Chapter 5
Chapter 5
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Translator: crow
Chapter Title: Spanish Civil War (1)
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The Spanish Civil War was triggered by a host of complex reasons, but if I had to pick the decisive one, it was the political chaos.
From the establishment of the First Spanish Republic in 1873 until the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War in 1936, there had been over 40 coups and more than 60 political crises.
And Spain's economy? Far from stable. The country was hemorrhaging money on prolonged colonial wars in Rif while reeling from an economic depression.
They'd booted out the Bourbons and the military, but the Second Republic government that replaced them was just as incompetent.
This left the Republicans and monarchists, secularists and the Catholic Church, landowners and land reformers, leftists and rightists tearing the republic apart, each side waiting for a chance to wipe out the other.
Neither the right nor the left had any intention of accepting the other's victory.
In this powder keg, when the left barely clinched a majority with a margin of under 100,000 votes, the right cried foul and refused to accept the results.
The Spanish military and right-wing had already plotted a coup after the left's 1931 election win, sparking revolts in some areas.
So expecting the right to gracefully concede a razor-thin 1936 result, with fears of leftist reprisals? Absurd.
The leftist government was well aware of the right-wing military's coup potential.
They tried to head it off by reassigning key right-wing generals far from Madrid: the infamous Francisco Franco to the Canary Islands in the Atlantic, Chief of Staff Manuel Goded to the Balearic Islands in the Mediterranean, Falange leader José Antonio Primo de Rivera to prison, and Emilio Mola to command the garrison in Pamplona.
Unfortunately, these moves weren't enough to dampen the rebels' fervor.
On July 13, 1936, monarchist leader José Calvo Sotelo was kidnapped and assassinated. Five days later, on July 18, Nationalist forces rose up simultaneously in Spanish Morocco and across the mainland.
Thus began the brutal Spanish Civil War, where blood washed away blood.
Unable to handle it alone, both Nationalists and Republicans begged for aid from every corner.
Pyongyang was on that list.
Days after the war started, a Keirei Ilbo editorial demanded Korean intervention.
"Korea getting involved in the Spanish Civil War too?"
With Korea cozying up to Germany and Italy on an air defense pact, there was a growing trend to align diplomatically with Berlin and Rome.
And everyone knew that would paint us as part of the 'Axis of Evil' and isolate us internationally.
Fucking lunatics.
But setting aside those thoughts, personally, I agreed we needed to get involved.
Not for the Korean Empire, but for my own interests.
Simple reason.
'Only if those idiots fight like amateurs will the military brass's incompetence get exposed.'
The Spanish Civil War was a war preordained for mediocrity.
Whether the right-wing Nationalists or the left-wing Republican government, neither was prepared for a prolonged civil war.
With leaders like that, no matter how capable the supporting nations were, the war was doomed to stalemate.
Especially for the Korean Empire's expeditionary force—communication barriers with European troops and endless supply headaches guaranteed.
How the hell do you spin that clusterfuck?
Hoping the military stepped in it, I kept my mouth shut about Spain.
On July 26, Nazi Germany intervened, Italy on the 30th, and Pyongyang followed its European pals.
The original Japanese Empire dithered between the air pact and great power scrutiny, staying neutral. Korea? No hesitation.
Field Marshal Park Han-jin, the alpha male, framed it at a key commanders' meeting as 'a vital step against communism's spread,' claiming it would advance our anti-Soviet alliance.
When the dictator says so, who's gonna say 'no'?
On August 1, the Korean cabinet unanimously approved intervention and prepped the expeditionary force.
Scale: around 10,000, matching Nazi Germany's.
Still, shipping an army to the other side of the globe was a massive strain.
And wouldn't you know it, that day marked the opening of the 'Festival of Peace'—the Berlin Olympics.
Koreans cared more about Olympics buzz than the war news.
The Olympic hype buried the intervention story, letting Pyongyang prep quietly.
On August 3, 150,000 workers rallied in Moscow's Red Square in solidarity with Republican Spain.
In the proletarian peasant state of the USSR, that kind of mobilization meant Soviet intervention.
Even then, Britain and France—League of Nations permanent council members—didn't lift a finger.
As the Rhineland proved, they were militarily impotent.
Overall: Germany, Italy, and Korea backed the Nationalists; the Soviets the Republicans.
Numbers favored the Nationalists' backers, but the Republicans had over 700 tons of gold.
Enough gold to offset foreign aid disadvantages somewhat.
In August, rebels rode German and Italian support to quick wins, but by October, the tide ghosted away.
Soviet arms shipments and international brigades flooded Republican lines.
As the front stalled, the press went quiet on the 'glorious Imperial Army's' post-Olympics exploits.
Time to unseal my lips.
Not by attacking the government under my own name, Yi Seong-jun, of course.
I had proxies to carry the torch.
'Internationalist leftists.'
Commie pals, bluntly put.
I used a few young officers I'd swayed to whisper the Imperial Army's Spanish fuckups to campus reds.
"Our sons dying in godforsaken Spain for what? Does the Republican government threaten the Empire's security?"
Posters like that spread from universities, putting the military on edge.
Heh.
Just the beginning, and they're freaking out.
In my editorials, I dissected the army's flaws point by point.
"The biggest issue is doctrine. The Imperial Army runs on outdated WWI tactics. Slow, infantry-heavy ops can't keep up with modern mechanized mobility. Time to change."
Obviously, my bluster was pie-in-the-sky bullshit.
Did the original Japanese Empire's blockheads build a WWI-style infantry-artillery army just because they had udon for brains?
No budget.
Same for Korea.
With the bloated navy sucking up 60% of the budget, where's the cash for new tanks?
Even if we built them, no place to use 'em.
Our 'main enemy' China had shit roads—tank hell.
China was dough for infantry and artillery anyway.
No need for high-end tanks against them.
Assuming we don't fight the commie empire to the north.
'Which means this Yi Seong-jun needs the Empire's command.'
I had zero plans to fight the Soviets.
Why tangle with a hydra that regrows two divisions for every one you kill?
Anyway, my pieces hit the brass where it hurt.
Deny it? Explain the army's Spanish incompetence another way.
Agree? Admit they're idiots who ignored what even a junior general knew.
'That's why you don't meddle in others' wars?'
Like Mussolini, poking everywhere without knowing their limits, then bleeding out.
I planned to spam editorials and rumors on cooldown, advertising army stupidity.
But the brass weren't total morons.
"Pardon? Me, commanding the Spanish expeditionary force?"
"Personnel order. That's it."
Out of nowhere: orders naming me expeditionary commander.
Their logic? Simple.
'Stop yapping. Prove it with results. Can't? You know what happens.'
Ah, fuck.
Not unforeseeable.
Commanding the Spanish contingent was career suicide for Korean generals—an antlion pit.
Even Napoleon or Genghis couldn't win with our troops.
Sticking me there? Shut my mouth and block promotion.
Clever move by the military pricks.
Fucking bastards.
'I'll repay this debt dearly.'
And so, I boarded for an unplanned trip to Spain.