Chapter CXXVIII: In the Name of the King.
The restoration of the Spanish monarchy and the elevation of the just and rightful Carlist claimant to the throne was not a cause to rally the youth of Europe, in truth it didn't even motivate all of the Spaniards who fought under the Monarchist banner. The far right also lacked a trans-national organisation comparable to the Comintern, the Montreux Fascist International conferences had conclusively proved that fascism was not amenable to international co-operation or even a common definitions of what Fascism was. Given this unpromising background the Monarchists should have struggled to attract international volunteers, certainly that was the expectation of many observers at the start of the war. In many respects this came to pass and most nations supplied barely a handful of volunteers at best, but there were exceptions, some countries who citizens did volunteer in significant numbers. Those exceptions meant that the Monarchists would end up attracting a little under twice as many foreign volunteers as the Republicans, unfortunately for them these large numbers were accompanied by equally large problems.
The single largest group were the Moroccans who served in the Regulares (the Fuerzas Regulares Indígenas, the Indigenous Regular Forces), the elite shock troops of the Army of Africa. Almost 80,000 'indigenous' troops would serve in the Regulares during the war, almost all of them recruited from somewhere in or around Morocco, the vagueness was important as the situation in Morocco was complicated. Technically and legally Morocco was an independent sovereign nation under Sultan Mohammed V, in reality it was a French protectorate from which small strips at the north and south had delegated to a Spanish sub-protectorate, along with the ongoing anomaly that was the International Tangiers Zone. While the full intricacies of Moroccan complicated governance need not detain us, they very much occupied the thoughts of those involved. More precisely they occupied the attentions of the Republicans and their backers, the Monarchists were somewhat less concerned; having established that trying to introduce conscription would be more trouble than it was worth they merely sent out the recruiting parties and kept up the pretence that all the volunteers came from Spanish Morocco. In stark contrast the Republicans found the entire issue to be just another source of division, as an example a plan for the Cortes to grant Morocco autonomy, or even full independence, to woo Moroccan Nationalists onto the Republics side was shot down by the French, who used their dominance of the Republics supplies to veto any plan that would weaken their hold over French Morocco. These divisions extended even to propaganda, the Republican's seemingly unable to decide if the Moroccans were mercenary animals to be demonised or an oppressed people, forced to savagery by evil masters, who should be pitied and converted to the Republican cause. The main effect of this mixed messaging was to make sure that everybody in Spain knew all about the fearsome Moroccans, further enhancing their reputation as shock troops.
Mohammed V, Sultan of Morocco and something of an enigma. He was the pious, polygamous traditional Sultan who also drove cars (and occasionally tractors), gave all of his children a modern education and allowed his daughters not to wear the veil. Despite being the third son of the previous ruler he had been chosen as Sultan by the French, under the cover of a 'selection' by the Ulemas (the college of senior imams and religious scholars), as he was thought to be the most compliant and least likely to object to ongoing French influence. The Spanish Civil War would be the first warning to the French that he did not intend to follow that path, instead he asserted Morocco's notional independence by allowing the Spanish to continue to recruit and dared the French to contradict him. While the initial crisis passed, or more precisely failed to even become a crisis, after the French Resident refused to rise to the bait and just casually dismissed it as an internal matter, Paris would be forced to pay more attention to Moroccan affairs for the rest of the Sultan's reign.
The position of the next largest contingent was simpler but perhaps even more controversial, certainly for their mother country. When the civil war broke out the Portuguese general staff began to organise for a formal intervention on the Monarchist side, unfortunately for the nation's stability large elements of the Portuguese navy began planning on how they would best work with the Republican fleet. These divisions were repeated across the country as, not for the first time, Spain's problems spilled over the border into Portuguese society. While the Republicans had little hope of Portugal intervening on their side, relations between the Spanish Second Republic and Portugal had been cool at best, they hoped that Prime Minister Salazar would should his usual preferences and opt for neutrality and 'stability' over any excess of ideology. Much to their surprise Salazar ignored the navy, the domestic opposition and the abortive Monarcho-Syndicalist coup of the previous year, and allowed the formation of the "Viriatos Legion" of volunteers to support the Monarchists. In the end just under 10,000 Portuguese would volunteer for service in the Monarchist cause, as Slazar's fear of communism and the re-assuring presence of the British convinced him to come off the fence. While the volunteers, who included a surprisingly large number of veterans and regulars on 'sabbatical' from the army, were warmly welcomed and wo, it was Salazar's decision to allow the Nationalists unrestricted usage of the port of Lisbon and the road and rail links to the border that was most appreciated. The volunteers woud trade off this logistical trump card, and regular reminders of the Portuguese-British Alliance, to help keep themselves higher up the supply priority list than they perhaps deserved. This generous supply, and the high proportion of regulars and veterans in their ranks, would help the Viriatos Legion establish itself as one of the premier Monarchist divisions, out performing most of the pre-war regular army Spanish divisions.
