- ISSN: 0040-7518
- E-ISSN: 2352-1163
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oa Ambassadeurs op het sportfront
Sport, politiek en diplomatie tijdens de Spaanse Burgeroorlog (1936-1939)
- Amsterdam University Press
- Source: Tijdschrift voor Geschiedenis, Volume 133, Issue 4, Dec 2020, p. 639 - 658
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- 01 Feb 2021
Abstract
Ambassadors on the Sports Front: Sports, Politics and Diplomacy during the Spanish Civil War (1936-1939)
This article examines the role of sports in the international politics and diplomacy of nation states in wartime. Through a case study on public diplomacy during the Spanish Civil War (1936-1939), this article shows how sport could influence international public opinion. By focussing on some lesser-known international sporting events from this period, such as the 1937 Labour Olympiad in Antwerp, this article will move away from the dominant focus in sports history on mega-events such as the Olympic Games. Although research about the relationship between sports and diplomacy has grown in recent years, it has barely taken into account the influence of a war context on sport and diplomacy. This article attempts to fill this gap by analysing left-wing Belgian and Spanish newspapers, archives of the Belgian workers' sports movement, and unused source material from the FIFA archive.
