th 19th, under pictures of the Carlis kings, in the presence of an 80 year old veteran of the Third Carlist War who had assembled with the Rakete in Burgos in 1872. They prayed the Rosary together and marched out the next morning to help Colonel Marcelino Gavilan take the city with virtually no resistance. Burgos, the ancient capital of Castile, was soon to become the capital of nationalist Spain. Given the tremendous news far away in Vienna, old Alfonso Carlos gave written confirmation of all the actions which Prince Javier and Falconde had taken in his name, patrolling the streets of La Grogio, July 21 of the little Town of Mendigoria sang a crusader song Always Nevada has been a faithful defender Of Jesus Christ our King for him now we go Nevados to defend his holy law his holy law For Christ the King, our Redeemer the boys of Navara brave champions until victory or death Swear to fight the good fight. In the mountainous province of Asturias, where a leftist revolution against the conservative Republican government had occurred in 1934, two heroic officers took their stand on July 19, at immense risk. Colonel Antonio Aranda, military commander at Oviedo, the capital of Asturias, pretended to uphold the Republic just long enough to send armed revolutionary mine workers marching away from the city, then called upon his soldiers and people to put an end once and for all to this era of innumerable crimes perpetrated under cover of a love for democracy and the Republic. Colonel Antonio Pinilla, commanding the Samancas barracks at the Asturian port city of Guion, kept the loyalty of Almost all his 350 men, rank and file, as well as officers, as he assembled them at barracks surrounded by armed shouting and blood, blaspheming revolutionaries. Totally isolated, he and his men were to hold the barracks against enormous odds for almost a month in the south of Spain. On that bloody day, the Rising gained Cordoba in inland north of Sevilla, but lost the port of Malaga. The destroyer Churuca in the Straits of Gibraltar, whose officers had supported the Rising, was seized by its crew, as were the battleship Jaime 1 and the cruise and the cruisers Libertad and Miguel de Cervantes, sent by the government to augment the blockade of the straits. Every officer on the Cervantes was killed by the sailors. Though the mutineers made poor ship handlers and navigators, Franco dared not risk his Moroccan veterans on narrow seas. With six now hostile ships in the offing. Once again, he must look to the air. But Spain had relatively few aircrafts, and fewer still in Morocco or any of the areas controlled by the Reiscor. At this moment, Franco controlled a grand total of five. With the aid of General Alfredo Candelan, the monarchist founder of the Spanish Air force, who was an active supporter of the Rising. Franco put them immediately into serving airlifting troops from Morocco. But even with each aircraft making four trips a day, he could only bring about 400 soldiers per day across the Straits of Gibraltar. He had to get help from outside to transport the greater part of the army of Africa by air. France, like Spain, had a Popular Front government, if not quite so revolutionary, headed by Leon Bloom. It would certainly help not help the Spanish officers rising and might help, well, help the government in Madrid. The English government of cautious Prime Minister Stanley Baldwin, who distrusted all foreigners, would certainly not help him. Nor would the United States, still strongly isolationist.

[Carl Dahl]

Honest.

[Narrator]

Well, that's one way to put what the United states was in 1936, but okay. Of the advanced industrial nations possessing significant numbers of aircraft, only Germany and Italy, ruled by Hitler and Mussolini respectively, might help. Unavoidable necessity required Franco to turn to them. He never liked or trusted either man. But Franco could not disdain help from any nation because of the evil of its leader leaders. Americans, who sanctimoniously condemn him for not doing so, forget how eagerly the United States during World War II courted for help against Japan as well as Germany. The hideous Soviet communist regime of Stalin, who casually told Franklin Roosevelt at Yalta how he had liquidated 10 million kulaks in the first day of the airlift across the straits of Gibraltar. July 19. Just 35 men of the Spanish Foreign Legion were flown across across to Algeciras, hard by the Rock of Gibraltar, in the manner of quiepo de anno. They multiplied themselves by hundreds folds, commandeering motor vehicles and rushing about the city proclaiming the triumph of the new regime. Rumor magnified their handful into an army, and Algar Siras was firmly controlled by nightfall. The Titanic events of July 19 had thoroughly discredited Martinez Barrios de old government, while the revolutionaries in the streets demanded with increasing ferocity that he give them arms. This at least Martinez Barrios firmly resolved to do in parenthesis. Once all the revolutionaries were armed, no government of the republic could possibly stand against them, even if they wished to do so. Shortly after Midnight on the 20th, the flailing Azania, now president of Spain in name only, decided to replace Martinez Barrio with Jose Guidal, the Navy minister, who by his quick response and effective use of the radio had prevented most of Spain's warships from joining the rising. Few ministerial changes were made, but hardly anyone cared about the composition of a cabinet. Amid the erupting chaos, the only important decision Gural made as prime minister was his first. At dawn of the 20th, he approved distribution of arms to the people throughout Republican Spain. In Madrid, trucks were loaded at the arsenals with 65,000 rifles and driven to the headquarters of Largo Caballero's militant socialist labor union and the anarchist union CNC. But then it was discovered that most of the rifles, 60,000 of the 65,000, were not equipped with bolts necessary to fire them them. They were held at the Mansanya barracks, commanded by officers who supported the Rising. Madrid represented the greatest failure of Mola's planning for the military coup. He had given the responsibility of organizing it there to a trusted associate, Colonel Valentin Galarza. Galarza had obtained the consent of General Rafael Villegas to act as its leader in Madrid. But when Galarza was arrested several days before it was was scheduled to occur, Villegas backed out. He was belatedly replaced by General Joaquin Van Hull, one of the original conspirators who had been Under Secretary of War in the Larue government. Van Hull did not even reach the Montagne barracks until the afternoon of the 19th, whereupon he presented the case for the Rising to the officers. Most of them joined him, but when they attempted to leave their men out of the barracks lead their men out of the barracks barracks, they found themselves surrounded by a huge and hostile crowd, many of whom were already armed with weapons collected earlier by the revolutionary unions. With sporadic firing by both sides, the officers and their troops remained in the

[Pete]

barracks Moto Casino America's Social Casino welcome to Moto Casino where the excitement never ends with thousands of the hottest free to play social casino games, fastest payouts and the the best promotions in the industry. No tricks or gimmicks. Owned and operated in the USA, Motoccasino is a free to play social casino. No purchase necessary. 21 plus to play void we're prohibited. Sign up today for a generous welcome bonus Moto Casino America Social Casino Download the Moto Casino app today. Hanging out at the pool is great. Relaxing and playing Vegas style games on my phone at the same time. Drink in one hand and a blackjack in the other. It's all at Spinquest. Over a thousand games including your favorite slots and table games. Be cool with this summer special. New players get 30 coin packs for [e-mail] Spin Quest is a free to play social casino void where prohibited. Visit spinquest.com for more details. What's going on everyone? It's bluff here and we're driving through the states in the bluffmobile and the best thing that we can do is play our favorite casino style games on spinquest. They have over a thousand games including live dealer blackjack and craps. With tons of slots and unlimited options. You can get a 30 coin pack for just $10. For new users sign up today. Go to spinquest.com right now. Spin Quest is a free to play social casino void where prohibited. Visit spinquest.com for more details.

[Narrator]

The next morning an even larger crowd surrounded the barracks, including most of Those carrying the 5,000 rifles issued by the government, which did not, did have bolts. The revolutionaries had acquired three cannons and bombarded the barracks with them. Some aircraft flew from nearby Ghatafa air base to bomb it. Fan Hul signaled for help to other barracks, but they were similarly beset. In mid morning, Fahul and the commandant of the Monsana barracks, Colonel Francisco Serra, were wounded. There was confusion of command. Someone waved a white flag from a window in the barracks, while others fired machine guns into the crowd, infuriating it still more. By no means all the troops in the barracks wants to fight. Just before noon, the attackers broke down the barricaded door of the barracks. A brutal massacre followed. One giant sized revolutionary flung one officer after another from the top floor to their death on the stone flagged courtyard below. Wounded Colonel Serra was shot in his bed. The store of rifle bolts was found. The other barracks were taken were quickly taken. And Madrid belonged to the revolution. Execution of officers who survived the massacre began that evening. The victorious killers marched through the Puerta del Sol in the heart of Madrid, carrying pictures of Lenin and Largo Caballero. It's an awesome republic. Awesome. Three days later, the Guerrero government and Madrid in effect recognized their authority by establishing people's courts consisting of three judges, a president, a prosecuting attorney and 14 jurymen appointed by the political and trade union organizations. Lovely. In Barcelona, where the rising had already failed in the city, anarchists led by Francisco Escasso and Buenaventura Daruti stormed its last bastion, the Ataranzas barracks, in the early afternoon of the 20th, after a hard fought battle which left 500 dead and 3,000 wounded, stained with blood, dripping with sweat, sitting with their rifles between their knees, Diruzzi and two companions met with Luis Campanis, who claimed to be president of Catalonia. Companies cared little for law and less frequent for faith. But he was not an ultimate revolutionary or mindless killer. Later he was to save the life of Cardinal Archbishop of Tarragona from the anarchists, and even to try to save the life of General Goded. But he knew who ruled Catalonia now. He told Jeruzzi, you have won and everything is in your power. If you do not need me, if you do not want me as president, say so now and I shall become just another social soldier in the anti fascist struggle. If, on the other hand, you believe me when I say that I shall yield this post to. That I shall yield this post to victorious fascism only when I am dead, then perhaps with my party comrades, my name and my prestige, I can be of use to you. The anarchist allowed companies to remain as title, but set up an anti fascist militias committee, which immediately became the only real government in Catalonia. Committee member Jamie Madavi of the less revolutionary Esquera party, recalled how the anarchists came to the meeting wearing bandoliers stuffed full of cartridges and laid their pistols or submachine guns out in front of them. Thumping the table, they'd shout, this is how things are going to be done now you're a lot of petty bourgeois trying to hold back the revolution. When companies approached the committee to protest the indiscriminate killing of monks and nuns and their relatives, Diruzzi said, tell companies not to come here again. If he does, I'll fill him full of bullets. In the morning of the 21st, three Jesuit priests and a brother were arrested at a Jesuit retreat house in the Bona Nova district of Barcelona. After a search of their house for arms had found none. They were brought to anarchist headquarters where the crowd shouted, we are going to kill you because you are priests. Not one of you will be left. Taken to a hill outside the city, the martyrs declared that they died for Christ and forgave their killers, giving each other absolution. All were shot, but one survived to tell the tale with a bloody head wound that made him appear dead. On the night of the 23rd, 12 nuns were shot in Barcelona beside a highway. Four of them, over 61, lay in agony for four hours before dying. That day, Jamie Busquets Zaobe lay organist at the parish of San Jose de Garcia, practicing at the organ in the church, saw a mob coming, refused to flee and pleaded with them not to burn the church. He was seized and shot a few hours later. Elsewhere in Catalonia, Bishop Silvio Huix de la Rida was captured by a mob and imprisoned on the 21st. Cardinal Archbishop Francesc Vidal y Barraquer of Tarragona and his auxiliary bishop, Manuel Borras, were arrested by militia on the 23rd as they tried to escape in the cathedral city of Vich. Truckloads of men from outside the city arrived on the 21st and announced in the Plaza, in two hours Veach will be burning from end to end. They began immediately to bomb and burn all the churches profane the tomb of the saints, including Anthony Claret. And famous men, including Catholic writer and political theorist Jamie Balmus, set fire to the diocesan museum, destroying the famous paintings of Jose Maria Sirt, and collected an enormous pile of religious books and articles, which they burned in the main square. If you're going to have a new Soviet or communist man, there can be no memory of the past, everything has to be destroyed. Only Bishop Manuel Rita of Barcelona found refuge. A heroic jeweler named Antonio Torte hid him in the back room of his shop, successfully concealing him there for the next five months. In the center of Spain, on the Mountain of the Angels, the five young men who had volunteered on the night of July 18th and 19th to guard the shrine maintained their vigil while assault guards took away the nuns who lived in the adjoining Carmelite convent and stayed. Even when anarchist militia took over from the assault guards on the 22nd, though they tried to hide, the next day the anarchists found them, conducted a few minutes parody of a trial, and shot them. Madrid stands relatively close to the center of Spain. North of the Mountain of the Angels, it lies on a broad plain with the ancient capital of Toledo only 40 miles away. To the southwest, north of Madrid rise the mile high Guadarrama Mountains, dividing Old Castile from New Castile. The revolutionaries had gained control of almost all the plains of New Castile. The nationalists, as we now begin to call them, for they were about to make their first attempt at government under that name, controlled Old Castile from Burgos. It was strategically vital to hold the Guatema Passed passes, and neither side lost any time in trying to do so. On the very day of the storming of the Montana barracks in Madrid, July 20, a column of troops and civil guards supporting the Republic marched from Alcala de Janares toward Somosiera Pass in the Guadarramas, while another column of troops, civil and assault guards and military, ahead of For Nava Serrada Pass on the road to Segovia. The next day, a third column composed of two battalions of infantry, two companies each of civil and assault guards, a machine gun battalion and six battalias of artillery. Batteries of artillery commanded by Colonel Enrique Castillo set out for Lyons Peak Pass on the road to Galicia. Another infantry battalion ordered to march with this column, refused, saying the new government had absolved them from the duty of obeying their officers. Moscow trained communist Enrique Lister, who had studied at the Fronts military academy in the Soviet Union, and Dolores. Hurried to tell this battalion how mistaken they were. They must fight. They marched with Castillo's column after all, with Lister now their political advisor. That midnight, a column of nationalist soldiers commanded by Colonel Cerrador of the Rikete set out for Lyons Peak Pass from Valladolid in Old Castile, amid scenes of wild enthusiasm. With their head start, the republican forces reached the passes. First they secured Somosiera Pass against the desperate resistance of a handful of Riketes and folangas present there. While Castillo's large column found Lion's Peak Pass undefended, the overconfident Castillo returned immediately to Madrid. Winnerquete Colonel Cerrador Column arrived at Lyons Peak Pass on the 22nd. They attacked at once, still full of enthusiasm. The surprised and leaderless Republican force panicked and fled. Later in the day Castillo was shot by a militia man who evidently disapproved of his conduct of the operation. On the 23rd, another nationalist column under General Guisto tried to storm Soma Sierra Pass, but was driven back by artillery just brought up by the Republicans, which inflicted heavy casualties on his men. That evening, Colonel Garcia Escames with the Mountain Brigade from Navarro and four companies of Riquettes arrived to reinforce Gusto, while strong Republican reinforcements, including the all Communist Thailand Battalion arrived at Lyons Peak Pass under Castillo's replacement, Colonel Morales Carrasco. Carrasco attacked the next day, but the disunity and indiscipline which had killed his predecessor was still rife. Many of his men refused to obey his orders and Cerrador's nationalists easily repelled the disorganized assault. On the 25th, the feast of Spain's national patron saint, James the Apostle Santiago Garcia Eskimo Eskames called for an assault by the Raquete Tercio, named for this saint. Saint. In an overwhelming charge, the Red Beret Carlist crusaders prevailed and took Somosi at a pass. But their prospective champion, General Sanjuro, was dead. A large two engine plane had originally been designated to pick him up in Portugal. At one point it was even suggested to use the Rapid Dragon for this purpose. But the Portuguese, guarding their neutrality did not wish to. Famous Spanish general expected to become military leader of the Nationalists to take off from any of their regular airfields. A young pilot named Juan Antonio Ansaldo was therefore sent in a two seater aircraft called a Puss Moth to pick him up at an abandoned racetrack at La Marinha near Lisbon. On July 20th. Ansaldo began the takeoff run on the bumpy field. As his wheels left the ground, the lone engine began to knock alarmingly. The whole aircraft shuddered and failed to gain altitude. Ansaldo, an experienced pilot, knew he must land immediately over a five foot stone wall. Just beyond the racetrack was a flat cultivated field suitable for the force grounding. Ansaldo gave the laboring engine full throttle. The plane seemed to rise. Ansaldo's aircraft failed to clear the stone wall by no more than a few inches. The undercarriage caught it and the plane crashed. The young pilot lost consciousness, but recovered in moments, 64 year old General Sanjuro sat motionless. The plane caught fire on saw those screams of sensor to get out while there was still time. There was no response. The commander to be of the great rising, the man who had promised the Carlos much of what they had asked of him, who had given his respect and adherence to their king, who had proudly recalled the carless loyalties of his father and his uncle, who had seen his son dressed in uniform of a riquette, was gone. He might have made all the difference, might have made it possible for the Carlis to bring their dream to reality, to preserve and extend what Franco had won, instead of losing so much of it at his death 39 years later. Or not, we shall never know. Six inches of lift on a wavering wing before a stone wall in Portugal. Of such may the turning points of history be made. Meanwhile, in Jalo Toledo, in the middle of the new Castilian plain, which the revolutionaries ruled, the greatest epic of the war was beginning to unfold a story of heroism with few parallels in the history of Spain or of the world. Crowning the highest point of the gigantic rock upon the ancient city was built stood what was once what had once been its citadel or castle, Azilcar in Spanish. Shortly after it was liberated from the Moors, El Cid had governed the city from it. The great king and Emperor Charles V had built a palace there in the 16th century. For more than 50 years it had been a military academy, rebuilt after a fire in 1887, with an exceptionally strong framework of steel girders and walls up to 12ft thick. A square tower topped by a spire stood at each corner. The walls enclosed a courtyard with a bronze statue of Charles V at its center. On the south side of the courtyard, an immense stairway with steps 50ft wide led up to the second story. Adjoining the alcazar, on the east was a parade ground with a field house called the Picadero, which was used as a riding academy on a level below it, and the Santiago barracks for truth troops permanently assigned to the academy just below, overlooking the narrow gorge of the Tagus River a few hundred feet below. The cadets quarters were under the southeast tower, and below the entire structure were extensive cellars. At the foot of the hill adjoining the Alsacar itself, stood the Gobierno, the government building housing the offices of the military governor of the Department of Toledo and his staff, with the numerous riding horses used by the academy kept in in stables in the basement. From the Gobierno, a steep winding road called the Zigzag led Up to the north face of the Alcazar, closed off by an iron gate facing the Gobierno, was a narrow street which led to the Plaza de Zocadovo, the principal square of Toledo. Because it was summer vacation, no cadets were at the academy that July. The Academy Commandant, Colonel Jose Moscardo, was tall for a Spaniard, 6ft and 60 years old, bald, rather awkward in his movements, passionately loyal to church and country. He had graduated from the academy 40 years before and was approaching the end of an honorable but undistinguished career. None of the planners of the military coup had thought it worthwhile to include him. When, on the morning of July 18, he heard the radio reports of the rising in Morocco, carefully tailored by the government to make it appear already doomed, he did not know what to think. Since Madrid was only 40 miles away, he decided to drive there to consult with some of the officers stationed there whom he trusted. Some of them knew what was planned and told him he committed himself instantly to their cause. He had once met Franco and admired him immensely. There was an arms factory in Toledo which would have been of great value to whichever side had possession of it. Moscardo hurried back to Toledo to be in position to take it for the rising and at least prevent the government of the Republic from using it. That evening he assembled a large group of officers of whom he was the ranking member and gained their support for the rising. But Colonel Romero, chief of the Civil Guard in Toledo department, persuaded him to delay a public announcement until he could bring a substantial force of civil guards and large supply of ammunition from the arms factory into the Alcazar. The need for such precautions was underlined by a clash between armed workers and Civil Guardsmen at 10 o' clock that night in the Plaza de Zocadovo. Already civilians seeking protection from revolutionary violence were coming into the Alcazar. Early the next morning, the terrible Sunday, the 19th Mass, was set in the Alcazar chapel, quoting the doll featured Madonna cast from plaster, looked down from the altar. An overflow crowd spilled out on the stairway outside, where civil guards stood stiffly at attention with rifles at their sides, ramrod reminders of the solemnity of the service. Most of the crowd were civilians, rumbled and soiled from a fitful sleep in the chairs or on the floors of the Gobierno. They seemed to be grateful for the Mass and doubly grateful for the guards. In the Alcazar, one could attend mass without having to endure the customary jeers and coarse jokes of the priest haters who waited at the doors of the church in the cathedral. Untilledo in the front rank of worship worshipers, Moscardo knelt. I mean, you. You have to deal with that. In Spain in the 1930s, there would be 54 days of fire and blood before another mass was set in the Alcazar of Toledo. Later that Sunday, the War Ministry in Madrid called Moscardo to order him to turn over the arms kept in the Alcazar. Moscardo demanded the order in writing, as it was his legal right to do so. The War Ministry official said the written order would be delivered in the morning. Toledo was quiet that night. Moscardo dined at home with his family. All during Monday the 20th, the day of the storming of the Montana barracks in Madrid, civil guardsmen, many with their wives and families, steamed into the Alcazar, summing cars and trucks. Others on horses and mules, totaling over 623, were captured on the way and either shot on the spot or sent to Madrid, where they were later executed. In the evening, Moscardo called a meeting of all his officers and said the time for decision had come. All committed themselves to the rising, and many, but strangely not Moscardo himself, brought their families into the Alcazar with them. By the morning of the 21st, they totaled about 1800 souls. Approximately 700 Civil Guardsmen, 250 officers, an academy staff, 100 other men of military age, 550 women and children. However, not a single priest came in. To Moscardo's great regret, despite the danger, most of them were confident that the rising would prevail and they would soon be rescued. One of the women, Carmen Aragones, widow of a soldier killed in battle in Morocco five years before. Very beautiful and exceptionally vivacious. Particularly helped to keep everyone's spirits high. At seven o'clock in the morning, a proclamation was read, first in the courtyard of the Alcazar beside the statue of Charles V, and then in the Plaza de Zocadovo, stating that Toledo no longer accepted the authority of the government. In Madrid. Late in the morning, an airplane circled the Alcazar and dropped leaflets urging its garrison to desert their officers, who the leaflets said were deceiving them. Not a man left. In the heat of the afternoon, a roar of motors and a cloud of dust heralded the arrival of cars and trucks carrying 3,000 men, mostly militia, from Madrid grid Commanded by one of the highest ranking officers to support the revolutionary republic, General Jose Rikelme, Moscardo set up machine guns to command the approach roads. Their fire, their fire quickly stopped the advance, and an Armored car sent forward by the attackers was blown up by grenade. Riquelme's demand that the Al Zakar surrender in 15 minutes was scornfully ignored. In the midst of the attack, Moscardo brought eight of 10 trucks loaded with ammunition from the arms factory into the Alcazar. He now had 700,000 rounds of small arms ammunition, enough for his men to fight for many weeks. Late that evening, Riquelme telephone Moscardo in person to demand his surrender. Again, Moscardo abruptly refused. Riquelme asked him why he remained defiant. Because I love Spain and have confidence in General Franco, Moscardo avowed. Furthermore, it would be dishonorable to surrender the arms of gentlemen to your red rabble. Then I will seize them, Riquelme said. I hear you, General, Moscardo said. All the next day, Wednesday the 22nd, Riquelme's men shot at and shelled the Alcazar with little effect, although their pressure did force Moscardo to withdraw all his men from the city to bring them within sheltering walls, within its sheltering walls and buildings. Late in the evening, he called the meeting of his officers. Since their electricity had been cut off, the room was lit by acetylene torches. Moscardo explained what apparently he had told been told in Madrid on the 18th that Mola would march south and Franco north to take Madrid and relieve them. Thanks to the hall from the arms factory, they had plenty of ammunition. Three cisterns, and a swimming pool provided sufficient drinking water. He believed that food could still be obtained by raids into the city. In the middle of the meeting, the Minister of Education and Garral's government, Francisco Bodies, called to urge Moscardo to surrender. His primary concerns at that time were obviously in areas other than education. Moscardo asked the other officers to vote. Most voted to maintain their resistance, he told Barnes, and they had done so. Then you will be responsible for the destruction of the Alsaqar, Barnes said. I can only do my duty to Spain, sir, Moscardo replied. You know we have the artillery prepared and the troops ready. Barnus threatened. We have the means to annihilate you. This is the last time you will have the opportunity to avoid spilling blood, Colonel. If you do not change your mind, I must order the attack. Attack immediately. Moscardo's dark eyes hardened to glistening points like two spearheads of volcanic glass. Then we will receive it, he said. All the next day, Thursday the 23rd, gunfire swept the Gobierno building in the streets outside the Alcazar. The revolutionary militia from Madrid filled the narrow Streets of the Old City bellowing curses at the Alcazar, shouting their hatred of Christ. Quote from El Cristo de la Vega, the church near the arms factory. They brought a famous wooden image of Christ and by working it like a puppet, tried to draw fire from the north windows of the fortress. When this failed, they shouted, here is El Christo de la Vega. We are going to burn it. If you are true Catholics, you come down here and stop us. There was no reply from Alcazar. Dismembering the effigy with axes demilitarily, the militia threw the pieces upon a heap of debris in clear view of the windows of the Alcazar. But in igniting the bonfire, two militiamen rashly exposed themselves. Rifles cracked, men dropped into the fire and the smell of burning flesh mingled with the smoke. From El Cristo de la Vega. 105 priests and religious were killed in Toledo during the next two months, many of them that day. Father Pascual Martin was gunned down in front of San Nicolas Church, shouting, Viva Cristo Ren. Hail Christ the King. Father Pedro Ruiz de la Panos, director general of the Brotherhood of. Diocesan Priests in Spain and a leading developer of seminary education, was shot that day in front of the maternity hospital. Pope John Paul II beatified him. On October 1, 1995, Director of Toledo Seminary Jose Sala, was martyred with him. The Bible of San Louis was taken from Salado Cathedral and priceless works of art were were destroyed. At seven o' clock in the morning of the day of the horror in Toledo, Moscardo's 24 year old son Luis was picked up for questioning by a militia patrol who did not know who he was. In Toledo, as in many other cities, a republican Spain, a committee of militant socialists and anarchists had been set up to question persons suspected of disloyalty to the republican public. These committees were universally called Chekas, the Spanish spelling of the name Lenin had given to the first Soviet secret police. Check us. The head of the Toledos Check us. Was a lawyer named Candido Cabello. He knew Luis Moscardo by sight. The moment he saw him, he decided to use him to bring about the surrender of Al Zakar. He picked up the telephone and called the boy's father. It was 10 o'. Clock. After identifying himself, Cabello said, you are responsible for all the crimes and everything else that is happening in Toledo. I give you 10 minutes to surrender the Alticar Al Zakar. If you don't, I'll shoot your son Luis, who is standing here beside me. Moscardo's face did not betray his feeling. Feel I believe you, he said. And so that you can see it's true, Cabello said, he will speak to you. Luis was then given the phone. Papa. He cried. What is happening, my boy? Nothing, luis answered. They say they are going to shoot me if Al Zakar does not surrender. But don't worry about me. If it is true, replied Moscartho, commend your soul to God. Shot. Viva Espanya and die like a hero. Goodbye, my son. A kiss. Goodbye, Father. A very big kiss. When Cabello was on the phone again, Moscardo said, you might as well forget the period of grace you gave me. The Al Zakar will never surrender. In the disputation, Cabello slammed down the receiver violently and cursed briefly. Then he said to the militiamen around him, since his father wants to it, do whatever you please with him. Luis Moscardo was let out in the Alsakar. Colonel Moscardo stood for some moments in stony silence, his staff too stunned even to console him. Without a word to anyone, he walked into his sleeping quarters in the next room and quietly shut the door. Luis was not killed immediately, but he was shot exactly one month later, on August 23, while the seas of the siege of the Alsakar still contained me. But at almost exactly the same time, Moscardo's oldest son, Pepe, was arrested in Barcelona, where, after the defeat of the Rising, he had disguised himself for five days as a hospital orderly. He was about to board a train out of the city when a medal of the Blessed Virgin Mary slipped out of his pocket and was seen by another passenger in the station. A few days later he was executed, like so many others in that now demonic city in the otherwise completely restored Alcazar of Toledo. Today, the room where Colonel Mascardo received that telephone call from Candido Cabello is preserved exactly as it was 60 years ago. On its scored and battered walls hang translations of this conversation. In most of the principal languages of the world, a contemporary socialist government, no longer revolutionary but hardly sympathetic, has removed all the most vivid and shocking mementos of the great, great siege. All but this, which they have dared not touch. I don't know if they've touched it now. I'm sure it's gone. If they moved Franco and Primo de Rivera's body, if they disinterred him, then this is probably gone too. 642 years before, in the year 1294, an army of Moors was besieging the walled city of Tarifa on the Straits of Gibraltar, whose garrison was commanded by Alfonso Perez de Guzman, called the Good, a renegade Spanish prince with the Moorish army, had captured Perez de Guzman's son and demanded the surrender of Tarifa as the prince as the price of the boy's life. Guzman the Good refused, answering the renegade prince's message by flinging a sword over the ramparts. Tarifa held out until it was until it was relieved with the aid of a fleet from Aragon, but not before Guzman's son was killed, as the prince had threatened. So does the Christian present and lace the past, especially in Spain, such as the courage of crusaders. All right, we'll stop it right there and pick up the rest of this chapter a couple days. So I appreciate you reading this reading along with me, listening to me. If you want to get the episodes early and ad free, freeman beyond the wall.com forward/support 5 ways you can support me there. All right. Until the next time. Take care everyone. Thank you. Bye. I want to welcome everyone back to part five of my reading of the Last Crusade by Warren Carroll. Before I get into it, a reminder about Thomas and I doing movie reviews, watch and review parties. FreemanBeyondTheWall.com movies all the links are there and Antelope Hill Press if you go to Antelope Hill Press, place an order, put in Pete Q all lowercase at checkout and you get 5% off your order. All right, let's jump in. We're still in July. A little bit of July left and then we might jump into August here, too, depending on what the time's looking like. Might break it up a little bit and start a new month. So all right, and here we go. On Friday, July 4, 3d scal said Carmelite Sisters, the order founded by St. Teresa of Avila were recognized by militia in a Madrid street near the apartment where they had been hiding nuns. Shoot them. One of the militiamen cried. They opened fire at once on the helpless women, killing one instantly and severely, severely wounding another who fell to the pavement in agony, crying, my God. My God.

[Pete]

Here's golf legend John Daly. Hell yeah.

[Narrator]

These winds are piling up faster than my divorces. I only spent on Moto, America's social casino. You know, I've won a couple of majors and on Moto, I've won majors, grands and epic jackpots on their classic Vegas slots with huge, huge bonus rounds. Moto Casino adds new games and awards players free coins every single day, grip it and spend it on MotoCasino.

[Pete]

Download the MotoCasino app Today Moto Casino is a social casino board. We're prohibited in the purchase necessary. Visit Moto Us for more details. Casino America Social Casino Hanging out at the pool is great. Relaxing and playing Vegas style games on my phone at the the same time. Drink in one hand and a blackjack in the other. It's all at spinquest. Over a thousand games including your favorite slots and table games. Be cool with this summer special new players get 30 coin packs for [e-mail] Spin Quest is a free to play social casino void where prohibited. Visit spinquest.com for more details. Oh, I have had no luck lately. Wait. Lady Luck Ritzky. I got you. I've had so much luck on spinquest. They have all of my favorite games, slot games, live blackjack, craps and bubble craps. You can even get a 30 coin pack for just 10 bucks. 10 bucks for 30. I'm headed over to spinquest.com right now. Spinquest is a free to play social casino void where prohibited. Visit spinquest.com for more details.

