5 comments about The Spanish Civil War: Revised Edition (Modern Library Paperbacks).

1. Very well written and comprehensive. Full of details not given in other books of this theme
   I find it a somewhat bias against General Franco and in favor of the more extreme parties on the republican side like the Anarquists
   Probably the best book on the Spanish Civil War
   Luis R Florez MD



2. Salvador Dali's painting, oddly titled, and appropriately sub-titled, graphically depicted the agony that would be the Spanish Civil War. It not a painting that would find a home over a mantelpiece; it is painful to study, and conveys the horrors of war even more than the works of his fellow Spaniard, Goya. Hugh Thomas has written the definitive history of this gut-wrenching war, perhaps without the required "distance," since Franco was still very much in power in 1961. But it is difficult to imagine that it will be superseded. As for capturing what Dali foresaw, his prose is more dispassionate, but he has done an admirable job: "Within a month nearly a hundred thousand people perished arbitrarily and without trial. Bishops would be torn to pieces and churches profaned. Educated Christians would spend their evenings murdering illiterate peasants and professional men of sensitivity. The majority of these crimes were the work, on both sides, of men convinced that what they were doing was not only right, but noble. Nevertheless these events inevitably caused such hatreds that, when some order was eventually established, it was an order geared solely for the rationalizations of hatred known as war. And it would be quite wrong to think that there was much repugnance at this development. Spaniards of all parties leapt into the war like the cheering, bellicose crowds in the capitals of the rest of Europe in 1914 at the start of that war of which, perhaps subconsciously even in 1936, the people of Spain felt they should have been a party."
   
   Thomas has written a rich, dense, detailed account. He has clearly mastered his material, and his account is not for the casual reader. The first fifth of the book addresses the social and political causes of the war; Spain was a deeply divided society, with the power of the Church and the rich upper classes threatened by the rise of the labor and the anti-clerical forces. Throughout the book he balances the accounts of military action with the shifting political forces of the numerous factions involved. The maps included in the book are excellent references which detail the advance, and ultimate triumph of the nationalist forces.
   
   As we know now, Spain was a "dress-rehearsal," for World War II. The Western Powers, mainly France, Britain and the United States adopted a policy of non-intervention. This was not matched by the Axis Powers, Italy and Germany, who used Spain as a training ground for its men, and a testing ground for their tactics and weapons. The Soviet Union was the chief supporter, in terms of aid, of the Republican forces. Leftists in the Western democracies volunteered, forming the International Brigades, with Americans in the Abraham Lincoln Brigade. Membership in the later would be grounds for suspicion, or worse, during the McCarthy era. As Thomas notes, some observers say that the sole reason for a Nationalist victory was the support from Germany and Italy, but he gives a more judicious and balanced answer, identifying five critical periods, and concluding that it was mainly the timing of outside assistance. He also indicates that much of the reason for the outcome was the relative unity of those on the Nationalist side, and the disunity and conflict of those on the Republican side.
   
   A few reviewers criticize Thomas for not being "balanced"; specifically they feel he was too "pro-Republican." It is a difficult charge to weigh, like saying various World War II histories were not balanced because they portrayed Hitler as evil. Franco very much had fascist tendencies, but did manage to keep Spain out of WW II. Thomas's "tribute" to him was to call him "the Octavius of Spain," a reference to the Roman emperor who managed to survive the civil wars of Rome, when virtually all others did not.
   
   Today Spain is at peace. In terms of numbers, the impact of the civil war was more catastrophic than the American Civil War. Thomas estimates that 600,000 died, out of a population of 25,000,000, whereas the numbers in America were also roughly 600,000, out of a larger 32,000,000. The higher percentage dead and the greater proximity of time may be one of the reasons that 90% of the Spanish population opposed their country's participation in the Iraq war.
   
   The civil war reverberates in numerous other ways as well. Just in terms of language, the nationalist General, Mola, gave us the term, "a fifth column," meaning a subversive group, when he talked about how he would seize Madrid - it was from those within. Only last week the NYT ran yet another article which seemed to confirm that Capa's famous picture, of a Republican soldier at the instant of death, was faked.
   
   I started the review with a painting, and will end with another, Pablo Picasso's "Guernica." He painted it in honor of the civilians who died there, in the first deliberate aerial attack on a civilian population, with no military motive. It was a careful, controlled "experiment" by the Luftwaffe. The painting is at the United Nations, and when Colin Powell gave his speech advocating the invasion of Iraq, with the inevitable aerial bombardments, the painting was covered up, a not very subtle tactic to erase the lessons of Guernica from our memory.
   
   Hugh Thomas carefully describes the attack at Guernica, as well as the rest of the war, so the lessons cannot be covered up. His book is a wonderful historical account, and deserves 5 plus stars.



3. This book also details the most history on the topic, concentrated in one place. Although sometimes billed as a "heroic" tale of many various people rising to their occasions, a better description might be a very long TV drama about what the many important personages said to each other, how they treated each other, and when. Such a story with this level of detail clearly took massive research to complete. In fact, the amount of detail could be said to come close to that of Will Durant's typical history works.
   
   The Spanish Civil War, among other things was a terribly tangled affair, especially to a Spaniard living in a disputed area at that time. Most of the time Thomas clarifies who was for/against whom. His short glossary of organizations and acronyms at the beginning of the book is particularly helpful. Sometimes, though, he tangles the relationships more. One could attribute this to the book's historical approach. Thomas tells the history as it unfolds contemporaneously, often day by day. To those who have suffered through high school texts which take a historical thread at the expense of events happening at the same time in other places (this reviewer included!), the author was scrupulous about not skipping around in time. This is a fair approach, even if it can be confusing in itself. The reader will have to keep the "larger historical picture" in mind as the pages pass.
   
   Some maps, and some pictures would have been helpful to the book.



