Thande
Donor
Someone's posted a thread in Chat about British Muslims fighting for the Taliban and whether that constitutes treason. It got me thinking about whether this could happen with a "community" (to use New Labour Speak and then wash my mouth out with listerine) that is not visibly distinct on grounds of race and religion, which complicates matters.
So how about this: what if, for some reason, either the British or French governments in the 1930s decide to back the Nationalists in the Spanish Civil War (and let's assume Germany and Italy are not involved or only involved in a minor capacity). Perhaps due to a more successful and intimidating Soviet Union and greater '20s Red Scares, maybe. But I want to emphasise that the British and French governments are no more right-wing, or not much more, than they were at that point in OTL: they are still moderate and democracy is still a strong institution. (So it's not the same as if the fascist Italians or Germans captured Italian or German International Brigaders in OTL, which may have happened, I don't know).
Anyway: so what if Britain and/or France sends troops to fight alongside the Nationalists (in secret, or preferably openly for the sake of the comparison) and on the other side we have the same International Brigades drawn mainly from British and French leftist volunteers that we had in OTL?
Say some of these Brigaders are captured in battle. Are they considered traitors by governments which, remember, are still pretty moderate and democratic? What happens?
So how about this: what if, for some reason, either the British or French governments in the 1930s decide to back the Nationalists in the Spanish Civil War (and let's assume Germany and Italy are not involved or only involved in a minor capacity). Perhaps due to a more successful and intimidating Soviet Union and greater '20s Red Scares, maybe. But I want to emphasise that the British and French governments are no more right-wing, or not much more, than they were at that point in OTL: they are still moderate and democracy is still a strong institution. (So it's not the same as if the fascist Italians or Germans captured Italian or German International Brigaders in OTL, which may have happened, I don't know).
Anyway: so what if Britain and/or France sends troops to fight alongside the Nationalists (in secret, or preferably openly for the sake of the comparison) and on the other side we have the same International Brigades drawn mainly from British and French leftist volunteers that we had in OTL?
Say some of these Brigaders are captured in battle. Are they considered traitors by governments which, remember, are still pretty moderate and democratic? What happens?