[Narrator]

Several assault guards appeared, stopped the shooting and directed that the wounded nun be taken to a hospital, hailing a passing bus for that purpose. Told that the victim was a nun, the bus driver cried, give her here and I'll finish her off. Another bus was hailed and this one took her to the hospital where she died, saying with. With Christ, my God, forgive them, for they know not what they do. The third nun escaped for the moment, wandered distracted through the streets and was eventually accosted by a man who Prince send is the one to help her, but turned her over to another group of militia who shot her also before the day was done. On the next day, the 25th, the great feast of Santiago, Father Dionisio Pamplona and 24 others taken from prison were shot on the Plaza Mayor in the heart of Madrid, in full view of a large number of people. It was also on that day that militia from Madrid occupied Sigenza about. About 70 miles to the northeast. The Bishop of Sigense, Usakio Nieto, 72 years old, had held his episcopal office for 19 years. Five years before, when the Republic was established in Spain and the burning of churches began, he had said in a letter to the flock. To his flock. If unfortunately there is unleashed against us a furious persecution instigated by the hatred of hell, we will remain firm at our posts, fulfilling our priestly duties, never abandoning our sheep, confessing Christ always in the face of the world, as the martyrs, the virgins and the confessors confessed him who gave their blood and their lives to exalt and defend the sacred name of Jesus. Exactly. That is what to do. Early in the afternoon of the Feast of Santiago, the prefect of the minor seminary in Sigenza, Father Jose Ruiz Cano, gathered his students, boys 11 to 15, to tell them that the school would have to close for a few days. He exhorted them. God is everywhere. He sees our thoughts and our affections. We should prefer to give our blood rather than to sear our souls with the stain of sin. Then he prayed to the Blessed Virgin Mary, mother, if you want a victim here I am. Choose me, but do not allow anything to happen to these innocent souls who have never harmed anyone. He divided the boys into two groups. The older one reached a national zone safely. The younger group, which he kept with him, was caught two days later. Father Ruiz Cano's body was found riddled with bullets. On the day he was killed, July 7, Bishop Nietzscho of Sigense, seized and judged by a street mob, was shot at the kilometer four marker on the highway from Sigense to Estrella Estregana. As he cried Viva Cristore. His body was burned and thrown into a gully where nationalist troops later found and recognized it by its pectoral cross. Also on the feast of Santiago, 14 seminarians who had attempted to flee with one of their teachers, Father Manuel Manuel Hove, were captured in the open country by militiamen from Larida in Catalonia. The militiamen tried to force Father Jove to trample on a crucifix. When he refused, they forced it into his mouth until it gushed blood. They tried to make one of the seminarians swallow a rosary. Horribly beaten and abused, every one of these young martyrs stood firm for his faith, saying he wished to die for God. All of them were shot at the cemetery of Laredo at noon the next day. In Madrid, several priests had taken refuge in an apartment at 22 Calle de Velasquez, where they improvised a chapel for the celebration of the Feast of Santiago. On the next day, militia burst into the apartment. On seeing the chapel, they exploded into an orgy of destruction, smashing and destroying all its contents, throwing images, candelabras, religious books and clerical vestments out the window. Window and burning the remnants on the street. The priest they found there, Father Miguel Levar e Garay, and two servants, one a woman, were taken away and shot at once. An almost identical scene was enacted July 28th in the Madrid suburb of Grillon, where militia broke into the residence of the Brothers of the Christian school seized the 10 brothers present and made a ferocious assault on their crucifixion. One man ripped a crucifix off the wall of the dining area, flung it to the floor and when it did not break, hammered it to bits with his rifle butt. Another threw a statue of the Blessed Virgin Mary on the flagstones with all his strength breaking off its head. The 10 brothers were then shot in front of their chapel. In all, 124 priests were killed in Madrid during the last 10 days of July. After July 25, no mass was publicly celebrated again anywhere in Republican Spain, with the sole exception of the Basque provinces, until the end of the civil war. Churches not burned or sacked were closed and locked. Even the communists in the Soviet Union did not go quite this far. The only historical parallel is Paris at the height of the Reign of Terror in the French Revolution. In Barcelona, the devastation of the church was almost complete. From July 19 to the end of the month, 220 churches and public chapels were destroyed in the city alone, mostly in the first two days after the fall of the Atarantzas barracks and 197 priests were killed along with unspeakable violations of the bodies of the dead dead. American reporter Edward Knobloch gives an eyewitness account of the detritus of this holocaust. Only the blackened walls remained of this historic religious building. The statues and paintings had been destroyed or removed, the altars ripped out. The stained glass burden is broken. The burial vaults in the floor of some of the churches have been forced open. And the century old mummified bodies of nuns and priests have been removed from their moldy resting place. On the steps of the Carmelite church were arrayed a dozen or more of the skeletons of nuns in standing and reclining positions. You can find those pictures on, on the Internet if you look for them, if you want to. From Barcelona in the last days of July, anarchist columns fanned out in all directions to wreak havoc in every city and town they could reach. The most famous was Dirudi's column of 3,000 anarchists. It announced the subject, it's announced objective was Zaragoza. But that city was now strongly held by a garrison which included the Maria de la Nieves Tercio of the Rakete. So Darutti stopped short, consenting himself and his men with seizing and ravaging Barbastro and Aragon, threatening to kill all prisoners there, including numerous clergy and religious. Less than 2, 200 miles from Barcelona, in Pamplon, the capital of Navarra, the feast of Santiago was celebrated in an utterly different Manner. No one will ever understand the history and meaning of the Spanish Civil War who does not appreciate the magnitude of the contrast between what happened in those two cities. On that same great feast day, in the central square of Hamplona, a Solomon splendid mass was offered to beseech the Most High for the triumph of the forces which fight for the salvation of Spain. General Miguel Camanayas, a late and uncertain recruit to the Rising, attended, wearing a Carlos red beret. The crusaders were already marking their mark on the officers who had joined the undertaking for less exalted and more worldly motives. Not far distant. In the city of Logrono, which the Rayquetes had occupied on the first day of the Carlos Rising, the Raketes celebrated the mass of the great national fiesta in the field. Juan Ura Lucerretta, whose unit attended daily mass at a parish in Logrono dedicated to Santiago, served at the altar. After Mass he spoke to the men about their crusading mission. They heard him with enthusiasm and many shouts of Viva Cristore. A day or two later, Navarre's Carless leader, Joaquin Ballastena, issued a formal order that no Carlist was to carry out acts of violence against civilians and was to make every effort to prevent such acts from being committed in his presence. It was already clear that the unprecedented horrors taking place in republican Spain would generate an enormous demand for indiscriminate revenge. The soldiers of Christ in the traditionalist communion should remember that God said, vengeance is mine. About the end of July, Manuel Falconde received a letter written on the Feast of Santiago from Alfonso Carlos in Vienna, who had Never in his 87 years laid down the crusading banner. Quoting above all we must say religion, country and fatherland. I am grateful in my soul for you and our heroic Orchites united with the soldiers of Spain to hammer communism. And I give you infinite thanks, dear Father, for having, following my guidance, provided you know there are people, and I experienced this today on Twitter. Communism and fascism or right wingism? They're both the same. In the 1930s, it was. It was you. You had a choice of communism or fascism. Really? Really? Have you fucking studied the Spanish Civil War? I swear it's just authoritarians fighting over power. And power is immoral. Children, children. Just the thoughts of children. I am grateful in my soul for you and our heroic Raketes united with the soldiers of Spain to hammer communism. And I give you infinite thanks, dear Fall, for having, following my guidance provided in the decisive moment that our Rikete should support the saving movement Movement in times like these we ought not be concerned with personal and partisan questions, but seek to save all joined together for religion and fatherland. I am sure that today the great saint will fight at the head of this army of crusaders. Legend told the Many apparitions of St. James the Apostle leading Spanish Christians into battles against the Moors during the long crusade of the Reconquest, crying Viva Espana. Our country was always the leader of the Catholic religion and of generous ideas, and has just shown once more its vitality and its great tradition arising so admirably against the enemies of God in Spain who wish to subjugate her. Now I congratulate our Carlos Provinces, our traditionalist Carlos Communion and our heroic Riketis, and recognize the great sacrifices that are making, they are making of their blood and their lives for God and our fatherland. And I ask you to make known my profound satisfaction, enthusiasm and admiration. I mean, it feels like what's happening here, right? I don't care if you're a Catholic, Protestant or Orthodox, they want you dead or they'll. I don't even know if they'll settle for your submission at this time. That was end quote. Also in that same action packed feast of Santiago, General Re left the siege of the Alcazar of Toledo, where one lucky cannon shot by the besiegers that day, blew a hole in the wall near the north entrance, big enough to drive an armored car through, only to have defenders plug it with a massive pillowcases stuffed with dirt, and went to Lion's Peak in the Guadarramas to launch an attack on Arequetes. Colonel Cerrador's defenders of the pass. With a full brigade on the high rocky saddle against the sky, the heavily outnumbered crusaders fought the revolutionaries hand to hand with the bayonet day and the next. Colonel Cerrador was wounded and many of his officers were killed. The attackers also suffered heavily. Captain Condes, leader of the group that had killed Calvo Satelo, was among the dead. But by nightfall the 26th, the situation of the defenders was desperate. They had to have help. Let Serador himself tell the story of how it came as he remembered it when later presenting a unit citation to the tercion which reached him in the nick of time. You were the guardians of the quoting. You were the guardians of the faith and the holy tradition of Spain, preservers of the purity of our customs, the serenity of our government and the austerity of its administration. I will never forget when, during the night of the 26th of July 1936, which was the most difficult and critical in the Defense of the Lion's Peak. They told me that the next day 500 Raquetes would arrive as reinforcements. And I said with joy, joy. If these Raketes do honor to their forebears, there is no one who can throw us off these cliffs. You arrived at dawn of the 27th and I received you. You came without orders, without formations, even without organization. But you didn't disappoint me. You are raquettes. And that was enough. End quote. For the second time in less than a week, General Riquelme withdrew, frustrated before the unwavering fortitude of the champions of the Last Crusade. The wearers of the Red Beret still hold held L Peak Pass, far to the north, in the Galician naval base of El Ferrol, Captain Salvador Moreno Fernandez had retaken the cruiser Almirante Cerveza. Cervera, not beer. Cervera seized by its crew on the day of the of the Rising. Though the loyal sailors he found to man it were less than half its normal complement. He took it along the coast of the Bay of Biscay to the Asturian port of Guyon, where he heard that the Simancas barracks under Colonel Pinea, were still holding out for the nationalist cause. Like the defenders of the Al Zakar of Toledo, they refused to think of surrender, though their position was far less defensible. Faced with artillery bombardment and flaming gasoline cans hurled into their enclosure, they counterattacked, driving the attackers back. They had no source of light whatever at night, whose hours crawled by in a pit of total blackness. But they had battery operated radios, and from them learned with joy the arrival of the almirante severa on July 29. The barracks was in easy range of the cruiser's heavy guns, which immediately began to bombard its besiegers. On July 26, the meeting of the international Communist leaders was held in Prague to organize massive aid for the revolutionary Republic. French Communist railway union leader Gaston. Presided. It was decided to commit 1 billion francs to aid the republic administered and distributed by the Committee, including Spanish Communist Party leader Jose Diaz and chief propagandist Dolores Ibad Ibarui La Pasa Largo Caballero, French Communist Party leader Maurice Thores and Italian Communist leader Palmer Palmiro Togliati. The bulk of the money was to come from the Soviet Union, the rest from left wing fundraising in Europe and America. Left wing fundraising in Europe and America. Common turn leaders, including Vittorio Coravio Villa of Argentina, long active in Spain, Togliatti, stepping off of Bulgaria and Erno de Ghetto of Hungary, moved immediately to tighten their control over the leadership and organization of the Spanish Communist Party. You see what they're doing, right? Spain isn't going to be for. If the Communists win, it's not gonna. It's gonna be an international. The Soviet Union's going to control the bottom of the European peninsula. But this is just two totalitarians fighting over power, right? The Popular Front government of France was also at this time prepared to help the republic, though soon afterward it drew back. At the end of July, the first French aircraft, Potez bombers and duo tin that I'm so off on that one. Fighters left for Spain from airports in southern France. On July 29, the first German aircraft, Junker 52, usable for transport or bombing, arrived in Morocco to augment the airlift of Franco's troops across the Strait of Gibraltar. The next day, nine Savoya bombers came to Morocco from Italy for the same purpose, though their relative value compared to the German planes was. Was already suggested by the fact that three of them crashed on the way. I'm not going to make any Italian jokes. On July 24, the nationalists had established what purported to be their first organized government, a hunt hunta council at Burgos, under the nominal presidency of General Cabaneas, who was the senior general in the north. Though Mola was actually an overall command of the nationalist troops, mostly Raquetes and Falangists in that part of the country, the other members of the Hunza were relatively insignificant. Neither Franco nor Quiepo Diano were yet included in it. Mola and Caban Neas did not fully trust each other, and the Carlist and Falungists did not fully trust them or each other. The two generals, impressed by the crusading fervor of the Raketes, were gradually being won over to a better appreciation of the Carlis, but still did not feel them to be sufficiently under their control. The result was that this Burgos junta never became a real government nor exercised any authority whatsoever outside the area of northern Spain, from the Guadanamas mountains to Nevada, which their forces had wrested from the Republic. At this point, the only substantial part of southern Spain under nationalist control was Andalusia, except for the port of Malaga and the coastal area near it, still held for the republic. Andalusia was administered, in default of anyone else, by Quiepo de Jano and his friends. In assessing responsibility for the nationalist atrocities that did occur in August and September, it is essential to remember that during those two apocalyptic months, there were no overall national government with genuine authority. None of the nationalist generals had the capability to overrule any other not under their command, and even to learn much about what was going on in other command areas. The same, of course, was true of the government of the Republic. If by that the government is met, President Azania and Prime Minister Guiral. No one has ever thought that Azania and Giral controlled or authorized the looting, murder and massacre which swept Republican territories during this terrible summer. But the implication, or even the outright accusation is still heard that Franco and Mola had such knowledge and responsibility for the rarer atrocities afflicted by nationalists. Only academics, cut off from human reality by the walls of their studies, invincible naivete or prejudice, could expect the crimes that crimes of that type already described here would not arouse, at least in some men, anger so ferocious as to override all moral considerations. Or that other men would not use these horrors as an excuse for moves to gain personal advantage or personal vengeance. Men are not angels. No cause purifies everyone who fights in its nature name. To a degree perhaps not surprising in an age which has so largely abandoned reason as well as faith, men have forgotten that the justice of a war is not determined by acts committed by any individuals during it. It is determined at the outset, by the right or wrong of taking up arms and the prospects for success with them. The planners of the Spanish military rising of July 1936 believed they could win quickly with little bloodshed and save Spain from the fate of Russia, which so much evidence indicated it was about to share. With better planning and better fortune, they might well have done so. It was a risk worth taking. The alternative was what actually happened. A devastating war that took more than 250,000 lives. But even that was preferable to what happened to Russia and its conquered provinces in the Soviet Union, where the Communist Party of the Soviet Union enslaves all the people for 74 years. Years, killing more than 20 million of them and ruining their economy for at least a generation more. That was the price of victory by the revolution. The one alternative these men of Spain absolutely rejected was to allow the revolution to win without a fight. Many others in Europe during the first half of the 20th century lacked their transcendent courage. Their bones, and the bones of those who were lost because of their hesitation and uncertainty, molder in forgotten graves. From the cotton come the Katyn Forest in Belarus to the Kolyma river in far northeastern Siberia. There are times when a man must stand or die. Spain in July 1936 was one of them. All right, let's move into August, see how much we can knock out in the late afternoon. Of August 2, the first nationalist striking column of the army being airlifted across the Straits of Gibraltar, consisting of 350 legionnaires and 350 Moroccans, left Sevilla, heading north. Their commander, Lt. Col. Carlos Asensio, had orders from Franco to march into harsh, dry Estremadura to take its key city of Barajos on the Portuguese border, then link up with Mola's northern forces if possible, and march on Madrid. Another column of Sevilla the following day. On August 5, Colonel Asencio encountered the first significant resistance from militia dug in in a little town of Almond, Almendraleo, just south of Merida. The next day he was bombed from the air. He was ordered to wait for reinforcements. He did not have to wait long. On August 5, a full 3,000 soldiers, again mostly legionnaires and Moroccans, were brought across the straits in 11 aircraft. Aircraft and several merchant ships escorted by nationalist gunboats, with mostly German and Italian fighters providing air cover. The warships controlled by the Republic of Cartagena and Malaga made no attempt to stop them. Franco flew to Spain from Morocco the next day and assembled his recently transported soldiers into a column of 8,000 led by Colonel Yagua, which set out at once on a forced march.

[Pete]

March.

[Narrator]

Nothing could have better demonstrated the physical toughness and combat readiness of these men than this initial March. In just five days they covered the 130 miles of Merida under the blazing sun of the of an astute an Andalusian august, which no one, which no one who has been there during that season will ever forget. That meant marching more than 25 miles a day. Much was made in propaganda by the Republic, still echoed by many historians today. About the. Let me just check something real quick. Sorry about that. There we go. Much was made in propaganda by the Republic, still echoed by many historians today, about the incongruity or worse of Christian rebels using Moors from Morocco and a reconquest in reverse after their co religionists had been so completely defeated in the original reconquest. The point is specious and the analogy does not hold. No nationalist proposed for a moment to give Moroccans any role in the government of Spain. They were simply troops whose loyalty could be counted on Every European power with overseas colonial territories in those days used colonial troops. There is credible evidence of atrocities on their part, as happened in every war and has certainly happened in a grand scale in the armies and militia of the Republic public. But there is also credible evidence of a convergence of motivation and purpose toward between these Muslims and the Spanish crusaders. Also shown at Other points in the fascinating history of the interaction of Christianity and Islam. When Christian and Muslim face each other, they are usually hostile and often violently so. But when they jointly face an external atheist enemy, they become strong allies. The most recent example of this is the magnificent struggle of the Mushahedeen, or freedom fighters of Afghanistan against the Soviet Union. And aid, both personal and material, provided them from the West. It's a pretty well okay, yeah. Could have found a better example. The fervently Catholic R Chaplain Juan Ura Luce has this to say about his Muslim comrades in arms in the land of Spain. Quoting in the land of Spain, some renegades rejected the faith, profane the churches and killed the priests. By contrast, some simple Muslims Muslims adored God and commended themselves to Him. It is not difficult to see that these men who wore jalabas and other country clothing, were people of simple and great religious conviction who came to help us as good Spaniards. We had to be grateful to them. Their cooperation was very valuable and their conduct, despite the false rumors and calumny of the Reds, was disciplined and correct. Despite some isolated cases, more of robbery than of anything else else. At Almendralejo was fought the first battle of this vital campaign upon which the victory of the Crusade ultimately depended. For the nationalists had to establish a substantial area of control from the south to the north of Spain for their cost to be viable through a long war. A wild haired anarchist virago named Anita Lopez commanded the defense. Reckless fury and murderous hate could not make up for a lack of military experience in that situation. In close quarters defending a great city like Madrid, the revolutionaries in arms were to prove themselves formidable opponents even for professional soldiers. But in the open they were always outmaneuvered. Yagwe took Merida on the 10th, held it against a counterattack on the 11th and then moved west to Badajos. Other nationalist troops opened a corridor of communication and supplied to Mola in the north north, sending him the ammunition he desperately needed. After the prolonged battles for the Guadarrama Pass, Badajos, an old stone city with narrow streets, was held by 8,000 defenders. As many men as Yagwe had. In a place that gave the attackers no room to maneuver. Artillery was brought up and bombarded the city all during the morning of the 14th. But stone cities take a very long time to batter down. While the rubble of smashed stone buildings often serves a defense as as well, well or better than the original structure. Yagwe had to make a frontal attack. He sent the 16 company of the 4th Bandera of the Legion to lead it, they advanced on Trinidad Gate, singing that their regimental song about how death was their bride. Only 16 of the company's 200 men survived, but they broke through the gate. Other units rushed in. Many of the combatants were literally too close to shooting. Bayonets and long knives flashed and glittered. The revolutionaries resisted frantically, hand to hand fighting continued until sundown, most fiercely in the Plaza de Republica at the center of the city, in the shadow of its cathedral. Officers on both sides lost control of their men. Fighting raged even inside the cathedral. Legionnaires struck down Republican militia men on the very steps of the altar. Yagwe had no place to put prisoners and no men to spare the spirits that guard them. Many of those fighting against him wore no uniforms. He allowed his men to kill anyone they found with a weapon in his hands or who bore the mark of a rifle's recoil upon his shoulder. About two. That's. That's really smart. That's really smart to look for. Look for the shoulder bruise from a rifle. I mean, these guys aren't firing AR15s. I don't even know what I have to look up and see exactly what they're firing, but they're firing things that have. I mean, if. If they have mosins. If, if. Yeah, if they have mosins from Russia, I mean, they could be. Their shoulder could be beat up pretty well. That's actually really smart. About 2000 of the defenders died. How many during the battle and how many immediately after? No man can say it was called the massacre, wildly exaggerated by foreign correspondence and Republican propaganda at the time and by many historians. Ever sense. Does that sound familiar? Does this sound familiar? When you know somebody is. When all the atrocities are being committed by one side and you're just fighting back and then, well, you have the press on your side. Sounds awfully familiar. But a massacre is a slaughter of helpless men, women or children who have no arms and cannot escape. There were many of these to come, mostly inflicted by the revolutionaries. All through history, the storming of heavily defended city has led to scenes like those enacted at Badajos, August 14, 1936. They are part of the generic horror of war. But no one at a safe distance, writing at a safe desk, is in a position to judge men fighting in such a place against such enemies in so savage a struggle. Let him who has met death face to face across the blade of a revolutionary's knife, cast the first stone. Blood is thicker than ink. On 1 August, Republican General returned to the Alcazar of Toledo to begin a massive artillery bombardment of its buildings. On that day alone, 140 shells were fired at it from 105 millimeter cannon. The Picadillo building was completely destroyed and the whole of the Al Zakar was completely enveloped in rolling clouds of black smoke. The bombardment continued daily. On the 4th, 170 shells were fired. It was now clear to anyone that the siege of the Alcazar would probably go on for a long time. And the question of food became critical. There was plenty of water in three full cisterns in the swimming pool and plenty of ammunition, thanks to Moscardo's foresight in bringing in eight truckloads of it from the arms factory in Toledo. Moscardo's original idea of replenishing the food supplies of the garrison from the city City had proved impracticable due to the number and number and aggressiveness of the besiegers. On July 27, the last flour in the fortress had been baked into bread and distributed. Only a little wheat and some beans remained, but they were. But there were 97 horses and 27 mules in the Alcazar, enough to provide a small serving of meat for everyone if one animal was killed daily.

[Pete]

Hi, Uncle Lazer. Here. America's built on fast cars, fast food and even faster women. Moto casinos built in America. You know what they're fast at? Fast cash prize redemption. You see, only Moto is us. Own and operate Moto. It's American made. That's who we are and that's who we care about. Play for free at Moto US. Moto Casino is a social casino, boy. Where prohibited. No purchase necessary. Visit Moto US for more details. Must be 21/ Moto Casino America Social casino. Hanging out at the pool is great. Relaxing and playing Vegas style games on my phone at the same time. Drink in one hand and a blackjack in the other. It's all at spinquest. Over a thousand games including your favorite slots and table games. Be cool with this summer special new players get 30 coin packs for [e-mail] Spin Quest is a free to play social casino void where prohibited. Visit spinquest.com for more details. Oh, I have had no luck lately. Wait. Lady Luck Bretzky. I got you. I've had so much luck on spinquest.com they have all of my favorite games. Slot games, live blackjack, craps and bubble craps. You can even get a $30 coin pack for just 10 bucks. 10 bucks for 30. I'm headed over to spinquest.com right now. Spin Quest is a free to play social casino. Void where prohibited. Visit spinquest.com for more details.

[Narrator]

Fat from the slaughtered horses and mules could also be used to fuel dim lamps to provide some light during the night. But without bread, the garrison could not long keep up its fighting strength. On July 29, Isidore Clamagirod, a French woman who had owned a bakery in Soleil, though, told the officers in the Alcazar that he had heard. That he had heard of a French man. I'm sorry. A French man who had owned a bakery in Toledo told the officers in the Alakar Alcazar. Sorry, Jeez. That he had heard of a warehouse filled with wheat collected by the bank of Bil? Bil Bilbao as part payment on its loans, located close to the fortress. At first he was not believed. The rumor seemed too good to be true. And a bank collecting payments and wheat too peculiar. But Clementido Guido persisted and cudgeled his memory until he recalled where he had heard the wheat was kept in a warehouse under its harris, accessible from the ruins of the picadero. In the night of August 3rd, 20 men crawled out on the terrace and made a whole through it. In the roof of the building below, a soldier named Perez Malero was lowered down by rope, struck a match and found himself surrounded by hundreds of sacks of full wheat. 23 sacks were brought up that night. Moscedero went immediately to the chapel to give thanks to the Blessed Virgin Mary for hearing and answering their prayers to her for help. No less than 2,000 sacks of wheat were found in the warehouse. Their contents were ground into flour by the engine of a Harley Davidson motorcycle cycle hooked up to a small mill which had been used to grind feed for the horses and mules. Now the alcazar could not be starved out. On August 8th, a Republican plane dropped 1600 pound bombs on the Alcazar, wounding many inside. Another plane later dropped three tear gas bombs which were at first taken for poison gas, when the defenders feared above all, which the defenders feared above all.

[Pete]

All

[Narrator]

but a druggist among them had planned for this and prepared kindling for fires around the central court, which were lit, creating a draft of hot air, pulling the gas out of the enclosed areas. They soon realized it was not lethal. The next day there were more air attacks and exceptionally heavy artillery fire. Nine of the garrison deserted through the Go building, letting themselves down by ropes. Moscardo doubled the guard on the gobierno and declared that henceforth possession of a rope by any unauthorized individual would be punishable by death. The bombardment continued into the night, the besiegers illuminating their target with searchlights. In the words of Cecil Ebi, quoting. Perhaps the most spectacular side of the war was the Alcazar. Under floodlights, immaculately white above the dim skyline of the darkened city, especially during a bombardment, black puffs spouted from luminous walls, gray debris and dust dropped down, and a dry cackle reverberated in the gorge. End quote. And so, all through the first half of August, the Alcazar of Toledo, battered, air bombed, firebombed gas, stood over the ancient city on its looming crag like a pillar of cloud against the night, defiant of men and devils. Jose Moscardo had pledged on the life of his son that the Alcazar would never surrender. And it did not. 250 miles to the north, under even worse conditions, the Simancas Barracks in Guion still held out under the equal unbending Colonel Antonio Pinilla. He and his men beat off a night attack on August 3rd with the help of gunfire from the cruiser Almirante Severa, still standing just offshore to support them them. Two days later, they repelled another attack at dawn, again with the cruisers fire behind them. On the 6th, their morale was raised by nationalist planes which flew over the barracks and with remarkable accuracy dropped both food and medicines into the narrow enclosure. On the 8th, the cruiser had to leave for a day and an adjoining building held by Colonel Panilla's men. The Zapadores barracks, was almost taken in another attack. The defenders, it must be remembered, had no lights at all. They could only fight at night by aiming at the gun flashes of the enemy. The cruiser returned on the 9th. On the 13th, some of the defenders of the more endangered Zapadoris barracks deserted, seeing no hope of rescue or of prolonging the defense much longer. But 117 heroes remained there, along with 200 in the Simonco Spot Barracks. On the 14th, in the city of Gion, cursing and blaspheming revolutionary soldiers took 116 prisoners, including 10 priests and two Capuchin brothers, out of the Church of Santa Fe where they had been holding them, and shot them all at Jove cemetery. So that was. Yeah. 116. They also fired on a statue of Christ, as happened on a number of other occasions during this period. Period. On the 15th, the besiegers attempted to burn the barracks with flaming gasoline, but were once more driven back. In Aragon during August, Buenaventura Durutti, the anarchist firebrand who had led the storming of the Atarazanas barracks in Barcelona, was telling the world what he intended to do to his country and his people. He said to Canadian reporter Pierre von Paisan, we are not in the least afraid of ruins. We're going to inherit the earth. The bourgeoisie may blast and ruin their world before they leave the stage of history, but we carry a new world in our hearts. Later in the month, after boasting that he would soon lead a victorious attack on Zaragoza, he said to Russian journalist Mikhail Koltsov, we shall subordinate ourselves neither to Madrid nor Barcelona, neither to azanias nor companies. We shall show you Bolsheviks how to make religion. We shall show you Bolsheviks how to make revolution. Terrible slip. Durutti could hardly have failed to hear the story quickly spread all over Spain of how on August 3rd Republic. On August 3rd, Republican aircraft had dropped three bombs on the shrine of Our lady of Pilar in Zaragoza, one of the most revered in the whole country. But not one of them exploded while 11 striking a pavement in front of the church left the mark of a cross in the pavement. On August 8, Darutti returned with his column to the small city of Barbosa, Barbastro in republican controlled Aragon, to announce his intention to eliminate dangerous persons, among them the bishop of Barbostera, Florencio Asencio. When Diruti spoke the everyone knew what he meant. That night Bishop Asensio finished a novena to the Sacred Heart of Jesus and said to his fellow prisoners, my sons, I wish to give you my my last benediction. And afterward, like our Lord Jesus, I will celebrate my last supper with you. At three o' clock in the morning he was taken from prison, saying what a beautiful night this is for me. I go to the house of the Lord. He was shot at Kilometer 3 on the road from Barbastro to. And left for dead. He lived for two hours upon a pile of corpses, then delivered up his soul. Afterward, his body was mutilated. That Same day, the 78 year old Bishop of Segorbe, Miguel Sera Sekorate was shot. The day before, the Bishop of Cuenca, Cruz Laplana Laguna was killed at Kilometer 5 on the road from Cuenca to to Villar Day Viarde Olaya, saying triumphantly to his murderers, do you not believe in heaven? Heaven is my sons. Do you not believe in hell? Hell is my sons. You can kill me, my body I'll leave behind, but my soul will rise to heaven. I pardon you and in heaven I will pray for you. Four days earlier, on August 5, Bishop Silvio Weeks of Larida, after saying mass for his fellow prisoners early in the day, was Taken to a cemetery. Was taken to a cemetery for killing with 22 laymen. He asked to be the last of the group shots so that he might give absolution to each of the others before they were struck down. A week later, on August 12, Auxiliary Bishop Manuel Boras of Tarragona was executed beside a highway, his body mutilated and then partially burned with gasoline. Gasoline. And on that day, the bishop of Yan in Andalus Andalusia, Manuel Basulto Jimenez, was taken from a prison train going to Madrid by a mob at a railway station on the way and killed at Vallecas with 200 other prisoners, including his sister Teresa, who begged for her brother's life until she got cut down by a hideous, freckled militia woman named Josefa Kot. Bishop Basulto Jimenez died on his knees, asking God to forgive his sins and his assassins. Within a single week, six Spanish bishops had been martyred. Nothing like it had been seen since the ancient Roman persecution of Diocletian. Even the massacres of September 1792 and the French Revolution took the lives of only two bishops. On August 10, the Vatican pointed out that the Spanish Republican government. Government had made no real effort to stop the killing of priests and religious in Spain or the destruction of churches there. Nor had it offered any public expression of regret for these atrocities, nor condemned their perpetrators. In the prison at Barbosa. At Barbastro, an entire community of missionary sons of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, known as Clarissians for their founder, the 19th century Spanish Saint Antonio Maria Claire Claret. Awaiting Darutti's decision on their fate. The community included nine priests, 12 lay brothers and 39 seminarians. They had been seized on July 20, the day of the fall of the El Ataranzas barracks in Barcelona, when the anarchists and militant socialists gained full control of Catalonia and some adjoining parts of Aragon, including Barbastro. The prison was small. The prison was a small old building with without sanitary facilities, severely overcrowded, with only 16 to 20 square yards per prisoner. 21 of the Claritians were confined to a small, unfinished cell ventilated only by a window 12 by 6 inches in the oppressive heat of a Spanish summer. Every day some came to taunt them and their fellow prisoners and call for their killing. Soon. At 3:30 in the morning of August 12, four Claritian priests and two deacons were taken from Barbastrodo prison for execution. They were the first martyrs of this community, all of whom were beatified by John Paul Pope John Paul II in 1994. The other colorations were now being held together in a large room formerly used as an auditorium. There, that day they wrote their last message on a chocolate bar wrapper. August 12, 1936. Barbas. Six of our companions are now martyrs. Soon we too shall join their ranks. But before we do, we want to state that we forgive all who take our lives. We offer our lives for the Christianization of the working men, for the reign of the Catholic Church, for our beloved congregation, and for our dear families. This is the last offering of its martyred sons to their congregation. Immediately after midnight of the 13th, the hour struck for their next martyrdom. The prisoners were assembled on the stage of the former auditorium. Auditorium of the former auditorium. Mariano Abad, the gravedigger, and militiamen, known for his ferocity, read out the names of the 20 Clarissians. As each young man's name was called, he leaped from the stage to the floor. In the words of one of them, who escaped death because of his Argentine citizenship, their faces glowed with an indescribably supernatural air. They were bound with ropes stained by the blood of earlier martyrs, which they kissed fervently. One of their priests gave them general absolution. As they marched out under guard, they began to sing and continued singing all the way to the killing place on a nearby highway overlooking a ravine. Most often they sang the hymn of the International Eucharist Congress who had been held, which had been held in Madrid. Let us sing to the love of loves Let us sing to the Lord for God is here Let us adore Christ a Redeemer. Glory to Christ Jesus, Jesus, Heaven and earth Blessed the Lord Bless the Lord we will love you always, God of love. At the last moment, they were. They were offered their lives if they would join the revolutionary militia. Every one of them refused. They knelt on the ground, extending their arms in the form of a cross. In their posture. All of them were shot and buried in their cassocks. Cassocks. 21 more Claritians had already been told they would die the same death the following night. During the day, one of them, Faustino Perez, managed to smuggle out a letter to his Claritian superiors reporting the martyrdom of 26 of their community. Already in the forthcoming martyrdom of 21 more, saying, we all die praying to God that the blood from our wounds may not be a vengeful blood, but that it may run red and full of life in your veins to stimulate your growth and development all over the world. Goodbye, dear congregation. Your sons, the martyrs of Barbastro salute you from prison and offer you our sorrow and anguish as a holocaust to expiate our faults, our weaknesses, and as a testimony to our faithful, generous and eternal love. The martyrs of tomorrow the 14th are mindful of the fact that they die on the eve of the Assumption. What a remembrance that will be. We die for the right to wear the cassock. And we die on the very anniversary of the day in which we were clothed in it. End quote. On that same day, the 13th, in the town of Sea, 30 year old clarician brother Fernando Saperas was martyred by militia after they attempted for 1415 hours to induce or force him to violate his vow of chastity. On that one day, 104 priests were martyred throughout Spain. The remaining Claritians at Barbastro were not, not for unexplained reasons, killed as scheduled in the early morning hours of the 14th, but rather at that time on the 15th, the great feast of the Assumption. They too sang all the way to their killing place, especially the Salvia Regina. Let us hear in conclusion, not again from them, but from one of their murderers verbal of the Civil Guard giving hell's own testimony to their constancy. Those goddamn fools. No one could shut them up. All the way they sang and praised Christ the King. One of them fel dead when we hit him with the butt of a gun. And this is no lie, but the more we hit them, the more they sang and shouted Viva Cristo Rey. On that Feast of the Assumption. The newspaper Workers Solidarity in Barcelona flaunted an enormous headline. Down with the Church, its editorial read. The Church must disappear forever. The wretched little Catholic holes no longer exist, exist. The torches of the people have pulverized them. In their place rises a free spirit that has nothing in common with the masochism which incubates in the naves of the cathedrals. But it is necessary to tear up the Church by the roots. For this we must take by force all its goods that rightly belong to the people. Religious orders must be dissolved, bishops and cardinals must be shot. But as ever, the blood of the martyrs was the seed of the Church in the word of Stanley Payne, one of the few historians of the Spanish Civil War not largely or entirely blinded by anti Catholic prejudice. Quoting it was above all the outbreak of violent mass revolution in the republican zone, with its church burnings, economic appropriations and many thousands of murders that quickly rallied the more conservative half of the Spanish populations of the nationalist cause. Almost equally important was the identification of the revolt with the religion which soon began to convert the revolt into an official crusade and provided its primal cultural, emotional and spiritual support. The Feast of the Assumption was a splendid opportunity to proclaim and confirm the crusade. In a great public ceremony at Sevilla, the republican tricolor was lowered and the traditional Spanish golden red flag raised and hailed personally by Franco. Jose Maria Maria Peiman, the one outstanding Catholic champion among Spanish writers, called the war a new reconquista in defense of Christian civilization, a holy war, a crusade. General Mola, speaking on radio that evening, pledged that the cross that was and remains the symbol of our religion and our faith would be raised above the over the new state. At his homily at the Assumption Day Mass in Pamplona, following a long and enthusiastic procession through the streets to honor the dead day, Bishop Alocea of Pamplona proclaimed, this is not a war, this is a crusade. And the church, while she asked God for peace and sparing of bloodshed among all her children, those who love her and fight to defend her, as well as those who hate her and want to destroy her, cannot do less than put herself on the side of the crusaders. I'll end it right there for now. Well, might be able to finish up August in the. In the next episode. But yeah, yeah, you know, it's. I usually get one theme out of these books. I have a tendency to really just concentrate on one thing. But one thing that really, really pisses me off is people not understanding after, I mean, the French revolution, but especially 1917, especially the Bolshevik takeover of Russia and their destruction of everything there, to not understand that the only thing that could defeat that, that they saw that could defeat that at that time, time was to fight them, to just kill them. To not realize that everything, every movement was a response to that, to Bolshevism. And it wasn't just two authoritarian groups fighting for power.