4. i HAVE READ THIS BOOK ABOUT 6 TIMES OVER THE LAST 40 YEARS. I RECEIVED MY FIRST COPY AS A GIFT FROM AN ENGLISH FRIEND WHEN I WAS STATIONED WITH THE U.S. NAVY AT SUBMARINE BASE ROTA IN THE PROVINCE OF CADIZ IN THE SOUTH OF SPAIN IN THE 1960'S.USING THIS BOOK AS A GUIDE I VISITED MANY PLACES, AND MET MANY MEN WHO WERE INVOLVED IN THIS PRECURSOR TO WORLD WAR 2.I MET OLD NATIONALISTS, REPUBLICANS, SPANISH LEGIONARES, AND ONE MEMBER OF THE LINCOLN BRIGADE. THOMAS IS RATHER PRO REPUBLICAN, BUT HAS HIS HISTORICAL FACTS STRAIGHT.I RECOMMEND THIS BOOK HIGHLY.



5. This is one of those massive, serious books you mean to read (to impress yourself as much as learn what's in it). I have had it for years on my list, but never had the courage to crack it until recently. Happily, once I started it, I simply could not put it down, even though it took me months to read.
   
   The situation in Spain in 1936, when the civil war began, was dauntingly complex. On the right, there were the traditionalists, including monarchists, staunch catholics, industrialists, militarists seeking glory for Spain in Morocco, and various fascists and authoritarians opposed to the idea of a republic. They were divided into a multitude of parties, factions, charismatic leaders, and simple brutes. On the other side was a collection even more fractious of anarchists, communists, socialists, marxists, liberal democrats, atheists, and left-leaning regional liberation movements. Caught somewhere in the middle were separatists in the Basque regions and Catalonia - the only industrialized regions of Spain - and the emerging middle classes. This added up (perhaps) to more political parties than existed in Weimar Germany, along with Italy its coeval in poorly united nations that were seeking a clear identity in the 1920s.
   
   At this time, many of the old certainties were in precipitous decline due to local historical factors. First, after the Inquisition and in spite of the many flowerings that sprung from the counter-Reformations (e.g. the Jesuits), the Catholic church had grown rigid and in many quarters was murderously despised. It could offer no leadership and little comfort in the face of the upheavals that the republic was experiencing. Second, the monarchy was decadent and incompetent, a shell that had been in decline since the apogee of the 17th C. It too offered nothing to address the increasing chaos. Third, the military was involved in a terribly costly colonial war, for some ill-defined glory of Spain, and was corrupted by bizarre notions of duty and privilege, embittered by lack of opportunity, and ignorant of the evolving society by its isolation. The enlightenment, it seems, had never taken root in Spain, nor had the popular revolution as in France.
   
   The political configuration was similar to Weimar, a Parliamentary democracy that was unable to impose order or forge consensus, yet the country was for the most part appallingly poor and underdeveloped. As the world fell into economic crisis - Spain was prosperous during WWI as a supplier not fighting - the tensions of both class and generational conflict were added to the ideological crisis, provoking the left (mostly anarchists at the time) into mob violence that reached unimaginable excesses: churches were burned down, bourgeois were thrown off of cliffs, clerics murdered and raped, dignitaries and nuns were disinterred and mutilated, etc. This rightly evoked horror among the traditionalists as society appeared to be completely breaking down; they found champions in the military, including Franco, who was a hero general in Morocco, and quickly moved into a leadership position. Nonetheless, a dazzling array of social experiments were undertaken - money was abolished in some regions, collectives established that eliminated ruling elites and even managers, marriage was abolished in favor of free love and association, etc. It is a reminder that the narrow social-political spectrum that exists today - capitalist democracy - is only one way that societies might have chosen to organize themselves, an entirely different trajectory on which to evolve; this alone is worth the price of admission.
   
   In 1936 in the name of order and traditional values, the military staged a country-wide coup, taking over about 2/5 of the country. The opposition republicans occupied the N and E of the country, with all of the industry and most of the international legitimacy. This is when Spain became a crucible testing ground for the battle of ideologies that culminated in WW II as well as military technology. The fascist powers backed the military and Franco, providing aid and, crucially, highly trained personnel. Not only did they test military strategies, refining among many techniques the Blitzkrieg (piercing lines with concentrations of tanks rather than using them as supporting supplements to infantry), but their men were "blooded", i.e. trained in killing in ways that would be applied on an industrial scale from 1939. The USSR did the same, but also required the republicans to pay with Spanish gold. As a result, both the fascists and the communists became unifying centers of power within their respective spheres, muscling out other factions and applying brutal force against erstwhile allies. Meanwhile, Britain and France attempted to stay neutral and keep the other powers from interfering in a "domestic" matter. Finally, to complicate matters, everyone was sending volunteers to fight for their causes, often arriving without clear contractual limits and hence becoming virtual slaves to their respective military establishments. The IRA, for example, sent volunteers to both the fascists and anarcho-communists!
   
   The republic, in spite of its superior resources, was at a fatal disadvantage in their anarchic disarray before the unified command structures of the rightist military. As Thomas says, it cut like a knife through butter, with steady losses of territory before a final collapse in 1939. The brutal violence, arbitrary executions, ideological proscriptions, and simple murder are as frightening as they are unbelievable to those of us used to orderly lives based on rights and law. It is a reminder of the savagery that existed in places that we see today as orderly extensions of our cultures. Social experiments accelerated, on the left of course but also as patriarchal dictatorship on the right. Many participants acted like the war was just a day job: one combatant (a pilot and machine gunner) used to eat breakfast with his family, fight until lunch, take a siesta, fight again a bit in the afternoon, then retire the the cafes for late night conversation and drinking with his companions.
   
   I had read another of Thomas' books first, Rivers of Gold, which was a great disappointment, getting lost in detail with little narrative thread and seemingly meaningless asides. This book is so much better in narrative, focus, and evocation that there is absolutely no comparison. That being said, the book is encyclopaediac and simply too long, with so many references to obscure politicians that it is hard to follow and the names just fly out of the book. Indeed, the index (mostly proper names) is 100 pages! This makes it a slog, particularly at the beginning. But there is no doubt that this is the definitive masterpiece against which all subsequent histories will be judged. The principal failing of the book, in my reading, is that Thomas does not sum up and interpret the outcome of the war, which he leaves to the reader to find elsewhere. I expected more judgment or at least perspective.
   
