Spanish Civil War

Ferfal
Have been following your writings on your blog for a few months and after reading some of your older posts saw that there is a family history going back to Spain/Spanish Civil war. I have spent time reading about the Spanish Civil War (History Major now an engineering student) and was curious on your take of what lessons there were to be learned from that war and if there are any comparisons/warnings that we could take from then to apply to today?
thank you again, I appreciate the urban/suburban survivalist lessons you give, definitely more applicable and practical than running for the hills and hoping that Rome burns.
cheers
John

Hi John,
Funny that you mention the Spanish civil war, I’ve been working on that recently.
Yes, my grandparents lived there and had more than a few interesting stories to tell.
Silly youth, I never paid much attention to it until now. A bit older and bit less stupid, now I’m picking my 85 year old grandma’s brain, gathering tales, putting the pieces together and doing a bit of writing.
I’m interested in real world survival situations. The Spanish civil war is an interesting one, and having a very lucid grandmother that lived it to talk to is invaluable.
She lived in a very small village up in the mountains in the province of Lugo.
They had a small farm, her dad traveled around working, lived in Cuba some time. Conditions were very hard, she moved to the city looking for work, then back to the village, then to Argentina with my grandfather.
"Execution" of the Sacred Heart of Jesus by Communist militiamen at Cerro de los Ángeles near Madrid, on 7 August 1936 WIKI

Ruins of Guernica


In Spain the civil war and post civil war life was hard. There was little food around, few jobs, political persecution somewhat similar to what we saw here during the Dirt War.

I have spent time reading about the Spanish Civil War (History Major now an engineering student) and was curious on your take of what lessons there were to be learned from that war and if there are any comparisons/warnings that we could take from then to apply to today?

There are a few and even though I hadn’t written specifically about the Spanish civil what experience as I’m doing these days, I’ve always kept those lessons in mind:
1) Food is of great importance of course. Water could be had one way or another, shelter isn’t that big a deal either. The key is having enough food.

2) Money is even nicer. Gets you food and the other stuff food wont (Argue about that with my grandmother if anyone disagrees. I assure you, she’s seen and experienced more hunger and food rationing than most “experts”)

3) The ability to move, relocate if necessary as my grandparents from both sides of my family did. Happens all the time, things get tough, poverty gets bad and people move wherever there’s work.

4) It’s important to have skills, but its better to be a good salesman. The skilled person may or may not make good money. If you’re good at sales and running business you’ll definitely will.

5) During the civil war weapons weren’t allowed. Yet a handgun could be concealed…

6)Having your own store, your own source of income. My grandmother dreamed of that and here in Argentina she soon opened her own bakery while my grandfather opened a carpentry shop. (she’s an outstanding woman)

She always used to tell me “Fernando, if you have your own shop, your own business, you can always find a way to make at least enough money to get by”.
She eventually closed because of all the robberies they went through but she always liked having her own store.

All these things, they apply to a great number of events around the world at different times, and I believe they still do.
Times have changed, but the essence of those lessons remains the same.
7) Running to the hills… it’s better if you relocate before things get that desperate. You can run to the hills, but your survival expectations are 1/10 as good, compared to relocating properly to another continent or country.

FerFAL