[Pete]

Men,

[Narrator]

you just get that out of your brain. I mean, that's simplistic. That's. I'm neither left nor right, which usually means that they're left wing. And that's people who are like, man, I can't take a side because I always have to be right. At least of it is just being morally right. That's all I hear. And it's just to be dismissed. Be dismissed. You would have ran if you were Spanish. You would have ran. You would have left, left. Or you would have fought with the. With the revolutionaries. You would have fought with the anarchists. Yeah, all right. There were ads during this, if you want to get the episodes early and ad free from amboonthwall.com forward slash support. You do it through the website right there and do it through subscribestar Patreon Gumroad subscribers. Deck Substack, where I'm doing videos, short little videos. My, my video this morning, I think was five minutes long. Talk a little bit about what Bukel is doing down there. But yeah, just like mini episodes. So, yep, that's it. We'll be back for part six and try to finish up August in the next episode. And I'll have a guest, at least one guest for this reading later this week. Release that on the weekend. Weekend. All right, take care. Thank you. Bye. I want to welcome everyone back to part six of my reading of Warren Carroll's the Last Crusade. Looks like we're going to be able to get through August today and that takes us up to September. Yeah, September. That sounds about right. Freemanthewall.com Movies where you can check out Thomas and I reviewing, watching and reviewing and commenting on movies. Our own kind of version of mystery science theater where we try to be a little more serious sometimes. And if you buy anything from Antelope Hill Publishing, use Pete Q at checkout. You get 5% off your order. All right, let's jump into this Warren Carroll Last Crusade. Let's finish up August. Writing from Vienna, Alfonso Carlos expressed his particular satisfaction that the echetes were fighting under the manner of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, as did the Carlist army of Catalonia back in 1873, when he had commanded it and said he trusted the Riketes who died fighting in the Crusade would be treated by God as martyrs and go straight to heaven. At the Al Zakar of Toledo and at Samanca's barracks in Gihon, there could be no mass on this holy day because there was no priest. But many prayers were offered, and at the Alsa Car, the Spanish tradition of fiesta on the great holy day was maintained. One imagines this may have been at the suggestion of the beautiful and vivacious Carmen Aragones with flamenco dancing and castanets at the Simancas barracks in Guyon, where the besiegers attack with flaming gasoline had been thrown back earlier in the day. Colonel Panilla, in a special order of the day, congratulated his men for their heroic defense and declared they must fight on to victory or death. In fact, the end was very near for them. The very next day, at 11 o' clock in the morning, after a tremendous resistance and heavy casualties, especially among the officers, during which the indispensable cruiser Almirante Cervera was for the first time being not available to help them, the remaining defenders of the Zapadoras barracks had to abandon them and withdraw to the Simancas barracks. Water, food and medicine were almost gone, and the Simancas barracks were. Barracks was under almost constant artillery bombardment. On the night of the 19th, the Almirante Cervera returned and signaled through the darkness with blinking lights. The defenders saw the signal and reopened radio communications with the Cruiser. On the 20th, six bombs were dropped on the barracks, along with continuing heavy artillery fire, which made a large breach in the walls of the barracks compound. One of the four colonels commanding was severely wounded, but Panetta and the other two fought on that night the besiegers brought up a large cannon and emplaced it just 200 yards from the barracks compound, whose walls, unlike those of the Alcazar of Toledo, were never built to take such punishment. When the morning light on the 21st revealed this new and overpowering threat, the defenders, after failing to damage the cannon with their inadequate weapons, sallied again it, but were driven back by withering fire. The shells of this heavy gun and from other cannon only a little further away, destroyed large sections of the walls of the compound and of the barracks. A great cloud of dust enveloped the battle. Then the revolutionaries charged in overwhelming numbers and with furious determination. Wooden parts of the barracks blazed up, adding columns, booms of smoke to the dust cloud. By five o' clock in the afternoon, the attackers were inside the barracks in force. One of their officers made a final demand for surrender to Colonel Panilla, but he would not accept it. Attackers and defenders mingled throughout the barracks, fighting hand to hand. There had been nearly 300 defenders when the day began, but many, perhaps half, were already dead or wounded. There was no rescuing army anywhere near, no place to retreat, no hope to prevent prevail. The enemy was giving no quarter in their whole flaming, exploding world. The crusaders in the Simonas barracks had only one friend left. The nationalist cruiser offshore, still in touch with them by radio. But the Almirante Cerveira now had no enemy target to shoot at. The enemy was in the barracks. Wherever the defenders were, so were the revolutionaries. Colonel Panilla spoke to the officers still around him. With their consent, he sent a message by radio to the Almirante Citadev, whose like had not been heard since the days of ancient Rome. Defense is impossible. The barracks are burning. The enemy is start. Are starting to enter. Fire on us, man. That is just brutal. On the bridge of the Amarante Servera they were. There was stunned silence. Someone suggested that the Message might have been sent by the Reds as the trick the cruiser radio backed. We have received your message. Give it to us in cipher. Instantly came the reply. There is no time to encipher it. The Red artillery had ceased firing to avoid hitting their own men in the barracks. But the deadly crackle of small arms fire and the metallic clash of bayonets and knives continued within. Captain Jereno, standing atop the broken trunk of what had been a statue of the Blessed Virgin Mary, fell with a bullet in his body. Body. If any of you see the triumph of Spain, he gasps look for my family and tell them I died gladly for God in my country, but I ask that justice be done for the crimes committed against us. Then he died. With feelings which may barely be imagined, the officers and crew of the Almirante Cervera obeyed Colonel Panilla's last request for fire support. Salvos from her main battery crashed down upon Doomberry Barracks, pulverizing triumphant attackers and ultimate defenders together. It was 6:30 in the afternoon of August 21st. As the cruiser sailed sadly out to sea, her captain's message to his admiral reporting his departure ended. Simancas Barracks is a volcano. There were some survivors from whom we know the story, but it is not a story most men outside Spain, or even inside Spain today, dare to tell. Of all the English sources on the Spanish Civil War consulted in the research for this book, only Hugh Thomas's history mentions it. Though there is a whole book about it in Spanish written, written in Guyon and published in what is proudly called on its title page, the year of victory, 1939. The late 20th century does not honor heroes, but fears them as a reproach upon an age which knows little to live for and nothing to die for. On August 20, the day before Samanco's barracks fell, the nationalist column of Yagweh left bloody Badajos on its march to Madrid. Two days later it routed the fresh and numerically strong phantom column of anarchist militia trying to counter attack Merida and outflank the Nationalists by going through the Guadalupe mountains, blaming everyone but themselves and their opponents for their defeat. The anarchists are now refused to open obey the orders of much traveled Republican general Riquelme, who was consequently unable to make any further immediate challenge to Yagweh's advance. Franco moved to Extremadura and established his headquarters at Casares in that province. With the help of German and Italian aircraft, the Nationalists had now obtained control of the air over the advancing troops, a great effort asset. The nationalist defenders of Zaragoza Including General Cabanes troops and a large detachment of Raquetes, defeated the anarchists late in August at the battle of Perdigueira on the road to Zaragoza. Again, because of the anarchist military experience and frequent refusal to obey orders. In the north, a force of 2000 consisting primarily of rakeetes under a very tough and resolute command commander, Colonel Bjord Lecky, attacked the city of Arun on the French border. The defenders of the city numbered 3,000. Normally, an attacking force must outnumber defenders to succeed, But Bear Legi slowly pushed forward in defiance of the odds. When you realize that the anarchists have no military experience whatsoever, you start to understand that even though the terror by the absolutely insane things that they do, the vile things that they do is a part of who they are, but that's also what they're relying upon. For people to just be terrorized and not fight back. Well, when you have a army full of people who are fighting for some for a higher ordeal than just what you get in this life, maybe, maybe that's important because that's what anarchists are most anarchists, People can make the argument that, no, I'm an anarcho capitalist. I'm a right wing anarchist. Okay, well, you can try to change. I mean, maybe one day somebody will be able to change what the word rape means. But that ain't happening right now. So you can go on and continue calling yourself what you will. This is what people think of when they think of anarchist. At least that's what would make it one of my goals in life for them to think of. That they know this story, that they know about World War I and a half. On August 16, Lieutenant Barber, Engineering Officer of the Alcazar at Toledo, listening with a stethoscope through the floor of the west cellar, heard sounds indicating to him that the besiegers were hacking out a tunnel through the solid rock underlying the fortress. In fact, two tunnels were being excavated with small dynamite charges expertly placed by militant miners from the Asturias, the province where Guyon was located located. Other Astorian miners had been among the successful besiegers of the Simonkus barracks.

[Pete]

You ain't heard about Moto Casino? Moto has real Vegas slots. Any game you can find on the floor in Vegas, you can play it on Moto.

[Narrator]

I like my slots hot. Moto's free to play like food stamps. In line at the grocery store, at a funeral, in traffic.

[Pete]

Keep your eyes on the road.

[Narrator]

Hop on Moto Casino. Moto Casino got jackpots that are bigger

[Pete]

than my Belly Moto America's hottest free to play social casino Download the movie Moto Casino app today Moto Casinos the social casino board we're prohibited. No purchase necessary. Visit Moto Us for more details. Hanging out at the pool is great. Relaxing and playing Vegas style games on my phone at the same time. Drink in one hand and a blackjack in the other. It's all at spinquest. Over a thousand games including your favorite slots and table table games. Be cool with this summer special new players get 30 coin packs for [e-mail] Spin Quest is a free to play social casino void where prohibited. Visit spinquest.com for more details. Forget everything you had planned for this weekend because you are sitting on your couch and winning from the comfort of your own home. I'm here with Spin Quest where you can play hundreds of slots games, all the table games you love, and you could even win real cash prizes. New users $30 coin packs are on sale for [e-mail] Spin Quest is a free to play social casino void where prohibited. Visit spinquest.com for more details.

[Narrator]

On the 19th, the first mortar fire began to fall on the Alcazar and then the first big shells from 155 millimeter CAN cannon. 68 of these shells struck the Alcazar on the 20th and their bombardment continued daily, along with 12 air bombs. On the 22nd, night attacks on the Gobierno building with flaming gasoline and incessant rifle fire and grenade throwing. But on the 17th the Alcazar garrison, by attaching extra batteries to their radio receiver, was able to pick up a broadcast from Radio Lisbon Husband that for the first time told them of the advance of the Nationalist army through Extremadura toward them. And on the 22nd a Nationalist plane came roaring past less than 100ft above the spires on the four great towers of the Alcazar and dropped four aluminum containers for them before going on to drop bombs on positions of the besiegers in the city. The defenders wildly cheered the the friendly plane, and cheered even more when in one of the aluminum containers, containers along with food, was found a letter from General Franco, wrapped in the old gold and red flag of Spain just adopted by the Nationalists as their banner. He told them, we are approaching, we shall relieve you. In the meantime, resist surmounting all obstacles. Our columns are advancing, destroying resistance. Viva Espana. Long live the heroic defenders of the Alcazar. The next day, Sunday the 23rd, after the customary prayers in the chapel in lieu of a mess mass, the letter was posted in the central courtyard, and the flag was brought there too. Soldiers filed past, Nelson kissed it, and then it was raised above the crumbling north wall in the last rays of the setting setting sun. Each soldier of the garrison was given a buttonhole rosette of gold and red, made by the women of the Alcazar out of out of old Navarra style berets worn by the cadets at the academy 25 years before. All that day, the mortars pounded away. 50, 155 millimeter shells were fired at the Alcazar. There was another Republican bombing raid and the digging of the tunnel went on. That Sunday, Luis Moscardo was killed, along with the dean of the cathedral, 12 other priests, 11 Marist brothers and a number of laymen. Colonel Moscardo's only surviving son, 16 year old Carmen Carmelo, had been imprisoned with Luis and he too was marked for death. But at the last moment, an anarchist called El Grand Granadino, after killing a priest by smashing a skull with a rifle, but while Carmelo watched, unexpectedly balked at killing one so young. El Granadino took Carmelo Moscardo away to safety in an insane asylum along with his mother, where they remained until Franco's army reached Toledo. Late in August, the besiegers of the Alcazar brought up a 75 millimeter cannon and placed it in Conception Covent, just 70 yards from the Gobierno Building. On August 29, they opened Point blank fire with it. In the course of the day its fire opened a wide breach in the wall of the Gobierno posted at this point. Private Jose Polomares stood his ground ground with the wall breaking down before him. Half deafened by the explosions of the shells, he climbed a pile of debris and fired repeatedly into the convent with his rifle. The very unequal duel of fire with cannon ended in victory for the riflemen. Four of the gun crew were seriously wounded and it ceased firing. The Alcazar had a few mortars, but only 50 shells for them. On the 31st, Moscardo ordered six of his small stock of mortar shells fired at the Conception Convoy convent and the nearby Santa Cruz Museum to keep them clear of artillery. It was toward the end of August that the wife of one of the soldiers of the garrison, who had lived in Toledo and had not brought her into Alcazar before the siege began, was forced to go into a street near the northwest tower of the fortress and call on her husband to come out and save his family. But the observers in the windows of the Alcazar were able to see that at the Same time that she said the words she had been required to say, she was signaling to her husband with her fingers that he should stay and fight on. Spanish women have never lagged behind their men in courage. It was in Catalonia, more than in any part of Spain, that the revolutionaries who had seized power explicitly proclaimed their goal to be the total extirpation of Christianity by force, and did everything they could to attain the goal. On August 19, the periodical Labata, published by POUM, the Catalan Trotskyite organization, declared the Republic's proper objective to be not only to attempt to burn churches and execute ecclesiastics, but to destroy the church as a social institution. On August 20, the Barcelona newspaper worker Solidarity declared, we have lit the torch, applying the purifying fire to all the monuments which for centuries cast their shadows over every corner of space. Spain, the churches and we have crossed the countryside, purifying it of the plague of religion. A touch of awareness of the profundity of the evil that was happening penetrated even the ideological armor of communist socialist Franz Borkanau, a former employee of the Comintern, as he reported a scene on a beach at Sitges in Catalonia in the summer month of August, quoting the committee had ordered everybody to deliver objects of worship, such as images, statues, prayer books, talismans, to be burned in public. There, to the beach the women went, carrying the petty objects of devotion, most of them with obvious reluctance, many a one taking a last to do with a sad look at what had been perhaps an object less of religious value than a family pride, a part of the familiar daily life. This was there was not the slightest sign that anybody was enjoying the proceeding, with the exception of the children. In the true spirit of Antoine Forquier Tinville, the public prosecutor of the terror in the French Revolution, who had once demanded that the body of one of his victims who had committed suicide be taken to the guillotine to have its head cut off, even though it was dead. The revolutionaries of Catalonia now extended their slaughter to the aged and the severely ill. On August 18, the last two Claritian seminarians seriously ill in a hospital were taken out and shot at Barbasuro, making a grand total of 51 Claritian martyrs there. The same day, seven aged and sick priests and brothers who had been in the hospital at Cervera University were shot by militia. Another Claritian priest at Cervera, Emilio Boevard, martyred two nights or later, requested the privilege of kissing the hand of him who was about to kill. Kill him. Kill me. That's from the. There's a footnote there. I always like to see if there's a footnote for things like that. On August 20th, at Larida in Catalonia, 75 miles west of Barcelona, occurred one of the largest mass martyrdoms of the war. No less than 74 priests and religious who had been imprisoned in jail, who had been been who had a normal holding capacity of 150 but was now jammed with over 600 prisoners, were taken out at the usual midnight hour by about 200 militia and assault guards. When their names were called, several heroic riketes and fus offered to take the places of some of them, but were not allowed to do so. The condemned priests and religious chained 10 together, chanting the credo and singing Ave Maria and the Magnificat were taken in trucks to the cemetery at the intersection of the roads of Tarragona and Barcelona. Many of the 200 militia and assault guards cheered as the helpless victims gave up their life's blood under a hail of bullets. In another mass martyrdom In Catalonia on August 25, 60 men were taken from prison ship in the harbor of Tarragona and machine gun next to a cemetery fronting a highway. The majority of these victims were priests, but they included 13 rickets. Since Catalonia borders France, it was possible to smuggle threatened priests and religious to safety across the border. A young layman named Jaime Criveres Pareda of Vich made a practice of this, becoming one of several scarlet pimpernels of the Spanish Revolution. He was captured during August and executed by Barcelona's militia on the 27th. In Madrid, another massacre of a large number of prisoners was carried carried out at this time by the militia. After some of the. Some of those held in the model prison set a fire to try to help them escape. And after much angry talk in the streets about the alleged massacre at Bajos by Yagua's nationalist troops earlier in the

[Pete]

month,

[Narrator]

some socialist political leaders tried to calm the crowds and control the militia without success. The republican government as such did not intervene. 40 prisoners were shot in the courtyard of the model prison Sunday afternoon, August 23, and 30 more the next morning. Many of them were prominent men. The victims included Fernando Primo de Rivera, brother of Jose Antonio, and General Villegas, who had at first agreed to lead the military uprising in the Mansanya barracks, then backed out, then supported the rising when belatedly launched by General Fan Houl July 19. President Aanya and Prime Minister Guidal were deeply distressed by these killings. Killings? Azania said he wished he was dead. And would resign. And was talked out of it only with great difficulty by his friend and confidant, the literary lawyer Angel Osorio. It is very significant that Azania was so much disturbed by this murder of nationalist leaders, but never voiced any regret for the slaughter of priests and religious. On the day of the model prison massacre. The Guidal government legitimized the Revolutionary Court courts which had authorized many of the killings, but provided that to re to qualify as agencies of the government, they must include two representatives each from the Socialist Workers Party, Largo Caballeros UGT and the Communist Party. The Communist Party, the Anarchist Union, cnc. The Anarchist Party, FAI A Zanya's Left Republican Party and Martinez Barrio's Republican Union. The theory, if there was one one, was that the various parties would check one another and thereby prevent indiscriminate massacres. Azania, with his almost invincible ignorance of the political reality of what Spain had now become, May have actually believed it for a little while. But if anyone really thought that that courts with a revolutionary majority of 10 to 4 were going to mitigate the horror of sweeping republican Spain, they were soon. They were very. They were very soon disillusioned. Nevertheless, throughout the whole savage and ruinous course of the Spanish Republic under revolutionary control, President and name only Manuel Lasagna never worked up the moral courage to resign. I mean, reminds you of someone. All over Spain, the martyrdoms continued. It was in August rather than in July that they reached a Peak. On August 16, in Ciudad Real, Department of the center of Spain, six priests and 14 brothers of the Brothers of the Christian Schools were killed at Fuente, Fuente del Fresno. They marched through their death chanting Requiem. Their superior, Reverend Victor Jumias, adjured them. To raise your eyes to heaven and recite your last, Our Father, for in a few minutes you will be in the kingdom of heaven. At the end he led them in, saying, with Christ, forgive them, Lord, for they know not what they do. Six days later, the bishop of Ciudad Narciso de Estana Eria was shot. His body was later found near a small village 8 km from the city of Ciudad Real. But no details of his martyrdom are known. In the entire persecution, 106 priests of the small diocese diocese were martyred, which was almost all of them. On August 18, 15 priests and religious were killed near the village of Valdeal Goria in the province of Teruel of the diocese of Zaragoza. Like so many of the other martyrs, they pardoned their killers and died shouting Viva Cristore. Another exceptionally large scale martyrdom comparable to that of Larisa vida on the 20th, took place Aug. 31 at Malaga in the far south, where 60 priests and religious, including Enrique Vida Vidaurita, rector of the Malaga seminary, were taken from prison and killed. On August 28, as on the 9th, two bishops were martyred in a single day. Diego Ventaha Milan, bishop of Almeria in southeastern Spain, and and Manuel Medina, bishop of Guadiz near Grenada. Their bodies were burned. However, many supporters of the republic in and out of Spain might try to hide from themselves and others the full magnitude of the horror unleashed there, particularly during the month of August or feebly, to justify it as a reaction against fascism and excessive church power in the past. Pope Pius XI understood exactly what was happening happening. The Church, as so often before in her long history, was under maximum attack from Satan. Within the borders of the Republic. Her enemies rode high, unchallenged. No earthly material means remained to defend her, only the sublime courage of the martyrs. The rally of the martyrs was presaged. The rally of the martyrs had presaged the end of the Reign of Terror and the French Revolution, especially the glorious parade of the 16 Blessed Carmelite Sisters of Comp. Of Comp. To the guillotine in July 1794, singing on their way like the Caritian martyrs of Barbaso In Spain in 1936, there was a still greater rally of the martyrs, befitting the magnitude of the assault upon Christ and his Church, which the actual firing on statues of Christ so clearly betokened. On August 22, Pope Pius XI 11th granted special permission for the celebration of the Mass in secret in republican Spain, without altars or sacred signs or vessels, with a chalice of glass or pottery. In view of the persecution, Cardinal Eugenio Passei, the future Pope Pius xii, in a letter to the General of the Missionaries of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, conveying the special permission, assured them that the Pope's heart was with his afflicted son. Sons who were writing with their blood a glorious new page in the 2000 year history of Christian martyrdom.

[Pete]

Hi, Uncle Laser. Here America's built on fast cars, fast food and even faster women. Photo Casinos built in America. You know what they're fast at? Fast cash prize redemption. You see, only Moto is US owned and operated. Moto. It's American made. That's who we are and that's who we care about. Play for free at MOTO US MOTO Casinos to support social casino Boy. We're prohibited. No purchase necessary. Visit Moto Us for more details. Must be 21 plus. What's up everybody? It's Bretzky and America is turning 250 and I can't think of a better way to celebrate that than playing on an American owned social casino. Spinquest.com with all of your favorite games live, live crabs, bubble craps, live blackjack. There's no better place to play for free and win real cash prizes. Spinquest.com Spin Quest is a free to play social casino void where prohibited. Visit spinquest.com for more details. What's up baby? It's Bretzky and I'm here to tell you that spinquest.com is giving out free sweeps coins. All you gotta do is purchase a ten ten dollar coin pack and guess what? They're gonna give you the coins from a thirty dollar coin pack that lets you play all your favorite games like Blackjack, Wanted, Dead or Wild. And we're talking real cash prizes baby. Spin Quest.com Spin Quest is a free to play social casino void where prohibited. Visit spinquest.com for more details.

[Narrator]

He told Cardinal Cardinal Pacelli to tell them that he shared a of in spirit, their agony and their sacrifice. God was with them and the Vicar of Christ would never forget them. The red tide of martyrdom in Spain during August needs to be constantly kept in mind to provide due perspective of the nationalist execution of Federico Garcia Lorca, probably Spain's greatest living poet, at the village of Visnar, near grenada at dawn, August 19, and the extraordinary attention given to it by historic historians. The famous city of Grenada, site of the Alhambra and of the completion of the reconquest of Spain from the Moors in 1492 by the great Isabel and Fernando, was part of the province of Andalusia. Most of Andalusia had been taken over by the Nationalists as a result of Quiepo Gallano's remarkable, remarkably successful coup in civilization. Villa. Though some of its northern and eastern parts and coastal city of Malaga remained in the hands of the Republic, Quiepo had quickly established himself as civil governor of all parts of Andalusia, the nationalist control. Franco at this point held no authority, not strictly military. This was made very clear when, during the week of August 9th through 15th, he made a personal appeal to Quiepo to commute the death sentence imposed by a nationalist court martial marshal on General Miguel Compens, who had been commander of the Grenada garrison and had not supported the military rising. General Compens was a friend of Franco and had done nothing actively to oppose the rising. Nevertheless, Quiepo flatly rejected Franco's personal request about that the death penalty be reconsidered and Compens was executed. The nationalist governor of Grenada, appointed and supported by Kiev, was Jose Valdez. At dawn, August 16, the day the poet Garcia Lorca was arrested, his brother in law, Manuel Fernandez Moncesinos, who had been the socialist mayor of Grenada, was shot at dawn, along with 29 others considered important collaborators with the overthrow with the overthrown government. This brought Valdez's total executions to 236during less than a month since the Rising. The following April, when he had full power, Franco dismissed Valdez from his position because of the excessive number of executions which he had ordered or authorized. Garcia Lorca was brought to Valdez headquarters in Grenada in the afternoon of the 16th after being arrested in the home of Luis Rosales, a Falangas but a friend of his, where he had taken refuge a week earlier. Known as both a political leftist and an open homosexual, Garcia Lorca was well aware that many nationalists abominated him Rosales. Vigorous protests about Garcia Lorca's arrest caused him to be fined and dismissed from the Falange. The next morning, a servant girl brought food to the poet, delivering it to him in his cell at the prison in Grenada government headquarters. She is the last person known to have seen him alive. On the evening of the night of the 18th, Valdez talked with Quiepo on the phone, asking him what he should do about Garcia Lorca. Quiepo told Valdez to execute him. No other leading nationalist knew anything about it, certainly not General Franco, who was in Burgos at the other end of Spain that day, having flown there on Sunday the 16th, the day Garcia Lorca was arrested, to meet with General Mola. Valdez, as was his custom, wasted no time. Garcia Lorca was shot at dawn the very the very next day. There is no record that he was ever charged with anything, to say nothing of having been convicted by any court. It was certainly an indefensible crime for which Valdez and Quiepo Diano share responsibility. But no other nationalist leader was involved in any way, and at the time there was no functioning nationalist government. To keep perspective, we should remember that 197 holy innocent priests killed in the city of Barcelona alone during the last 12 days of July, along with 124 equally innocent who were killed in Madrid during that same period. A combined total of priests alone well in excess of Valdez list of victims in Grenada during the month after the Rising. Assuredly, two wrongs do not make a right. But where was the Greater wrong? On August 24, a new ambassador from the Soviet Union, Marcel Rosenberg, arrived in Madrid. He was accompanied by a sinister and significant figure, Vladimir Antonov of Senko, who had commanded the Red Guard in Petrograd during the revolution which established Lenin's Communists in power in November 1917 and stormed the Winter Palace. He was now named Soviet Consul General in revolutionary Barcelona. Also included an ambassador's party was General Jan Pavlovich Bedrizin, former chief of Soviet military intelligence. On the 30th, General Walter Krivitsky, Chief of Soviet intelligence in Western Europe, was ordered to begin covert purchase of weapons for the Spanish Republic. Meeting with socialist and anarchist leaders around the end of the month, Rosenberg convinced them that to keep the support of most of their friends and sympathizers in the west, they needed to seem to maintain the Popular Front government government with supine President Azania as its titular head. They had been considered a complete overthrow. They had been considering a complete overthrow of the government and its replacement by a Largo Caballero dictatorship. But Rosenberg, speaking for his superiors in the Kremlin, Joseph Stalin and his Politburo, fully agreed that Largo Caballero should be actually in charge of the government. Most political leaders in the Republic agreed as well. Well, even as bitter rival socialist Indio Prieto said on the 26th in an interview with Russian journalist Mikhail Kof, quoting my opinion of him, Lago Caballero is universally known. He is a fool who wants to be clever. He is a disruptor and a bungler who claims to be a methodical bureaucrat. He is a man capable of leading us all to ruin. And yet today he is the only man, or at least the only name, that it would be useful to put at the head of a new government. To borrow the meme, what did he mean by that? It was no ringing endorsement, but a reluctant tribute to the impact of the Spanish Lenin and the immense following he had acquired. Speaking in his turn to cultivate, Largo Caballero stated his intentions and goal with unmistakable clarity. The workers parties must sweep away the bureaucrats, the officials and the ministerial system of work as quickly as possible and move on to new forms of revolutionary control. By the ministerial system of work, he evidently meant the whole structure of democratic parliamentary government. Largo Caballero was fully a Communist now, Lenin's faithful disciple, even though he had never formally joined the party and was later to differ sharply with them, to his cost, not theirs. On policy and strategy. Like Lenin, he scorned elections and individual freedom as he scorned the Christian faith. He was about to take over the government of the Spanish Republic and make it exactly what everyone involved in the nationalist uprising had always been sure it would soon become a vehicle for communist rule over Spain. That is August. We'll look at September next time. But you yeah is what been saying all along if the Republic would have won in Spain, it would have just been. It would have just meant that the Soviet Union controlled the bottom of the peninsula of Europe. We know that they were going. They had plans to invade the whole peninsula. But people still want to argue that all this is a two left wing authoritarian groups that are fighting against each other. Because apparently if you believe in like Social Security and you know, I don't know, pensions for your soldiers or something like that, that makes you a liberal. You're the same that just makes General Franco and you know, Adolf Hitler the same as Joe Biden or Elizabeth Warren. Because people are fucking stupid and they want to reduce everything to the most dumb denominator that their stupid minds can figure. Or they're just so unbalanced ideologically where they think they're balanced right in the middle while doing absolutely nothing that they can't wrap their heads around the fact that people can be on the rights and actually think that hey wait a minute, maybe there is a problem with business. September next next episode. There were ads during this. If you want to get the episodes early and ad free freemanbeyondhawad.com support you can support me there on my website there substack where I'm doing some videos, extra videos every week. Patreon, Subscribestar, gumroad and yeah, that's it. Appreciate all you and yeah. See you on the next one. I know this is a rough one. You know a lot of people, a lot of books out there about the about war like to talk about, you know, what happened and you know something like Anthony Bevor's the Battle for Spain. Give you all the details, let you know everything that happened. Well too with I mean he's a little more sympathetic to the libertarians, you can see that. But it gives you the facts. This is telling you about the people this is telling you about. It's letting you know that they wanted to destroy. Their goal was to destroy Western civilization. It's exactly what people want to do now in this country. It's exactly it. Maybe it's 1931 in Spain right now. All right, see you on the next episode. Take care. Thanks, bye. I want to welcome everyone to part seven of my reading of Warren H. Carroll's the Last Crusade. And for the first reading of this series that I've been doing, my sixth book, I have a guest, Carl Dahl. How are you doing, Carl?

[Carl Dahl]

Doing well, Pete, thank you.

[Narrator]

When I had John recently, your, your knowledge of the war, the fact that you learned a lot of Spanish so you can read books that aren't available in English, I think that that impresses me. It's impressing a lot of people. And as I said in a substack that I did this week, I think that we really need to study this, Study this topic for numerous reasons. One that I will just throw out there right off is that the good guys won and the good guys really only won twice in the 20th century. And the other one you don't hear about because it happened in Finland.

[Carl Dahl]

Yes, no, that's a really good point. And you're talking about the first time around. Yeah, yeah, absolutely.

[Narrator]

Yeah. So. All right, yeah, let's get this going. You've. If you've heard any of my read alongs with other people, you know that jump in and stop me anytime.

[Carl Dahl]

You got it?

[Narrator]

See, we're going to spoil people with this one. I want people to know my readings, the readings I've been doing are literally me. Just because I have, I have an hour somewhere and I have nothing and I have nothing to do. And it's me jumping in and saying, hey, let's read this, let's get this done. I don't plan these at all. This is actually the first one of these six books that I've read in a row that I planned and I wanted to have someone on because. Well, first of all, like I said, your knowledge of the is far beyond mine. And it's just, I think it would help a lot of people. I think it's, it's that important that people, other people could come on and comment. But right up front, Carl knows more about this than I do right now. I'm going to ask him to give some background on Largo Caballero. Don't get spoiled. This isn't going to happen all the time. All right, people. So, Carl, the, the first two letters of this, of this chapter. The first two, two words of this chapter are the name Largo Caballero. What do you know about Largo Caballero?

[Carl Dahl]

So his name, it's funny, his name translates as long night. Like caballero as a, as a knight. Caballo is a horse. So you know, horseman. And it's kind of interesting because the, the old culture of Spain was largely rotated around the nobility. The Caballeros and, and all, all over the Western hemisphere. A caballero. It's a respectful way to refer to a friend or something, calling him a gentleman or sir or something like that. Right. Largo Caballero was a piece of garbage. He was a.

