Abstract A discussion of George Orwell's vision of war from his experience as a soldier in the Spanish Civil War in the Marxist Unity Worker's Party. It details the political conflicts at the time and the idealism of the Marxist Worker's Party. Orwell discusses the meaning of the war to him as well as his profound feelings for the Spanish people, and the political agenda that counteracted any real progress made against Franco. Orwell could not have written about what he had just been through without writing about the political reasoning behind those he was fighting with, fighting against, and struggling against on the same side of the war.
From the Paper "George Orwell wrote "Homage to Catalonia" about his time spent as a soldier for POUM, the Worker's Party of Marxist Unity, during the Spanish Civil War. His vision of war was certainly different going in than it ended up being after he had spent several months on the front line. Perhaps the most disheartening aspect of the war (besides the cold) for him was the political conflicts that were undermining the overall efforts of those who were against Franco. Suppose Orwell wrote about his experiences without bringing in the very confusing different political agendas ? would the message of "Homage to Catalonia" still be the same? Hardly - even Orwell himself said that it would ?be impossible to write about the Spanish war from a purely military angle. It was above all things a political war.? (46) Yet in spite of Orwell's disgust at the conflict among those who were supposedly fighting for the same things, Orwell found it necessary to write his memoirs of his time in Spain. Clearly the war meant so many different things to him, and it is through "Homage to Catalonia" that he tries to convey these meanings ? his profound feelings for the Spanish people, and the political agenda that counteracted any real progress made against Franco. To Orwell, his interactions with the P.O.U.M. Catalans, as well as those from other socialist "groups" fighting on the same side were the people who affected him most profoundly. It was these relationships that shaped his experience, which is the sole purpose of his "Homage to Catalonia"."
Tags: POUM, Marxism, unity, workers, Spanish, Civil, War
Abstract This paper examines how Antonio Gaudi's architecture reflects many elements of Gothic architecture in its design and construction. It looks at how Gaudi's choice of using Gothic architecture was not simply a choice that was motivated by some strange aesthetic reasoning. It shows, through an analysis of Gaudi's interpretations of his work, how, in fact, he choose Gothic and Islamic influences that represented the shade and elements of the traditional architecture of Catalonia at the time, which was overwhelmingly Gothic.
From the Paper "Part of the reasoning for Gaudi's choice of a Gothic style of architecture was due to influences beyond the purely aesthetic. To be certain, he had a great reverence for Gothic art and he appreciated some its most important ideas, especially those which dealt with the issue of monumentalism and the idea of the way the piece of architecture was perceived was more important than the regular formal design of the structure itself. However, for Gaudi, at this time, there was also a very sincere political element to the structure of his design as well. At this point, the region of Spain which he was from, Catalonia, was very much engaged in a nationalist revival and had desires to separate from the rest of Spain?indeed, citizens of Catalonia even speak a different language, Catalan, than the language, known as Castilian, which we normally think of as ?Spanish.?"
Tags: islam, catalonia, la, segrada, familia, church
Abstract An analysis of the causes of the Spanish Civil War. This paper also discusses the extent to which foreign powers such as the United States, Great Britain, France and Germany influenced the war's outcome; the rise of the fascist movement and the Popular Front; and the impact of fascists in Spain afterwards. Spain and the rule of Franco contributed to the perpetuation of the single-party states of both Germany and Italy during WWII.
From the Paper "The Spanish Civil War, lasting from 1936 until 1939, eventually culminated in the establishment of an authoritarian fascist dictatorship led by General Francisco Franco. The points discussed in this essay include: the causes of the civil war; the extent to which foreign powers dictated the course and outcome of the war; the attraction of the fascists and the Popular Front; and the impact of the fascists? victory on Spain."
Tags: 1936, 1939, catalonia, civil, fascism, fascist, franco, front, guardia, hitler, mussolini, nazi, popular, republic, spain, spanish, war, world
From the Paper "In war, said Napoleon, the moral is to the material as three to one. To use the word "moral" in the contest of war at all may seem grotesque at the end of a century of particularly horrific warfare. As if in nod to the seeming unnaturalness of the connection, in ordinary English usage a slightly variant form of the word, morale, is used to describe the readiness of troops to perform in battle. Indeed, whichever variant of the word is used, the idea expressed is more primitive than in the more formal sense of morality.
Soldiers have fought with grit, determination, and courage for wicked causes, while other soldiers, enlisted in what we regard as good causes, have collapsed, deserted, or surrendered at the first blow. Indeed, it is a commonplace of soldiers' memoirs that they fight first and foremost for their immediate.."
Abstract This paper explains that Euskera was once spoken in Aragon and West Catalonia as far back as the 7th century and, in the 9th and 10th centuries, through mass migration, it reached south of Alava. The author points out that the decline of this language was partly due to decisions made concerning the supremacy of Spanish during the Bourbon period of the 18th Century, which stigmatized Euskera as being only suitable for farmers and peasants whereas Spanish was used exclusively in education and instruction. The paper concludes that Euskera, the Basque language, is almost without monolingual speakers but whether it is doomed extinction is debatable. The paper includes some long quotations.
Table of Contents:
Introduction
An Historical Overlook of Euskera
Spanish and French Attitudes Concerning the Basque Language
Protecting Euskera
Conclusion
From the Paper "Industrialization also played its part during the 19th century. The need for workers resulted in mass immigration and saw the arrival of so many monolingual Spanish speakers that their numbers far outweighed those of the Basque speakers. The fact that the Spanish speakers moved into several areas where the language had already been lost and the fact that the Franco government prohibited the use of Euskera, both helped to ensured that the language would become endangered."
