Looking Back on Operation X: Stalin and the Spanish Republic, 1936-1939

This chapter offers a critical reassessment of Soviet assistance to the Spanish Republic - code-named “Operation X” - based on recent scholarship, declassified official documents and an array of other sources, including newsreels, feature films, poster art, photographs, letters and the press. The discussion will not only interrogate the broad historiographical consensus that reduces Soviet intervention in the Spanish Civil War to a sinister and nefarious force, but intends to disentangle the multiple strands of Soviet involvement in the war, presenting a more nuanced assessment than previously possible. After fleshing out the many layers of this singular and improbable coming together of the Slavic and Hispanic worlds, the chapter closes by evaluating the broader consequences of Operation X on Spain, the Soviet Union and the world.