George Orwell travelled to Barcelona in 1936 to report on a civil war. When he arrived, he decided the best way to help would be fight for the cause. He enlisted and was sent to the front. A 100 days later, he was wanted as a fascist spy and pursued out of the country by the communists.

Orwell joined the fighting of the Spanish Civil War in 1936, despite the reasoned advice of fellow author, Henry Miller. Despite being a volunteer, Orwell wanted to head to the front lines of the war, but it was not in the cards. Instead, he was sent, with a regiment to the region of Aragon, where the fighting was rather light.

Orwell was one of the many thousands of European intellectuals and workers who had set out for Spain in 1936 to defend the twice-elected Republic. They volunteered in the International Brigades, they joined militias of untrained field labourers and factory hands and fought on every major front in the war against fascism.

George Orwell never wrote a book or an essay entitled 'Fighting In Spain'. This book is in fact an abridged and badly edited version of 'Homage to Catolinia' which is initself one of his best works and the foundation of his later writing. 'Fighting In Spain' ends with much more of the story remaining.