   Recommended as one of the most serious explorations into the 20C. This conflict, along with that in the USSR and Hitler's Germany, is absolutely necessary to study if one wants to understand the world today. The greatest thing I take away from this is that our experimentation with politico-social systems is probably far from over, even if we Americans like to flatter ourselves that we have achieved the right combination of stability and dynamism that others should emulate.

No comments about Independence in Spanish America: Civil Wars, Revolutions, and Underdevelopment (Dialogos (Albuquerque, N.M.).).

3 comments about Air War Over Spain (Classic Colours).

1. Done in a style similar to Classic's "Jagdwaffe" and similar series, this book combines text, photos, maps and color drawings into a pretty good narrative, highlighted by sidebars giving biographies of some of the cast of characters. While not as thorough as earlier books by Putnam and Hikoki, this is a very readable book with good production values. (I don't know where the "Classic Colours" subtitle comes from; this is not strictly a color-and-markings book.)



2. This is a great book on the subject and a must have for anyone interested in Spanish Civil War aircraft. Excellent pictures and details fill the book and I am very happy to have purchased it.



3. This is a really good large-format book on the Air component of the Spanish Civil War. Crammed full of photographs and colour illustrations, it also contains good informative written content. You get a good overview of the Spanish Air Force prior to the Civil War, then a good account of the air war as it affected both sides, Republican and Nationalist. As well as the spanish combatants, covers the foreign elements - Russian, German and Italian - in detail. The large format gives a lot of space for the photos and also for text, which, altho summarised, is very informative. Printed on glossy paper. Well worth it if you're interested in this subject.

No comments about Fiat CR.32 Aces of the Spanish Civil War (Aircraft of the Aces).

5 comments about The Spanish Civil War.

1. Since the war ended in 1939, the Spanish Civil War has been obscured by romantic mythology created by foreign writers like Ernest Hemmingway and subsequent historians, who have tended to portray this conflict as, "the first great, heroic confrontation between fascism and democracy." Frances Lannon, an Oxford history professor, notes that in this traditional interpretation, "the Second Republic remains a great cause that was worth dying for." Lannon eschews this traditional depiction of the conflict in simplistic black and white terms, a fight between fascists and communists for the soul of Spain, and views the war in much more complex terms. Lannon's account is well written and rich in detail; her particular areas of interest are the role of women in both sides of the war and the role of the Catholic Church in the conflict. Overall, Lannon's book is an excellent primer on the war as well as representing a far more balanced and objective account than has come from other quarters.

   The Spanish Civil War 1936-1939 begins with short sections on the background to the war. These sections are interesting because they demonstrate that both sides had compelling reasons to resort to violence. While the Republicans (encompassing such diverse groups as urban trade unionists, rural peasants, intellectuals, communists and anarchists) viewed the Church, monarchists and the military as obstacles to the development of more liberalized conditions in Spain, the Nationalists fought to defend the traditional order from what they viewed as the imposition of alien cultural values. Due to the period of violence and disorder that preceded the outbreak of civil war, Lannon notes that, "many ordinary Catholics concluded that the new state would not respect their religion or protect property." Rather than the simplistic political depiction of democracy versus fascist, Lannon shows that the conflict had a strong religious dimension, and thus the conflict also could be depicted as Catholics versus atheists. Indeed, once the civil war started, Lannon notes that, "Catholicism went underground in Republican Spain, as churches burned and religious images were destroyed."

   Lannon's section on the warring sides is a bit short at three pages, but she gets the relative balance of the two forces. Her section on the fighting is 32 pages long and again, gets the main points, but without embellishment. At heart, this is more of a social history of a civil war, rather than a purely military history, and some readers may be disappointed by the short shrift given to topics like the German Condor Legion or the International Brigades. The text is complemented by nine maps: Spain in 1936, the first defense of Madrid, the route of the African army in 1936, fighting around Madrid in 1936-1937, the Battle for Madrid in November 1936, the fall of Malaga, the war in Vizcaya, the Battle of the Ebro, and Spain in July 1938. Lannon clearly likes the colorful propaganda posters produced by both sides during the war and includes eight full-page examples(almost 10% of the volume); a few more actual photos of the war might have been a better choice.

   Some readers may feel that Lannon goes easy on the nature of the Nationalists, given the terror bombing of Basque villages like Guernica and the subsequent repression under Franco's regime. In fact, something of a "Lost Cause" mythology has developed around the Republican cause, ascribing all sorts of democratic and liberal aspirations that were not evident in the policies of the Republicans. Indeed, reading Lannon, most readers will feel more revulsion at reading about the abuses of the Republicans, who murdered over 2,000 people (including 68 monks) in Madrid in November 1936. Lannon notes that, "one side protected religion, the other [the Republicans] attacked it and drove it underground. Churches were destroyed, religious symbols and statutes defaced and smashed." Not only were church marriages outlawed under the Republic but Lannon notes extreme examples where one witness saw, "the exhumed bodies of nuns in their shrouds that the revolutionaries had torn out of their tombs and displayed in the street." Was this a regime worth dying for? Lannon does note the repressive nature of the Franco regime, particularly in its hour of victory, when no effort was made at reconciliation with the defeated Republicans. About 50,000 people lost their lives in post-war executions and tens of thousands spent years languishing in prison. There is no doubt that both sides fought a brutal war of extermination against the other, but Lannon's account offers the possibility of distinguishing between the lesser of two evils. Despite an authoritarian structure, Lannon notes that Franco's Spain "was still a dictatorship, but its economy and society had modernized" by the 1970s. Lannon calls the rapid dismantlement of Franco's regime after his death in 1975, "one of the most successful transitions from dictatorship to democracy of the late 20th Century."

   Another theme that Lannon touches upon is the failure of international diplomacy. The British and French pushed the Non-Intervention Agreement in August 1936, by which signatories promised not to ship arms to Spain. Germany, Italy and the Soviet Union signed the agreement and then promptly violated it. However the failure of the Anglo-French to inhibit German intervention in Spain, coupled with the Nazi occupation of Czechoslovakia, helped to instill more resolve to oppose German aggression in Eastern Europe.




2. This is a good book for who seek a brief introduction to the Spanish Civil War, but don't have time to wade through a 700-page history.
   
