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The expression dates from the [[Spanish Civil War]] in 1936 when the Francoist General Mola, whose forces were threatening Madrid, boasted that he had four columns approaching the city and a fifth column within it.

The expression dates from the [[Spanish Civil War]] in 1936 when the Francoist General Mola, whose forces were threatening Madrid, boasted that he had four columns approaching the city and a fifth column within it.

During the [[Second World War]], when British citizens were anxious about supposed fifth-columnists in the UK, the artist [[William Heath-Robinson]] produced a series of cartoons about the Sixth Column, patriotic men and women devoted to frustrating the actions of the Fifth Column.<ref>http://www.liverpoolmuseums.org.uk/walker/exhibitions/heathrobinson/Sixth_column.asp</ref>  There was also a reference to existence of a Nazi or Hitler Fifth Column being in existence during WWII.<ref> David Vaughan, Hitler's Fifth Column", https://www.radio.cz/en/section/talking/hitlers-fifth-column, December 2, 2002</ref><ref>Claire Ellicot | ''The Daily Mail'', Spy who tricked me: Nazi agents in secret ‘fifth column’ group were fooled by MI5 using fake medals and made-up Gestapo boss called ‘Jack King’ https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-6149475/Nazi-agents-secret-fifth-column-group-fooled-MI5-using-fake-medals.html, SSeptember 9, 2018</ref>

During the [[Second World War]], when British citizens were anxious about supposed fifth-columnists in the UK, the artist [[William Heath-Robinson]] produced a series of cartoons about the Sixth Column, patriotic men and women devoted to frustrating the actions of the Fifth Column.<ref>http://www.liverpoolmuseums.org.uk/walker/exhibitions/heathrobinson/Sixth_column.asp</ref>  There was also a reference to existence of a Nazi or Hitler Fifth Column being in existence during WWII.<ref> David Vaughan, Hitler's Fifth Column", https://www.radio.cz/en/section/talking/hitlers-fifth-column, December 2, 2002</ref><ref>Claire Ellicot | ''The Daily Mail'', Spy who tricked me: Nazi agents in secret ‘fifth column’ group were fooled by MI5 using fake medals and made-up Gestapo boss called ‘Jack King’ https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-6149475/Nazi-agents-secret-fifth-column-group-fooled-MI5-using-fake-medals.html, September 9, 2018</ref>

The Internal Security Act of 1950, following the creation of the [[NATO]] alliance under the notion of collective security, cited "[t]he experience of many countries in [[World War II]] and thereafter with so-called ''fifth columns'' with employed espionage and sabotage to weaken the internal security and defense of nations resisting [[totalitarian]] [[dictatorship]]s demonstrated the grave dangers and fatal effectiveness of such internal espionage and sabotage."<ref>http://tucnak.fsv.cuni.cz/~calda/Documents/1950s/Inter_Security_50.html</ref>

The Internal Security Act of 1950, following the creation of the [[NATO]] alliance under the notion of collective security, cited "[t]he experience of many countries in [[World War II]] and thereafter with so-called ''fifth columns'' with employed espionage and sabotage to weaken the internal security and defense of nations resisting [[totalitarian]] [[dictatorship]]s demonstrated the grave dangers and fatal effectiveness of such internal espionage and sabotage."<ref>http://tucnak.fsv.cuni.cz/~calda/Documents/1950s/Inter_Security_50.html</ref>