Show ended
‘Dare Devil Rides To Jarama’ brings to life the powerful political and economic forces engulfing 1930s Europe and the reasons why so many ordinary people made the extraordinary choice to leave their family, friends and home to defend the Spanish Republic. The Spanish Civil War was fought 1936 to 1939. Republicans loyal to the left-leaning Popular Front government of the Second Spanish Republic, aligned with anarchists, communist and syndicalists took to arms against a revolt by the hard-right Nationalists, a group made up Falangists, monarchists, conservatives and Catholics, led by a military group of which General Francisco Franco was at the forefront. The political climate at the time meant that the war was a complex one, and was considered a class struggle, a war of religion, a struggle between dictatorship and republican democracy, and between fascism and communism. When Spaniards rose up to resist General Franco's military rebellion, it was an inspiration to millions of people across the world. The heroic struggle of the Spanish people alerted the rest of the world to the threat of fascism.