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Article: Abraham Lincoln Brigade
- Article from:
- Dictionary of American History
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ABRAHAM LINCOLN BRIGADE
ABRAHAM LINCOLN BRIGADE.
Americans comprised about 2,800 of the approximately 40,000 international volunteers who responded to the Spanish Republican government's 1936 plea for help against a revolt by right-wing military officers. In this conflict, called the Spanish Civil War, the rebels gained the military assistance of Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy, while the Republican side had far less extensive aid from the Soviet Union. Communist parties operated worldwide to recruit and send volunteer brigades to fight against the Spanish fascist forces. Nearly one hundred African Americans signed up, their antifascist fervor augmented by the recent Italian fascist ...