[Narrator]

Well,

[Carl Dahl]

his party. He was more radical than his party position. So. So his party and, and sometimes I don't get the. All the different kind of like sub communist, non Bolshevik, you know, national communist groups nailed perfectly. But he worked very closely with the Comintern. He was essentially a stalking horse for the Communist Party when he was in prison. I'm trying to remember if it was under the. It may have been in the twenties he was imprisoned for a bit under

[Narrator]

the

[Carl Dahl]

excellent dictatorship of Primo de Rivera. And he read Lenin and got extremely radicalized. So he would say completely insane things about wanting to eradicate the, the religion of Christianity and the Church, you know, so one. It's as you keep reiterating something that I always reiterate, which is that the republic was not, you know, lowercase R. Well, we're supposed to be a republic, not a democracy that people say in the United States all the time. It was a. It was a frame up to get rid of the old system, the monarchy, to basically throw out the Cortez and have people's revolution in whichever flavor the various parties wanted. The various left parties wanted, I should say, you know, anarchists, rabid socialists, you know, all kinds of communists, whether they be national or non. Largo Caballero essentially handed over his government to the, the, the most insane people. And he was one of the most rabid enjoyers of, of violence that there was. So they'll talk about it here. In his relationship with a Zanya and, and all the, the various flavors of things that, that they do. And so yeah, he was the first to include like literal communists in his cabinet because he was technically, again, not a Bolshevist. Thick.

[Pete]

Here's golf legend John Daly. Hell yeah.

[Narrator]

These wins are piling up faster than my divorces. I only spent on Moto America's social casino. You know, I've won a couple of majors and on Moto, I've won majors, grands and epic jackpots on their classic Vegas slots with huge, huge bonus rounds. Moto Casino adds new games and awards players free coins every single day. Grip it and spend it on Moto Casino.

[Pete]

Download the Moto Casino app today. Moto Casino is a social casino board. We're prohibited. No purchase necessary. Visit Moto Us for more details. Casino America Social Casino. What's going on everyone? It's bluff here. And you know what's more American than America's 250th birthday. Supporting American owned companies like Spinquest. America's number one social casino. With over a thousand games like live dealer blackjack and craps. They're offering new users a $30 coin package for just $10. Go to spinquest.com and sign up today. Spin Quest is a free to play social casino void where prohibited. Visit spinquest.com for more details. Tyler Reddick here from 2311 Racing. Game night's fun until someone spends five minutes lining up one shot.

[Narrator]

Chalk. Breathe. Rechalk.

[Pete]

Still aiming. While they figure it out, I fire up champa casino. I can spin anywhere, anytime. And there's always plays a new social casino game every week. Spins happen way faster than that shot. Play [e-mail] let's Chumba. Sponsored by Chumba Casino. No purchase necessary. VGW Group void where prohibited by law 21 terms and conditions apply.

[Carl Dahl]

Communist Party member But that's really what he was.

[Narrator]

All right, here we go. Largo Caballero set up his new government on September forth Azania gave his full consent even after Largo Caballero had set as a non negotiable condition of accepting the position of Prime Minister that he be permitted to include communists in his cabinet which no country other than the Soviet Union and communist ruled Mongolia had ever done. One of the communist ministries was most significantly education. The minister was Jesus Hernandez. The other was agriculture under Vincente Uribe. But there was also a third communist in Largo Caballero's government in the highly important position of Foreign Secretary. Julio Alva. Julio Alvarez. Excuse me, Sargass. Julio Alvarez del Vallo, a close and obedient collaborator with the Common Turn. Though not a listed member of the communist party. Can you Salvador, quickly? Yep. Good. Yeah.

[Carl Dahl]

All right. So I want to point something about, about all these different ministries that were handed directly to the communists. So there are elements when you read the more detailed histories where the anarchists are involved and you know, some of the other parties. A lot of times while they're, they're anti anti Christian and stuff, they're. They're a little less psychotic. But when you look at the ones that the communists were in charge of, that's education. And as you pointed out Pete, before this education was basically delivered to anybody who wanted it via the church. So if kids in remote villages were getting any education, it's because the church was providing it to Them, if people were getting any kind of charity, it was generally through the church. There were almost no one else was doing anything of that nature. So education handed to the communists, agriculture. What do we know about the Soviet Union? Collectivization of agriculture. The, you know, the kulaks were eliminated. You know, you have the holodomor in Ukraine again, that was all under the auspices of agricultural departments. And then finally the Foreign Secretary, this Foreign Secretary, Alvarez del Valle, is the one who hand extended control of the military essentially to the Comintern, AKA the Soviet Union. I'll hand it back to you.

[Narrator]

Yeah. And I want to make a point because a lot of conservatives and Republicans and libertarians will talk about the failure of communism, how they can't feed their people, people. They don't talk about how that's done on purpose.

[Carl Dahl]

Yeah, exactly.

[Narrator]

How certain groups are targeted to not get food while everybody.

[Carl Dahl]

Crazy liberals.

[Narrator]

Yeah. What are they thinking? They're so stupid. Yeah. Don't you know that if you control prices, you're going to have shortages?

[Carl Dahl]

Yeah, that's the idea.

[Narrator]

Salvador de Mar calls his appointment a clear sign of the rising power of Moscow in Spanish affairs. Communist Party members Hernandez and Uribe accepted their two ministries from Largo Caballero only after being specifically instructed from Moscow to do so. From the time of its establishment, the Largo Caballero government was committed to, quote, exaction of revolutionary justice, justice and recognition of, quote, people's courts. In other words, to a continuation of the massacres and martyrdoms that had reddened the six weeks in republican Spain since the military uprising. Other important cabinet appointments were Prieto as Minister of Navy and air. Navy and air. And Juan Negren as Minister of Finance. Largo Caballero had tried to persuade the anarchists to join his government, also not so absurd in ideas as at first it appeared for a substantial section of the anarchists led by Juan Garcia Oliver now advocated such participation. However, contrary to their theoretical position, at this time, the majority of Spanish anarchists and their leaders were not quite ready to do do it. But on September 26, anarchists led by Garcia Oliver accepted the ministries of War, Economics, Supply and Public Health and a new local government in Catalonia set up by the supple Luis Campinas. How do you. Do you know how to pronounce his name properly? Companies. Okay.

[Carl Dahl]

Yeah. And sometimes you can put a little spin on it because it's a. It's a Catalan name. That's what. That's one of the things that you'll find is the really wacky names are Catalan or Basque, generally, the ones that are hard to pronounce, harder to pronounce.

[Narrator]

Okay. That's where Basque is. Where, you know, when you do the DNA test and shows up and they give you the first, like the first section of the country that you're. Yeah, like that you must get minus Basque.

[Carl Dahl]

I'm not. I'm not terribly surprised by, by that, but I, I've. I've had too many conversations about racial purity with, With Latin American huros. One. One super quick thing, Pete, that I want to point out, and I'll try not to too much because otherwise it'll take us an eternity to get through this.

[Narrator]

No, well, well, here's the thing. Here's the thing about this. Remember what you're going to say. This can do a lot. This one episode can do a lot. We can cover a lot of the background of a lot of people, and then I can just go on with the reading from here.

[Carl Dahl]

Awesome. So there's. There's really subtle things in here that it takes a lot of reading, a lot of it, not in English to get, like, good details on. You can have a general. You can catch it from general histories like Beevor. You know, I'll add one more thing. If you're reading general histories about the war, ignore Preston. He sucks. He's. He's a commie.

[Narrator]

He's a.

[Carl Dahl]

He's a piece of garbage. And everything that he does is. He makes excuses. He makes excuse after excuse. Here you've just read in just a couple paragraphs the. All these ministers of the government where they essentially sanctified, you know, in a communist sanction, sanctification, you know, blasphemous definition. Of course, the, the checkers. So all of the crazy revolutionary people's courts where they're running around Madrid and blasting people. That's official policy where they're just executing people in these prisons. I. I want to say it was. What was it, 6,000 in the first couple months in Madrid that they just had summary executions of, like, minimum. That. That was official government policy of the Republic. So when these apologists make excuses for these people that, I mean, that's. That's what the thing is. The last time we talked, we talked about Prieto a little bit because he was a. I mistakenly called him a Basque socialist politician.

[Pete]

He.

[Carl Dahl]

He was actually. His family was from Asturias and they had settled in Basque country to work in industry there. And so that was when I was talking about how most of the time the socialists and leftists that were in Basque country had migrated to the cities to be the working poor from other parts of Spain, whereas the locals generally tended to remain traditionalist Catholics, even if they were like pro separatist Basques versus

[Narrator]

the

[Carl Dahl]

nationalist aligned Carlists. And a lot of the former armor were incorporated into the Carlist units very smoothly. So they had a huge, a huge amount of recruiting out of the, the Basque traditionalists who had started out as Republican republicans under arms, so navy and air. So again, that's, that is just a conduit with the Soviets and the French to a lesser degree. They always downplay the French supplies by their socialist government. Juan Negrin, as Minister of Finance, he shipped all of Spain's gold and silver reserves to France and the Soviet Union. Three quarters of it, I think went to the Soviet Union. Yeah, A quarter went to France and so very important. So they drained the coffers in exchange for military aid. And it was actually one of the worst deals in human history because they went from the country, they were among the top countries in terms of gold reserves held by the national banks to having nothing. So they went full fiat currency with no monetary, no, you know, hard currency backing it. It's, it's only literally whatever the Republic said that they have and so like immediately became valueless currency. Outside of republican controlled areas where they were issuing scrip and stuff like that, people were still using the old currencies because they had precious metals in them. So they were inherently valuable and you could take them to foreign countries if you were a refugee or if you wanted to buy hard goods, weapons, whatever. That's that relationship that happens there. So you've gone through people who completely betrayed the country of Spain and handed it over to outside forces basically immediately. I'll stop.

[Narrator]

Well, and you know, I mean, we're in that situation now.

[Carl Dahl]

Yeah, oh, of course, yeah, yeah.

[Narrator]

A friend had contacted me today and asked me about. Do you have an opinion, a quick opinion on Jose Maria Gironela? The Cypresses Believe in God, Spain and the Evil of the Civil War. Are you familiar?

[Carl Dahl]

Oh, gosh, I haven't read it. I haven't read it because what I do is whenever I'm writing, I don't read fiction of any kind. So I haven't read, read literally any fiction about the Spanish Civil War because I don't want it in my brain when I'm writing.

[Narrator]

Because you're writing fiction about Spanish Civil War. Yes, exactly, yeah, yeah, yep, yeah, I get it. All right. Onward. Largo Caballero called his new regime a government of victory and named himself a Minister of War as well as Prime Minister. He immediately replaced the exhausted and ineffective General RI Kalme. I believe that's how that's pronounced. Is that close enough? Yeah, yeah. In command. Yeah. I'm the one here with the Spanish last name and I'm asking you.

[Carl Dahl]

I took it for four years and Latin. So I should be better than I am.

[Narrator]

So did I. I took Latin too. All right. He immediately replaced the exhausted and effective General Recalme in command of the central front the approaches to Madrid with Jose Ascension, just promoted by Largo Caballero's General. The young 44 brilliant Asensio was one of the few regular army officers who had served in Morocco to stay with the Republic. Largo Caballero sent him to meet Yagwe and his nationalist striking column in the Tagus Valley near Talavera de la Reina, which the Nationalists had just taken. Asensio's force was supported by the first foreign volunteers to go into the battle for the Republic. Republic Italians and French. After a hand fought battle, Yagweh broke Asensio's men and the inadequately trained volunteers and they fled the field. But Yagwe's men had suffered significant losses and needed some rest to recover from the rigors of the their tremendous march under the summer sun of southern Spain. So the nationalist advance halted for the time being. Though Yagwe did, did send a detachment north to firm up a link with General Mola's men at Arena State San Pedro in the Greatos Mountains. Over the next two weeks, the main column advanced only 25 miles.

[Carl Dahl]

Yeah. So a huge difference compared to their pace before. Think how worn out they would be. Think how much of a problem water would be. Because that, those mountains in that part of Spain are very arid in the summer. There's just, there's very little water. If you've ever seen the area around Madrid, it's like north, north of the mountains. You know, it can, it's greener, you know, it's Espana Verde, like farther up once you get past the, the high plains. But down in that area it is extremely arid. So that's, that's not surprising. They, they won, but they were super worn out. And that's something that kind of shows the, the relevance of the, the militias who, who were able to capture and hold territory and, and take, you know, huge casualties. You were reading last time about the, the recites and the advances that they made in capturing territory. But it's, it's a huge logistical effort to actually make strong adv. In you know, with this thing called weather. So anyone who's been in the mountains knows how much water that you drink when you're. When you're hiking. And that's. That's not even like digging in and engaging in combat or anything.

[Narrator]

On the nationalist side, the Crusade was more than ever a reality. Just as communist volunteers from other nations were now arriving to fight for the republic. Catholic. Catholic. Catholic. Foreign volunteers were arriving to fight for the Catholic nationalists. The Irish were first in the field on the Catholic side. It's funny, they said they set out so many wars, but, you know, just. Yeah, yeah. The leader of the 1st Irish Volunteer Battalion, Francis McCullough. I believe that should be pronounced. It looks like McCullough to me, wrote during September to President Eamon de Valera of Ireland, quoting, I am in Spain. I see Spain all around me. Excuse me a second. Sorry. I am in Spain. I see Spain all around me. I live and move and breathe in the shadow of the greatest horror that has befallen Europe since Savisky drove the Turk from the gates of Vienna. Not a Spaniard in my company has not had a sister outraged, a father murdered under circumstances of indescribable barbarity. Or a brother butchered because he was a priest or a novice in some monastery. A very striking feature is the number of religious emblems the officers and soldiers wear. Pinned to their breasts are little red cloth badges of the sacred heart of a kind very common in Ireland. And holy medals, while around the necks of many hang rosary beads, scapulars of the Virgin del Pilar and that cross whereon the Reds delight to trample. Never since the Moors were driven from Spain has there been such a Catholic army in this country as there is today.

[Pete]

Today, here's golf legend John Daly.

[Carl Dahl]

Hell, yeah.

[Narrator]

These wins are piling up faster than my divorces. I only spent on Moto America's social casino. You know, I've won a couple of majors. And on Moto, I've won majors, grands and epic jackpots on their classic Vegas slots with huge, huge bonus rounds. Moto Casino adds new games and awards Players free coins every single day. Grip it and spend it on Moto Casino.

[Pete]

Download the Moto Casino app today. Moto Casino is a social casino board. We're prohibited not for just necessary. Visit Moto US for more to take casino America's social casino. Hey, it's Bubba Wallace from 2311 Racing.

[Narrator]

You know what it feels like forever sitting on a plane, waiting for takeoff. Good thing I've got Jumba Casino with

[Pete]

daily boost and social casino games on tap. This is the kind of fun that makes time fly. Why not turbocharge your downtime? Play now@jumbo chumbacasino.com let's Jumba sponsored by Chumba Casino no purchase necessary. VGW Group Void where prohibited by law 21 terms and conditions apply. Drew McIntyre here from WWE Wielding the Claymore can be a life of chaos, but I'm not dominating in the ring. Chumba Casino is how this warrior takes a wee break. With hundreds of online social games and new weekly releases, there's always something fresh to try and not those daily boosts.

[Narrator]

Next level.

[Carl Dahl]

Even my free time feels like Valhalla.

[Pete]

So when life feels like a battle, kick up your feet, have some fun and let's Chumba. No purchase necessary. VGW Group Void where Prohibited by law CTS and C's 21+ Sponsored by Chumba

[Narrator]

Casino There is not an this is not an army. It is the Church militant on the march. It is Catholic action personified. This is not a civil war. It is a holy war, a crusade. These are not soldiers. They are fighting monks, Knights Templars, and like all good monks, they are cheerful. Never was there such a singing army. Whenever one wakes up at night, one hears the singing soldiers go past. What then has caused this extraordinary outburst of piety? In my opinion, the principal cause is the sacrilegious fury of the Reds and their diabolical hatred of the Cross of Christ. That fury and that hatred convinced the Catholics of Spain that they had to deal with the forces of Hell itself, itself. The Spanish Catholics were not frightened by the foul and cruel murders which deprived them of their wisest and gentlest counselors. On the contrary, they were strengthened, for many of those victims died like veritable saints of God. And the Catholic army now sees them standing outside the limits of space and time, immortal, invulnerable, far more potent than than they were on earth, interceding, assisting, encouraging from the courts of infinite wisdom and infinite Spirit strength. End quote on September 14, speaking to a group of several hundred Spanish refugees post PI Pope Pius XI that Post Pilate, Pope Pius XI declared that a truly satanic hatred of God had been displayed in the Spanish Republic. What had happened to so many of the Spanish clergy was what was he said, quoting martyrdom in the flame, sacred and glorious meaning in the word Martyrdoms in which were sacrificed the most innocent lives, the lives of old and venerable men, youthful lives still in their flower, martyr martyrdoms of which the victims, in their generous Heroism have gone so far as to ask for a place in the vehicle along with those whom their executioner is taking to their death. But then he went on, as it is ever a Pope's duty to do, do, to caution, to caution the defenders of God and religion in Spain never to forget that their enemies were still their brothers whom they must still try to love and not to give away to vengeful fury. He may already have heard of the massacres inflicted on helpless prisoners on the Spanish Balearic island of Mallorca by the man who curiously emerged as his governor after a nationalist force took the island from the Republic. Republic on September 3rd. An Italian fascist officer. Officer named Ar. Ardo Bona Corsi. That. That sounds German to me. How's that? Italian whose bloody reprisals turned the profoundly Catholic French writer Bernanos against the Spanish Crusade in his sad book the Great Cemeteries under the Moon. He was in Majorca at this time and never saw any other part of Spain during the Civil War. War. So the Pope said, quoting, it is only too easy for the very ardor and difficulty of defense to go to excess. Intentions less pure selfish interests and mere party feeling may easily enter into cloud and change the morality and responsibility for what is being done. What is to be said of all these others who are al. Who are so near and never cease to be our sons, in spite of the deeds and methods of persecution so odious and cruel against persons and things to us so dear and sacred, we must love them with a special love born of mercy and of compassion.

[Carl Dahl]

And the non passion Catholics, non Christians will fixate on stuff like this and say, well, you're just creating the conditions for the future. It doesn't matter. You cannot. There, There's. There's no scenario. Well, let me rephrase. The path that the Spanish took is very understandable given their religion, unfortunately, you know, but, but I'll add. But I'll add the unfortunate outcomes that we see in the present. Doesn't you know that religious sentiment doesn't preclude working harder than they did to establish the conditions to maintain what they created. It was a failure of imagination and looking to the future and still giving people, quote, unquote, choices when they could have directed them better to make better choices. Just an observation at the end of the month.

[Narrator]

In a pastoral letter entitled the Two Cities, Bishop Plai Daniel of Salamanca, in the heart of this nationalist zone, glorified the recent martyrdoms of bishop, bishops, priests, monks, virgins and children and declared that Christian civilization and its Bases, religion, fatherhood, fatherland and family must be defended against those without God and against God, and specifically called the war Crusade, as Bishop Olakia of Pamplona had done the previous month. The Carlis above all had seen the war from the beginning as a crusade and essentially nothing happened else. Their commitment to it remains so complete as to be a marvel to all who observe them, not for them. The disquiet and even exasperation with which some Spanish nationalists greeted Pope Pius XI's caution against excess and hatred of the enemy in his September 14 allocution to the Spanish refugees. On September 10, the Carlos Nationalist war hunter issued a statement firmly asserting Carlos opposition to every form of totalitarianism, including fascism. The new state to be established in Spain, they said, should be limited to essential functions that would not interfere with the just and necessary freedom of the people.

[Carl Dahl]

And where people get confused about that is that they're still talking about essentially

[Narrator]

a

[Carl Dahl]

thousand year old system with which they were happy, which would be called fascism today, which was essentially, you know, the white male patriarchs are the only people who have a say. You have an appeal through your social groups to, to justice based on their old fueros. It's, it's much like you'll find in the Magna Carta in terms of just class oriented, class oriented rights and privileges, duties and privileges actually is more like it. And so you know, you have it, you have arbiters of justice through, through courts as well as the Church managing everything. So again, that would be fascist. They were specifically talking about a secular, a secular system as well as any kind of system that was un Spanish and uncatholic.

[Narrator]

In the course of the month of September, the Carlos Roquetas secured the Basque border town of irun on the 4th, where heroic General Beorg Ligi Legi fell mortally wounded in a last engagement with French communist machine gunners on International bridge. On the 13th, they took nearby San Sebastian, where they learned that their leading writer and theoretician Victor Pradera, had just been murdered by his revolutionary captors. On the 16th, another Rakete force commanded by Luis Redondo took Ronda at the opposite end of Spain in Andalusia, bringing his victorious Tercio to Sevilla. A few days later, Redondo dedicated it to the Blessed Virgin Mary in a striking ceremony in the plaza before the residence of Cardinal Segura, who blessed the men and urged them to carry on the crusade. Afterwards, de Tercio entered the great cathedral of Sevilla to venerate the image of the Blessed Virgin carried on the sack battle of the canonized Crusader king of Castile, San Fernando iii, when he completed the reconquest of Sevilla from the Moors in the year 1248. At the Alcazar of Toledo, the relentless Bombardment by the besiegers 155 millimeter 6 inch guns began to show substantial effect. By the early days of September, with the north wall collapsing into rubble, the cannon. Cannon were. The cannon were turned in force upon the northwest tower on the second. Two days later it came crashing down with its crowning spire pointing east from an enormous heap of stones toward the gorge of the Tagus like a giant spear. Now the cannon, now the cannon were turned on the northwest tower, while attackers from the Santa Cruz Museum set fire to the already badly damaged Gobierno building building which finally burned down that day. The revolutionary militia occupied it, but in small numbers. It was hardly a safe place to lodge in. Late the following afternoon, the 5th, a brilliant counter attack from the Alcazar led by Captain Vela regained the ruined building, now little more than large pile of ash covered debris. On Sunday the 6th, another Nationalist airplane appeared overhead dropping aluminum container miners. Two fell into the city and were picked up by the militia. But the third reached the Alcazar. It contained a letter from General Mola stating that the Nationalists were advancing in both the north and south, and the Yagua's column had just taken Talvera de la Reina. But this heartening news soon met a grim counterpart. After an hour of listening at the floor of the Alcazar's lower cellar with his stethoscope, engineer Lt. Bart harbor reported to Moscudero that the enemy was digging not one tunnel into the fortress, but two. The excavation was making rapid progress, and both tunnels must be expected to reach points directly under the Alcazar in about eight days. Largo Caballero had not lost confidence in his newly appointed General Asencio. Despite his defeat near Talavera, he sent him to Toledo to take command of the siege of Alcazar, with the instructions once and for all, the Toledan nightmare must be ended. Asensio's first task was to establish better discipline. So far, the siege had mostly been conducted by militia, ardent and brutal, but largely untrained. The only Republican general involved had been Riquelme for a few days at the outset of the siege in July before he went up to the Guadarrama passes, and then again for a few days at the beginning of August. August before he went south to fight Yagweh. Asencio was a man of determination and ability, though widely suspected of lack of sympathy for the kind of men he mostly had to command in this war, an attitude he later firmly disavowed, though one would wish, for the sake of a brave man's reputation, that it were true. In any case, Asensio was a formidable opponent, resolved to gain victory at last for the Republic. In the last fight at the Alcazar. The day after his arrival, the northwest tower fell under the incessant cannon fire, leaving only two of the lofty structures at each corner of the square fortress still standing. Horns brayed in triumph in the city, and the immense cloud of dust arising from the ruin covered the sun and coated every exposed surface in the fortress. At 10:30 in the evening of the 8th, Major Vincente Rojo, an officer serving the government of the Republic who had taught military history at the Alcazar Academy and so was personally known to Moscow, Moscardo, hailed the Alcazar on a megaphone from the plaza Day. Cappuccinos. It's so funny that that's the way that's pronounced, actually.

[Carl Dahl]

Yeah, yeah.

[Narrator]

Cappuccinos. On the opposite side of the fortress from the ruins of the gobierno and the two. Two wrecked towers, he asked for an hour ceasefire at 09:00 the following morning so that he might meet with Moscardo. After five minutes of consideration and consultation, Moscardo agreed. And do you guarantee my personal safety? Rojo asked. Moscardo's inner fire blazed up. Did this man question his word of honor? We are gentlemen here, he answered heatedly. Not like your republican trash. You may have an out. Largo caballero had ordered Major Rojo to undertake these first negotiations with the defenders since the siege began, because the worldwide press attention now being given to the siege, and the growing admiration for the magnificent courage of the defenders, even among many supporters of the Republic, made it desirable at least to try to get the women and children out before the mines were exploded in the tunnels and, as nearly everyone believed they were, would totally destroy the Alcazar. In the morning of the 9th, Major RoJo presented terms in writing, signed by the Defense Committee of Toledo, but obviously authorized by the Communist premier. Freedom for the women and children. Trial by the People's Court for all the fighting men in the garrison, the wives and children at the Alcazar were literally to purchase their lives with the lives of their husbands and fathers. For at this point, no reasonable man could. Could doubt for a moment what the verdict of the People's Court on its defenders would be. The dark eyes burned in Moscardo's haggard face as he received this proposal. Quote. We are willing to let the Alcazar become a cemetery, he said between his teeth, but not a dung heap. Then he wrote out his official answer on a scrap of paper quoting. Concerning the conditions for the surrender of the Alcazar presented by the committee, it gives me great pleasure to inform you that from the last soldiers as a commander, they reject such said conditions and will continue to defend the Alcazar and the dignity of Spain to the end.

[Carl Dahl]

How great is it that the. Basically the medieval style honor culture, they would have never behaved this way in the old days in terms of the way they threshed, threatened to treat, you know, a honorably defeated enemy. You. You know, even a foreigner that's hated like there. There was always room for, you know, a gentlemanly, you know, surrender and letting people go. But in a quote unquote democracy, you know, it's slaughter to the last man. And here are these traditionalists saying, you know, with great diction and poetic language that they're. That they would rather die. I mean we were. We would prefer that it be a cemetery than a dung heap. By giving you your conditions, Major Rojo, which means red, which was their term for the. For the communists. So yeah, great stuff.

[Narrator]

Yeah.

[Pete]

10 hours on my feet. Traffic, noise. Everybody needing something from me. My head is spinning. I just need the world to stop for one second. But then I get home, shoes off, phone out, and I open Moto Casino. Hundreds of slots, classic table games. It's my instant reset. The variety I want in the quiet I need. Moto Casino Social Casino. Prohibited, not purchased Necessary. Visit Moto Us for more details. Download the Moto Casino app. Today must be 21 plus Moto Casino America Social Casino. Tyler Redick here from 2311. Racing. Game night's fun until someone spends five minutes lining up one shot.

[Narrator]

Chalk. Breathe.

[Pete]

Rechalk. Still aiming. While they figure it out, I fire up Champa Casino. I can spin anywhere, anytime. And there's always a new Social Casino game every week. Spins have happen way faster than that shot. Play [e-mail] let's Chumba. Sponsored by Chumba Casino. No purchase necessary. VGW Group Voidware prohibited by law. 21/ Terms and Conditions apply. What's up fools? Main event J uso here from the wwe. When it's just me between matches, it's day one Ish. And that means it's Chumba time. With hundreds of casino style games and new titles arriving weekly. There's always something for French to Try at Chumba Casino. The daily boost. Make it even more fun and have me about to get them all during my downtime. Ready for a fun way to chill out and enjoy a few minutes for yourself?

[Narrator]

Let's chomp.

[Pete]

No purchase necessary VGW group void where prohibited by law CTS and C's 21 plus sponsored by Chumba casino major Rojo

[Narrator]

felt a surge of sympathy and admiration for his old comrade in arms rise up and grip his throat when he entered. Moscardo had refused to shake his hand. Now he had turned his back on him and was walking toward the door of the office of the superintendent of the academy where they had met. Suddenly Rojo cried out, is there anything I can do for you? Moscardo turned back, his expression unchanged, his voice unsoftened, utterly unyielding. He was a crusader who had lost his son and washed the blood of a hundred martyred priests red in the cobblestones of Soleil, though the city of saints and Catholic kings. Yes, he said. Yes, he said, like steel on iron. You can send us a priest. We want nothing else from you. And he walked out of the room and closed the door behind him.

[Carl Dahl]

Look at this. This is the kind of competent person in, in the military that will be doing the things in a. In a theoretical future event, knowing, like feeling shame and knowing that he's doing the wrong thing. But he took the coward's way of saying, well, you know, because of my normalcy bias, I'll stick with the government. And probably cowardice as well, because he wasn't willing to stand up and assert himself, you know, like a man when the the uprising happened. Because again, normalcy biase. He like that's not normal. His government isn't behaving in a normal fashion. He probably thinks of himself as the only sane person there. And then this happens.

[Narrator]

Some men who are in leadership position are just followers.

[Carl Dahl]

These are the choices that we have to make, will have to make, and we do. Every day you make small compromises. The the earlier you you stop making small compromises, the better your chances of not making big compromises.

[Narrator]

Some of the officers of the garrison now crowded around Rojo, with whom whom most of them knew because he had taught there, trying to draw information from him about the plans of the procedures and the prospects for relief. He told them little, but he sensed but they sensed his sympathy. Finally one of them asked him to join. Join them. Rojo cast down his eyes and did not answer immediately. He made no indignant repudiation of the suggestion, no declaration of loyalty to the Republic. Eventually he said, if I did this very night, my wife and children in Madrid would be killed.

[Carl Dahl]

And he probably just realized that.

[Narrator]

Yeah. He left his pouch full of fine tobacco for them. And as he blindfolded, and as he was blindfolded, preparatory to be led out, he suddenly cried, viva Espana. When he reached the outer gate and the blindfold was removed, his escort saw that there were tears in his eyes. At that last moment before his departure, he bent over and murmured to Captain Alaman, standing beside him, for the love of God, keep hunting for the entrance to the mines. Inside, Moscardo was pacing a corridor, an eye at an aide at his side. For a long time he was silent. Then he said, I just can't understand why a man of Major Rojo's integrity did not remain with us. The aide said nothing. Minutes later, Moscow burst out again. Do you think it would have been proper if I had shaken his hand? I wanted to do it, but I couldn't. At the post office, Rojo handed over to Major Luis Barcelo, head of the Defense Committee, the scrap of paper containing Moscardo's defiant reply to the surroundings surrender terms. Barcelo was a maximal revolutionary. He had been in charge of the execution of the nationalist officers captured at the Carabunca barracks in Madrid in July, and at the end of the war was to fight his own commander, Colonel Sigismundo Casado, for days when ordered to surrender Madrid, until Casado captured and shot him. Flushing with anger as he read Moscardo's words, Barcelo lunged for the nearest tele telephone. Artillery batteries. Good. This is Major Barcelo. Fire night and day on the alcazar. Erase it. Leave no stone longer than my little finger. At 10:45 in the morning, the artillery fire resumed. At almost that very moment, the wife of one of the soldiers of the garrison, named Valero, gave birth to his first child on a table in the electrician's workshop in the north cellar. He was named Restitution Alcazar Valero, the castle restored.

[Carl Dahl]

How great is that?

[Narrator]

Yeah. The next evening, at 10 o', clock, the besiegers of the Alcazar sent another message by megaphone to the defenders. Major Rojo had arranged to honor Colonel Moscardo's one request. The next morning, a priest would visit them as they had asked Canon Enrique Vasquez. Camaro Casa was no ordinary priest, formerly attached to the cathedral in Madrid. Once his title of canon, his reputation as one of the most progressive clergymen in Spain had saved him from the fate of Hundreds of his brother priests from the. From the fate of hundreds of his brother priests in the capital city. If he ever helped or interceded for any of them, or expressed any regret for their fate, history has not recorded it. Approaching the Alcazar, where he was met by Major Barcelo, he exchanged a revolutionary clenched fist salute with the militia on the battle lines.

[Carl Dahl]

I. I prefer the open hand personally.

[Narrator]

His instructions were to take advantage of every possible opportunity to persuade the garrison to surrender. At the bizarre. At the Bizagra gate of the fortress cannon camera, Camaraza was met by Captain Sans de Diego, who had been acting in the place of a priest for the garrison. Since they had none, he had lost an eyes to a shrapnel wound suffered while conducting a funeral service. He conveyed Colonel Moscardo's word that Camarasa would not be harmed and would be allowed to leave within three hours. Then he blindfolded him and led him inside the building, where he took him roughly by the shoulders, shook him a little, and said, can you say method mass? Frightened by the physical contact, Kamarasa muttered, all right, if you wish. Sensing his fear, one of the men standing nearby said with a twist of his lips, don't worry, it's only the crowd out there that murders priests. He's not a priest since I, I,

[Carl Dahl]

I. Rainbow flag outside.

[Narrator]

Yeah, I'm not, I'm, I'm not allowed to say that I am.

[Carl Dahl]

I'm a prot.

[Narrator]

I'm not allowed to say that officially. Since Camarasa had just been hailed by that crowd out there, that thrust struck home. The defenders of the Alcazar of Toledo were not fools. They knew very well what kind of priests would be the only priests allowed by the besiegers to visit them, some of them surely recalled, for Spaniards know their own extraordinary history vividly, how more than a thousand years before King Pelayo, standing at Covendol with his back literally to the wall, a giant rock wall hundreds of feet high, ruling a realm 20 miles by 20, facing an empire that stretched from his valley to the borders of China, was urged by a bishop named Opas to surrender because his prospects were hopeless and he would enjoy many benefits alongside the Moors. And how Pelayo had answered him. Our hope is in Christ. This little mountain will be the salvation of Spain.

[Carl Dahl]

Which it was.