   Lannon handles this divisive war evenhandedly. She points out that both sides were somewhat co-opted by the movements of international communism and fascism and by the end of war, some no longer knew for what cause they were fighting.
   
   This book is subtitled, "1936-1939." Still, I wish Lannon had spent more time on the before and after of the war, rather than concentrating so much on the fighting.
   
   The book is well illustrated and designed, with posters, photos and maps on many pages.



3. For a slim volume this book packs a lot of information. The Spanish Civil War is often called a prelude of World War II but in calling it that you really do it a disservice. The Spanish Civil War was a unique conflict in its own right, with many aspects, such as the International Brigades and the Condor Legion, which caused the war to have an impact far outside Spain's borders. This book gives a fairly nonpartisan assessment of the conflict, a treatment which is rare given the gut reactions many have towards the conflict based upon fascist and communist roles there. The photographs which illustrate are excellent as well but not overdoen, which explains how so much info got into such a small book.



4. i like osprey books & this is no exception. clear & defined maps ,dates, the whole shooting match.



5. This short 96 page book (about half of which are illustrations) provides an excellent introduction to the subject for those who desire a basic introduction to the subject in only an hour to an hour and a half of reading.
   
   The book starts out with the brief social and political background as to why the Left and Right clashed in Spain and what visions each side had for the country. Then it discusses the fighting amongst each side as well as the fighting within each side (especially within the Left) along with the importance of foreign support of each side, a factor that played a very important if not determining role in the war. The book covers, but only in a very passing manner, the German, Soviet and Italian support provided to the Left and Right. One weakness of the book is its lack of discussion regarding why Britain and France played the "neutral" role they did (along with the League of Nations) despite the fact that it was self-evident to both that Germany and Italy were supporting the Nationalists. It should have been clear (and probably was) that the consequence of a Nationalist victory would be an additional enemy in their flanks. Yet they did nothing to support the Republic. The book is also a little weak regarding the Republic's diplomatic attempts to gain French and British support and its initial hesitation to obtain Soviet weapons and support and becomming more and more dependent on the Soviet Union as their cause went downhill.
   
   The book concludes by summing up the damage caused by the war in terms of causalties, economic damage and the Nationalist "purges" after the war as well as the "reforms" brought about by the Nationalists (i.e., the restoration of most of the large landholders, the reestablishment of "family values" [i.e., strengthening the Church, ending divorce, putting women "in their place", etc.]).
   
   It should be noted that the author definitely has a pro-Republic approach. This can plainly be seen by his descriptions of Republican fighters as "heroic", his mocking of the Pope for the praise he heaped on Franco, etc.

5 comments about The Spanish Civil War: Reaction, Revolution, and Revenge (Revised and Expanded Edition).

1. I have read several books on the Spanish Civil War. What I enjoy most about this book is that it is engaging and it is more than just a dry recounting of the facts. It gives the background and the causes and shows how the war evolved in a very open objective way, citing some of the problems on both sides that made the confrontation inevitable. I highly recommend this book if you want to understand what this conflict and how it evolved.



2. No one interested in the true story of the Spanish Civil War should read or believe anything written by Preston. He is a far left historian who believes that the Nationalists were pure evil and the Republicans were lily whites. The truth is that there was plenty of evil to go around on both sides. Much better to read Raymond Carr and Antony Beevor. Although both clearly favor the Republicans, their writing is much more balanced and without the leftist fervor of Preston.



3. Exactly what I was looking for as an American with limited knowledge into the Spanish Civil War. I feel I have gained a perspective that allows me to realize why this conflict still continues to divide Spaniards to this day.



4. This very well written book is a fine overview and analysis of the Spanish Civil War. Still a controversial subject, despite the passage of decades, this is an evenhanded account. This is not, however, a conventional narrative history. While Preston provides the basic narrative, this is more a chronologically arranged series of essays on crucial aspects of the Civil War. To get the most out of Preston's analysis, it is very useful to know the basic features of the Civil War. I recommend reading Antony Beevor's narrative history first and then follow it with this book. The advantage of Preston's approach is that he explores a series of key issues in considerable depth. The relevant background of Spanish history and the structural features of Spanish society that created the potential for the war are described well. Preston has a very nice chapter on the history of the Second Republic which preceded the war and the specific events that led to the coup attempt that triggered the war. Chapters follow that deal with the international aspects of the war, the complex internal politics of both the Republican and Nationalist sides, the nature of combat, and the aftermath of the war. Particularly important themes are Franco's use of the war as an instrument to consolidate power, his pursuit of a state purged of liberal-leftist elements, the importance of Italian and German interventions, and the disorder of the Republican side.
   
   In addition to the excellent text, the book has a couple of other nice features to ease readibility. It includes a decent list of important figures and a useful glossary of acronyms. Preston includes a very nice annotated bibliography as a guide into the literature.



5. The book provides a good background to the desperate conditions prevailing in Spain in the 1930s. The sequence of events also is presented in an understandable manner. The acronyms of the many factions does require frequently checking the glossary, but at least there is a glossary. Although the author says that the republican persecution of the Catholic Church was a mistake, the main reason he objects to it is that it cost them the support of devout peasants. The approximately 6800 priests and nuns murdered are a secondary concern. The book is useful for facts, but the interpretation of the facts is written with an agenda.

5 comments about Ghosts of Spain: Travels Through Spain and Its Silent Past.

1. Tremlett incorporates personal anecdotes and experiences into each delightfully informative chapter to the extent that the writing is never dull or dry. As a Spanish-American trying to get in touch with his roots, this book, essential for those who have fallen for Spain, made me even prouder to call Spain my fatherland.