The NRP Dão, fifth ship in the Douro-class of destroyers and named after the river Dão that ran through Prime Minister Salazar's home town. Heavily based on the Royal Navy's Ambuscade destroyer, she had been built in the Lisbon Arsenal Shipyard and only commissioned into the fleet at the start of 1935. In the autumn of 1936 the crew of the Dão and the aviso (sloop) Afonso de Albuquerque mutinied and, depending on who you asked, either tried to start a coup or attempted to defect and join the Spanish Republican fleet in Bilbao. Whatever their intent, a loyal radio operator warned the rest of the fleet and the Lisbon harbour fortresses opened fire to prevent the rebels escaping. The mutiny provoked a round of 'loyalty oaths' and, when it emerged the leading mutineers were leading lights of the Portuguese Communist Party, a further strengthening of Salazar's resolve to support the Spanish Monarchists as they battled the "Communist Menace" in Spain.
We must now briefly consider one of the Monarchist's most unusual supporters, a nation which, while not contributing troops, arms or practical support of any kind, still formed a vital part of the informal international coalition. We are, of course, talking about the Vatican and in particular the then Pope, Pius XI. That the Republicans had managed to rouse Pius XI into taking any real position on the subject was in itself impressive, the church in Spain was not Roman Catholicism at it's finest and Pius XI was, in his early years at least, a great believer in diplomacy and agreement. In comparison to the compromises made in the Lateran Treaty that finally settled "The Roman Question" (the exact status of the Vatican City with respect to Rome and the Italian State) and the morally questionable Reichskonkordat signed with Germany, a Spanish concordat treaty would have been uncontroversial. An agreement to limit the temporal power of the church and reform it's role in education, while protecting it from the extremes excoriation and expulsion could have been negotiated. While such a deal would have frustrated the secularist wing of the Republicans, it would also have calmed the opposition and undermined the coalition the monarchists were able to assemble; a Republic that could call on the Catholic militias instead of having to fight against them could have ended the coup before it became a war. Instead the Spanish left stuck to it's ideological guns and made enemies with aplomb and a careless disregard for consequences, pushing on with an uncompromisingly anti-clerical programme. This prompted Pius XI to write a papal Encyclical on the subject, Dilectissima Nobis "On Oppression of the Church of Spain", castigating the Spanish government and urging Catholics to defend themselves against persecution. This Encyclical, along with the notable failure of the Pope to silence or contradict the Spanish bishops who declared the Civil War to be a holy war against godless communists, would prove to be a powerful motivator for many of the more religious monarchist volunteers.
White Russian volunteers attending Orthodox Mass in the foothills of the Cantabrian mountains in Northern Spain. While less than five hundred White Russians would serve with the Monarchists over the course of the war they would be significantly over-represented in the senior ranks, a representation of the émigré community which was itself very 'top heavy'. For the White Russians a chance to fight against the godless Communists while building a cadre of experienced fighters and, hopefully, earning some favours from the new government was motivation enough. As with most of the foreign volunteers they were spurned by the ex-Spanish army divisions and the Falangist militias, instead finding their home in the Foreign Legion and the Monarchists militias. The deeply religious Carlist militias in particular were the natural home of men who wished to fight communists in the name of "God and Czar" and so would attract the bulk of the White Russian volunteers.
The last major group of volunteers were by far the most divisive, causing diplomatic and political problems far in excess of their military contribution. The (mostly) Irish Brigade, inevitably known as the Wild Geese, were probably the nearest the Monarchists had to the Republican International Brigades: genuinely enthusiastic volunteers being cynical manipulated by opportunistic leaders. The Carlist leadership was keen to emphasise the religion vs communism aspect of the war, in this they were enthusiastically supported by the Catholic Church hierarchy and it was through these church links, specifically the Primate of All Ireland Cardinal MacRory, that contact was made between the Carlists and General Eoin O'Duffy. General O'Duffy was one of the worst fascist leaders in Europe, not in terms of his views or morality but in terms of not being very good at it; he had lost the leadership of one party (Fine Gael), seen his Blueshirt movement declared illegal and dissolved and embarrassed himself by declaring support for Mussolini in the Abyssinian War. He was, in short, desperate for a propaganda coup to re-launch his career and his latest political vehicle; the National Corporate Party, or Greenshirts. The Spanish Civil War was the ideal cause, the Irish government may have declared a strict neutrality but the majority of the populace were in favour of the 'Catholic' Monarchists against the anti-clerical and godless Republic. In this atmosphere O'Duffy had little problem rallying thousands of volunteers, his problem was how to equip them and get them to Spain. The Monarchist cause lacked weapons not men, shipping over some more untrained, inexperienced volunteers was not a priority for the Spanish fleet, while the British declined to get involved as they had no desire to further aggravate Dublin for no military benefit, particularly with the Anglo-Irish trade war was still raging. The Irish Brigade would have to make their own way to Spain and their efforts to do so would add the final twist to the Brigade's story.
