THE prominent role played by Limerick volunteers in the Spanish Civil War will be highlighted at the launch of a major historical publication at the Hunt Museum next month.
‘Fighting For Republican Spain, 1936-38 — Frank Ryan and the Volunteers from Limerick in the International Brigades’ is the title of the book by Limerick-born historian Dr Barry McLoughlin which features new material on one of the most contentious military conflicts of the 20th century.
Six men from Limerick City and County volunteered on the side of the Spanish Republican Army in the civil war of July 1936 to March 1939. According to Dr McLoughlin, who is a native of Boherbue, they saw themselves as fighters for European liberty, determined to stop the rise of international fascism.
The book features a detailed examination of the role played by Limerick Republican Frank Ryan in the Civil War as well as his imprisonment in Spain and his activities while exiled in Germany.
Dr McLoughlin also uncovers the details behind one of the most gruesome episodes that occurred in the British battalion: the semi-judicial murder of Limerick volunteer, machine-gunner Maurice Emmet Ryan during the battle of the Ebro in August, 1938.
“The book commences with a review of Irish politics in the 1930s, the persecution of the Left and the reasons why Frank Ryan led a contingent to Spain in December 1936. It also examines the tension between Irish and British leaders in Spain and analyses the major battles of 1937,” explains Dr McLoughlin, who is a past pupil of Limerick’s Crescent College and senior lecturer in the Department of History at Vienna University.
The book focuses extensively on the Limerick volunteers and uses Russian files to paint a general picture of the involvement of the Brigades, their leaders, foot-soldiers and the politics in the units, especially in the British battalion of the 15th Brigade.
The last section of the book contains more than 60 pages of statistical data and biographies of all the Irish participants in the Brigade’s history. The book is the first monograph on Irishmen fighting for Republican Spain to make liberal use of the files of the International Brigades held in the former archive of the Communist International in the Russian capital.
The book will be launched at the Hunt Museum on Friday September 5 at 5pm. There will also be a book signing at O’Mahony’s Bookshop on O’Connell Street on September 6 at 11am.
