The Spanish Civil War was a historic twentieth-century event, known worldwide for certain elements of the conflict, such as the International Brigades, the bombing of Guernica, or the testimonies of international writers and reporters who experienced it first-hand (George Orwell, Ernest Hemingway, Andre Malraux, Arthur Koestler, Gerald Brenan and the photographer Robert Cappa, among many others). It is also considered a relatively minor episode in the turbulent interwar period, the rise of fascism and the crisis of democracy, as well as a local prelude to World War Two.