While O'Duffy's search for funds was primarily domestic, tapping up the newly founded Irish Christian Front for funding and the usual anti-communist, pro-catholic donors, it also looked internationally, once again through the good offices of the Church. The American Catholic community was just as outraged by the Red Terror sweeping Spain (and just as skilled at ignoring the White Terror), however unlike in Ireland they were very much in the minority, the rest of the American population tended to sympathise with the Republican cause and 'defending democracy'. US Catholics were still reeling from the events of recent years, the election of Alfred Smith had finally seen a Catholic make it to the highest office in the land, for many a symbol that they had finally been accepted. His subsequent assassination had shattered that belief and left the community in shock, in that vulnerable state they needed little encouragement to feel that their faith was under attack and needed defending. The conduit between the American Catholics and the Irish Brigade would be former US Secretary of the Treasury Joseph P Kennedy Sr. An Irish-American Catholic he had made a fortune on Wall Street through ethically questionable but legal (at the time) means and used these funds to help bankroll Al Smith's election campaign, for these efforts he had been rewarded with the plum role as Secretary of the Treasury in Smith's cabinet. While Smith had carried the majority of the blame for the US' terrible economic performance, Kennedy's reputation had also suffered from his time at the Treasury and when Garner took office Kennedy was one of the first to be sacked in the reshuffle. Much like O'Duffy Kennedy was religious, ambitious and desperate, easily convinced to take a leading role in the new, high profile, Catholic Aid Committee, funds from which would pay to ship the Irish Brigade to Spain and equip it when it arrived. While Kennedy and the CAC were careful to toe the US government line about no volunteers, that did not stop some in the Irish-American community hearing the call. While the Irish-American "Meagher Battalion" (named after a famous Irish born US Civil War general) would never number more than a few hundred it would proudly serve as part of the Irish Brigade and, like it's parent unit, cause all involved no end of diplomatic and political problems.
With a better understanding of the forces on both sides we must now turn our attention to the war itself. Despite the lessons from earlier in the war both sides would struggle to co-ordinate their forces and would pay a heavy price for the lack of co-operation.
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Not the top of the page, I hope
@Hightemplar is happy with himself.
3,000 words, sorry about the length but this one sort of got away from me towards the end. That said the idea of the Kennedy funded Irish-American Battalion fighting on the Monarchist side was just irresistible to me so I had to include it, even if it took a bit of research.
Notes:
Starting at the top I had to get in the Portuguese monarcho-syndicalist coup of 1935, just because I find monarcho-syndicalism a genuinely fascinating ideology. Not a good ideology or one I would ever want to live under, but fascinating none the less.
The Viriatos Legion/Division and the Portuguese naval coup are OTL, Portuguese society was fairly divided but Salazar decided the Nationalists were the 'stable' horse to back compared to the Soviet backed republic so backed them. TTL with the British backing the Monarchists and the Republic's divisions even more obvious it's an even easier choice for him.
Morocco was an independent (ish) country and Mohammed V was very good at playing everyone off everyone else. With the French more involved in the Spanish Civil War it's got a bit more tense, but it's only a few years after the Rif War and Paris isn't going to start a crisis in North Africa when they are on fairly shaky ground. The differences in the French approach to Algeria, Tunisia and Morocco are both interesting and (probably) irrelevant to this AAR, though I must also note that the International Free City of Tangiers sounds barking mad and probably one of the most fun places to spend the 1920s/30s.
The Catholic Church, as you would expect, has come down massively in favour of the Monarchists, as they aren't the ones setting fire to nuns. Pius XI did like a good Concordat and was open to massive compromises to 'protect the church' diplomatically, Spain spurned that and prompted him to write the Encyclical which is OTL. While Pius XI never spoke out about Spain publicly, he also never reprimanded all those in the hierarchy who did say it was a holy war/crusade/whatever, so he probably at least leaned that way. I get the impression that he didn't much fancy either faction, but though the Nationalists were least bad for the church.
There were White Russians in OTL, but only a few dozen as Franco tried to stop every foreign volunteer bar the Germans, Italians, Moroccan and Portugese. With him dead and the Carlists in a stronger position, they are more welcome. The White Russian leadership did believe that the road to Moscow led through Spain, plus they wanted the chance to kill Soviet communists, here they get a chance to do so.
The Irish Brigade was also OTL but smaller as General O'Duffy was, as I hinted, really not very good at this sort of thing. The initial contact was as described, the Carlists wanted fellow Catholics to fight and Ireland really as pro-Nationalist OTL, however by the time they got organised Franco was secure and could stop indulging the Carlists, so the brigade turned up under-manned, un-supported and un-trained. It's main OTL contribution was being shot at in a friendly fire incident, refusing to attack a heavily defended position, being sent home in shame and killing off O'Duffy's political hopes. This will not happen here. US Catholics were equally pro-Nationalist in OTL but a bit more restrained, they did lobby hard to keep the US neutral (as they knew that an arms embargo hurt the Republicans more than the Nationalists) but that was about it. TTL I'm thinking seeing the first Catholic president assassinated has changed things somewhat. OTL Joseph Kennedy backed FDR and was made Chair of the SEC, where he worked hard stopping people doing all the stock scams/insider trading/etc that he had done to become rich. TTL he gets the job he wanted, Treasury Secretary, from his fellow Catholic Al Smith and then cocks it up so get sacked by Garner. Would he have gone this route, well he was ambitious and amoral so it's possible. The Irish-American Battalion is of course fictional, the only large US volunteer unit was the Abraham Lincoln Battalion in the International Brigades.