2. cool-minded views of a passionate lover of Spain, with lots of insight and a committed approach. Very interesting and useful to have an understanding of my country



3. This book is one of the most well written I have ever read. Definitely worth it!



4. Giles Tremlett is the Spanish correspondent for The Guardian of London. When Ghosts of Spain was published, late in 2006, he had been living in Spain for over 10 years, first in Barcelona, then in Madrid, where he is still stationed. The tone of his book is entirely different from John Hooper's The New Spaniards, 2nd Edition, though both are excellent in different ways and complement each other nicely. Hooper's tone is detached throughout; though his commentary is always smart and to the point, he maintains a certain distance. It is clear that his book was written by someone who is very familiar with Spain, but who no longer lives there (this may have been less evident in the first edition, which was written after he had just completed an 8-year assignment there). The reader learns very little about Hooper, other than his obvious expertise about Spain. Tremlett, in contrast, takes a much more personal approach - repeatedly drawing on his own particular experience to illustrate a general point, grounding his analysis in the quotidian details of ordinary life. As a result, there is an immediacy to Tremlett's writing that is missing from Hooper's book. Some readers might find Tremlett's willingness to place himself in the foreground a little offputting - it didn't bother me, as I found him generally engaging, smart, with the knack of a good journalist for asking interesting questions.
   
   Hooper takes a very systematic approach to a book that is obviously intended as a comprehensive treatment, with separate, clearly delineated sections (transition to democracy, private life, the monarchy, regional autonomy, social issues, culture and the media). I doubt that Tremlett was interested in writing a comprehensive account of contemporary Spain; his book is structured more like a collection of essays on different aspects of Spanish life. Though both books seem to have come out in 2006, Tremlett's appears far more up to date, reflecting a journalist's focus on topics of immediate public interest. Of course, as his book's title indicates, understanding current events often requires an examination of past history, and this is nowhere more true than in Spain, where the ghosts of the Civil War have yet to be laid to rest.
   
   The specific trigger for a reexamination of past events was the exhumation of bodies for reburial from first a handful, later scores, of mass graves dating from the Spanish Civil War. The vast majority were bodies of Republicans killed or executed by Franco's forces; many had disappeared with little or no information about the circumstances of their death, and had been buried in unmarked, communal graves. It took almost 30 years after Franco's death, but suddenly, in the middle of the last decade, old wounds were reopened and old hostilities resurfaced as relatives of the dead began to demand exhumation, proper burial, and some measure of accountability. The question of the graves, and coming to term with the past, received a major increase in traction when the right-wing government of Jose Maria Aznar lost to Zapatero's socialist party in the general election of 2004 (it was still a hot topic in 2009). It provided the impetus for the opening three essays in Tremlett's book: Secretos a Voces (Open Secrets), Looking for the Generalisimo, and Amnesty & Amnesia (The Pact of Forgetting).
   
   The number of books about the Spanish Civil War now exceeds 2000, a number that gives me a major headache. Tremlett's material is nonetheless interesting, because he is specifically focused on how it still affects life in Spain seventy years later. 100 pages examining the legacy of civil war, in Spain or anywhere else, isn't exactly a walk in the park, though Tremlett is clear and engaging. Fortunately, each of the remaining chapters is largely self-contained, so they can be read in any order. Later chapters are (generally) given over to more cheerful topics, specifically:
   
   
   * How the Bikini Saved Spain (Benidorm and the rise of tourism)
   * Anarchy, Order and a Real Pair of Balls (the importance of enchufe, corruption and scandal)
   * The Mean Streets of Flamenco
   * Clubs and Curas (Sex. Prostitution neither legal nor illegal. Decline of the influence of the church)
   * Men and Children First (Role of the family)
   * 11-M: Moros y Cristianos (terrorist attacks of March 11th, 2004 and the aftermath)
   * In the Shadow of the Serpent and the Axe (ETA and the Basques)
   * The Madness of Verdaguer (those crazy Catalans)
   * Coffins, Celts and Clothes (Galicia)
   * Moderns and Ruins (the frenetic pace of change)
   
   Tremlett and Hooper are obviously covering some of the same ground. Both are worth reading. What I particularly liked about Tremlett's book is the way all of his writing is grounded in the vivid details of everyday life. He is much better at capturing how it feels to live in Spain. The cacophony of noise in Madrid, the necessity for having and using connections (enchufe) to get anything done that pervades all aspects of Spanish life, first-hand encounters with the health and educational systems through the birth and education of his child, a visit to the municipal jail in Seville (conjugal visits), a brothel in Almeria - the mosaic of Spanish life that Tremlett constructs is detailed, colorful and vibrant. Cumulatively his delightful collection of essays do manage to capture both the charm and frustration of Spanish life.
   
   I highly recommend Ghosts of Spain.



5. I am really enjoying the book and would recommend it to anyone who is settling in Spain. It gives some insight into the culture and history of Spain but as my profesor de Espanole has said, the history is complicated.
   
   My biggest complaint and one which I do not seem able to convey to Amazon is the appalling condition in which the parcel arrived. It would appear that some very heavy object was balancing on the spine of the book thereby crushing it and splitting it. Not good. I have tried to advise of this but you would not even admit that this book was one which I had purchased, even in the last three months. Your site only advised of products I have purchased but yet to received. Please address this problem.
   Thank you Margaret Blinkhorn.

5 comments about The Battle for Spain: The Spanish Civil War 1936-1939.

1. The Battle for Spain is a thorough review of the Spanish Civil War, a conflict about which I knew the basics but wanted to know more. Beevor's work is thorough, and will improve most readers' knowledge of the conflict, but its workmanlike prose style rapidly dissolves into a "this happened then that happened" history. I thought that the period probably could have produced a more interesting account than that presented by Beevor.
   
   I also found that the maps were insufficient. Clearly, Beevor knows Spain better than I; regions of Spain are referred to constantly, but no map of the regions of Spain is included. So, if you're not sure where Estremadura is, don't expect any help from Beevor or his maps. Also, battles which constituted entire chapters of the book lacked maps, so the reader is left to guess where the action happened unless they know Spain's geography relatively well.
   
   The description of the political scene at the beginning of the Spanish Civil War was also difficult to follow. While Spanish politics in 1936 were clearly chaotic, Beevor doesn't do a good job of making sense of the players. Large numbers of names we don't see again and Spanish acronymns abound.
   
   Finally, personalities come in second place in a big way in The Battle for Spain. People who might be fascinating, such as Franco, Azana, Negrin, Companys, and La Pasionaria, are treated as one-dimensional. The reader is left with little insight into their points of view and Beevor rarely lets us know much about what happens to the key players after the war. Beevor sometimes relates the circumstances of their deaths, but generally only if they were executed by Franco.
   
