> Destroying the Anarchist revolution took the combined might of the most powerful forces in the world and clearly demonstrates their justified fear of a collective society.
The anarchist movement was only one component of the Republican front. They were not crushed by the fascist side, they were brought down by the rest of the Republicans, under the influence of the Communists (who were almost as busy hunting any movement they considered rivals, such as the marxist-but-not-Stalinist POUM, as they were fighting fascists). The anarchist social experiment in Catalonia was something unique. The Stalin-backed Spanish communist party's line was to not antagonize the middle class (they were, obviously, to be taken care of later), and of course, the other members of the coalition, being closer to the center, were seeing the anarchists with a dim view.
Another factor was the mistaken hope that the French and the British would drop the farcical "non-intervention" policy (which meant "don't do anything and pretend that Germany, Italy and the USSR are violating"), which prevented Republican Spain from bringing in weapons from France. Unfortunately for them, the British had made clear that they would not support the French in case of conflict with Germany if they started supporting the Republicans, and a mixture of fear of igniting another world war, fear of revolutionaries and sympathy for the fascists (in particular in the Royal Navy), as well as diplomatic efforts by the Nazi, ensured they would not change their mind.
But it was far and away the largest component. Also, they were brought down by both sides. It took the combination of treachery and fascist counter-revolution to bring it down. My own studies of it have been fairly superficial, and began with Homage, but the even itself is far from understood I believe, even by scholarship.
I don't know if that's true. If we're talking number of troops, I don't think so. The bulk would be the loyalist part of the army and the Guardia Civil/Guardia Asalto. Then you had a number of political militias which would eventually be integrated into the regular army. In parallel, communists would introduce the political commissar system to enforce ideological "correctness" within the army, thus giving rise to entirely Communist regiments, based on the prototype of the 5th regiment (originally a communist-affiliated unit, later on integrated in the regular army as an elite corps).
The anarchist movement was only one component of the Republican front. They were not crushed by the fascist side, they were brought down by the rest of the Republicans, under the influence of the Communists (who were almost as busy hunting any movement they considered rivals, such as the marxist-but-not-Stalinist POUM, as they were fighting fascists). The anarchist social experiment in Catalonia was something unique. The Stalin-backed Spanish communist party's line was to not antagonize the middle class (they were, obviously, to be taken care of later), and of course, the other members of the coalition, being closer to the center, were seeing the anarchists with a dim view.
Another factor was the mistaken hope that the French and the British would drop the farcical "non-intervention" policy (which meant "don't do anything and pretend that Germany, Italy and the USSR are violating"), which prevented Republican Spain from bringing in weapons from France. Unfortunately for them, the British had made clear that they would not support the French in case of conflict with Germany if they started supporting the Republicans, and a mixture of fear of igniting another world war, fear of revolutionaries and sympathy for the fascists (in particular in the Royal Navy), as well as diplomatic efforts by the Nazi, ensured they would not change their mind.