Three years of atrocious war, fought no holds barred by the opposing formations from July 1936 to March 1939, when the last Republican stronghold, the capital Madrid, falls into the soldiers’ hands. The Spanish Civil War, which leaves almost half a million dead on the ground, is considered today as the prologue, in the heart of Europe, of World War II. Behind the warring factions – the Republicans of the legitimate government, winners of the elections of February 1936, and the insurgent Nationalists, led by General Francisco Franco – the future adversaries of the world conflict soon take sides: on the one side Stalin’s USSR and the volunteers of the International Brigades, who have poured in from all over the world to defend democracy; on the other, the powers of the Axis, led by Hitler and Mussolini. After a detailed historic reconstruction of the main events of the civil war, the Italian attitude in this conflict is explained by four documentaries of the time. There are four strong propaganda pieces: from Arriba Espagna to No pasaràn, to the two “art films” Espana, una grande libre by Giorgio Ferroni and Los Novios della Muerte by Romolo Marcellini, both made after the end of the war, in 1939, to celebrate the new victory of fascism.