[Narrator]

Here was, yeah, yeah, here was the new bishop, Opas, and they intended to give him the same name Pelayo had given Opas, the same answer Pelayo had given Opas. But it was not for this that they had brought a priest into their stronghold. Kamarasa was taken to meet Colonel Moscardo in his office. Major Rojo had known what manner of man he was dealing with. Kamarasa did, did not. He began a monologue about the happy life in Madrid. Yes, it was true that all the churches were closed, but at least they were no longer being burnt down. Priests loyal to the government were quite safe. Why? His own house was protected by an anarchist guard. There was plenty of food and water. It's hilarious that he thinks this is going to appeal to.

[Carl Dahl]

I know.

[Narrator]

I mean, this is. This is just how clueless leftists are. Always have been. Oh yeah, it comes to.

[Carl Dahl]

When it comes to partisans, I'm not affected by it.

[Narrator]

The consent Moscardo felt must have been almost 10 tangible. But it was contempt for the man combined, as only a true Catholic can combine it, with reverence for the office and the powers he held from Christ, despite collaborating with his own enemies. Soon the crusader commander had had more than enough of Camarasa's talk. Did you come prepared to confess us and celebrate Holy Mass? Moscardo demanded. That's all we want. Camarasa nodded dumbly. At the southeast corner of the cellar, an altar had been prepared, its platform covered with a rich carpet upon which the royal arms were stitched in purple and gold. The only light came from the dim and flickering animal fat light lamps. The homily was Kamarasa's opportunity. He expounded at length on the hopelessness of their struggle. In a few days, if they did not surrender, the Alcazar would be blown to bits and all of them with it. God would judge the men who allowed this to happen as the murderers of women and children who would die in the explosion. I mean, this is just. But this right here. I mean, right wingers pick up on this.

[Carl Dahl]

Yes, exactly.

[Narrator]

We'll say shit like this. Yeah, because they're.

[Carl Dahl]

Because they're libtards for Trump.

[Narrator]

He went on and on in this vein. Some of the women began to sob. Some of the men were shaken. He talked so long that he had no time to hear individual confessions, but could only give a general absolution. But he did finally say the mass baptizers Alcazar Valero and brought Holy Communions to the seriously wounded lying in the infirmary. Then he went again to Moscardo's office, asking to speak with him privately. He pressed the argument that he was sacrificing the women and children to his own stubbornness and vanity. Even if he would not surrender himself he should let the women and children go. Surely they wanted to. No, senor, Moscardo said then, his voice rising as Camarasa went on. No, senor. No, senor. Senor. Unable to penetrate the crusader's armor, Camarasa now began implying that he was keeping the women and children in the Alcazar by force. Moscardo called in Carmen Romero de Salamanca, daughter of one of the principal officers and wives of the of a Civil guard lieutenant of the garrison and wife of a Civil guard lieutenant of the garrison, and told her this priest was saying that women of the Alcazar were being held there against their will. All the fires of the mothers and wives of men who fought 722 years to reconquer Spain for the infidel was her answer. Held here. That's a lie. I've talked with every woman in the Alcazar and all of them think as I do. Either we will leave here free with our men and children, or else we will die here with them in the ruins.

[Carl Dahl]

She's more manly than the priest.

[Narrator]

Priest.

[Carl Dahl]

The libtard priest.

[Narrator]

Yeah. After that there was nothing more to be said. Moscardo coldly ordered Camarasa escorted out. Two weeks later, Kenan Vasquez Kamarasa left Spain forever and showed up in France where he told the newspaper reporter that he had played no part in Spanish politics. Six months later in Paris, he wrote an article stating that his proposal to Moscardo to evacuate the women in children children from the Arakazar was totally was entirely his own idea. Since Largo Caballero was known to have been trying hard to get the women and children out, this self serving declaration was, to say the least, open to serious doubt. Camarasa also said he admired the heroism of the defenders of the Alcazar. He survived the war in Nazi occupied France and died in 1946, despised by both sides. The ancient fate of traitor. But he had said the only Mass celebrated in the Alcazar of Toledo during all the days of its siege. And that is what men remembered for many years. Yeah, yeah. I mean, People have a lot to say. Like people Catholics. Look at your Pope. You don't think we know? Oh yeah, for sure.

[Carl Dahl]

Yeah, absolutely.

[Narrator]

Look at the history. I mean, there have been bad popes, we know that's not the point. Let's see, where was I?

[Carl Dahl]

And the Alazar will be remembered for a thousand years.

[Narrator]

Yeah, let me see. But he said the only mass celebrated. But he said the only mass celebrated in the Alcazar of Toledo during all the days of its siege, and that is what men remembered for many years, so long as General Franco lived and ruled. The site was marked by a plaque in the cellar corner where the mass was said, reading, here the Divine King visited our heroes. On September 13, the Chilean Ambassador obtained permission from the government to make a last attempt to persuade the defenders of the Alcazar to surrender. After five hours of argument, he induced Major Barcelo and his Defense Committee to guarantee the lives of all the garrison if they surrendered for whatever their reluctant promise was worth, forever. For whatever their reluctant promise was worth. It did not matter because Col. Mascar, though, refused to receive the ambassador, believing that any further peace negotiations at this critical moment would break the morale of the garrison. Shake the by the steady approach of the tunnels, which they had no way to stop. The next day the two tunnels reached the walls of the Alcazar and the sounds of the miners could be heard by everyone beneath the cellar floor. No longer did Lt. Barber need his stethoscope. Moscardo moved everything away from this part of the cellar, strung barbed wire around it, and set up a small chapel with the statue of the Blessed Virgin Mary at the edge of the wire. Outside, the militia chanted over and over, send out the women. It will soon be too late. Send out the women. It will soon be too late.

[Pete]

Every dating app swipe is another loss. Gym bros fake CEOs straight up losers. So now the only app I open is Motocasino. Because at least there I'm surrounded by winners. Real winners. Thousands of them. While everyone else is in the single swamp, I'm at home relaxing while stacking

[Narrator]

bonuses, hitting wins and playing all my

[Pete]

favorite Vegas style games. Moto Casino the only app worth your time. Motor Casino Social Casino prohibited and purchase necessary. Visit Moto Us for more details. Download the Moto Casino app today must be 21/ Moto Casino American Social Casino Bubba Wallace here from 23 Xi Racing on the track. My car's look is everything but today

[Narrator]

I'm talking about more than just paint schemes.

[Pete]

I'm talking about my favorite games at Chumba Casino. Check out exclusives like Stampede, Fury and my own King Croc Theory. It's just as wild as my car looked in Texas. With over 200 games and new ones weekly play for free at Chumbacasino.com let's Chumba sponsored by Chumba Casino. No purchase necessary. VGW Group Fordware prohibited by law 21 plus terms and conditions apply. What's up fools? Main event J USO here from the WWE when it's just me. Between matches. It's day one. Ish. And that means it's Chumba Time. With hundreds of casino style games and new titles arriving weekly, there's always something fresh to try at Chumba Casino. The daily boost. Make it even more fun and have me about to get them all during my down time. Ready for a fun way to chill out and enjoy a few minutes for yourself?

[Narrator]

Let's chomp.

[Pete]

No purchase necessary. VGW Group void where prohibited by law CTS and C's 21 plus sponsored by

[Narrator]

Chumba Casino on the 15th, a four hour bombardment of the Alcazar produced a long vertical split in the eastern wall. Five of the garrison were killed and four wounded, bringing its total casualties to more than 40 killed and over 200 wounded. During the bombardment, the defenders could clearly hear the miners enlarging the tunnels below them. Lt. Barber tried to make a countermine, but his men were too debilitated by the poor food and lack of sleep for nearly two months to be able to make significant progress into the hard rock with no miners. Explosive charges of the available through the day of the 16th, small detonations continued in one of the mines, but none were heard from the other, causing Lt. Barber to conclude that it had been completed. About noon, nationalist bombers struck the city, showing the defenders they were not forgotten. That night, under the shadow of the impending detonation of the mines, Lieutenant Fernando Barrientos deserted. He was the only officer to desert the Alcazar during the second siege. It did him no good. A militia patrol in the city picked him up, tried him on the spot and shot him good. By sundown, September 17, all sounds of movement and activity under the Alcazar had ceased. The mines were ready, each of the two tunnels packed at its head with two and a half tons of tnt. Newsmen from all over the world, encouraged to come by Largo Caballero's government had gathered to see the explosion which would bring down the battered forces.

[Carl Dahl]

Fortress Isn't that insane?

[Narrator]

Yeah. Okay, think about it.

[Carl Dahl]

There's no strategic value in capturing the Alcazar. For the Republican government. It's strictly to just impose their will on them. They bring in like media from around the world to watch it get destroyed.

[Narrator]

Yeah. It's just a simple symbol.

[Carl Dahl]

Yeah, exactly.

[Narrator]

That's what communists do. That's what radicals do. They have to destroy all your symbols.

[Carl Dahl]

This is your symbol. We're going to destroy it and destroy you. And this is what you get for defying us.

[Narrator]

Yeah. Major Barcelo, fearing that a large Part of the city might be damaged when the Alcazar was destroyed. Was trying to evacuate all the remaining inhabitants, but many refused to go. Two attack columns were designated to strike the Alcazar 10 minutes after the explosion and overwhelm any surviving defenders. It was still summer on the high plains of Castile and the night was warm, especially in the cellars of the Alcazar, into which the day's heat had penetrated through the gaping holes left by the constant shellfire. In his windowless room in the center, Colonel Moscardo bent over his daily log of the siege, barely able to see it by the faint flickering light of the little lamp, fed only by the stinking fat of the horse they had killed that day for meat. Moscardo's tall, gaunt, bearded figure could have sat for one of the world famous portraits of Toledo supreme artist El Greco, with his strange, elongated faces and forms. The. The guttering of light threw the shadow of Moscardo's head and shoulders on the wall like some dying giant. He was totally alone. The Alcazar was deathly silent. Beneath his feet, five tons of high explosive waited for detonation. Moscardo had finished his entry in the log. His pen hovered above over the paper, and he lowered it to write one last sentence. All things possible having been done, we now commend ourselves to God. It was what he had told his son Louise to do, do in the face of certain death. Under the word he drew a thick black line.

[Carl Dahl]

And Carol is such an excellent writer, but all this stuff is extremely well documented as having taken place.

[Narrator]

I just want to point that out. Yeah. Having done all to stand, St. Paul had written to the Ephesians 830 years before the siege of the Alcazar of Toledo in 1936, Raymond of Toulouse, the supreme Crusader who led his men to Jerusalem when all others had given up and took the Holy city for Christ, his lord and king, by storm in the year 1099, had suffered mortal wounds when a burning roof fell on him in Castile in Castle Pilgrim, which he had built under siege by the Muslims. Presuming he reached the the heaven he sought, perhaps Raymond of Toulouse asked God that night for the lives of Jose Mascara, though, and his Crusaders. At 6:18 in the morning, all firing on the Alcazar stopped. Everyone inside and outside it knew what that meant. The next 13 minutes crawled by unleadened feet. At 6:31, the mine on the southwest side of the Alcazar exploded with a thunderous roar. Heard in Madrid, 40 miles away, the southwest tower, 100ft high rose up toward the sky like a rocket, then crashed to earth in a gigantic stone avalanche. A nearby truck was hurled 500ft into the air. Its engines were loose from the truck body and fell through the roof of a house half a mile away. The whole city of Toledo disappeared from view in an enormous rolling cloud of black smoke. At 6:45, the main attack column, headed by 600 picked assault guards, charged from Zocadovar Square Square, shouting, we've killed the dogs. At them. Where the long defended walls had been, they found great mounds and masses of rubble, looking for ways through them, sure of their victory. Suddenly they heard. Suddenly they heard a totally unexpected sound. Ahead of them, the high, clear notes of a bugle. The 15 year old trumpeter of the Alazar was sounding the call to army arms within. The shock and deafening roar must have been, for the first minute or two, totally paralyzing. But then, in every part of the cellars where the defenders had stayed that terrible night, they opened their eyes, looked around them and saw that they were still alive. And so were almost all of their companeros. And even a newcomer, a baby girl delivered immediately after the explosion and named Jose Josefa de Milagros, Josepha of the miracle. The enormous adamantine crag upon which Toledo was built had proved tougher than anyone had imagined, confining the effects of the explosion to the area immediately above the mine. A later count showed that only five of the garrison died in the explosion, and the second mine in the northeast quadrant never did go off. First scattered, then, growing to a crescendo, came shouts of Viva Cristo Rey.

[Carl Dahl]

Hail Christ the King.

[Narrator]

The officers, knowing an attack must come quickly, ordered the bugler to blow and sent the men to their posts, or to where their posts had been, since no one yet knew what was left outside. Rushing through the courtyard, some of the defenders stopped in shock and horror at the sight of what appeared to be two severed heads in the middle of it. But they were not severed. They belonged to Teresa Gonzalez, the meat dresser, and her husband. Husband. Buried up to their necks in rubble, but miraculously, only slightly injured. Teresa cried heroically to them, don't bother with me. The Reds are attacking. And so that's. I mean, this is all footnoted. Yeah. And so the defenders ran past her to their posts below in the cellars next to the smoking crater where the mine had exploded. Several of the women hurried to the shrine of the Blessed Virgin Mary, where Colonel Moscardo had. Which Colonel Moscardo had put there. Her statue had been blown over, but was Only slightly chipped, they knelt in prayer to thank her for their deliverance. Soon Moscardo himself joined them. There above, the revolutionary assault force, still struggling to penetrate the piles of rubble, saw the defenders appear above them, sighting and firing their rifles with deadly accuracy, hurling grenades down the jumbled slope of stone. Amazed by their survival, the attackers hesitated and fell back, waiting for reinforcements enforcements. While the defender swiftly began building barricades. Nothing was easier with rock fragments everywhere to cover the openings in the rubble, when a tank emerged from behind the Santa Cruz Museum, rumbled across Zuckadovo Square and smashed the iron gate of the Alcazar, knocking over a truck beyond loaded with stones. The defenders responded with one of their few bombs. The tank was undamaged, but it start. But it startled crew backed it away way. In any case, it was not clear that there was room for it to get through the rubble. Meanwhile, the other column of attackers was ambushed by three defenders with a machine gun and stopped in its tracks. But a group of about a dozen men found a blind spot to enter the alcazar on the second floor from outside and opened fire on the defenders below, raising a red banner on a girder. The effects of the explosion had left the defenders no access to the second floor floor. But if they could somehow dislodge these men from their apparently impregnable position, the Alcazar was doomed. Lt. Benito Gomez Olivares, commanding in the room below, took charge. Its ceiling, which which was the floor of the second story, had several large holes in it due to shellfire and the mine explosion, but they were 25ft above him. The longest ladders in the alcazar were barely half the that length. Gomez Al Aladas, Alavares. Lashed, set. Lashed sets of two ladders together, set them against several of the holes and led his men in climbing them. The ladder is never designed for such use, twisting and bending under their weight, but they stayed up. Gomez Alares and his men emerged shooting on the second floor, killed all but two of the attackers and tore down the red flag from the girder. It was 10:20 in the morning of September 18, and the Alcazar of Toledo still held out. In their Fury, the besiegers fired. 272 shells during the rest of that day, the most of any day in the siege. The cannonade continued on into the night. Moscardo and Lt. Barber surveyed the damage. The explosion had been concentrated in one place, and most of the fall of stones had been in the west, away from the interior. There was little damage underground. Outside the area Directly over the end of the tunnel, which Moscardo had enclosed in barbed wire. That night, the defenders were served a special festive meal, luxurious for them, of rice, beans, and sausage. It was much cooler. There was a touch of autumn in the air. Maybe we should stop right there.

[Carl Dahl]

What a crazy story, huh? When you read the general histories and they talk about. About it, they kind of. A lot of times they kind of make light of how legendary the. The Alcazar is to the right and how. How much of a big deal they make about it. But when you actually go and tell the story, you see how heroic it was, and you see it's the perfect illustration of what the struggle is over. It's. It's people who 100% believe in what they're doing from a faith perspective and people who 100% believe in what they're doing from a hatred perspective.

[Narrator]

Yeah, yeah. You know, and, you know, it's. It's like historians have said, there's no way you survive a Reconquista. You don't fight it for 700 years unless something holds you together.

[Carl Dahl]

Yeah.

[Narrator]

And what holds you together is your Catholicism and, you know, your faith and your, you know, in your family and

[Carl Dahl]

your people and willingness to die like a martyr to move that line three feet to the south so that in 20 years, your children can move it three miles to the south and so on.

[Narrator]

Yeah, yeah. People just don't think about that anymore.

[Carl Dahl]

And that's how we have to start thinking.

[Narrator]

Yeah, yeah. It's. When you talk about, like, localism, people just don't get it. Yeah, people don't get what. What you're saying when you start, what you're talking about, that, you know, they didn't try to take back the country all at once. It was little by little, you know, province by province.

[Carl Dahl]

You have to secure those toll holds or you have nothing, you know, and it's. It's great to network with people around the country. It's great to have those connections while. While you have them, but it doesn't really mean anything unless you secure your local area. And you do that by being pro social, being in a place where you can move the needle, networking with people like you. And even times, it's people that don't think they're like you, or you might think they're not like you, but they're like, enough. You don't have to be a spurg and tell them all your wildest fantasies. You can get a lot done by just being a good neighbor and building from there. And turning it into real things.

[Narrator]

Yeah. Social capital concern is a civilizational capital really quick. And at this point, at this point it has to. All right, well, I appreciate you doing this with me. Let people know where they can find your stuff. I hear you have a really nice like cool T shirt that you just came out.

[Carl Dahl]

Oh, yeah, yeah. So carldahl.substack.com is my main headquarters. Even though I post in various areas. I'm on Twitter. You know what? I think I need to reconnect my Twitter account to my substack so people can see that there, because that's for shit posting. But the, the substack is where I do most of my. My real, my real writing. I'm trying to put articles of interest, mostly still focused on the Spanish Civil War up. I have a link to my little shirt spread store from there via an article. I have a nice. There's this. There's this famous quote that General Francisco Franco Repe times in various forms. But it. I was, I was puzzling on how to. How to describe it. And it's. You've seen the meme where it says there will be no communism. And the real quote is. All I know is wherever I am, there will be no communism. So I have the original. I basically made like a fash wave edit where he's wearing, you know, razor sunglasses or whatever they call them pit vipers. Generic, non. Branded, non patent and trademark violating images with the original Spanish quote with a nice, nice logo there. And it's. It's already. People are already buying it and I'm like, I gotta order some for myself. So on my son. So yeah, it's pretty spicy, but yeah, that's the main thing. Author of Faction with the Crusaders. I have a, the, A sample, this, the first chapter of the book pinned on my sub stack. Also you can get it on Amazon. It's the. As you. As you can tell, the. The autism required to write a nearly 500 page novel. Large, you know, pretty big. Pretty big book with. To the level of detail required to be accurate historically and such. Took years of research. Last Crusade, the way I always put it, is what unlocked the door for me for having a personal connection to the Spanish Civil War so that I could write about real characters was Peter Kemp's. Mine were of Trouble. But the Last Crusade by Warren Carroll is where I took the most like spiritual inspiration from it and told as many of those kinds of stories as I could. Because to me that's where everything is. It's, you know, you go in As a naive adventurer, you become a crusader when you see the crusaders around you and what motivates them. So the sacred heart of Jesus patch is on mine and my son's plate carriers for. For a good reason. Because that's what the. The rack a T would do. Their mothers and sweethearts and grandmothers and sisters would embroider them on their shirts that they bought themselves to prepare for war and marched into almost certain death because of this spirit. Spirit which animated them. So I would just urge everyone here, you know, like Pete said, the Spanish

[Pete]

Civil War is the Moto Casino, America's social casino. Welcome to Moto Casino, where the excitement never ends. With thousands of the hottest free to play social casino games. Fastest payouts and the best promotions in the industry. No tricks or gimmicks. Owned and operated in the usa, Moto Casino is a free to play social casino. No purchase necessary. 21 plus to play. Void. We're prohibited. Sign up today for a generous welcome bonus Moto Casino America social Casino. Download the Moto Casino app today. Bubba Wallace here from 2311. Racing on the track. My car's look is everything. But today I'm talking about more than just paint schemes. I'm talking about my favorite favorite games at Chumba Casino. Check out exclusives like Stampede Fury and my own King Croc Fury.

[Narrator]

It's just as wild as my car looked in Texas.

[Pete]

With over 200 games and new ones weekly play for free at ChumbaCasino.com Let's Chumba. Sponsored by Chumba Casino. No purchase necessary. VGW Group voidware prohibited by law 21 terms and conditions apply. Step into the world of power, loyalty and luck. I'm gonna make him an offer. He can with family.

[Narrator]

Cannolis and spins mean everything. Now you want to get mixed up in the family business.

[Pete]

Introducing the [e-mail] test your luck in the shadowy world of the Godfather slot. Someday I will call upon you to

[Narrator]

do a service for me.

[Pete]

Play the Godfather [e-mail] Welcome to the family. No purchase necessary. VGW Group void. We're prohibited by law. 21 plus terms and conditions apply.

[Carl Dahl]

The real story of the 20th century century. It is also, you know, elevator pitch wise, probably the most analogous situation to what we face, at least in a way that you can wrap your head around. Yugoslavia times, Rwanda is. Is very scary. But honestly, I feel like that's the Spanish Civil War is where it's at. And like Pete said, the good guys won. So you have to understand that to understand the 20th century and you know, all the, the lies that were told about that or the misunderstandings or the spins and, you know, really what's going on as people are awakening to these things. You need to know these real histories and you need to realize what we're facing. And then my final point in my elevator pitch for why the Spanish Civil War is important is because it tells you about how, how the right actually won. It was no individual monolithic thing that did it. It was the, the following gay it. They played an important part, but not nearly as big a one as they're credited with. The Carlos recites played a massive role in it. And that was literally a civilian militia spun up in just a couple years. And then of course the, the military, the military elements and their uprising, you know, and what it was, was it was a coalition of people who really focused on what connected them more than what differentiated them from other people in terms of what they wanted for a future for their country and their people. People. And it's really important that we think that way instead of spurging out. It's important to be accurate, it's important to have correct information and to make sure that people have that correct information. But there's a certain time when you have to let bygones be got, bygones and focus on what you have in common and unite. So thanks a lot, Pete. Thanks for what you're doing, doing here. It's, it's a great series, folks. Listen to all of them, share it with friends. It's the way Pete is doing this is very accessible for people and I think it's really important. So thanks for what you're doing, Pete.

[Narrator]

I appreciate it, Carl, thank you. And yeah, till the next time, thanks man. I want to welcome everyone back to part eight of my reading of Warren H. Carroll's the Last Crusade. Head on over to freemanbeyondthewall.com movies links to where Thomas and I watch and comment on movies. Also Antelope Hill Publishing. Order anything using Pete Q at checkout and you get 5% off the order. All right, let's keep going here. Probably should be able to finish this chapter. Let's see what happens in revolutionary controlled Spain. The martyrdoms continued through September. 14 more Claritian seminarians died as martyrs taken from the killing ground of Ciudad Real and sent under guard by train to Madrid. They were dragged off the train at a town called Fernan Caballero, where the militia urged on by a diabolical woman who marked each for death by a kiss Shot them all while their guard walked, watched. Ten more priests were killed at a cemetery in Ciudad Real later in the month. On September 10th. Reverend Salvador Massis Shova, a parish priest in Valencia department, arrested and tortured the previous day in an unsuccessful attempt to make him deny Christ, was shot in the street at dawn. But he did not die immediately. He lay there for two hours, calling for water, which no passerby would give him until he breathed. Until he died breathing the name of Jesus. On September 16th, facing immediate, immediate martyrdom, Reverend Andres Molina, Pastor of a parish in Almera department, wrote a last letter to his family. I prefer that they kill me before I should deny our. Our holy religion. And I hope in our Lord Jesus Christ and our Mother, the Most Holy Virgin, that they will give me strength to give my life to God. Dearest mother and dearest brothers and sisters, do not be distressed because I have been killed. On the contrary, give many thanks to our Lord, Lord, because He has chosen me to be a martyr from heaven. I will pray for all of you and for your family. And if here in this present life I cannot embrace you in heaven, I will wait to give you an eternal embrace and triumph and find eternal joy with our Lord, the Most Holy Virgin and all the chosen saints. There were thousands of lay martyrs as well, not as carefully numbered and thoroughly researched as the martyrs who were clergy and religious. Religious. Arrested on September 12th in Lareda, Francisco Castello. Arrested on September 12th In Lareda, Francisco Castello Alou, 19, a holy young man devoted to Catholic actions, hold his captors. If to be a Catholic is a crime, I accept with pleasure my delinquency. Since the greatest happiness a man can find in this world is to die for Christ. If I had a thousand lives, I would give them without a moment's doubt. For this cause. The next night, the militia shot Castello Alou at a cemetery. On September 15, at a small town of Posablanco in Cordoba department, Teresa Ceuda, who had been president of the Group of Women for Catholic Action and worked closely with the Salesians and had offered herself as a victim to help save space. Spain, was shot with 20 men and three other women. her trial, Teresa had declared that she was concerned neither with politics nor with capitalism, but only with proclaiming the truths of Christianity. Hearing this, her lawyer declared he could no longer defend one whose idea so contradicted those of the Lago Caballero government. On September 24, Nationalist air raids on Malaga, following a nationalist naval victory in the Straits of Gibraltar, led to another mass Reprisal killing of about 170 20, including 15 priests and religious and religious and eight lay women, the other, the others being laymen. Catalonia continues to take the lead in killings of both clergy and Catholic laity. By the end of September, more than 600 priests, religious and seminarians have been killed in the Archdiocese of Barcelona alone. One especially satanic episode occurred at the village of Rio Derenos, near Garona in Catalonia on September 22, where three members of the Bashma so family family, a man and two women were condemned to death. One of the women was a nun. Her brother Carlos asked to be killed first so he would not have to witness the death of his sisters. His eyes were gouged out. Then all three were horribly slaughtered. On September 24, Barcelona militia killed the entire family of Placido Armanol, a devoutly Catholic baker in the city. Placido, his wife, his three sons, all in their 20s, and a young man who tried to intercede for them. On September 18, in the Kremlin, the Executive Committee of the Comintern met to consider how it would deal with the Spanish Civil War. Its one time leader, Zinoviev, had been shot less than a month or a month before with his longtime ally Kamenev, the first top party leaders executed in Stalin's Great Party purge. The Soviet members were fearful and hesitant to see, speak up or take any strong action until they had a better understanding of what Stalin intended and desired. But Georgi Dimitrov, the fiercely brilliant Bulgarian who was Secretary General of the Comintern, did not feel threatened. Indeed, he retained Stalin's full confidence and support until his death many years later, something not easy to do. The Spanish delegate explained that the Communist Party in Spain was working hard to introduce greater discipline to the Spanish Revolution, actively supporting Largo Caballero's efforts to establish a unified military campaign command to which the fractious militia would be subjected. He said that a revolutionary reshaping of agrarian relations would come to Spain in the near future, but the illusion of a Popular Front government must be maintained. Dimitrov agreed. The state would emerge from a republican victory in the civil war, he said, anticipating the official designations of the Communist ruled nations of Eastern Europe after World War II. II would not be a democratic republic, but a special state with genuine people's democracy, which would be supported by substantial elements on the left which were outside the Communist Party. This polity would be, he said, a special form of democratic dictatorship of the working class and the peasantry to attain victory. The unified military command. The Spanish Communists were supporting was indispensable. Though some Comintern members complain, complain that the Spanish Communist Party was not yet playing a sufficient leading role in the Republic. Palmiro Togliatti, head of the Italian Communist Party, had no use for such concerns. The Spanish Revolution, he declared, was the Greatest event since October 17th in the history for the struggle of liberation. So again, if this may be the first episode you're turning on in this series and you think. Think the Spanish Revolution was about Republicans who took over the government and then a bunch of fascists came in and a bunch of fascists and fascist Catholics came in to overthrow their, you know, republic like we have here. What does this tell you? The Spanish Revolution, Greatest event since October 17th in the history of the struggle for liberation. Yeah, just executing people. Executing people in the streets if they're religious. I mean, we've gone beyond the execution of priests and, and laity and nuns and altar boys to, yeah, well, this family's religious. Execute them, sure. Right, yeah, it's just a republic just like ours. As David Katzel St States, it should be noted that the conditions under which the Communists entered the La Grotte Caballero government corresponded very closely to the prerequisites set down by the 7th Congress of the Comintern in 1935 for the formation of a Popular Front government. The breakdown of the old bourgeois state, the masses in revolts against fascism, and the socialists and other workers group actively fighting the fascists and reactionaries. When you use the word fascist. Fascist. When you use the word reactionary. When you. When all of that new reaction. This is who you. This is who you're on the side of. No. Now you don't get to make excuses. This is who you side with. You don't get to play it down the middle. Oh, they're all authoritarian. No, fuck you. Fuck you. This is who you side with. This is who you're on the side of. Okay? Just two days after the common turn meeting on Spain, Largo Caballero's government formally decreed the unification into a single body of an internal security forces in the Republic, including the Assault Guards, the Civil Guards and the former Security Police and the Rear Vigilance militias, which have been doing most of the killing of civilians. On September 22, French Communist Party leader Maurice Torres flew to Moscow to make a personal appeal for the greatest possible amount of Soviet aid for the Spanish Republic, but also for the formal organization and training of units of Communist military volunteers under the authority of the Comintern. Gaiten. But this is France. This is happening. In France too, this is the 1930s. If communism is rising everywhere, something has to rise up to destroy it. What came first, Something is going to react to it. And you get. You have to choose. You don't get to play the game. You choose. His proposal was quickly accepted, leading to the establishment of the famous International Brigades the following month. At the Alcazar of Toledo, in the last part of September, the fight went on, the besiegers still as determined on victory as the besieged. Despite the spectacular failure of their heralded mine, the ruined Gobierno building was now almost untenable, though still held a remnant of heroes from the garrison. Their last center of resistance, called the Room of Death, because no defender left it unless he was dead or wounded. Wounded was regularly raked by machine gunfire. In the dark hours before the dawn of Sunday, September 20, the attackers brought up a gasoline truck to try to set fire of what was left of the building, as they had done before. A long irrigation hose was run from the tanker truck, but a defender climbed out a window in the Gomierno and cut it open, cut it open with a stroke of a machete. The gasoline caught fire and burned back toward the attackers. Instead of the Gobierno building. At dawn, the militia attacked. Dynamite charges laid by the Asturian miners knocked down more of the wall in front of the Gobierno. More gasoline was brought up in buckets and bottles ignited. The defenders refused to retreat. They found that a passageway through the ruins leading to their position was so situated as to silhouette attackers against a morning sun behind them. One after another, those illuminated targets were cut through down. The Gobierno held out until nightfall, when it was finally abandoned. At 9:30 in the morning on the 20th, a massive new attack was launched on the Alcazar with a tank in support. The tank slowly climbed up the steep zigzag road to the north terrace with militia coming behind it. About 25 of the garrison faced it with only a 3 inch gun, which had not fired a live round in 20 years, and a handful of grenades. But the zigzag road was choked with rubble from the tower destroyed in the mine explosion. EXPLOSION Pushing the front of the tank up to a 45 degree angle, its treads began to slip on the jumbled stones. Twice it slid back, each time it came. Twice it slid back, each time it came on again. On the third try, it almost reached the top, but then hit a steel girder from the tower ruins and came to a dead stop. Colonel Romero de Salamanca, whose spirited daughter Carmen had told Kannan Kamarasa that he was lying. If he had said any woman in the Alcazar wanted to leave it and surrender. It ordered gasoline bottles and grenades flung down upon the stopped tank. Under this deadly hail, it backed down the slope of rock, then all the way down to the bottom of the zigzag road. With their armored protection gone, the militia stood exposed. The 25 defenders fixed bayonets and charged and the militia fled. That night, Largo Caballero himself arrived at Toledo, demanding it be taken within 24 hours and calling on communist units to participate in the the assault. Carrying red hammer and sickle flags, they attacked the next day. What's more republic, what's a more republican government than hammer and sickle flags?

[Pete]

Yeah.