   All in all, The Battle for Spain is an adequate, if boring history of the 20th century's first proxy war.



2. In "The Battle for Spain: The Spanish Civil War 1936-1939", respected British historian Anthony Beevor gives an even-handed description of the turmoil, political machinations, and tragedy that was the Spanish Civil War. He begins with several chapters setting the stage and introducing the many characters and political parties, giving their motives, fears, and aspirations. He then gives a chronological narrative of the war, mainly from a political perspective, and the war's aftermath.
   
   The Spanish Civil War was a complex war, even for a civil war, and each of the two sides ... Nationalist and Republican ... were in reality made up of many smaller parties. The groups comprising the Nationalists were better able to find common ground, while the Republican side, due to the major schisms between the Anarchists and Communists, was almost doomed to failure from the beginning, although that wasn't immediately obvious. Add in the foreign intervention (or lack of it) and the motivations of other countries to support or not support the war, and this is a conflict that is not easy to explain or analyze.
   
   I was surprised at how bloody and vicious the war was, and how many atrocities were committed by both sides. Unlike, say, the American Civil War, where most of the blood was shed on the battlefield, in the Spanish Civil War, summary executions and cold blooded murders before, during, and after the battles was responsible for a significant percentage of the deaths during (and after) the conflict, more often committed by the Nationalists, but also in great numbers by the Republicans.
   
   Mr Beevor does not have an ax to grind, and presents as fair and balanced a view as is possible, sparing neither side. But at the risk of reviewing the book I wanted to read versus the book that was written, I would have liked to have seen a deeper analysis of the military battles and technical innovations and a little less emphasis on the political aspects. The book is dry at times, and reads longer than its 560 pages (in the paperback version), although this is perhaps forgivable given the complexity of the war. However, it's not as easy or intriguing a read as some of his other fine works that I own.
   
   I recommend this book, although it's probably not the best book for an introduction to the Spanish Civil War to a novice. But it is probably the best book on the market that explains it's political aspects.



3. Simply put this is the best written history book I have ever read. Knowing only "For Whom the Bell Tolls" when I started, by the end I felt like I had attended a graduate seminar on the subject. Beevor asks hard questions of all involved, never sympathizing with any side, but always showing sympathy for all who suffered. The explanations of the different parties is clear, the action gripping and the analysis is thought provoking. Buy it.



4. This book is a shortcut. Most people, scholars and amateur historians, believe that The Spanish Civil War: Revised Edition (Modern Library Paperbacks) by Hugh Thomas is the definitive history of the Spanish Civil War, so reading a shorter book (by more than half, in this case) is a bit of a shortcut.
   
   The book has some strong points, but I'll leave those to the other reviewers.
   "One observer in Barcelona commented on the attitude towards buildings. He wrote that the people were inclined to destroy symbols, but that they respected in a naive...." p.108 I won't continue because it simply isn't worth it. First, "one observer" is only marginally ok, but what is not ok, is that no evidence backs it up what so ever. There is no end note, no quotation, no point where someone could trace this information back to its source, (although, I suppose one could read every source in the bibliography). I attend a mediocre liberal arts college, and if I, in my introductory History class, turned in a similar piece of writing my professor would rightly circle it and just put "Who?" next to it. It is a general maxim of mine not to buy serious books that couldn't withstand the lowly standards I have been held to.
   
   There are more historical problems, but I don't think many with an Amazon account are looking for a methodological critique.
   
   This book is not a joy to read. I like to read with a pen and annotate a text pretty thoroughly. I got so tired of reading this; I couldn't stand writing in the book anymore. I would furiously curse the author in the margins. He writes in a British voice that is rather round-about for me, and slowed my reading. The only other criticism of his style is that he or his editor didn't, whether through another (non-American) convention or as a matter of choice, didn't indent long quotations. I never valued this, but it was sorrowfully missing in this book. It was odd not having slightly more room to highlight the few primary sources in the book.
   
   I ended up finishing the book as a matter of personal pride. I typically read one book at a time, but the pace and my fury allowed me to finish 3 others before finally finishing this one.
   
   If you get a joy out of learning don't read this book. I suppose if you only read one book on Spain on the airplane to Spain you could do worse- however I've never read worse.



5. This is a fine history of the bloody and brutal Spanish Civil War. Beevor is no misty eyed romantic and squares up to the hypocricies, tattered ideals and political manoueverings of both right and left. In typical detail, especially that of military movements (supported by comprehensive maps), Beevor explains how Spain became a country completely ripped apart by the war, with the left especially caught up in vitriolic infighting that almost led to a civil war within the Republican side.
   
   Misty eyed romantics, like those intellectuals and young travellers who went over to Spain to fight, will have their illusions that a Republican victory may have spared Europe the later horrors shattered. SPain was inexorably caught up in the big totalitarian movements of Fascism and Communism across Europe at that time. Torture and suspicion were rife on both sides. This was a hot and nasty conflict resulting from a society where internal religious, class and political tensions could not be contained.
   
   Beevor blackly documents these years drawing on detailed archive research. He is damning of those 'war tourists' such as Hemmingway who barrelled up to the front line every now and then to fire off a few rounds before retreating back to the bars to write it up.

5 comments about The Spanish Civil War: A Very Short Introduction (Very Short Introductions).

1. As an alum of public schools in Chicago and Detroit, I had zero knowledge of the Spanish Civil War aside from the fact that it occurred. In a "very short introduction", Graham has given me enough to know what questions to begin to ask about this important period in the history of Western Civilization.



2. I read this book after having read several literary accounts of the Spanish Civil War and studied it in the context of European history. I wanted to flesh out my historical understanding of the war.
   
   It was perfect for that. It showed a real sensitivity to the nuances of Spain. It was written with engaging, academic prose (as opposed to dry, high-brow academic prose). To paint a complete picture of the war Graham used examples from sweeping impersonal policy decisions to anecdotal evidence of how various types of Spaniards experienced the war and its aftermath. To me, it seemed masterful the way she seamlessly integrated the general and the particular.
   
