Free walking tour with professional local guide; experience works with voluntary tip at the end. Between 1936 and 1939, Madrid became a symbol of the Spanish Civil War and a laboratory of modern warfare. For almost three years, the city experienced shelling, food shortages, propaganda and the daily resistance of its population. In this tour we will explore the key scenarios of Republican Madrid, exploring the siege, military strategies and why many historians consider the Civil War the prelude to World War II. We will talk about air defence, safe havens, propaganda, international correspondents and daily life in a besieged city. It is not a tour of battles or dates, but a clear explanation of how Madrid and its inhabitants lived one of the most decisive episodes of the twentieth century.