[Narrator]

Carrying red hammer and sickle flags, they attacked the next day, following the collapse under bombardment of the last of the 400 foot towers of the Alcazar. But they accomplished nothing. That was the day, September 21st. First that General Franco decided that his main army advancing on Madrid must go first to relieve the Alcazar of Toledo. General Alfredo Kindelon recalls discussing that decision with Franco, quoting. Do you know, General, that Toledo could cost us Madrid? Said Kindle on. Yes, I know, answered Franco. I have long meditated on the consequences of my decision in my place. What would you do, I kind explained, without hesitating, would go for Toledo, even if it meant not taking Madrid? Well, that's what I have decided, answered Franco, because I have come to appreciate that in all wars, and above all in civil wars, spiritual factors count to an extraordinary degree. We have to impress the enemy by convincing him that whatever we propose to do, we achieve, and they can't do anything to stop it. Moreover, I hope that a delay of eight days in the march on Madrid will not bring the consequences you have fear. But even if it should, I would not give up the idea of conquering Toledo and liberating the heroic defenders of the Alcazar, which I promised them I would do in my message that was dropped by air. That's from Brian Crozier's Franco A Biographical history written in 1967, he meant the message of October 22, which had given the garrison its first ray of hope for rescue. Though there are persistent reports that Colonel Yagweh was strongly opposed to this decision and even asked to be relieved of command because of it. And though in fact he was relieved that that day of command of the column marching towards Toledo and Madrid, there is no solid evidence that this was the reason for Yagwe's relief. The official story was that he had fallen ill as a result of the rigors and strains of his tremendous march. He did have a heart problem, and this could have been true. However. However, we know that he spent the next 10 days hard at work, gaining support among the officers for the proposal to make Franco supreme commander, which does not sound as though he was very sick or had just been dismissed by Franco. His successor in command of the column was General Jose Varela, who had been so helpful to the Carlists in organizing and training the Riquetes during the past three years. On September 23, Franco gave Varela six days to relieve to relieve the Alcazar of Toledo and began his advance toward it at once. That day, the besiegers made another tank and militia attack up the zigzag drive. It failed in almost exactly the same way as the earlier tank attack. There, in the cold, clear dawn of Friday the 25th, the Defenders heard a distant rumble of artillery fire to the westward, and from the direction knew at once that it was the nationalist uprising. One of them cross cried out the Alcazar for the Holy Virgin. Others wept for joy or fell to their knees with prayers of thanksgiving. Later in the day, a nationalist plane bombed Toledo and the garrison watching militia and the garrison watched militia retreating past the city toward Madrid, fleeing from Franco's army. But the struggle was not yet over. The militia in the city had plunged so deep into ultimate evil that few had the strength or grace to draw out of it. Most simply intensified their commitment to their hate filled cause. On September 26, Varela's men cut the road from Toledo to Madrid and there were aerial dogfights over the Alcazar. The pilots of nationalist planes were machine gunned while hanging helplessly in their parachutes. One had land, landed alive, was tortured for seven hours, cut up with razors and beaten and trampled until his body was a massive bleeding pulse, pulp. At the last moment, his life was saved when it was learned that he was the brother of a prominent anarchist in Madrid. Word of his fate soon came to the nationalist soldiers and airmen. It did not make them more merciful. At dawn Sunday the 27th, the second mine was detonated under the Alcazar, but this time at an open space at the northeast corner. The mine was smaller than its predecessor because it had been more quickly constructed and contained only 1 ton of TNT. Its explosion, like that of the first mine, was visually spectacular. General Varela and his officers, seeing it from afar, believe that at that at the last moment, the besiegers had won. But many of the attacking militia literally fell into the open crater the mine had made, where they were easy targets for the rifles and machine guns of the defenders. The attackers sprayed and ignited gasoline, but there was almost nothing left around them but heaps of stone. And stone does not burn. After a two hour battle, the defenders won again, giving the lie to the government's announcement that day that that day that the Alcazar had fallen. Later that morning, Cienvarella's army massing on the long, barren hills of the north, the garrison tied their gold and red Spanish traditional flag on a steel girder at the top of the pile of rubble in the northwest corner, where the tower, overthrown by the first mine, had come down and Colonel Romero de Salamanca and his men had twice driven back an attacking tank. The republicans in Toledo now began to flee, including the governor. Furious, furious, dedicated Major Barcelo would not leave, but fewer and fewer of his men would now obey him. At noon, Varela attacked the militia running before him. At 6:40 in the evening, Lieutenant La Huerta and 20 Moroccans, having entered the city through an undefended back gate, reached the Alcazar, followed five minutes later by Captain Tiede and 20 Spanish legionaries. Others of the relieving army were not far behind. Captain Aguilera later told Arnold Lunn of how he first met Carmen Aragones, the beautiful heroine of the garrison, that very night. Coming down into the cellar, he first caught sight of her and her children by the light of a match. She glanced up as the match flickered in the gloom, and I shan't forget the darkness of her eyes or the deathlike pallor of her face. The next morning, the 28th, as the last pockets of resistance by the revolutionaries in the city were being mopped up by the relieving army, General Varela entered the Alcazar with Father Pujol, a Jesuit who had been selected to say the first Mass there since Canon Camarasa. Colonel Mascardo's journal. Mascardo stepped forward and saluted, saying, my general, there is nothing new in the Alcazar. He was then told for the first time of the death of his sons Luis in Toledo and Pepe in Catalonia. He was reunited with his wife and his one surviving son, Carmelo. When he and his wife met, their faces were so ravaged by suffering that they had difficulty recognizing each other. Father Pujal said mass and and Cardinal Goma, Archbishop of Toledo and Primate of Spain, sends a message from his refuge in Pamplona hailing the triumph of the martyrs and the spirit of the Crusade. Quoting the letter, Toledons our city and Diocese have paid an enormous tribute of priestly lives. It is a glory and an infamy. Spaniards. It is a glory because if our enemies have known how to kill, our priests have known how to die. In the clash of civilization with Barbara barbarism of hell against Christ, they had to succumb first because mortal blows aim for the heart. The champions of Christian civilization, the banner bearers of Christ, joined with them have fallen. Men with most represent most representative of Spanish Catholicism. But among our sacrifice priests, there has not been one single defection. What is more, history will sing with an epic note the sublime episodes in many of the these deaths. Glory to the martyrs, honor to the Church which has such ministers. On the next day, the 29th, General Franco came to the Alcazar, saluted the golden red flag tied to the girder and was greeted by Moscardo, who told him, you will find the Alcazar destroyed, but its honor intact. Franco embraced him. Franco embraced him, Pinned on his chest the Cross of San Fernando, Spain's highest decoration for valor, promoted him on the spots of general and declared him worthy to stand among the greatest heroes of Spanish history. Never were accolades more richly described served. Franco expressed a wish to see the cellars where the defenders had lived all through the two months of the siege. He was led down into them. As he walked through, he heard a man, delirious from his wounds, crying out incessantly. They attack. Don't let them in to the guns. This was the summit of the Last Crusade. In some ways it meant even more than the final victory. An epic had been wrought, whose memory will live, at least in some bold Catholic hearts, until the end of time. In the blackest night of persecution, of apostasy and betrayed betrayal, of hope unfulfilled, of the Son of Justice, darkened of Christ's church, hidden, forlorn, they can always hear the deathless words of Jose Moscardo. The Alcazar will Never surrender. On September 28, the day after the relief of the Alcazar of Toledo, when the news of it had spread throughout Europe and the world, Alfonso Carlos, at his desk in Vienna, pulled out his writing paper and penned a letter to man Manuel Manuel Falconde, voicing his inexpressible joy in the heroic defenders of the Alcazar and their valiant liberators. These were his last recorded words. Shortly after writing them, he stepped out into the street and failed to see an Austrian army vehicle hurtling toward him. It struck him and a few minutes later he died. The apparently indestructible 87 year old king Claimant and mentor of the Carlist, their champion for no less than 65 years. Years was gone with neither bodily ills nor enemy bullet. What neither bodily ills nor enemy bullets could do. A street accident finally accomplished. All men must die, even such a man as this. But it seems especially sad that after having lived so so very long, Alfonso Carlos did not live just two and a half more, two and a half years more to see the final triumph of heroic young men he had reached across two full generations to his inspire. His widow, ever faithful Maria della Nievas. Mary of the Snows, continued to speak out, speak out to and for the Carlis during the years that still remained to her. On September 21, De Franco decided that he must relieve the Alcazar of Toledo before completing his march to Madrid. The principal Nationalist officers met in an estate near the airfield at Salamanca at the invitation of the commander of the Air Air Force, General Alfredo Kindle, and to designate a supreme commander, General Cabana. Cabanes alone voiced opposition. There were two forms of military rule, he said, a supreme commander and a council. Kind agreed that those were the two ways. With the first, he said, you win. With the second you lose. That's great understanding there. One person in charge charge. One person with wise counsel, but one person with the ultimate decision. Though most of the generals present agreed that there should be one supreme commander and that he should be Franco, no final decision was then made, nor any public announcement. It was at this point that Colonel Yagwe laid down his command of the column attacking Madrid and went to work building up broadcast broad based support for Franco among the nationalist officers, most of whom were already inclined in his favor. General Kinderlon, of whom were General Milan Estrella of the Legion and Yagwe, now urged that Franco be named head of the state as well as General Li Simo, and obtained his reluctant consent following the announcement of the arrival of the Nationalist army at Toledo on September 2027. At a great celebration of its relief at Caseras that evening, Yagweh became the first officer to hail Franco publicly as a supreme leader. Jefe Unico of the nationalists. On the 28th, another meeting of top nationalist officers at Salamanca accepted Franco as generalissimo and head of state with supreme military and political authority. Kind and Yagwe continued to take the lead in this effort. Action Cabanas continued to be opposed. Mola and Kiepo Deano were lukewarm and left the meeting. Early that evening, the latter three generals talked by telephone. Kiepo, though he had not spoken out Himself against Franco as supreme commander, urged cabanas to continue to do so. Mola said he should accept it. Despite his reservations and cabinet Cabanes agreed. The official decree of the National Defense Council designating Franco generalizing of the nationalist armies and head of state, was published the next day. No time limit was placed on Franco's rule and in fact he never relinquished it, for which he was much criticized throughout his life, especially by foreigners. But there was never much real opposition to him during the 36 years he ruled Spain from the end of the Civil War to his death. What there was came from ethnic separatists, the Basque and cattle. And surviving admirers of the revolutionary republic. Spain owned owed Franco too much to reject him. And most Spaniards knew that. It is easy to say that Franco should have held elections. Perhaps once full stability had been established and World War II ended, he should have. But elections and representative government had never worked very well in Hispanic countries. Where most did not see them. Where most did not see them as they were seen in English speaking countries countries and in France as conveying genuine legitimacy to the government. And the searing experience of Franco and every genuine Spanish Catholic during the Civil War, in which the massacres and martyrdoms of the Republic were all carried out in the name of an elected government, very few of whose members, then or later protested against them, was not likely to cause them to look favorably on governments produced by elections. The world, even the Hispanic world, has changed much in 68 years. And these conclusions and generalizations, though so long well supported, probably no longer apply. All the world today, with the exception of the four remaining communist ruled countries, accepts democratic elections as a sole legitimate source of political authority. A modern day Franco would in all likelihood recognize this and hold them. But one cannot take a man out of his time. Most certainly there are eternal truths, but political systems do not participate partake of them. In his time, as Paul Johnson is so trenchantly pointed out, Franco was right. His success in war and in peace justified his decision. Based on a profound understanding of the traditions of his people as they then existed. He was, as stated earlier, neither a totalitarian nor an oppressor.

[Pete]

MOTO CASINO america's social CASINO welcome to Moto Casino where the excitement never with thousands of the hottest free to play social casino games. Fastest payouts and the best promotions in the industry. No tricks or gimmicks. Owned and operated in the usa Motoccasino is a free to play social casino. No purchase necessary 21 plus to play void we're prohibited. Sign up today for a generous welcome bonus Moto Casino America's social casino. Download the Motocasino app today. Tyler redick here from 2311 Racing. Another checkered flag for the books. Time to celebrate with with Chumba. Jump [e-mail] let's Chumba. No purchase necessary BTW group void where prohibited by law. CTNC 21+ sponsored by Chumba Casino. Hey, it's Bubba Wallace from 2311 Racing.

[Narrator]

You know what feels like forever

[Pete]

sitting

[Narrator]

on a plane waiting for takeoff. Good thing I've got Jumba Casino with

[Pete]

Daily Boost and Social Casino games on tap. This is the kind of fun that makes time fly. Why not turbocharge your downtime play [e-mail] let's Jumba. Sponsored by Chumba Casino. No purchase necessary VGW Group void where prohibited by law. 21/ Terms and Conditions apply.

[Narrator]

In his own words, in his last testament, issued just before his death in 1975, he always wished to live and die as a Catholic. That is the end of the September chapter. We'll get into October next. And yeah, I just want to say that when you look at what the west became after World War II with their elections and their parliament, all this stuff, all the freedom they got, how's that work?

[Pete]

Cannot.

[Narrator]

Franco kept communists and radicals at bay until he died. You can make arguments about what's happened since he. He's died and what Spain has become. Yep. But still he knew that that wasn't going to work. And it certainly wasn't going to work in a Spain. You can't have elections in a country that. That is that divided, that has autonomous zones and provinces. You roll it using authority. That's it. That's the message. There are ads during this. If you want to support the show, get the episodes early and ad free. Go to freemanbeyondthewall.com support there you have you can do right there on the website, Substack, Gumroad, Patreon and Subscribestar. Right until part nine, where we start the. I think. Yep, the October chapter. Thank you. See you then.

[Pete]

Bye.

[Narrator]

I want to welcome everyone back to part nine of my reading of Warren Carroll's the Last Crusade. A reminder about Thomas and I doing movie reviews, watching movies and commenting on them. This evening we'll be doing our fourth, so that'll be coming out later today or tomorrow. And if you go to freemanbeyondthewall.com movies, you get links there to them. And also my partnership with Antelope Hill Press. Order anything from Antelope Hill Press. Put in Pete Q, all lowercase at checkout, get 5% off your order. All right, we got the October chapter here. And as long as I'm feeling okay, which feel pretty good today, should be able to finish this one in one episode. So let's go. October. On the first day of October in Burgos, General Franco was formally invested with the office of Chief of State of National Spain. His speech of acceptance was calmly uncompromising. My hand will be firm, my pulse will not tremble, and I will raise Spain to a place befitting its history and its past standing. Our government will be for the people, for the middle class and for the poorer classes. We will establish social justice, if necessary, with an iron hand. The man who has no beliefs, who has no spirituality, who does not love his family, is not a man, not a Spaniard. He is nothing. He established at once a cabinet and a civil administration, including Carlisle, Secretaries of education, the post they had originally demanded of Mola and San Juro without success, and commerce. The new government, under Franco's direction, at once began asserting control over trials, court martials and executions, where there had been numerous abuses, especially in Andalusia and the Balearic Islands. At first not successfully in this endeavor due to the fierce passions unleashed by the atrocities and the Republicans republic, Franco's government nevertheless attained full control of judicial procedure in most areas by early in the new year. In the Basque provinces, for example, after Cardinal Goma had had vigorously protested the execution of Basque priests who had supported the republic because of its endorsement of Basque nationalism, Franco ordered These executions ended October 26, and his order was obeyed.

[Carl Dahl]

Spade.

[Narrator]

In a report to the Pope at this time, Cardinal Goma described a great upsurge of faith and piety in Spain in response to the destruction of the churches, the profanation of devotional objects and above all, the slaughter of priests and religious. Historian Stanley Payne confirms the truth of Cardinal Gomez observations and the cultural and educational changes resulting from the religious renowned renewal, despite evident personal reservations about their decision. Quoting by the autumn of 1936, the Nationalist zone not only had a new government, but was undergoing a cultural revolution of unprecedented proportions for any Western country in the 20th century. Religious revivalism was in full swing, at least on the public level, and nationalism was held to require the restoration of traditional value, values and attitudes on a remarkable scale. Schools and libraries were purged not only of radical but of nearly all liberal influences, and Spanish tradition was uphold as the indispensable guide to a nation that had lost its path by following the principles of the French Revolution. And liberalism, I think immediately because of where we grew up, because of what we are taught in school, we look and we see, oh, they purged the libraries, they burned books, they said liberal influence will not. Yeah, look what it's done. Look what it did there. I mean, this. It would be hard to compare the violence of the French Revolution and the violence of the Spanish Revolution Civil War and say which one was worse. But you know, after you read about this, you realize these people were animals, just monsters. Something had to be done. And historically, when you have something like that, when you have that kind of violence, that kind of basically, it almost seems like demon possession, then something, there's going to be a big swing in the opposite direction to stop it. And I mean, if you, if you have a problem with that, you just, you don't have a problem with things continuing as the status of status quo. Every day, the blood of martyrs continued to teach the necessity of the renewal of Spain's traditional Catholic commitment that was so rapidly developing in the nationalist held areas. On October 1, the same day that Franco formally took power in nationalist Spain, world famous Jesuit historian Zacharias Garcia Villada, whose great historical library had been burned earlier, was killed by Malaysia militia in Madrid. Many hundreds of pages have been written about the killing of the poet Garcia Lorca by the Nationalists. A heinous crime, to be sure. But the equally heinous killing of the great Catholic historian is rarely mentioned in histories of the Spanish Civil War, even in passing or in footnote. That's because leftists write the books. College professors, academics, journalists.

[Carl Dahl]

Journalists.

[Narrator]

Let's talk. I mean, tell me about the right wing academics and journalists. I mean, you got Stanley Payne down here. Notice how the only way you would know his name is by being in the right circles. But almost everyone knows about Garcia Lorca. No one knows about Zacharias Viada. Even if you.

[Pete]

It's.

[Narrator]

It's really interesting that people say those who win get to write the history books. Not in this case. I mean, there was. A lot of them were written in Spanish. So I mean, we don't have them and they're not going to translate them into English and give them to us. So on the next day, October 2, 50 more prisoners were killed in Bilbo, Bilbao, held by the Basque Nationalists for the Republic, including 14 priests and a Mark and a Marist brother. Twelve secular priests, five Franciscans and two Carmelites were mowed down in the city cemetery of Castellon de la Plana in north Valencia Province. And three nuns of the convent of Santa Clara De Monson were slain at Peralta after refusing to deny them their faith in Segorbe. On October 4, Martina Vasquez, a sister of charity, well known for her holiness and care for the poor, after being taken from the hospital where she worked, was picked up by militia at night, despite an illness that left her barely able to walk. As she entered their bus, she asked them, are you going to kill me? Assured with the merciless hatred that lashes across these intervening 60 years like a square scorpion sting that they were indeed going to kill her. She promptly blessed them with some holy water that she was carrying. In the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. They killed her by the roadside. Her murderers were caught and executed in June 1939. That's after the war. You will hear stories of. Franco was still. Franco was still killing people. Was executing people after the war. War. Uhhuh. Yeah. And in Barcelona on October 8, 44 Marist novices and their prov. And their provincial, whom French members of their order had attempted to bring out of republican Spain to safety in France, were shot at Moncada cemetery, shouting Viva Cristo. 62 others scheduled for death were saved at the last moment by the Catalan government, which was at the last. Which was at last beginning to assert some control over the rampant anarchists of that province. If I can get anything out of this. Whenever I want you to hear the word. The word anarchist and I want you to cringe. You get anything out of this reading, I want you to hear the term anarchist, which I called myself at one time. And I want you to cringe because I cringe thinking about it. Right wingers don't get to take it. It will always be associated with this. Make. Let's make that so. 62 others scheduled for death were saved at the very. At the last moment by the Catalan government, which was at last beginning to assert some control over the rampant and anarchists of that province. Decreeing on October 9th the dissolution of all local committees then exercising political and judicial power in Catalonia. This was followed on the 16th by an order of the Largo Caballero government, integrating the militia with a great. With the regular army throughout the Spanish Republic. This decree took a long time to enforce, but was necessary because of the proven inability of the often anarchist dominated militia to fight effectively, effectively against trained soldiers. Tight discipline was to be introduced, both military and political, in imitation of the Red army in the Soviet Union. Despite these moderate improvements, substantial numbers of martyrdoms continue to occur in Catalonia and elsewhere in Republican Spain. On October 14, three priests, sons of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, after successfully hiding from the persecution for nearly 33 months, were shot in a eucalyptus, Eucalyptus. Eucalyptus grove in Santa Santander on the north coast. On October 17th, in the heart of Madrid, Franciscan Father Perfecto Carrascosa was shot at the cemetery after being tortured to make him blaspheme the purity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, which he steadfastly refused to do. And on October 25, five cloistered Capuchin nuns were shot by militia in Valencia. Well, might Manuel Falconde, the Carless Secretary General just confirmed in his office by the new Carlist royal claimant Javier, say in a speech at Yeres de la Frontera in southern Andalusia, quoting this is a religious war and a war of reconnaissance, conquest. For in Spain everything was conquered under the protection of the cross and was preserved by the cross. Therefore, this war of reconstruction will end as so great an enterprise as ours must end with the triumph of a glorious and sovereign institution, the Catholic Church, the model and prototype of all things Spanish. A few days earlier, a dramatic scene was played out in nationalist city of Solomon Manca in western Spain, which illustrated as vividly as any in the whole Spanish Civil War the truth of what Falconde said and the consequences for anyone who could, who could not or would not fully face and accept it. Even if on the nationalist side, this city was the site of the oldest and most famous of all Spanish universities, established at the height of medieval Christendom in the 13th century, the university of Solomon. Its rector was the well known and highly regarded Spanish intellectual Miguel de Unamuno, philosopher, poet and novelist, 73 years old in 1936. Unamuno had been sharply critical of the Spanish monarchy and the military government of Primo de Rivera in the 1920s, and it supported the Republic when it was established in 1931. One only to be shocked by the anarchic excesses and crimes which came from the Popular Front government elected in February 1936. Really? You're shocked, huh? Consequently, he had supported the nationalist rising in July, but by October he was having second thoughts. The ferocity of the war frightened him and its shedding of so much Spanish blood saddened him. He was sensitive to a general hostility to intellectuals among some nationalist officers, officers and spokesmen resulting from the strong left wing tendency of many intellectuals. The arrival of one legged, one armed, one eyed general Jose Milan Estre, founder and commander of the Spanish Foreign Legion, for the celebration in Salamanca of the day of race, October 12, on which Spanish speaking people commemorated Columbus's discovery of America produced an extraordinary confrontation of Milan Estrella with Unamuno. Frequently described in books on the Spanish Civil War. This confrontation is almost always presented, as Robert Paine describes in his anthology of Spanish Civil War documents and reports, the completely civilized man confronting the pure nihilist. The vivid account of the confrontation by Luis Portillo included in Paine's anthology is often quoted, quoted Portillo re. Portillo's report is superbly written, but one needs only to read the first four paragraphs to know where his sympathies lie. That is not surprising, nor even. That is not surprising, nor even reprehensible. It is in fact characteristic of nearly all eyewitness accounts coming from the Spanish Civil War. But the assumption that Unamuno was unquestionably right cannot stand for anyone who understands that for millions of Catholics in Spain and el elsewhere, the war was a crusade. Jose Milan Estrella was not a gentleman, and he had already lost many of the legionnaires he had trained to the death. He had. He had taught them, when necessary to court. He knew the enemy as Miguel de Unamuno, watching from his distance, safe in his ivory tower, would never know, would never know him. Milan Estrella was no philosopher, novelist or. Or poet. He was a warrior, pure and simple. But he knew what he fought for. Milan Astray sensed that Unamuno did not know that he did not really believe anything worth fighting for to the death. Milan Estrey had not been on the October 12th program to speak. He was no orator. He did not know how to organize his thoughts and words to develop an argument in speech.

[Carl Dahl]

Speech.

[Narrator]

The speech he gave lacked logic and at times was almost incoherent. Spaniards, who continues to support the bloody republic, he cried, were guilty of rebellion and treason. They deserve death. Viva la muerte. The audience roared out, its response, led by the fists. Arriba Espana. Franco. Franco. Franco. In Portillo's striking description of Unamot Muno and his response quoting between the fine curve of his nose and this silver of his Quixote like beard, his mouth was twisted in a bitter grimace of undisguised contempt. People began to grow uneasy. At last Don Miguel rose slowly. The silence was an enormous void. Into this void, Don Miguel began to pour the stream of his speech, as though savoring each measured word. This is the essence of what he said. All of you are hanging on my words. You all know me and are aware that I am unable to remain silent. I have not learned to do so in 73 years of my life. And now I do not Wish to learn it anymore. At times, to be silent is to lie, for silence can be interpreted as an acquiescence. It pains me to think that General Milan astray should dictate the pattern of mass psychology. That would be a pawn falling. A cripple who lacks the spiritual greatness of Cervantes. A man, not a superman, virile and complete in spite of his mutilations. A cripple, I said, who lacks that loftiness of mind is want to seek ominous relief in seeing mutilation around him. General Milan Estrey would like to create Spain anew, a negative creation in his own image and likeness. And for that reason, reason, he wishes to see Spain crippled, as he unwittingly made clear. This may sound splendid to those who dislike the nationalists and their cause, but what does it really mean? Clearly, that General Milan Estrella wanted his own young men, whom he had trained and loved, to be killed or crippled as he had been. Not as unavoidable necessity, not as loyal service and sacrifice in a crusade crusade, but simply to inflict his own suffering upon them. Far from noble rhetoric, this was a despicable insinuation about a man who believed utterly in his cause and had lost a leg and an arm and an eye in the service of his country. Milan Estrei may not have fully understood what Unamuno was charging him with, but he sensed enough of it to respond in a white hot fury. Mura la intelligence. Death to intelligence. It was an. It was an inappropriate, if understandable response to a vicious attack. And Jose Maria Peiman, one of the few genuine nationalist intellectuals, responded at once with no Long live intelligence. Death to bad intellectuals. Names of various bad intellectuals were immediately shouted out. The audience was now seething with anger, some supporting una muno, more denouncing him. Unamuno was still standing before them, coldly hostile. Then his voice rang out again. This is the temple of intellect, and I am its high priest. It is you who are profaning its sacred precincts. I have always, whatever the proverb may say, been a prophet in my own land. You will win, but you will not convince. You will win because you possess more than enough brute force. Force. But you will not convince. Because to convince means to persuade. And in order to persuade you would need what you lack reason and right in the struggle. I consider it futile to exhort you to think of Spain. I have finished. So Miguel de Unamuno was both priest and prophet. The Spanish crusaders had neither reason nor right in their struggle, and they thought nothing of Spain. They had his word for it did the example of the defenders of the Alcazar of Toledo really lack the power to persuade? Did only brute force bring them victory? Unamuno was fortunate to escape unharmed. In his audience were men who would have no part in playing intellectual word games at such a moment in the history of their country and of Christendom. They had seen sights like this described by Irish soldier Cyril Garrity as he entered the town of this month, just a few minutes after Franco's army advancing forward. Madrid had expelled the defenders of the Republic from it, quoting the floor was swimming with blood and everything in the house was wrecked. Lying by the bed was the body of a lady of of an old lady of 76, her head half chopped off and her poor broken arms lying unnaturally, as if trying to reach the bodies of her son and grandmother grandson, who were lying beaten to death beside her. I could find no trace of a gunshot wound on either of them, but they were both terribly disfigured by the blows which had rained on them from head to foot. In the half light of the shuttered room, I could hardly keep my feet on the bloody floor as I groped my way back to the open air. Milan Estrella's bodyguard was pointing a submachine gun at Unamuno. Cries of anger filled the the air. But Jose Milan Estre was no anarchist killer. Salamanca was under his protection and that of his few, his fellow officers. He wanted no harm to come to this man who had slandered him. His one good eye swept the room with a commanding glance. He saw, he saw instantly, the way out. Unamuno, he directed without honorifics, as though addressing some recalcitrant private in the Legion. Take the arm of the head of the State's war wife. Take the arm of the head of State's wife, Dona Carmen de Polo Franco. With firm mouth and large dark eyes. The devoutly Catholic spouse of the Generalissimo responded at once in the words of a student and her escort who was there, quote Franco's wife stood up with an aloofness and elegance which I doubt she could repeat. With one hand she gestured to the Legion Legionnaire, Legionary to deflect his submachine gun, and with the other she took Don Miguel by the arm. Unamuno looked on the point of collapse. His head was sunk in his shoulders. With her other hand she made a gesture which we understand to mean she was summoning her guard. We formed up around the couple. Our lieutenant, perhaps on Donya's donut, Carmen's instructions, took up a position on Unamuno's other side and placed an arm around his shoulder. Shoulder. We had to use our rifle butts to control the spectators who pressed forward. There were shouts and cries of Rojo, cabron, red bastard. Franco's wife opened the door of her official car and told the lieutenant to take Unamuno home. Few recent historians describing this confrontation seem to have noticed that it was Milan Estreit himself who brought Carmen Franco to Unamuno from the threatening crowd. Hardly the act of a blood thirsty, a bloodthirsty nihilist. On the last day of the year 1936, Miguel de Unamuno died. A good man who yet could find no place for himself in a fight to the death for Santa Fe, the holy faith, who was in fact not a prophet in his own land or elsewhere, who by the end of his intellectually illustrious career had lost sight of the fundamental truth that God had made foolish the wisdom of the world, and who apparently no longer understood that there is only one true priesthood and one true high priest who entered once and for all into the temple and made the sacrifice on Calvary that opened the gates of heaven to the human race. In the early days of October, the Largo Caballero government fulfilled earlier promises by the Republic to provide self government autonomy for the two major areas of Spain whose popular speech was not Spanish the Basque Provinces and Spanish the north and Catalonia in the northeast. The experiment lasted less than a year, during which the Basque Provinces were occupied by the nationalists and Catalonia was brought back under the full control of the central government, though with promises to restore its autonomy after a republican victory. Nevertheless, this short lived autonomy had substantial effects on the course of the war. In the Basque province it dulled the edge of the Crusade. In Catalonia, it sharpened that edge. Edge. The Basque people of Spain, from whom both St Ignatius of Loyola and St Francis Xavier had come, had long been staunchly Catholic, as they continued to be under the most difficult conditions of the Spanish Republic. In 1936, of all territories which flew the flag of the Republic, only the two Basque provinces of Askaya and Uipuzcoa kept their churches open and allowed the unrestricted, restricted practice of the Catholic faith. Apparently oblivious to the condition of the faith elsewhere in the Republic, its Basque supporters satisfied their consciences by largely preventing attacks upon the church in their own territory. A Basque assembly, meeting at the traditional spot of such gatherings under an ancient oak tree outside the town of Guernica, elected Jose Antonio Agere, a practicing Catholic president, and sworn him in with his cabinet, including four Basque nationalists three socialists, one Communist and two Republicans. Anarchists were not included. A Mass was said for the assembly and the cabinet was a TR in the cabinet by a traditional priest who had secretly made his way to Garca with communion hosts smuggled out of Madrid. So long as a predominantly Catholic government in the two Basque provinces continued to fight for the regime in Madrid, the Republic could not be said to be totally anti Catholic Catholic. Though the nationalists naturally considered the republican Basques to be traitors, the presence of Basque Catholics on the Republican side was the principal reason. Pope Pius XI did not recognize Franco's regime as the legitimate government of Spain until the Basque provinces had been overrun and incorporated into national Spain in 1936. 37 Sorry. As for Catalonia, though the establishment of an autonomous provincial government there did not reduce the number of indiscriminate killings by its military militia. The anarchists remained influential with both the government and the people, and the savagery of their rhetoric was unchanged. An article in the Anarchist Paper Worker, the Anarchist Paper worker solidarity on October 18th contained this passage quote, Not a single church has been left standing in Barcelona, and it may be assumed that they will not be restored and that pickaxe and hammer will complete the demolition of what the fire began by pure terrifying but what about the villages? Not only must not a single one of the Cossack the black beetles be left, but we must eradicate any germs which they may have incubated. Destruction then not a moment's hesitation. Blood and fire An October I want to say it, but I don't want to be divisive. On October 24, the Catalan government, General Generalitat, took over all factories employing more than 100 workers and smaller businesses. If the owners were nationalists or 75% of the workers requested the takeover. These factories were to be administered by workers councils, with a government representative on each council and 50% of any profits to go to the government, while the rest was to be kept and spent locally. However, in practice. However, in practice, as in socialized factories everywhere, there were no profits, only endless shortfalls and losses. Though the most solidly revolutionary of any part of Spain, Catalonia remained an economic drain upon the government and a source of political instability and strife for the Republic throughout the rest of the Spanish civil war. On October 7, the Nationalist March on Madrid reached resumed. Colonel Yagwe resumed active duty with the 10,000 man column from Morocco, though General Varela continued to command it. Another column of equal size consisting of regular soldiers Regetus and Falangas, under the command of General Valdez Cabaneas who reported to Mola, was marching south to join Varela's column at Madrid. By the middle of the month, the southern column had taken Navalco Canero, just 20 miles southwest of Madrid, and the northern column had taken Sigenza Siginsa, about 70 miles northeast of it.

[Pete]

You ain't heard about Moto Casino? Moto has real Vegas slots. Any game you can find on the floor in Vegas, you can play it on Moto.

[Narrator]

I like my slots hot. Moto's free to play like food stamps in line at the grocery store at

[Pete]

a funeral in traffic Keep your eyes

[Narrator]

on the road Hop on Moto Casino Moto Casino Got jackpots that are bigger

[Pete]

than my belly Moto America's hottest free to play social Casino Download the Moto Casino app today. Moto Casino is a social casino board where prohibited. No purchase necessary. Visit Moto US for more details. Toleratic here from 2311 racing game night's fun until someone spends five minutes lining up one shot.

[Narrator]

Chalk.

[Pete]

Breathe, rechalk, still aiming. What they figure figure it out. I fire up Champa Casino. I can spin anywhere, anytime and there's always a new social casino game every week. Spins happen way faster than that shot. Play [e-mail] let's Chum sponsored by Chumba Casino. No purchase necessary. VGW Group Void where prohibited by law 21 terms and conditions apply. What's up fools? Main event J uso here from the wwe when it's just me between matches, it's day one and that means it's Chumba time. With hundreds of casino style games and new titles arriving weekly, there's always something fresh to try at Chumba Casino. The daily boost make it even more fun and have me about to get them all during my downtime. Ready for a fun way to chill out and enjoy a few minutes for yourself?

[Narrator]

Let's chomp.