   The topic is highly complicated so this short introduction is dense for a good reason. Graham did a very good job of compressing the major issues into compact, but complete chapters. The organization of the book is rational and stimulating. Graham includes the essential elements to understanding the war on political, historical, cultural and personal levels and leaves out everything else.
   
   I was surprised to see such negative reviews for this book. Perhaps it is worth pointing out that this is definitively a work of history. And, although it's an introduction, it is not elementary. It's a serious study that makes a significant argument.
   
   The book undoubtedly reflects Graham's pro-Republican (Republican refers to the Spanish government that fought Franco's forces in the war) leaning. Even though I generally share her sentiments, at times it seemed like she could have reined in her bias. But, I don't think is a legitimate reason to condemn the book. Early in the book, you'll key into her sympathies and that will inform your reading of the rest of the book.
   
   In short, this is a great introduction to a fascinating subject. After reading the book you will have a robust, if not profound, understanding of the war. It's a great book in itself. But it could also serve as a firm jumping off point for doing further reading about the war. I highly recommend it to anyone interested in Spain, 20th century European history, civil wars or fascism.



3. Seventy years after the Spanish civil war ended, and twenty years after the Communist bloc collapsed, Dr. Graham is still curiously unable to overcome cliché and her all too obvious political leanings to give readers a balanced perspective.
   
   Superficial and highly selective on historical fact, the book abounds, however, in manichean portrayal, "what if" speculation, and anachronistic PC rant. The analysis of the social and political causes leading to the war skips key facts to the point of becoming laughable for anybody with previous information on the topic. As to the unfolding and outcome of the subsequent military conflict, the book naively overemphasizes the impact of foreign involvement (be it Nazi, Soviet, Fascist, or International Brigadist) in a civil war that was esssentially fought by Spaniards against Spaniards.
   
   In the end, an intelligent reader will be left wondering how came it to be that a very large majority of Spaniards were dimwit enough so as to fight along Franco's side in the war (and to support him unwaveringly for 35 years afterwards) against their best interest and that of their country.
   
   Frankly, one would expect more insight from an Oxford specialist...



4. Maybe I've been spoiled by the graceful prose of historians like Barbara Tuchman, Antony Beevor and John Keegan, but the prose in this book is of the quality of how-to manuals written by non-English-speaking engineers. I expected better from Oxford. Oddly, it improves after the first 30-odd pages, but why? Didn't anyone edit the MS, for tortured, clumsy prose and neologisms, that is, words that simply don't exist in English? Didn't the author reread her own work, or rewrite any of it?
   The conflict described is a unique and complicated one; it's difficult to find a history of it that doesn't take sides. Was Franco a psychopath? Possibly. Did the Repulican(liberal) government deliberately target catholic priests and nuns for execution? I can't be sure. It's hard to say, when so many of the writers seem to be biased, one way or the other. To this day(2010), a percentage of the films made in Spain are about the Spanish Civil War. That tells me that the wounds to Spanish society, like the wounds to Argentina and Chile, have not yet been healed. We need something better than this book to lay out the forces acting on the country before, during and after the war, briefly and clearly.



5. Helen Graham provides a useful introduction to the Spanish Civil War. In the spirit of the OUP 'Very Short Introduction' series she packs in a wealth of academic detail, while still summarising the main processes of the war in brisk chapters. The bias, as other reviewers have commented, is strongly pro-Republican, and she is a touch blind to the disgusting game played by the Communists in the Spanish Civil War (events which turned George Orwell firmly off Communism at a time when many of his fellow travellers on the left were eulogising the Stalinist regime).

2 comments about Spanish Civil War Tanks: The Proving Ground for Blitzkrieg (New Vanguard).

1. Steven Zaloga's "Spanish Civil War Tanks" is a great introduction to the history of tanks and armored cars used by both Republican and Nationalist forces in the conflict. Zaloga excels at crafting a historical narrative that makes good use of the limited space provided by the Osprey New Vanguard series format, and Tony Bryan's illustrations are crisp and well executed. The photos are well chosen and well reproduced with useful captions that strengthen the text. Modelers should find both the vehicle photos and illustrations with markings and color schemes useful. While there are no battlefield maps or supper detailed blow by blow accounts of individual battles, the book does provide coverage of all the major operations where tanks were used and it should provide provide wargamers and anyone interested interwar armored history with some interesting insights and analysis of the technology and tactics used during the war. For me the coverage of T-26 tank and development of the Soviet 20-K 45mm tank gun was worth the price of admission because it helped clarify my hazy understanding of the interwar evolutionary offshoots of the Vickers 6-ton tank and provided me with a little better grasp of the evolution of AFV armor and firepower in the 30s. It would have been nice to read more about the Soviet BT-5s in both Republican and Nationalists hands, but these vehicles made up only 50 of the 331 tanks the Soviets sent to Spain and Zaloga has a great deal of ground to cover in 48 pages.
   
   Examples of Republican ad-hoc and series production armored trucks are provided by the author, as well as interesting field modifications by the Nationalist forces of several German Panzer Is and Italian CV 3/35 tankettes with items like Breda 20mm M35 cannons and flame throwers. The Breda 20mm M35 cannon field modifications were a desperate attempt to counter the threat posed by Republican T-26s. There is not much in the book regarding the performance of the modified flame tanks, but the author includes the less than glowing reviews of the German crews of the 4 20mm cannon up-gunned Panzer Is. For the Nationalists the better answer to the threat posed by the Republican T-26 tanks was the addition of German supplied 37mm PaK 36s anti-tank guns and captured T-26s to Nationalist tank platoons.
   
   There are no detailed tables of organizations in the book, but Zaloga does provide details in the text on the structure of Italian, Nationalist (including Panzergruppe Drohne), and Republican/Soviet armored formations describing how the size and nature of the units changed from 1936-39. In addition there are tables calling out the numbers of tanks available to each side at the start of the war, a table listing all the Soviet tank shipments to Spain, and even table with detailed break down of available T-26s for Republican operations from October 1936 to August 1937 which includes the number of destroyed and disabled T-26s on a campaign basis. The text includes the data on all the AFV shipments (tanks + armored cars) to Spain during the war, including the smaller one off shipments like the FT tanks purchased by the Republicans from Poland. Data is also provided on the numbers of domestically manufactured armored cars like the Blindado BC and Spain's only domestic tank project the Trubia.
   
