History of War

A historian recently said that in Ukraine this generation has found its Spanish Civil War. 

The Spanish Civil War began in 1936 as an attempt by the Fascist military to overthrow its elected government. The Spanish government was supported by the Left, which included unions, socialists, anarchists, volunteers from Europe and America (the Lincoln Battalion), the USSR and some famous people like George Orwell and Earnest Hemingway. The Fascists were supported by the rich, the Spanish Catholic Church,  Hitler and Mussolini. The government side eventually broke into factions that were for or against Marxism. The Fascists won the war. They ruled Spain until 1975.

The war had been a successful test of  German and Italian military equipment and tactics; Fascists saw it as a rehearsal for World War II.

If the European democracies had backed the elected government and fought the Fascists, the Spanish government might have won. Hitler might have made different plans. Instead Hitler (like Putin) became contemptuous of democracies and overconfident. The war encouraged Hitler and made the democracies look like easy marks. 

Like the Spanish Civil War, the historian said, Russia vs. Europe is a war between two incompatible models of civilization.