The propaganda struggle mobilized partisans throughout Europe and the Americas. Despite a nonintervention agreement signed by most European nations, foreign aid was a constant, and there was eventually limited military participation by Hitler and Mussolini on one side and Stalin on the other. But the Spanish army's attempt to overthrow a leftist government and clamp down on growing political and social chaos soon morphed into the major controversy in European affairs in the period between the rise of Nazism and the countdown to World War II. There were probably as many as 120,000 executions on both sides, followed by another large round of reprisals after the war ended. But the sharp political repression was typical of Europe's revolutionary/counterrevolutionary civil wars of the era. Its civil war of 1936-39 was a grisly affair-not so much in terms of combat, for it was a low-intensity conflict of limited firepower and produced not many more than 175,000 combat deaths overall. One place where its effects have been profound is Spain. This encouraged a new approach to history, across many eras and conflicts. But in the late 20th century, a new culture arose that placed the emphasis on the victims. The history of war traditionally privileged the role of heroes. A poster supporting the far-right Falange movement announces 'In Spain It Is Dawning- Arise Spain' ILLUSTRATION: Corbis THE PROPAGANDA WAR | Graphically superb posters were produced by both sides during the civil war.
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