‘Oh Ireland! What a Disappointment You Have Been to the Basque People’: Irish Non-Intervention in the Spanish Civil War

While Irish involvement on both sides of the Spanish Civil War has been comprehensively accounted for by historians, there remains the issue of the Irish government’s non-intervention in the conflict, even by way of moral support, for the democratic mandate of the Spanish Republic, including the recently established Basque autonomous government. Utilising several previously unexploited Basque primary sources, this article traces and highlights Basque nationalist hopes and expectations around possible Irish government interventions, and how Basque nationalists ultimately felt let down by their ostensible Irish allies. Despite this disappointment, the prevailing pre-civil war perception among Basque nationalists of Ireland as a beacon of national liberation and a spiritual ally of sorts to the Basques was to endure. In exploring Basque-Irish contacts and relations around the Spanish Civil War, the article touches on several interrelated themes, such as misunderstood solidarity, the fate of small stateless nations, the realpolitik of international relations, and historical memory.