[Pete]

No purchase necessary. VGW Group Void where prohibited by law. CTS and C's 21+ sponsored by Chumba

[Narrator]

Casino in view of the fact that Toledo, just 40 miles from Madrid, had been relieved nearly three weeks before, this was slow. This was slow movement by the nationalists, which surely had more to do with the subsequent defeat before Madrid than the brief detour to relieve the Alcazar of Toledo, which only required about a week yet is usually blamed for the delay. Yeah, that's. You will hear people saying that there's no way they should have went to the the Alcazar until the though they should have just marched straight to Madrid Maybe, but there are some things, some places, there are some symbols. A narrative needs to be built. And by going to the Alcazar and doing everything that they could to save it, that was narrative building. That brought people together, that. That gave people hope. Somebody said, more than one person has said after hearing about the standoff at the Alcazar, that a movie needs to be made about that. If you're listening and you have the. During this first half of October occurred epic defensive struggle by the Occurred another epic defensive struggle by the Nationalists in the northern province of Asturias, where the heroic defense of the Simancas barracks in Guion had ended in August. On October 4, revolutionary militia and some Spanish Republican army units attacked Colonel Antonio Aranda in the Asturian capital of Ova Oviedo, where he had first pretended to be a supporter of the Republic, then proclaimed his support for the officers rising in July. He held Oviedo with a garrison of about 3,000 men, 1/3 of whom were civilian volunteers, the rest being civil guards, assault guards, and some units of the Falange. The attackers had about five times that number, finally concentrating their large force against the city after the fall of the Samanca barracks, though only after numerous delays. The battle raged furiously for the next two weeks. The revolutionaries secured the outskirts of the city and pressed on into the city center, which the Nationalists defended with a relentless determination matching that of their compatriots at the sieges of the Simancas barracks and the Alcazar of Toledo. On one major street in Oviedo, San Lazaro street, for days, the Nationalists controlled one side of it and the revolutionaries the other. Colonel Aranda called for the city to be defended to the last man, an officer of the garrison, Jesus Everestio. Cesare Cesario declared later, we were prepared to burn the city to create barricades of fire between us and the enemy. We were fighting street to street, house by house, story by story, room by room. We weren't prepared to surrender under any conditions. Win or die. There was no other choice. The attackers confirmed the tenacity of the garrison's resistance and the tremendous losses they inflicted. More than half the attacking force was killed or wounded. By October 15, Colonel Arunda's ammunition, food and drinkable water were all running out. He sent a message to General Mollus saying, the only thing left for us is to die like Spaniards. But the Nationalists were able to send the column from Galicia to the west to relieve. Relieve him. On October 17, the relieving force reached the embattled and devastated city, mostly reducing reduced to rubble. About half of around this garrison was dead or wounded. But they had prevailed. On October 16, as a nationalist drew ever closer to Madrid, Joseph Stalin in the Soviet Union sent a telegram to Spanish Communist Party chief Jose Diaz, which for the first time gave his full, unqualified support to the Spanish Revolution revolution. Quoting the workers of the USSR only fulfill their duty in rendering all possible help to the revolutionary masses in Spain. They recognize that the liberation of Spain from the yoke of the fascist reactionaries is not the private concern of Spaniards alone, but the common cause of all progressive humanity. Can I read that again? The workers of the USSR only fulfill their duty in rendering all possible help to the revolutionary mass masses in Spain. They recognize that the liberation of Spain from the yoke of the fascist reactionaries is not the private concern of Spaniards alone, but the common cause of all progressive humanity. Okay, so this, this wasn't about Marxism. This wasn't about Bolshevism. This wasn't about the Soviet Union, huh? Can we put this to bed once and for all? The fascist reactionaries. So if you oppose communism, you're a fascist, you're a fascist, you're a reactionary. Those who want to say, no, no, the fascists and the communists are the same thing. Thing. You go yourselves, fence sitters just want to stand there and point the finger and be like, I'm right, I'm above all of this. You, you. On the following day, when the road junction of Ilescas, midway between Toledo and Madrid, was taken by advancing nationalist troops, a training base for the Communist International bridge brigades was set up at Albacete in a thinly populated region of east central Spain in the old province of Murcia. The Comintern had finalized its decision to create these international brigades and established the headquarters of the Communist 5th Regiment at Albacete early in October. The 1st Communist International Volunteers intended to make up the new brigades arrived at the republican port of Alicante on October 13 and reached Albacete by train the following day. They consisted of 500 men, mostly Frenchmen from Paris. There was nothing yet to show how quickly international communism could move in such an undertaking. And this small group still seemed insignificant compared to the 20,000 men, mostly trained veterans, now being deployed by the nationalists before Madrid. The dispirited and perhaps conscience stricken Manuela's uncle suddenly fled the capital on October 19. He left Madrid for Barcelona without telling anyone that he was going. But the troops of the Republic were still full of fight. 6000 militia actually attacked the nationalists at Chapanaria on the day of a Zanya's flight, but were beaten back by the nationalist Colonel Antonio Castell after a fierce struggle in the militia's favorite killing ground, a cemetery military. The next day, the Republic's General Asensio, still capable and determined, launched a much larger counter attack, the largest of the war to date at Ilescas, bringing 15,000 troops down from Madrid in double decker buses. But the nationalists held fast. The battle ended in a draw, and three days later the nationalist advance from Ilescas resumed. Largo Caballero blamed Asensio for not winning a victory, removed him from command and kicked him upstairs to the post of Under Secretary of War. His replacement was a regular army officer from a strongly monarchist family, General Sebastian Pozas. the same time, overall command of the defense of Madrid was given to another regular army officer who had been previously suspected of nationalist leanings, General Jose Miyaja. When coupled with the growing pessimism of the government about his ability to hold Madrid, these appointments suggest that Largo Caballero intended two officers as cannon for fodder in a battle he expected to lose. Meanwhile, on October 22, Largo Caballero had formally and publicly agreed to the formation and use of the communist International Brigades in the war in Spain. Earlier in September, he and his finance minister, Juan Negren, without consulting President Azano or any other minister, had promised to send the entire National Gold reserve of Spain to the Soviet Union Union as financial security for present and future shipments of arms and strategic materials to the Republic. I mean, the, the whole trope about how Marxists just aren't good with money. On the same day, October 22nd, the loading of 7900 gold ingots worth about 801 million in $1936, at least $6 billion worth today. That's back in the 90s. Imagine what it is now. Began on four Russian ships at the port of Cartagena, under the supervision of Alexander Olav of the Soviet Secret police, then called the NKVD. The ship sailed October 25th and delivered their golden cargo at the Soviet Black Sea port of Odessa on November 6th. On November 6th, Stalin was delighted with this, with this ascension to his treasury, and held one of his famous vodka parties to celebrate it. Quote, the Spaniards will never see their gold again, just as one cannot see one's own ears. The former bank robber of the Caucuses of the Caucasus declared jubilantly and deely, they did not. So that's what Franco had to deal with when they won the war. No gold reserves. Yeah, because. Because, yeah, on October 28th, the southern nationalist column, commanded by General Varela and now consisting of about 9,000 men, had spread out to form a broad semicircle about 15 miles southwest of Madrid, from the Jarama river around to the town of Brunette, due west of Madrid. Soviet aircraft and tanks were now available in some quality quantity. Largo Caballero, built, boasted that they would destroy the forces about to assault the capital. At dawn on the 29th, Russian bombers struck nationalist airfields, while 15 Russian tanks led an attack which knocked out many Italian tanks, but was insufficiently followed up by infantry not trained in working with armored vehicles. The nationalists destroyed two of the tanks with bottles of flaming gasoline, and a third broke down and had to be abandoned to them. That same day, the nationalists retaliated with limited bombings of Madrid, aiming chiefly at its airfields and other military targets, with six to nine planes making two sorties a day. The next day, the 30th, one of the nationalist bombs went astray and hit a school, killing 60 children, of which the revolutionary propaganda made much. But such accidents will always happen in aerial bombings near any city and, if unattended and sporadic, are not sufficient grounds for condemnation under the Catholic moral doctrine of double effect. On the 31st, the French government decided to permit the recruiting of volunteers to fight for the Spanish Republic, and Hitler decided to send 100 more German planes to support the nationalists. In Spain. The greatest battle of the war to date was impending the battle for Madrid. Both sides regarded as decisive. Franco and the nationalists were confident of victory. Victory. The evidence suggests that Largo Caballero had many doubts, and President Azania had obviously given up. But the communist intervention was to have a much greater impact than anyone in Spain suspected. At the end of October, the Common Turn, despite its absolute control by Stalin's agents, was still seen by many in the west as an independent, idealistic organization, fighting, at least in Spain, for a good cause. That's why you need to control the narrative. That's why you need to control the press. That's why you cannot have your enemy controlling the press. Men and women of the left all over the Western world, including not only communists and their consistent sympathizers, but also many who would not follow Stalin or the Comintern but believe profoundly in the Reichstag righteousness in the right, in the rightness of the cause of the Spanish Republic, as so many, including historians still do to this day, were ready, willing and eager to help the Republic. They were encouraged in misperception of the war and its issues because the Republic was not only communist and Largo Caballero, though communist by belief, a fact not widely known outside of Spain, was not a member of the Communist Party. It was possible for leftists and many at the political center to believe that the elected populace, Popular Front, still actually govern Spain. These excuses for ignorance of the true situation in Spain and for support of the revolutionary government of Largo Caballero do not, however, apply to the religious persecution. It was far too extensive and its victims far too numerous to be hidden. By October 1936, the whole world knew about it. It was this far flung and ghastly persecution, described at some length in these pages, that caused faithful practicing Catholics to become the one substantial element in Western countries other than the totalitarian German and Italian governments who had reasons of their own for military intervention in Spain to support the Spanish nationalists. The religious persecution was impossible to defend or justify then or later, though some feeble attempts were made to do so so. Consequently, reporters, writers and historians of the left talked about the persecution and the martyrdoms as little as possible then and later. Remember that famously Walter Duranty of the New York Times went to the Soviet Union, knew what happened in Ukraine, and still went back and reported that, you know, knew about the Holodomor and still said, oh, everything. The Soviet Union is a paradise and one that Pulitzer Prize. That's why prizes don't mean anything to me. This dim out, if not blackout in the standard communications media, a practice with which we have become only too familiar since 1936, dimmed and eventually eclipsed by public perception and memory of the religious persecution. Almost no one outside the Catholic Church now knows about the nearly 7,000 priests and religious martyred during the Spanish Civil War. The Crusade In Spain in 1936 is the only one of all the Crusades in the history of Christendom, whose very existence as a Crusade was and remained unknown to most of the West. It might almost be called the Hidden Crusade. Crusade. The world knew it was being fought, but mostly did not know what it was being fought for. The consequence was that while the military equipment, mainly aircraft and tanks, shipped to the two contenders from their respective foreign supporters, the Soviet Union for republic, Germany and Italy for the nationalists, generally counterbalanced each other. The great majority of foreign volunteers went to the Republic and the tightly organized and disciplined communist International brigades, by far the most effective of them in the battle of November 1936, they held Madrid, keeping in revolutionary hands for two and a half long terrible years. But the Catholic nationalists persevered to the end, and in the end they won many Crusades. In the history of Christendom were lost. But both the first Crusade and the last triumphed. All right, next chapter gets into November and December and yeah, yeah, you'll notice there were ads during this. If you want to get the episodes early and ad free, head over to freemanbeyondthewall.com support5ways you can support there on my website Patreon Subscribestar, Gumroad substack back and yeah, that's it until episode 10. Take care. Thanks for tuning in. I want to welcome everyone Back to part 10 of my reading of Warren Carroll's the Last Crusade. Want to let you know about Thomas and I watching movies and commenting on him. We just dropped a new one. It is is the 1998 movie Resurrection Man. Movie set in Northern Ireland about a pretty violent and brutal gang. And Thomas has read books on it and has a lot of information on it, the background on it and everything. And it's a really good job. He does a really good job of providing you, basically bringing you into the movie and bringing you into the story. So head on over to freemanonthewall.commovies and there's a link to it there. Also Antelope Hill. I have partnered with them. If you enter Pete Q all lowercase at checkout, you'll get 5% off your order. All right, this is the November and December of 1936 chapter. So let's go. On November 2nd, General Franco wrote a proclamation to the people of Madrid, broadcasting it on radio and dropping it into the city from airplanes, quoting Mad Mados. Madrid is to be liberated. Be calm and stay away from the combat zones. Keep your families at home, which are noble and disciplined troops, will respect and protect. Protect only those who have deceived you by saying that we mistreat women and children have anything to fear. Militia and workers of Madrid, throw down your arms and free yourselves from the lying leaders who also deceive you and now abandon you. We will know the guilty and only on them will fall the weight of the law. Franco's intelligence was good. It told them that the nerve of the republican government was cracking and that its withdrawal from from the now beleaguered capital city was already being discussed. A measure of the government's desperation was a startling decision on November 4th to admit anarchists to the cabinet. Not only was this a howling philosophical contradiction, but in practice the anarchists had clearly shown themselves as ungovernable. As ungovernable as her name indicated. And the ungovernable could hardly govern. Famous Catalan anarchist leader Garcia Oliver was Made Minister of Justice, his first act was to destroy all criminal records in Madrid. Another anarchist was made Minister of Health. Bitter irony in view of the fact that the principal activity of Spanish anarchists since July 19 had been the murder, massacre and mass imprisonment of their fellow countrymen. On November 5, after the three days of attempting to use the Russian tanks, the army of the Republic had little to show for it, since neither the Spanish tank crews nor the infantry supposed to work with the tanks understood this new kind of warfare. Demoralized by the failure of their tank attacks, the Republican troops were falling back toward the city until Varela's nationalists had occupied Getafa Airport and several suburbs and were only four miles from the Puerta del Sol at the heart of Madrid. One more thrust is all that is needed, a confident General Varela declared that day. As though in agreement with Varela, the government of the Republic that day suffered a complete collapse of confidence, deciding to leave Madrid and retired to Valencia on the east coast. Its wild, sometimes comic opera Flight, November 6th seemed, for an all too brief moment, moment to spell the end of the war and the immediate victory of the Crusade. Largo Caballero proved himself to be what his socialist rival in Delicio Prieto had always called him, no more than a bombastic, egotistical order of limited intelligence and little real leadership ability. Despite his immense yet largely undeserved reputation, he was in such a hurry to get out of Madrid that he did not even wait to deliver personal instructions to the two generals he was leaving behind behind him, Jose Miyaja and Sebastian Pozas. He only dropped off letters for them, marked not to be opened until the next morning. Fortunate for themselves, Miyaha and Pozas opened their envelopes together on the evening of the 6th, without waiting for the morning, and found that the two letters had been put in the wrong envelopes. When duly exchanged, they found that Posas was ordered to withdraw 50 miles southwest to Tarakon, too far away to be of any help in the defense of Madrid, while Miyaja was to form a junta with remaining civilian leaders and defend the capital as best he could. He immediately began trying to reach selected officers and politicians, finding that many of those he sought also fled. But the commander of the 5th Regiment, all Communists, responded with a pledge to defend Madrid street by street and house by house. That evening, Soviet general Vladimir Gordon joined Miyaha staff. On that same day, a German communist writer named Arnold von Golsenau, who himself, who called himself Ludwig Ren and had been an officer in World War I arrived at the communist camp at Albacete and took command of the mostly German Felman battalion of the International Brigades, now ready to go into action at military Madrid. Informed that night that Miyaja was now commanding the defenders of Madrid, Varela scoffed, he is a poor old grandpa. We will beat him easily. But the officers and men of the communist International Brigades were far from being poor old grandfathers, and it was they who now took charge of the battle. As for the fleeing government, they were stopped at Tarakon by a band of anarchists who threatened them with death if they did not not stay at their posts in Madrid. Only the insistence of anarchist leaders in Madrid, so curiously emplaced in the Republican Cabinet, prevailed upon the anarchists at Tarracon to allow the government to continue fleeing. Meanwhile, the crusading army was gathering for its greatest battle so far. The passionate young men with the red berets and the Sacred Heart badges who had answered Alfonso Carlos's call for the Raquetes on July 19 and made up one Juan Ura Lucereta's 4th Company of the Bayonne Bayern Battalion encamped for three days at the Madrid suburb of Brunei. On the last day's march, at the village of Navalaga Mea, Juan had found the parish church with all its holy images smashed and discarded in a pile of masonry. From that pile he had drawn out a representation of Jesus, Sacred Heart, still intact, though the statue which had borne it was shattered. Now in Brunette, he found his church as spacious as the cathedral. In a condition even more shocking, they had violently torn out from the high and beautiful altar of the church a figure of Christ of great size. And at the door of the church they had burned it so that almost all the image was blackened, especially the upper, upper part. The right forearm was missing, which, torn from the image, remained nailed to the cross above the altar. That holy arm, pointing to heaven, appeared to call for justice for so much sacrilege. Writing of this years later, Juan grimly added, two years later, the town of Brunette was the scene of very bloody fighting and the final great destruction of the godless on the Madrid front. November 7th was a Saturday. General Franco, as confident as Brian Morella, said that he expected to attend Sunday mass in Madrid. The following morning, nationalist troops attacked at the Mazaneras River, a shallow, low lying stream on whose east bank rises the city center. By an extraordinary coincidence, it was the 9th 19th anniversary of the Communist revolution in Russia. Posters exhorted the Madrid militia emulate Petrograd. 7 November of the Manzanares must be be as glorious as on the Neva telephone. Reports of the action from Russian correspondent Michael Koltsov were broadcast to the marchers parading in Red Square in Moscow to commemorate the anniversary. The militia at the Manzanares river bridges resisted strongly. That evening, 2,000 troops from the 11th Communist International Brigade arrived. Germans of the 3rd Tailman Battalion, French of the Paris Commune Battalion, Poles and some English marching down Madrid's Granville steel, helmeted, well armed in step, making a great impression on the frightened people of the city. That night the mass killing of prisoners began in Madrid, just as in Paris in the beginning of the Reign of Terror in the French Revolution in September 1792, when the March of a Prussian Austrian army toward Paris was made, the occasion to kill over 1400 political persons prisoners in the city, including 191 priests and religious. So in this bloody November 1936 in Madrid, over 2,400 prisoners were taken from their cells, helpless to escape or resist, shot and buried in large trenches. They included at least 200 priests and religious. The killing was mostly done by prison guards with the knowledge but without the orders or intervention of the few republican government officials remaining in Madrid. On November 10, another atrocity against helpless nuns was committed in Madrid. 23 nuns of the order of Adora Tristis, who had been arrested in the apartment in which they had been living after their convent was closed by government order on the incredible charge that one of them had shot a militia man on the street from their window, were taken to Madrid's each cemetery and killed there at dawn at 9 o' clock in the evening of November 7th, General Vere Verela's operations order for what was intended to be the decisive assault the following day fell into hands of his enemies. It was found in the pocket of a nationalist officer killed when the inadequately armored Italian tank in which he was riding was blown up. Brought to General Miyaja. The operations order told him that Varela's main attack would be made at the Frances Bridge, over the Manzanet Nares Ridge river and on University City. A listen that he would strike. A listen that he would strike again. The next morning, after four assaults, Varela's nationalist finally succeeded in crossing the Manzanares river and reaching the heights of University City. But with only a relatively small force of about a thousand, the communist international brigades were brought up to stop them there. And once again they succeeded. Seated. November 16th and 17th brought the climax. While both sides continued to fight each other to a bloody standstill along the banks of the Manzanares river, particularly At Puerto de los Francis, constantly swept by a crossfire of machine guns, a few of the Moroccan troops fighting for the Nationalists actually penetrated into the heart of Madrid. Six thousand Republican troops, including both the 11th International Brigade and Durutti's column, assaulted the thousand nationalists in University City. Hugh Thomas, the premier historian of the Civil of the Spanish Civil War, vividly describes the scene, quoting the babble of tongues. The frequent multilingual singing of the International. The insults exchanged between the Nationalists and Republicans added to the Mc Macabre confusion. The marching songs of the German communists brought to the crumbling masonry of the laboratories and lecture halls a Teutonic sadness. Anarchists fraternized with men from the International Brigade. Muffled commands sounded in the darkness, addressed to men who had never seen the city which they had come to defend. Battalion Tailman Furzigmakken Battalion Andre Martin Marti Descent Descendes Vitae Garibaldi Avante. Hours of artillery and aerial bombardment in which neither side gave way were succeeded by hand to hand battles for single rooms or floors of buildings in the still unfinished Clinical hospital. The Talman Brigade placed bombs and lifts to be sent up to explode in the faces of the Moroccans on the next floor. And in that building, the Moroccans suffered losses by eating inocul regulated animals kept for experimental purposes. Great courage was shown on both sides. A company of Poles from the Dombrowski Battalion resisted in the French Institute's Casa de Velazquez to the last man. An advanced guard of Moroccans drove back Dirudy's anarchists once again at the Plaza de Moncloa, the first square inside Madrid proper, and began to fight their way along the Calle de la Prince. Some even drove down the Paseo de Rosales to reach the Plaza de Espana. All were killed. But the rumor that the Moors are in the Plaza de Espana was not easy to staunch.

[Pete]

Hi, Uncle Laser. Here. America's built on fast cars, fast food and even faster women. Moto casinos built in America. You know what they're fast at? Fast Cash prize redemption. You see, only Moto is US owned and operate. Moto. It's American made. That's who we are and that's who we care about. Play for free at Moto US Moto Casinos. The Social Casino Board. We're prohibited. No purchase necessary. Visit Moto US for more details. Must be 21 plus Moto Casino America Social Casino. Tyler Redick here from 2311 Racing Victory Lane. Yeah, it's even better with Chumba by my side. Racing to Chumbacasino.com let's Chumba no purchase necessary. VTW group void where prohibited by law. CTNCS21+ sponsored by Chumba Casino Looking for excitement? Chumba Casino is here. Play anytime, Play anywhere. Play on the train, play at the store, Play at home. Play when you're bored. Play today for your chance to win

[Carl Dahl]

and get daily bonuses when you log in.

[Pete]

So what are you waiting for? Don't delay. Chumba Casino is free to play Experience social games gameplay like never before. Go to Chumba Casino right now to play hundreds of games, including online slots, bingo, Slingo and more.

[Narrator]

Live the chumba [e-mail] no purchase necessary.

[Pete]

VGW Group void we're prohibited by law 21/ terms and conditions apply.

[Narrator]

Anyone who thinks or has been told that the Spanish Civil War, at least in its first year, was not really against Communists, needs only to read a good account of the siege of Madrid to learn the truth. On November 6, the German Condor Legion had arrived in Sevilla, consisting of four bomber squadrons and four fighter squadrons. In all, about 100 aircraft and more than 3,000 support troops, operating under an agreement placing it under German operational command, but ultimately under Franco's control. The planes were flown to airfields around Madrid. They began bombing it on November 14 and continued to bomb at each direction, day, actually mostly at night, for the next 10 days. Despite fantastic exaggerations at the time and subsequently, only a relatively small number of civilians were killed in the bombing, 244, along with 875 injured and about 300 buildings damaged. The German pilots and planes were getting the practice Hitler wanted for the blitzes of World War II. Though the casualties were small, the act German pilots and planes were getting the practice Hitler wanted for the blitzes of World War II. So he was already planning the blitzes of World War II. He already knew World War II. I'm sorry, Mr. Carroll, that's just bad writing. Though the casualties were small, the action was unjust, since it does not appear that much effort was made to strike military targets only. But Franco, at this critical moment, understandably, if not justifiably, did not try to intervene again against it. In any case, the bombing was useless and even counterproductive from the nationalist standpoint. It served only to further infuriate the people of Madrid, already for the most part hostile to the besiegers. On the 17th, the nationalists got two more columns into University City, finally gaining control of the Clinical Hospital, where the Foreign Legion triumphed after a long and desperate struggle, and the Parque de del Oeste. Two nationalist tanks clanked down the Calle de la Princesa toward the Plaza de Espana, but were stopped by the defenders before reaching the big square. When the day was done, a somewhat reinforced nationalist contingent of about 2,000 troops in University City faced no less than 12,000 troops of the Republic. Though many of these were poorly trained local militia, they had been raised to fer to ferocious enthusiasm by the successful resistance thus far. Every night the communist spellbinder Dolores Ibarui, La Passionaria, was on the radio with her battle cry of no parason. They shall not pass. In the open field, Franco and Varela could probably have won even against troops as good as the communists of the International Brigade and the 6 to 1 odds. But in the confining and deadly environment of a great and hot, largely hostile city, it was not possible. Neither side strung to. Neither side strung to the highest pitch of determination as they were, could at first accept the great battle had ended in a draw. Reinforcements were arriving. General Mola had come with a substantial force of riketas to augment the attackers. But the defenders were being reinforced too, at an equal opportunity or greater rate. Sporadic fighting continued in University City, three quarters of which was now held by the Nationalists, but the other quarter was still held by the Republic, including the strategically placed hall of Philosophy and Letters, from which the defenders could protect the Plaza de Moncloa, gateway to the heart of Madrid. Trenches were being dug buildings strongly fortified at the Santa Cristina Asylum, used by the nationalists as their administration building and University City, and containing a chapel that had not been profaned. Juan Ura Lucerretta and his traquete commanders formed a choir whose rich young voices rang out every Sunday at mass with the ancient chant beloved of Crusaders. Christus vincit Christus regnat Christus imperat. Buenaventura Deruzi, commander of the anarchist column from Catalonia, was especially unhappy with the prospect of a new draw, so ultimate a revolution, so ultimate a revolutionary, that even the communists appeared to him as untrustworthy compromisers. He yearned for complete victory. He had persuaded the more cautious General Miyaha to authorize an attack on November 19 by his battered and decimated anarchists. On the towering hospital building now strongly held by the Nationalists. Daruzzi insisted that the attack proceed despite a torrential downpour of rain. Hearing the two of his companies were flipping coins to decide which should attack first, he flew into a rage and ordered them both to go immediately into action. Then he went back to the Miguel Anhas angel barracks, where his men had been quartered. There a little before 2 o' clock in the afternoon, he received the message that his men were retreating from the hospital. Furious again, he jumped into his car and ordered his chauffeur to drive at top speeds of the battle area. The car stopped near the model prison from which so many had already been taken for execution. When Daruzzi saw some of his men fleeing, he leaped from the car, cursed them and ordered them back into the nationalist fire. Dirty, a big, tall, swarthy man, built like a tree, was frightening and overpowering in his anger. The men went as he directed. He returned to the car and he returns to the car. At his door, he suddenly slumped over. Over. He had received a mortal wound and died the next day in the hospital, whispering keep on fighting. Dirudy's admirers and the government spread the story that he had been killed by a bullet fired from a nationalist sharpshooter from one of the windows of the hospital. But the doctor who examined his wound testified that it was surrounded by such clearly defined powder marks that the bullet could not have been fired from more than 50 centimeters, approximately one foot away from his. His body. Of the men in the car with Darutti, the one in the rear seat, was never clearly identified. One witness called them Ragar. Others had no name for him, and whoever he was, he promptly disappeared. Darudi's widow always believed her husband had been murdered, as did many others. Historian Anthony Bevor thinks that the trigger of the machine pistol of one of his escort caught on the door handle, causing it to fire accidentally into Darudi, after which its bearer understandably vanished, finished. But Buenaventura Deruti had cut too badly, too bloody a swath across Spanish history for pure accidents to seem a likely explanation for his being shot at close range. Though it is of course possible, his widow said, it had been an act of vengeance. So it may well have been. And perhaps the nameless rider in the right rear seat of Durude's car simply concluded that this man had killed enough, that it was time for him to reap what he had said. Zone on the very day Djerutti died, November 20, Jose Antonio Primo de Rivera, leader of the Falange, who had been imprisoned by the government of the Republic since before the outbreak of the war, was shot in Alicante prison yard with two other Fangas and two Carlists. On November 22, the nationalists in Madrid made a last attempt to attack the center of the city from the Parque de Oeste del O? Este, aiming for the model prison, but were beaten back. The next day. Franco held a meeting of his commanders at which it was decided to end frontal attacks on Madrid and try and encircle it instead. This decision necessary that, though it was extinguished any hope for a quick ending of the Spanish Civil War. It would continue for two and a half more years. The belief that the successful resistance in Madrid was a kind of miracle. Miracle derives from far more from the government's panic at the beginning of the siege and the widespread belief throughout Spain and the world that Madrid could not be held against the nationalist army than from actual military situation. Normally, attackers must have numerical superiority over defenders to prevail unless they have unchallenged control of the air. The German aircraft did not have clear control of the air. That is why their bombing raids on Madrid were mostly carried out in at night, and the defenders of Madrid outnumbered the attackers by a wide margin. Only an undisciplined, demoralized defense could have been overcome by the limited forces available to Franco and Varela. That might have happened, probably would have happened, but the arrival of the communist international brigades in the nick of time. Whatever could and should be said in condemnation of the ideology and morality of those men, they certainly fought well and knew what they were fighting for. Such soldiers win battles and wars. They won this battle, but were not to win this war. For the Spanish crusaders matched them man for man, as they had matched them in the desperate struggle on November 9th among the Ilex and gum trees of the Casa de Campo. In the end, they smashed them, inflicting such high casualties that the brigades broke up. At least 6,000 of these vicious and deluded young men left their bodies bones in the Spain they could not conquer for communism. On November 24, once again, Cardinal Isidro Goma, primate of Spain, hailed the crusade in a pastoral letter, quoting this most cruel war is at bottom a war of principles, of doctrines, of one concept of life and social reality against another, of one civilization against another, another. It is a war waged by the Christian and Spanish spirit against another spirit. That other spirit of which Cardinal Goma spoke had revealed itself with unmistakable clarity in two martyrdoms occurring within 10 days of the release of the cardinal's pastoral letter. On November 15, Juan Duarte E. Martin, a deacon of the parish of Elora in the diocese of Malaga on the southern coast of spring, Spain, was sprayed with gasoline and burned to death by militia. After a week's ghastly calvary, during which he was tortured with electric currents to make him blaspheme and castrated. And on the 17th, five brothers of the Christian schools and A parish priest were taken by militia at Lorca in in Murcia province to be shot in a sulfur mine, after which the militia danced on their bodies before hurling them deep into chasm. Following its flight from Madrid early in the month, the government of the Republic had established itself in Valencia, where the Soviet and Communist presence soon became overwhelmingly evident, particularly after the success of the International Brigades in defense of Madrid. In the words of an American reporter quoting the Russian influence was apparent everywhere in Valencia. Posters announcing Communist organization meetings were plastered on buildings and fences. Oleos of Stalin, Lenin and Marx, and bronze lapel pins fashioned in the shape of a hammer and sickle were on sale on every street corner. Marxist literature predominated at the book stalls. The only motion pictures were Russian propaganda films. Sound trucks blared forth an unceasing stream of Communist propaganda in the plazas, and the red flag vied with the anarchist black and red banners. On public building buildings, as in Madrid and Barcelona, streets had been renamed to conform to Marxist ideals. Directions were often difficult to find because the residents had not yet become accustomed to the new system of nomenclature Saints. Names by which most streets in Spain are known, and names of former prominent conservative political leaders were removed. The new names included Via Russia, Paseo de Lenin, Avenida de la Passionaria, Plaza Rojo, Avenida Tailman, Avenida Libertarian, and other names associated with the revolutionary theme. But they're Republicans. In this atmosphere, it was not surprising that no less than 29 nuns, not only innocent of harming anyone, but virtually incapable of doing so, were killed in Valencia. Valencia. In just five days from November 20 to November 24, priests and religious were still being relentlessly hunted down and killed in Barcelona. On the night of November 24, Jesuit Father Bartolome Arbona, aged 75, who had been bringing the Eucharist to hidden Christians in Barcelona since the outbreak of the war and hearing their confessions, was caught by a militia patrol. The next day, Barcelona militia arrested Father Cirillo Monsenhor, missionary priest of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, who had been in hiding in the house of Antonio Domenech since July, sang Mass daily for small groups of the faithful. He had written to a priest friend. I see that though I am not yet worthy to form part of the religious legion of the martial martyrs, it remains for me now to be in the rear guard. On November 28th, Father Montana was shot at Moncada cemetery. On the next day, Father Urbano joined him in the glory of martyrdom. Just two days later, Archbishop Manuel Iruta of Barcelona, in hiding since the firestorm of July was discovered by militiamen in a house to house search in Barcelona. Barcelona. At first the militia thought he was just another priest. When they asked him if he had said mass while in hiding, he he said he had every day. When they identified him as the Archbishop of Barcelona, they shot him at once after he had told them. I bless all of you who are in my presence. And I also bless the balls that will bring about my death, for they will be the keys that will open the gates of heaven for from me. He was the 11th of 13 bishops martyred in Spain during its civil war. By December there were at least 70,000 at Echietes under arms in support of the nationalists. They had their own units and their own officers, entirely separate from the infrastructure of the nationalist regular army based on the forces brought from Morocco to the beginning of the civil war. But the Carlis fully acknowledged the authority of Franco, his and government. On December 12, Carlist regent Javier declared publicly that the support of his people for the nationalist cause was not contingent upon a restoration of the monarchy in any form and that a strong military government would be needed for years to come. Very smart man. After that, the Carlists hope that their traditionalist movement might offer a solution for the perpetuation of a truly Catholic regime in the Spain. Nevertheless, Franco felt uneasy about the independence of the Carlis. Early in December he was or professed to be deeply angered by the announce by an announcement by Manuel Falconde, the General secretary of the Traditionalist Communion of Spain, that a Carlos military academy would be set up to train new officers to command raquete units providing instruction both in military strategy and tactics and in Carlist religious and political practice principles. Valkande had informed Mola of this plan and had received no objection from him, but in an unaccountable and disastrous oversight had not informed Franco or if of it, nor received his permission. Franco summoned Falconde to his headquarters at Salamanca and informed him that he must go into exile. Such self evident overreaction clearly indicated that Franco had been looking for an excuse to bring the Carlos under title tighter control and knew and resented the fact that Falconde's highest loyalty would never be to him. But it was neither in Franco's interest nor in the interests of nationalist Spain to emphasize that Franco and the Carlos leadership needed each other. Neither could have prevailed in the Crusade without the other. Franco rightly counted on the continuing loyalty of the rank and file of the Decetes to him and to his high command while the struggle was actually going on. But in the long run in Spain, after victory was won, he needed a strong and active Carlist movement led by Falconde, to provide the ideological guidance and continuity to rebuild and maintain a Catholic Spain, which Franco, as a relatively unimaginative general, however successful in the field and personally devout, could never provide. By exiling Falconde, thereby signaling his determination to control and restrict the Carlist, he deprived Spain of a priceless asset. It was the greatest mistake of his life and one of the principal causes for the failure of the Catholic Spain he led to survive his death 39 years later, on December 20, the Carlos National War Hun reluctantly accepted Franco's orders that Falconde must leave the country. The great Carlos leader went to Lisbon and never returned to Spain. Alfonso Carlos's widow, Mary of the Snows, protested in vain from the Vienna on the same day, Franco decreed that all militias, primarily the Rikete and Falange, must be fully integrated into the nationalist army and accept officers from that army, regardless of ideology. Carlos writer Roman Oyarzun even called for a union with the Falange. Fundamentally different though the two groups were, the Carlis being Catholics first and advocating a decentralized government government while the Fus were status, most of whom saw the Church as having little or nothing rightly to say in matters of public policy. Profound as were the long term consequences of the exile of Falconde. In the short run, it made no difference that Aetes went on fighting as well as ever in Andalusia. In Andalusia, led by the famous Redondo Column, commanded by General Luis Redondo Rondo, now known as Tercio of Our lady of Kings, that ichtes defeated the 14th Communist International Brigade first in an encounter near the village of Montoro, and on the day before Christmas, then more decisively in a two day battle at Lepera near Cordoba, on December 28th and 29th. In the battle of Lepera, the English communist poet John Cornford, great grandson of Charles Darwin, was killed in act action at a mass honoring the dead. In this battle, Jesuit Father Copado said, quoting, the day of triumph is near. It pains us to see towns depopulated, houses in ruins, families in agony, from village to village brought low by tyranny and its threats. But it is unquestionable that there is no salvation, no redemption without suffering. Jesus means salvation, joy, bright horizons. Thus you, the army of the Red Berets, may be saviors of spring Spain, achieving with your blood the sublime title that will be the highest undertaking of your life. Spain has come to ruin by turning her back on Jesus Christ. You have come to resurrect the tradition of Spain that the enemies of religion have covered with horrible scars. Give thanks to God for your sufferings, because through them you are working toward the day of triumph when Spain will bless you and kiss you on the forehead with recovered appreciation, restored to herself in new days of health and fame, strolling as queen and lady in the flowering fields of the tradition. In this spirit, the nationalists faced a now inevitable long continuation of the civil war. As the apocal year of 1936 drew to its end, Knowing that he could not now take Madrid by frontal assault, Franco was trying to outflank it. On December 14, General Varela, with 18,000 men, began a new offensive north of the Cav capital city, taking and holding the town of Boadilla del Monte. But the army of the republic, notably its communist components, buoyed by its successful defense of Madrid, move quickly to stop this first flanking thrust. For four days, battle raged near the town of brunette and ended Dec. 19 in a draw. Franco continued probing for weak points, though moving farther away from Madrid in the process. On Christmas Day, war took no holidays. General Varela, the Carlos friend who had relieved Toledo and held tactical command of the attack on Madrid, was wounded and had to give up his field command for several months, though he was to return by the summer of 1937 to lead the nationalist forces in another and greater battle at brunette. On December 15, the Spanish Communist party issued a manifesto which, more informed, emphatic, quoting, which more emphatically than any previous party document, preached the overriding needs of military defense and rejected anything which might prejudice military efficiency or antagonize potential allies in the war against the nationalists. End quote. It called for iron discipline in the army, tight control over the militia and trade unions, and the use of whatever system of land ownership and control would bring about the highest level of agriculture, cultural production. Six days later, the Spanish Republic as it had then existed, received full written approval and a pledge of support from Joseph Stalin himself. In a letter to Prime Minister Largo Caballero on December 25, Stalin said, quoting, we share your faith in the victory of the Spanish people. We consider, and shall always consider it, our duty to come within our possibilities to the aid of the Spanish government, Government which is leading the struggle of all toilers of the whole Spanish democracy against the fascist military clique, the agency of international fascist forces. Our experience, especially that of our civil war, may have a certain importance for Spain if one bears in mind the. The specificity of the conditions of the Spanish revolutionary struggle. That is why we have agreed to put at your disposal a number of military instructions instructors. Their task will be to advise and help in military matters those Spanish military leaders to whom they are assigned. Stalin went on to recommend more agitation among the peasantry, avoiding confiscation of the property of the lower middle class so as not to drive it into the arms of the fascists. Continued cooperation with Azania and his like to avoid creating the appearance of a purely communist repo communist republican republic and respect for property rights of foreigners so as not to encourage them to support the nationalists. He even suggested that it might be well to maintain at least an appearance of parliamentary government in republican Spain. Replying three weeks later, Largo Caballero expressed fawning gratitude for Stalin's help, agreed with him about protecting the property rights of the lower middle class and foreigners, and said his government was trying to help and protect the peasants. Unfortunately, he had to admit certain excesses in the countryside could not be avoided, but we earnestly hope that they will not be repeated. But on one point, he actually dared to express reservations about a suggestion from great Stalin. Whatever may be the future of the parliamentary form, he said, it does not possess among us or even among the republicans, enthusiastic defenders. In other words, Francisco Largo Caballero now intended to be dictator of Spain, a position in which Stalin was to decide before the next year was over, not to maintain him, but of the now unbreakable bond between the Soviet Union and the communist revolution on the one hand, and the Spanish Republic on the other. Stalin's letter left no doubt massacres and martyrdoms continued in republican Spain through different December. On the 6th, in Guadalajara, northeast of Madrid, 277 prisoners were slaughtered, including 32 priests, allegedly in retaliation for a nationalist bombing raid on the town on the 27th. In Santander, in the north, 160 prisoners, including 14 priests, were similarly slain after a nationalist bombing raid. And on December 29, near Santander, Father Miguel de Grajal, a compuche, for instance, who had continued exercising his priesthood under daily threat of death since the outbreak of the civil war, was captured with a companion named Bonifacio by a busload of militiamen taken to kilometer post seven on the highway from Gama to Santonya and shot there. One of the shots passed through his arm before entering his chest, indicating that he had died blessing his killers church. Starting to lose my voice. Sorry, guys. Churches throughout Republican Spain, except in its Basque regions, remain closed. American correspondent Edward Knobloch reported with amazement how there were no masses at Christmas in the entire city of Valencia, where the government of the Republic was now located. Quite the celebration, Mr. Nablus. Luck. On December 11th, Pope Pius XI received the Primate of Spain, Cardinal Goma in Rome with great approval for all that he had done. Cardinal Goma presented the Pope with a lengthy written appeal for his formal recognition of the nationalist government of Spain. Pius XI did not immediately do this. He did not want to take sides so openly as long as there was still substantial number of good practicing Catholics on the republican republican side and they were allowed to worship freely, as was still the case in the Basque provinces. But on December 19, Cardinal Goma returned to Spain with a specific papal appointment as confidential and semi official representative to Franco's nationalist government. Ten days later, Franco, as Generalissimo and head of the Spanish state, signed an agreement with Cardinal Goma pledging full freedom for the Catholic Church and all its activities and close cooperation in Arabic areas where church and state overlapped. He also promised to bring down Spanish laws into conformity with church doctrine. Thus did Franco confirm his commitment to the victory of the Last Crusade and its fruits at the end of the year of death and glory, suffering and martyrdom, Triumph and Tragedy, 1936 in Spain. 1 chapter left, it's called the Roads of Ex Victory. It basically just wraps up the. Wraps up the war 37 to 39. So all right, that's it. Thanks for, thanks for keeping on coming back to this and thanks for the comments. I think a lot of people are, are happy that I read this. I think some people are sad that I read this and I get it, I get it. This is the second time I'm reading though. So there are ads in this. If you'd like to get the episodes early and ad free and support, support the show, go to freemanbeyondthewall.com support five ways you can do that right there on my website, Patreon, Substack, subscribestar and Gumroad. And yeah, that's it. One more chapter and then we're on to new book. I bet you're wondering what it is. Take care. Thank you. Bye. I want to welcome everyone to part 11, the finale of my reading of the Last Crusade by Warren H. Carroll. Thomas and I are still doing our watch and movie movie reviews. We're going to be, we're going to keep doing them. We did the movie resurrection man from 1998 and put that up on Gumroad. That's an amazing, remarkable movie and Thomas provides so much background on the history behind the real people that are depicted in that movie. You can check that [e-mail] movies also my partnership with Antelope Hill put it and Pete Q all lowercase at checkout and get 5% off your order. All right. Basically this book was meant to be the title of it is really the Last Crusade Spain 1936. This is supposed to talk about 1936 because that's when the most horrific targeting happened and it's just the build up to it. So he went and did the whole year and now this is Road to Victory. He does a very short wrap up of 1937 and 1939 and how Franco's forces, the Nationalists, win. So going to finish this up. Let's do it. The inability of the Spanish Nationalist army, even spearheaded by its finest fighting men, to take Madrid in November 1930 was the main cause for the prolongation of the Spanish Civil War. For two and a half more years, both sides remained committed to their cause to the very end. Though many historians argue that Franco could have ended the war a year earlier by promising amnesty to all or most of the leaders and principal supporters of the republic. But he insisted undeviatingly on unconditional surrender. While this is not a truly moral position position, it was taken by the United States in World War II for almost exactly the same reasons that Franco and the Nationalists took it in the Spanish Civil War, the conviction that the crimes of their opponents in the war were so great that no terms of amnesty could be justified. During the winter months of 1937, nationalist offenses in the Arama River Valley and around Guadalajara attempting to outflank Madrid were unsuccessful, as were counter attacks by the Republicans. Republicans. In April, Franco ordered the unification of the very dissimilar Falange and Carlis, brushing aside strong protests by leaders of both groups. In that same month, in a struggle which had remarkable similarities to the siege of the Alcazar of Toledo. On a smaller scale, about 250 civil guards from the Andalusian city of Yne, their families, some Falangas, and about a thousand civilians from Andrew Duhar were holding out at a at a mountaintop shrine of Our lady of La Cabeza. John Daly here. You know what day it is. Neither do I. I live life daily. That's why I only spend on Moto Casino. Moto's got daily free bonuses, daily tournaments, new slots added daily, and the best part, guaranteed daily jackpots. You can't beat that. So today's the day you gripping and spinning with me on Moto America's Social Casino Play for free on Moto Us

