Spain awards honourary citizenship to surviving British and Irish veterans of the Spanish Civil War
Seventy years after the Spanish Civil War ended, the Spanish embassy in London has awarded honourary citizenship to seven surviving British and Irish veterans of the war. Some 50,000 volunteers from all over the world, including 1,700 from Canada, fought on the side of the Spanish government against a fascist uprising led by Spanish General Francisco Franco and backed by Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini. Franco’s forces won the war, and he ruled Spain as a dictator for almost 40 years before democracy returned following his death.