Churchill and Spain: More Sancho than Quixote?

Abstract

Este artículo ofrece un análisis detallado de la relación de Winston Churchill con España a lo largo de su extensa y agitada vida política y personal. Se centra en tres episodios clave: su postura ambivalente durante la Guerra Civil Española; su liderazgo y política hacia España durante los años cruciales de la Segunda Guerra Mundial; y la memoria y legado de Churchill en España, especialmente en relación con su papel durante la contienda mundial. El artículo sostiene que la implicación de Churchill con España revela una tensión recurrente entre un impulso quijotesco —arraigado en sus sensibilidades aristocráticas y monárquicas, y en una visión sentimental de la historia española— y un realismo más pragmático, cercano a Sancho Panza, que se hizo especialmente visible durante la Segunda Guerra Mundial.

This article offers a detailed analysis of Winston Churchill’s relationship with Spain over the course of his long and eventful political and personal life. The article focuses on three key episodes: Churchill’s ambivalent stance during the Spanish Civil War; his leadership and policy towards Spain during the crucial years of the Second World War; and the memory and legacy of Churchill in Spain, particularly in relation to his wartime role. The article argues that Churchill’s engagement with Spain reveals a recurring tension between a quixotic impulse – rooted in his aristocratic and monarchist sensibilities, and in a sentimental view of Spanish history – and a more pragmatic, Sancho Panza-like realism, which became especially prominent during the Second World War.