Editing For Whom the Bell Tolls (section)

==References to actual events==
The novel takes place in late May 1937, during the second year of the [[Spanish Civil War, 1937|Spanish Civil War]].<ref>In Chapter 13, Robert Jordan thinks "The time for getting back will not be until the fall of thirty-seven. I left in the summer of thirty-six..." and then comments on an unusual snowfall in the mountains occurring "Now? Almost in June?"</ref> References made to [[Valladolid]], [[Segovia]], [[El Escorial]], and [[Madrid]] suggest the novel takes place within the build-up to the [[Battle of Brunete|Republican attempt]] to relieve the [[siege of Madrid]].

The earlier battle of [[Battle of Guadalajara|Guadalajara]] and the general chaos and disorder (and, more generally, the doomed cause of Republican Spain) serve as a backdrop to the novel: Robert Jordan notes, for instance, that he follows the Communists because of their superior discipline, an allusion to the split and infighting between anarchist and communist factions on the Republican side.

The famous and pivotal scene described in Chapter 10, in which Pilar describes the execution of various fascist figures in her village, is drawn from events that took place in [[Ronda]] in 1936. Although Hemingway later claimed (in a 1954 letter to [[Bernard Berenson]]) to have completely fabricated the scene, he in fact drew upon the events at Ronda, embellishing the event by imagining an execution line leading up to the cliff face.<ref>Ramon Buckley, "Revolution in Ronda: The facts in Hemingway's For Whom the Bell Tolls", the Hemingway Review, Fall 1997</ref>

A number of actual figures that played a role in the Spanish Civil War are also referred to in the book, including these:
* [[Andreu Nin]], one of the founders of the Workers' Party of Marxist Unification ([[POUM]]), the party mocked by Karkov in Chapter 18.
* [[Enrique Líster]], communist leader who played important roles during the defense of Madrid.
* [[Mikhail Koltsov]], Soviet journalist who was the Karkov character in the story
* [[Indalecio Prieto]], one of the leaders of the Republicans, is also mentioned in Chapter 18.
* General [[José Miaja]], in charge of the defense of Madrid in October 1936, and General [[Vicente Rojo Lluch|Vicente Rojo]], together with Prieto, are mentioned in Chapter 35
* [[Dolores Ibárruri]], better known as La Pasionaria, is extensively described in Chapter 32.
* [[Robert Hale Merriman]], leader of the American Volunteers in the [[International Brigades]], and his wife Marion, were well known to Hemingway and served possibly as a model for Hemingway's own hero.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.latimes.com/books/la-ca-jc-spain-in-our-hearts-20160327-story.html|title='Spain in Our Hearts' tells the American story of the Spanish civil war|work=[[Los Angeles Times]]|date=March 25, 2016|first=Bob|last=Drogin|author-link=Bob Drogin|access-date=March 4, 2018}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|last1=Gilmore|first1=David D.|title=Casualties of a 'Pure War'|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1986/06/08/books/casualties-of-a-pure-war.html|access-date=July 8, 2017|work=[[The New York Times]]|date=June 8, 1986}}</ref> 
* [[André Marty]], a leading French Communist and political officer in the International Brigades, makes a brief but significant appearance in Chapter 42.  Hemingway depicts Marty as a vicious intriguer whose paranoia interferes with Republican objectives in the war.
* [[Karol Świerczewski]], a Polish general in Polish communist army origin as Golz.
* [[Francisco Franco]], commander of the rebel army who will become the ruling dictator after the war.