This study will focus on British popular and political attitudes towards some of the key movements in Europe that led to the Second World War, as reflected in such contemporary sources as journalism (from a range of political standpoints), diplomatic correspondence, political documents, public opinion and personal accounts. In particular, it will examine the part played by the Spanish Civil War in shifting or confirming British opinion towards political extremism and towards the fear that political conflict would degenerate into a renewed violent confrontation between national armed forces. It will attempt to assess how public opinion towards these somewhat alien forces influenced the state of Britain in the late 1930s.
The context for these events is seen as the political instability of the post-WWI years, leading to the rise of Fascism, the growing external influence of Communism and the eventual eruption of total war across the continent. With the benefit of hindsight and knowing the catastrophic consequences by 1939, the attempts at defending democracy in many parts of the region might seem to have been doomed to failure in the face of these overwhelming and competing anti-democratic forces. Additionally, the Catholic Church played an influential, though ambiguous, role as a third force in some parts of the continent. The study will examine how events in the rest of Europe were seen from the British perspective and how they affected the policies of political parties of the left and right, official inter-government relations (for example, through the League of Nations) and popular attitudes. Domestically, there is a further trinity of shifting forces: Fascist alignment with Nazism, pacifist appeasement and calls for re-armament. The way in which these movements competed for political and popular influence could be seen as determining how Britain stood in 1939. In Europe the most dramatic and alarming indication of the failure of peace efforts was the Spanish Civil War, where the forces of Communism (and other leftist groupings such as anarchists) confronted Fascism and the Catholic Church. This conflict will be used as a focus for illuminating British attitudes and policies. …
Britain in the 1930s 