[Pete]

Moto Casino to Social Casino prohibited Purchase necessary Visit Moto Us for more details. Download the Moto Casino app. Today must be 21 Moto Casino America Social Casino Tyler Reddick here from 2311 Racing Victory Lane. Yeah, it's even better with Chumba by my side. Race to chumbacasino.com let's Chumba no purchase necessary VTW group Void where Prohibited by law CTNCS 21/plus sponsored by Chumba Casino Bubba Wallace here from 2311 racing on the track. My car's look is everything. But today I'm talking about more than just paint schemes.

[Narrator]

I'm talking about my favorite games at Chumba Casino.

[Pete]

Check out exclusives like Stampede Fury and my own King Croc Fury.

[Narrator]

It's just as wild as my car looked in Texas.

[Pete]

With over 200 games and new ones weekly. Play for free at chumbacasino.com let's Chumb sponsored by Chumba Casino no purchase necessary. VGW Group void where prohibited by law 21 terms and conditions apply.

[Narrator]

The defense was led by Santiago Cortez, a captain in the Civil Guard. His wife and children, like those of Moscardo at Toledo, were under the control of the revolutionaries in Yan. Nationalist planes airdrop supplies into the small areas held by the defenders, attached to attached to turkeys, which acted as living parachutes, descending more vertical vertically than the man made variety by May. For by May 1, 20,000 attackers, outnumbering the garrison 14 to 1, overwhelmed the defenders. The shrine went up in flames. Cortez, true to his valiant namesake, who liberated Mexico from the acolytes of Satan, fought to the end, received a mortal wound and died without revealing where he had buried the image of Our lady of La Cabeza to preserve it from desecration. They apparently it was very important to them to desecrate that it has a lot to do with like democracy and republics. Right on this Mayday tension between the republican government, now increasingly and obviously under communist control, and the anarchists in Barcelona, who were intolerant of any control, reached such a pitch that the usual parade, speeches and other celebrations of the Workers house holiday were banned by the Catalan authorities. Two days later, anarchists at the telephone exchange opened fire on communist forces advancing on the building. Fierce fighting went on for five days. Some 400 were killed and more than a thousand wounded. Let them fight. The communists were eager not only to put the anarchists firmly under their authority, but also to wipe out a rival organization called POUM, headed by Trotsky's former private secretary, Secretary Andre Nin, which had thousands of members in Catalonia. When Largo Caballero balked at liquidating Nin of and the poum, the communists forced his removal as Prime Minister of the Spanish Republic. He was replaced by one one Negrin, an enigmatic figure who, though never a Communist, was invariably willing and eager to do their bidding as finance minister. He was the man who had earlier shipped the entire national gold reserve of Spain to Soviet Russia without hesitation or protest, to pay for Russian arms. Manuel Lasagna, still titular President of the Spanish Republic, who was supposed to select or at least approve prime ministers, could only wring his hands in despair as quoting his journal, he watched, quote, revolutionary hysteria passing from words to deeds in order to murder, enslaved steel, ineptitude of the rulers, immorality, cowardice, calumnies, shooting by one trade unionists of another, presumption by foreigners, insolence of separatists, disloyalty, pretense, empty talk by those who had failed, exploitation of the war to make money, negative approach to those desiring to organize an army, paralysis of the war operations. End quote. One hardly needs cite nationalist descriptions of the conditions of Republican Spain and in view of these devastating comments, by its own president, who as Prime Minister of the Popular Front government, bore much of the responsibility for the disintegration of order which made the war inevitable. On June 1, General Mola died in a plane crash near Burgos. He was the only remaining rival to Franco among the army officers, though his failure to make any strong protest against Franco's designation as Generalissimo and head of State in The conferences of September 1930, 36 make it most unlikely that he would have tried to supplant him later. He had become a great friend and advocate of the Carlists, whom he had so intransigently rebuffed in the critical negotiations with Val Kande just before the rising, as a result of witnessing their splendid courage and faith in the armies under his command, now in the process of being neutralized as a political force by Franco, they could very likely have benefited from Mola's continued presence among the the leaders of nationalist Spain. I mean, why would you do that? Well, because look at what's happening on the left. You have the anarchists and you have the communists, and they're killing each other. And you need. You need unity. You need unity. Despite Franco's mishandling of the lyrically Catholic Carlos during the first half of 1937, he manifested his own Catholic command commitment Repeatedly on the personal level, he attended daily mass and often a daily rosary. As head of state, he guaranteed. I want to check something here about the daily rosary, they said. The attempt of Franco's latest biographer, Paul Preston, to impugn the sincerity of his Catholic convictions and practice at this point in his life is, like much in his vehemently hostile thousand page biography, contemptible. So apparently, Somebody writing in 1993, Paul Preston seeks to call into question Franco's faith. As head of state. He guaranteed the full freedom of the Church in nationalist Spain, including the freedom of former primate Cardinal Segura when he returned to criticize the Falange for its fascist characteristics and prescribe daily prayer. Daily prayer in the schools to which crucifixes were returned. In the words of Hugh Thomas, the Catholic Church permeated every aspect of Spanish nationalist culture. On July 1, all but two of the Spanish bishops, the Archbishop of Tarragona in exile in Switzerland and the Bishop of Vittoria, who had been with the Republican Basques, signed a letter to all the rest of the world's bishops upholding the justice of the nationalist rising in civil war to prevent the the destruction of the Catholic faith in Spain. And on August 28, Pope Pius XI formally recognized the nationalist government and sent an apostolic delegate to Burgos. By then the nationalists had taken the last republican Basque province, Vizcaya, with comparatively little resistance, so that no active Catholic population remained with the republic. During the summer of 1937, another and more costly prolonged battle was was fought in the searing plains around Madrid near the town of Brunei. When it was over, there were no significant changes in the original battle lines, but the republicans had lost more men than the nationalists. Trying to draw nationalist pressure away from the two remaining separated areas in north Spain still holding out for the Republic, the region around Castilian port of Santander and the Asturias. An army commanded almost entirely by communists taking orders from Russian general general and a Russian air force general attack Nationalist post in Aragon at Kodo 300 Carlos held out for days without air cover against 7 to 1 odds. When at last they were overwhelmed, the temporary victors found written on the wall a sentiment echoing the original Crusades when you kill a Red, you will have a year less in Purgatory. The town of Belsheet B was defended with equal tenacity. And after taking it, taking it, the communist offensive in Aragon ground to a halt in September 1937. Meanwhile, undistracted by the fighting in Aragon, the nationalists had pressed on to take centander where the where the pro Republican historian Thomas admits that the majority favored them. On August 28, the years the year's nationalist victories were crowned by securing the whole province of Asturias in October, including the ruins of the Simancas barracks at the Asturian port of Gihon. A few days later, Prime Minister Negren officially moved the seat of government of the Republic from Valencia to Barcelona, apparently in order to assert his personal authority more directly over the fractious Catalans and avoid any repetition of the war in the streets with the anarchists. In May, Catalonia, the most economically developed region of Spain, had suffered, not surprisingly, a drastic drop in production of all kinds from the moment the anarchists and communists had taken it over in July. And it was not improving, but continuing to drop. Such was the naivete of Negrin had he had been a professor of physiology, physiology before the war, an incessant drumbeat of socialist and communist propaganda both within and outside Spain, that few in the Republic could really believe the truth, since proven again and again all over the world, that socialism, to say nothing of anarchism, simply does not work economically, no matter how much you try and marry them. Negan probably thought that his presence might help in boosting production. Also, Barcelona was a much larger city than Valencia and closer to France, France from which Negrin still hoped to get help in addition to the aid he was receiving from the Soviet Union. Nevertheless, it is surprising that more consideration was not given to a return to Madrid, which had, after all, been the capital of Spain for centuries, where the Republic had won its most remarkable military victory, which would have to be their base if they were ever to win the war in which in fact, they held to the end. End of it. Whatever its motives, Negrin's move to Barcelona was a huge mistake. Many Catalans, who passionately desired self government, little though they seemed to be able to practice, to govern themselves, resented the presence of the national government in their own capital and became increasingly apathetic in their own almost universal support of the revolutionary war. At the end of December 1937, the Republicans attacked a a national assailant. The easternmost territory they held in Spain, the bleak province of Teruel, which regularly records the coldest winter temperatures in the country. Teruel was chosen as an objective partly because of its threatening position, but more because its isolation and the harshness of its climate made the attack unexpected. Only about 2,000 nationalist troops, aided by an approximately equal number of militia, garrison, garrison. The ancient walls, provincial capital of gray weathered stone, as communist Enrique lister led his 11th division to attack it through thickly falling snow. Franco ordered the garrison commander, Colonel Ray d' Harcourt d' Harcourt, to hold on to the last and sent a large force under Generals Varela and Aranda, the hero of Oviedo, to relieve them. Just as they were approaching the beleaguered town, the temperature fell to 18 degrees below 00. Most of the nationalist engines froze and the entire countryside was buried under four feet of snow. Water ran out. The garrison melted snow to drink. On January 8, 1938, Colonel Darkourt finally surrendered. When his decimated soldiers could no longer fight under these arctic conditions, Bishop Anselmo Polanco of Teruel was also taken prisoner at point. This time, Lister's men put the Colonel and the bishop into close confinement, where they were held until the fall of Barcelona to the Nationalists the next year. Then they were both killed before they could be rescued, riddled by machine gun bullets, after which their bodies were doused with gasoline and set on fire. Bishop Polanco of Tyrol was the last of the 13 Spanish bishops to die at the hands of the enemies of Christ during the Spanish Civil War, a final sign and proof of the implacable hatred of the Catholic Church by the revolutionaries in that war. When the weather around Tyrol finally Cleared in late January 1938, the Nationalist forces were able to go over to the offensive. The communist international brigades were brought up, but many of their most committed fighters had become casualties and increasingly more of the gaps in their ranks were filled by Spaniards. Consequently, the brigades fought less effectively than in the past and were driven by and back and outmaneuvered by Varela and aranda's nationalists. On February 7, the nationalists won a battle north of Tyrol by a tremendous cavalry charge, the last significant military action in the history of warfare in the west to be decided by men on horseback. General Yagwe and his Moroccans had now come up and a three day struggle. From February 17 to 20. The Communists were driven out of to rule. And a great victory won over by won over the Republicans army. Lister and El Campesino, the famous gigantic communist peasant warrior, each accused the other of abandoning him. And El Campesino also made the same accusation against Russian General Grigorovich. Revolutionary solidarity was fading fast, even among the Communists. Vigorously following up their advantage, the nationalist armies pressed on from Tyrol toward the Mediterranean, only about 75 miles away. They reached it on Good Friday, April 15, cutting the Republic in two. The morale of the international brigades broke. A significant number of their surviving men were shot by their own fanatical officers in desperate and futile attempts to keep them fighting. They never were again a significant factor in the war. By November, all survivors of the Communist foreign volunteers had left Spain. Nevertheless, the Communist commanders in Spain were still determined to fight on, and the Soviet Union was still providing them means to do so, including much improved fighter aircraft. On July 25, 1938, they launched a last offensive along the Ebro River, 70 miles northwest of its mouth at the Mediterranean, hoping to outflank and outmaneuver the Nationalists on the coast and restore communications with the remaining Republican areas in the south, around Valencia and Madrid. In this offensive, every corps and divisional commander and all but two brigade command commanders were Communists. Lister led the initial attack, advancing 25 miles in the first day. But the Nationalist commander in that sector was the redoubtable Yagwe, and By October, by August 1, he had halted the Communists at a hill fronting the town of Gundessa. The Nationalists brought up a large quantity of artillery which hammered away at the enemy day after day during the fierce heat of August. By the 14th Yahoo. Broadway began making periodic counter attacks, and on September 3rd, he pressed forward with two corps and regained almost all the territory that had been lost. After a steady buildup, the Nationalists were able to launch a full scale offensive of their own on October 30, and by November 16 had secured a decisive victory in what was to prove the last major field action of the war. When on December 23, 300,000 nationalist troops troops moved north from the Ebro into Catalonia, there was hardly any resistance. Just over a month later, on January 25, 1939, Barcelona was taken almost bloodlessly. An enormous Exodus followed, nearly 400,000 people flooding across the border into France. Many had good reason to fear Franco's justice, in view of the enormous number of savage crimes committed, particularly in Catalonia in the first year of World the war. Though many other innocents, those atrocities undoubtedly fled along with the criminals because they had been terrified by the propaganda of the revolutionaries. At least a quarter of the refugees quietly returned to Spain before the year was over. The leaders of the Republican government all departed, though Negrin and a few others returned to Valencia in a forlorn and foredoomed effort to carry on the war in the southeastern provinces still held by the Republic. At long last, Azania submitted his resignation as president. Nearly everyone in Spain and out concluded that the fall of Barcelona effectively doomed the Republic. Virtually all the senior officers in Madrid quickly came to that conclusion. When Negrin still stubbornly refused to listen to them. Colonel Segismund Mundo Casado assembled a group of officers in Madrid who proclaimed themselves a National Defense Council Council. No longer accepting Negrin's authority, General Miyaja supported Casado and Negren had to flee to America, to Africa. Excuse me. Negren had to flee to Africa. Communist troops in Madrid then rose against Casado, led by Colonel Luis Barcelo, who had commanded the revolutionary militia against the Alcazar of Toledo. In July 1936, Barcelo shot three of Casado's staff officers, but a few days later was captured and shot. Shot himself. So, in a last hail of fratricidal bullets, the revolution in Spain came to a bloody finish. Madrid surrendered to Franco and Nationalist troops occupied the city on March 28, 1939. Three days later, all remaining cities in the Republican zone had also surrendered and Franco announced the end of the war. The victors in the Last Crusade celebrated with a glorious parade in Madrid in which thousands of Carlos veterans with their red berets rays received the most tumultuous applause. On May 20, 1939, Franco attended a Te Deum service in the Church of Santa Barbara in Madrid, offering this prayer. Lord, benevolently accept the effort of this people which was always thine, which with me and in thy name has vanquished with heroism the enemy of truth in this century. Then he laid his sword before the high altar with the solemn promise to God and man never to draw it again, save in defense of his country against invasion. He kept his promise all through the 36 years of life and governance that remained in him. Ever since that day, Spain has known peace and the full freedom of her people to practice their Catholic faith. Franco's description of the enemy which the Last Crusade had vanquished was extraordinarily profound, especially for a man who had never been nor considered himself to be an intellectual and is scorned and hated by most intellectuals to this day. The revolutionaries and their necessary philosophical allies, the relativists, are indeed and have always been the enemies of truth in the 20th century. All their pretensions, their ambition, their methods and goals rest upon and derive from the denial of objective truth and objective moral, moral law. Nowhere in all their shattering history has that been so clearly demonstrated as by the horrors of the religious persecution in Spain which made the Spanish Civil War a crusade. The total number of Catholic priests and religious martyred in the territory of the Republic during the Spanish Civil War was 6,832, most of whom were killed without even the simulacrum of condemnation by revolutionary tribunals. Criminals. The total included 4,184 diocesan clergy, 2,365 male regular clergy and religious 283 nuns, the greatest clerical bloodletting in the entire history of the Christian Church, exceeding by a substantial margin the clerical victims of the French Revolution and of the Communist revolution in Russia. This amounted to 12% of the total number of clergy and religious institutions Spain and about a quarter of those caught in the Republican zone, which at the beginning of the war was comprised only only half the country, almost half the country. In the Diocese of Barbastro, 85% of the priests, 123 of 140 were killed in Madrid, 30% 334 in Valencia, 27% 327 and in Barcelona, 22%. 279. Most of these killings occurred during the first six months of the war. War the period chronicled in this book. Of the total of 976 priests and religious killed throughout the war in the Diocese of Barcelona, all but 59 were killed in 1936. Quoting in addition to these deaths, an incalculable number of laypersons were killed because of their religious associations, either as well known churchgoers, members of fraternal and charitable religious organizations, or as the fathers, mothers, brothers, sisters and friends of clerics. Some were killed because they professed their faith by wearing some outward symbol of belief, perhaps a religious medal or scapular. Some were killed for acts of charity, for granting refuge to clerics attempting to escape the fury. In their joint letter to the whole world in 1937, the Spanish bishops estimated that 20,000 churches and chapels, out of the total of 42,000 in Spain, had been destroyed. In Barcelona, more than 800 churches and chapels were totally destroyed destroyed. Only 10 in the entire archdiocese emerged from the Holocaust unharmed. In Madrid, the overwhelming majority of churches were also damaged or destroyed. In Valencia, 800 churches were destroyed and more than 1500 damaged. In Oviedo, the corresponding figures were 357 and 287. In the diocese of Ciudad Real and Segorbe, every church, without exception, was destroyed or damaged, and almost all of the Diocese of Cartagena, Hena, Cuenca, Garona, Santander and Toledo. These appalling facts and statistics, not now questioned by any serious historian of the Spanish Civil War, are the enduring and irrefutable proof that the Spanish crusade of 1936 was justified and that the dominant elements in the Spanish Republic were as profound, thoroughgoing and vicious enemies of the Christian faith has ever met anywhere in all its history. HISTORY it remains to discuss the issue of deaths for which Franco and his government were responsible. In Considering this vexed question, it is first necessary to set aside all deaths which were directly or indirectly the results of war, whose justification, or lack of it, comes under the heading of whether this was a just war and not of Franco's personal policy. It is also necessary, in fairness, to set aside those accusations which were ordered by others other others without Franco's knowledge or consent, especially in the first two months after the Rising, before Franco was named generalissimo and head of state. During the war, Franco repeatedly pledged to bring to justice all persons whom he could find, whom there was good reason to believe guilty of committing, aiding, or abetting the criminal horrors of 1936. He never granted amnesty to such people and continued relentlessly to pursue them until 1959. Whatever one may conclude about the wisdom or desirability of such a pursuit, it is not necessarily contrary to the Christian teaching of forgiveness. Forgiveness is a personal response to the soul of an offender. Justice is a state responsibility to find, convict and punish the guilty. The decision on which persons to prosecute and what penalty to exact if they are found guilty is a decision of public policy. The conviction, and especially the execution of the innocent, or the designation of innocent and justified behavior as criminal, is always wrong. Procedures to determine guilt or innocence may be faulty, and errors may be made in carrying those procedures out. But only the condemnation of a person wholly without regard to his actual guilt or innocence is inherently wrong. An immense number of the most terrible crimes imaginable, acts which would have been crimes in any ordinary organized society or any culture which history has ever known, had been committed in the Spanish Republic during the Civil War, mostly in the last six months of 1936. Not only were those who had actually committed these crimes guilty of them, but also all who had accessories before, all who wore accessories before or after the fact, those who had called for and facilitated the commission of these crimes and aided the criminals knowingly what they had done, were doing or planned to do. Those who had aided them because of fear could present that as an extenuating circumstance when their punishment was being deliberated. But motives do not affect the objective fact of responsibility for crime. Nor was there any moral imperative to end the pursuit of these criminals at any particular point in time. No country has a statute of limitations on murder. In recent years, we have seen striking demonstration of this often overlooked or ignored truth in the prosecution of Nazi war criminals. Nearly every Western country has concluded that those actively involved in carrying out the horrendous crimes of the Nazis, particularly their attempted extermination of all Jews, even the ones in the United States deserve neither amnesty nor an end to pursuit. Nazi war criminals are still being arrested, tried and imprisoned 50 years after the commission of their crimes. Even when aged and now obviously harmless, justice is held to demand it. Justice, justice does demand it. But if justice demands his lifelong pursuit trial, and even as for Adolf Eichmann execution of Aussie war criminals, then it makes the same demand for Spanish criminals who attempted to exterminate the priests and religious of Spain, and many other Catholics as well, whom no sane man could have believed guilty of any crime, any more than the Jewish children who died in the Nazi death camps. Franco was not utterly merciless. He commuted many death sentences to periods of imprisonment of varying length. It can be reasonably argued that he should have commuted more of them and ended the process of search, investigation and trial sooner, except for a few of the best known and worst offenders. But no moral law required him to do so, for justice is the supreme duty of the state. This is the context in which we should view the total numbers of executions and murders by the two sides in the Spanish Civil War, which have been assembled with as much accuracy as we have ever like are ever likely to get in the magisterial study of Ramon Salas Lazaraba published in 1977. In the Republic from 1936 to 1939 the total was 72,344. And Nationalist Spain from 1936 to 1950 it was 57,662. Of the Nationalist total, 16,763 were executions during the first two years after the war, with 5,878 more during the next ten years. One of these were done in a country. All of these were done in a country at peace under judicial process. Many, perhaps a majority of the executions and homicides during the war were without a genuine trial. That there were at least 22,641 Spaniards who deserved the worst judicial penalty for the crimes of 1936 and the Republicans zone can hardly be denied by any fair any honest and fair commentator. Many would now declare that their penalty should not have been death. But every Western nation in that period used the death penalty with some frequency. It is important to note that in France immediately after World War II, over 10,000 people were executed for treason collaboration with the German occupation forces during the war. Even in notoriously liberal Norway, a considerable number number were tried and some, including Vidgun Quisling, executed for treason committed during the German occupation of their country. Though trials during the war in Nationalist Spain were on many occasions conducted without due Respect for the rights of the accused. This was not the case after the war. Certainly there were some miscarriages of justice, but there was guilt. But there. But there was guilt to be found and justice to be done. And Franco was pledged to bring these criminals to just justice as much as any Nazi hunter today has pledged to bring the butchers and torturers of Hitler's concentration camps of justice. It ill behooves those who have never seen, seen nor really tried to imagine the kind of horrors that were routine in Auschwitz and Dachau and Treblinka. All in the west. Put them in the east from 1942 to 1945, or in Barcelona, Madrid, Barbastro and Toledo in 1936 to call for, for them to be left unpunished. He's a boomer. A convincing case against Franco's executions requires not simply their total numbers, but proof of widespread deliberate violations of justice. Convicting the innocent or defining innocent behavior as criminal for which he was personally responsible. There is no such proof. But ultimately the Last Crusade was far greater than its leader. Franco, like all the other crusaders, was borne by its tide. A militant minority of the people of Spain have committed themselves to destroy its age old Catholic faith, indeed every foundation stone upon which their state and society was built in total revolution. Though clever and deceitful propaganda, the Spanish revolutionaries had gained the support of most of the Western world. The Spaniards who in July 1936 took their stand against the forward marching revolution had all the objects against them. They could expect help. They could expect help only from two men, Hitler and Mussolini, who were potentially as great a threat as the Spanish and Soviet revolutionaries against a hostile or heedless world, against the course of history, against all the furies loosed by the apostates of the 20th century, they raised up the cross of Christ and proclaimed their crusade and won it. For those who wait upon the Lord, renew their strength and rise up on wings as. And rise up as on wings of eagles. I'll scroll through the bibliography here so people who are watching it can see it go index, yada yada. Probably the bibliography is what people, most people would want to see. So there you go. All right. I hope people understand why I read that. I was talking to Daryl Cooper today and he said that he had read it, but he, he had read it in the past and it was a really hard read. But he was listening to me do it again and he was listening to me read it and he, it always, it always hits him like in 10 parts. He says there's like 10 parts in the book where you just get to the point where you're like, I have to put this down. That's our enemy. They exist today. Don't let anyone fool you into thinking they don't. They may not be executing priests in the street, but they want to. There were ads during this. If you want to support the show and get the episodes early and add free free freemanbeyondthewall.com support, you can do it through the website there, Patreon, Subscribestar, gumroad and substack and I'll be back. I already recorded two episodes of the new book, so I guess you'll find out in a few days. Take care everybody. Thank you for taking this journey with me. I appreciate it. Take care.

[Pete]

Moto Casino America's Social Casino welcome to Moto Casino where the excitement never ends. With thousands of the hottest free to play social casino games. Fastest payouts and the best promotions in the industry. No tricks or gimmicks. Owned and operated in the USA, MotoCasino is a free to play social casino. No purchase necessary. 21 plus to play. Void we're prohibited. Sign up today for a generous welcome bonus. Moto Casino America Social Casino Download the Motocasino app today.