   The war was very much a trial and error affair when it came to the use of armored vehicles. The tactical lessons learned from the war are clouded by the limitations of the available technology and the unique operational difficulties of the conflict. A good deal of the text is spent addressing the operational problems faced by tank units during the war stemming from inadequate training, poor tactics, the poor mechanical endurance of period tanks, and harsh battle field conditions which tested the endurance of man and machine. All and all, its a well crafted little book.



2. SPANISH CIVIL WAR TANKS: THE PROVING GROUND FOR BLITZKRIEG
   STEVEN J. ZALOGA
   OSPREY PUBLICATIONS, 2010
   QUALITY SOFTCOVER, $17.95, 48 PAGES, PHOTOGRAPHS, MAPS, CHARTS, ILLUSTRATIONS
   
   
   Steven J. Zaloga's new title for Osprey, SPANISH CIVIL WAR TANKS: THE PROVING GROUND FOR BLITZKRIEG is a welcome addition to the growing literature on the Spanish Civil War. With that being said, there are a number of mistakes as well as clarifications and additions to help the reader with their understanding of this much overlooked topic. The comments are listed below:
   
   Page 5-The photograph should be corrected to read two members of Gruppe Drohne driving the vehicle.
   
   Page 6-The photograph should be corrected to read 2nd (not 1st) Batallion de Carros de Combate de la Legion in 1938.
   
   Page 16-Although the Soviet-built and supplied T-26 was relatively speedy and well armed, they could easily be knocked
   out. The Soviets had made a mistake in their construction: they used rubber on many external parts. Franco's
   troops would pour gas on these tanks, ignite them, and turn them into "smelting ovens." In actuality, most of
   the tanks captured by the Nationalist forces were due to the lack of tactics or experience, i.e., abandoned in
   muddy terrain, etc. Also, the rewarding of 500 pesetas for each Soviet tank captured in good condition by von
   Thoma helped as well.
   
   Page 19-The photograph should read a Gruppe Drohne instructor shows a Spanish soldier how to homogenize the machine
   guns of a Panzer 1 Ausf A in the workshop at Cubas.
   
   Page 20-"Negrillos" is a diminutive of Negro, black in Spanish, a nickname that the Spanish applied to all German
   personnel and equipment. It had nothing to do with the dark grey paint of the German tanks or the black berets
   worn by the German crews. It should be noted that German Army personnel in Spain never exceeded 600 men at any
   time. The codename for all army training units in Spain was Gruppe "IMKER" (Group "BEEKEEPER"). "IMKER" had
   a staff, under the command of Oberstleutnant von Thoma, which coordinated and maintained all direct communications
   with Germany. "IMKER's" Panzer units were codenamed Gruppe "DROHNE" (Group "DRONE"). The units that landed in
   Spain in October, 1936 are listed here-1.Pz. Kp. (from the 1. Bataillon of Pz. Rgt 6 (Neuruppin)); 2. Pz. Kp.
   (from the 2. Bataillon of Pz. Rgt. 6 (Neuruppin)); Transport Kp.; Nachrichtenzug (Signals Platoon); Werkstutts-
   Kp. (Workshop Company); and 1. Pak. Kdo.-(Antitank Gun Command).
   
   Page 23-This is a photograph of a Panzerbefehlswagen 1 Ausf. B that was used in Spain. It was quite a different
   version from those that became known during the invasion of Poland, on 1 September 1939. They lacked the built
   over fixed turret and had vision slits for the tank commander. The position of the machine gun also lacked the
   ball socket that characterized this tank later. This photograph was taken in 1938.
   
   Page 31-The caption should read the tank on the extreme left is a captured Republican T-26 tank that still carries its
   Soviet numbers "632". The tank on its right is a Pz Kw 1 Ausf. A. Both tanks are of the 1st Batallon (not 2nd) de
   Carros de Combate de la Legion.
   
   Page 32-The caption should read 2nd Batallon not 1st Batallon.
   
   Page 33-The insert on the unit insignia is wrong. The diamond should notate 2nd Batallon and the circle notate 1st
   Batallon. The 1st Batallon utilized their unit insignia in October, 1936 while the 2nd Batallon utilized their unit
   insignia on October 1, 1938.
   
   Page 40-The PzKPFW 1 AUSF A is incorrectly identified. It should be 1st Company/1st Batallon not 1st Company/2nd Batallon.
   
   NOTE: White on black St. Andrew's Cross used from 1937 to March, 1938 for aircraft identification. Black on white St.
   Andrew's Cross used from March, 1938 to the end of the Spanish Civil War. When the Germans arrived in Spain, they
   were issued blue-grey coveralls and black berets. Later, they would wear the Gruppe DROHNE special badge on their
   left pocket-a skull and a tank surrounded with oak leaves. On their berets, they put the skull, the Panzer troops
   badge, and in some cases, the silver swastika. Early on, they would wear their rank badges on their berets, like the
   Spanish tank crews. All-in-all, 56,000 Spaniards took part in one or more of the training programs, a significant
   contribution to Franco's cause. After the Spanish Civil War ended, it wasn't uncommon to see a Panzer man without
   the swastika on his beret...it was tradition to give it as a souvenir to one of his Spanish or Moroccan comrades.
   Panzer troops could remain in Spain longer than the normal 9 months tour of duty. All officers, NCOs, and men were
   promoted to one full rank while in Spain, but were demoted back upon their return to Germany. Two excellant books
   that will give you a detailed account of the Condor Legion in the Spanish Civil War are The Uniforms, Organization,
   And History Of The Legion Condor by Roger James Bender and Soldiers Of Von Thoma: Legion Condor Ground Forces In The
   Spanish Civil War, 1936-1939 by Lucas Molina Franco and Jose Ma Manrique Garcia with Raul Arias Ramos.
   
   
   Lt. Colonel Robert A. Lynn, Florida Guard
   Orlando, Florida