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The Spanish Civil War

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More political history than battlefield history, Anthony Beevor's recount of the Spanish Civil War is a complex look at the proxy war that took place in Spain just before the outbreak of the Second World War. A large portion of this book is devoted to the politics inside Spain both before and during the conflict, and the struggles within both "sides," as the political realities of the mid- to late thirties in Spain forced some incompatible ideologies together, eventually leading to the demise of the Republican government.

The best thing about this book is that Beevor finds a way to break down the political struggle along three axes of conflict. While he often bounces back and forth from the battlefield to the political arenas while presenting mountains of complex information, he always finds a common thread and manages to pull all the facts presented back into the theme presented in a given chapter.

Beevor's sympathies seem to lie with the Anarchists, though it seems that this is more a result of the fact that the Communists and the Fascists had foreign support from governments which history shows were less than benevolent. The Anarchist cause is typically portrayed in a more sypathetic light than the Communists and Fascists, whose aspirations were more totalitarian than the anarchists, who (at least as they are presented in this book) simply wanted the right to govern themselves. To his credit, however, he does not spare any party in the description of the murderous brutality between all participants. He takes extra time to explain the propaganda battle (a very important aspect of the conflict), from the atrocities committed against the Church to the efforts of both sides to win victories based on propaganda, rather than military, goals.

Some of the political conundrums of Spain in the '30s are also presented. One of the most interesting is the plight of the Anarchists. They had a massive party capable of wielding immense power, but since they rejected the idea of elections, they were reduced to being bystanders in the political world. The compromises they made once the war started, as a result of the aggressive nature of the Communists (backed by the Stalinist USSR), and the backlash against the Communists near the end of the conflict, are a couple of the major underlying themes of this book. Beevor expalins it best when he says that "The Nationalists defended a common view of the past; the Republican coalition in contrast, had widely differing visions of the future."

This is a very infomative book, and the reader will take a lot of understanding away from it. I would, however recommend two things, the first of which is to read and bookark the list of political parties and organizations on pages 285 through 287, before reading the rest of the book. The second is to take the time to write down the names of important individuals. This will significantly ease the reader's efforts to remember the mass of information presented. While this book is roughly 285 pages long, it is a very long 285 pages, as previous reviewers have noted, and is not an easy read.

The Spanish Civil War, by Anthony Beevor, is a fairly detailed survey of the history of this occasionally confusing period. Beevor spends a few chapters giving much needed historical background. The detail is necessary but a little dry and perhaps exhaustive to read as an introduction. The social and economic history of Spain is dealt with in enough detail to put the civil war in context. After covering the events leading up to the war, the bulk of the book is devoted to a very detailed, more or less chronological history of the war itself.
The events leading the to defeat of the Spanish Republic are sometimes referred to as a civil war within a civil war. Much attention is paid to distinguishing the various factions and personalities on both sides of the war. The Carlists, the Falange, PUOM, the Communists, the anarchists, et al, are all dealt with in detail so the reader is never really confused about how their aims, and why they did what they did. Beevor also spends time discussing regional differences among various factions. Lots of attention is paid to how the Republican forces were consumed largely from within, and how the various Nationalist factions also suffered some degree of discord.. In the end, fractionalization of Republican forces, Soviet style purges, a Communist take-over and just plain bad military and political leadership led to their inevitable defeat.
Beevor is dispassionate in his treatment of both sides. There's no real moralizing: I saw no obvious agenda. Instead, he gives detailed descriptions of the agendas, excesses and strengths and weaknesses of all sides and factions.
Against all of this was the background of foreign intervention. Again, Beevor goes into detail about the German, Italian and Russian interventions, and the lessons learned (or not learned) by each. The book also covers the incredible failure of the European and American democracies to do anything stop the war, and the hypocrisy involved in all their policies vis-a-vis Spain and the treatment of the various factions.
Overall, this book is an excellent history of the war. The detail is thorough enough to make some parts a little slow to read. All sides are covered in detail, with no evident political agenda. Events are covered in extreme detail and all the factions are thoroughly explained. I would not call this the `definitive' history of the war, but this is an excellent, detailed overview and a must read for anybody interested in this period.

The Battle For Spain: The Spanish Civil War 1936-1939 is a book that focuses on not just the causes of the conflict and military actions taken during it, but also on the ideals, goals and politics that shaped the two sides.
The facts of the war have always interested me and the author does a good job of adding new and updated information. I knew that the German pilots used the war to try out new tactics, like flying in pairs and mass bombing, but I didn't know that the Stuka dive-bomber was first used in the Spain or that the 88mms were used in Spain against ground targets as while as enemy aircraft (I thought the German 88mms were first used against ground targets in the invasion of France). I knew Germany and Italy helped the Nationalists while Russia and Mexico helped the Republic but had no idea that Hermann Goring sold weapons to the Republic or that Ford, Studebaker and GM supplied 12,000 trucks to Franco!
I did not know that Franco offered to enter the Second World War on the side of the Axis. I knew about the Spanish Blue Division but not about the thousands of Spanish Republicans who fought for the USSR or the French resistance.
First person accounts from Russian sources add new perspectives. Now, in all the sad detail, we can watch the infighting between socialists, anarchists, republicans, Basque nationalists, communists and so many other groups within the Republican Zone. We can watch the lies, the back stabbing, the tactics of terror, the dehumanization of the enemy, the string pulling, the blackmailing, the killings and the consequences of said actions as the war rages on. And the National Zone isn't a paradise either, with war trials that started almost with the first shot and did not end till sometime in the late 1950s.
The book also touches on European events and how the nations of the world reacted to (or failed to react to) the Spanish Civil War. Nothing is in a vacuum and the book makes clear the complex balance of power that the European powers were trying to weave to keep the peace. In the end the crumbling Republic would find itself a sideshow with the clouds of another World War forming on the future horizon.
The amazing part is Antony Beevor's skill in linking all the major events, one by one, without being too heavy handed. His light touch allows us to swiftly understand the problems each side faced and how each side dealt (or did not deal) with them. And the aftermath that followed.

This book gives a highly informative account of the l936-39 civil war in Spain. If, like me, you find this particular episode of European history complex and vague, then Antony Beevor will be of great help. He takes care to first concisely set in place all information critical for understanding the impetus behind this conflict. Beevor explains that the rebelling Nationalist generals under Francisco Franco uniformly supported an authoritarian and centralized government that served the interests of landowners and industrialists. Arrayed against them was the Republican Spanish government supported by a variety of factions, often with conflicting ideologies, but usually possessing some motivation towards a libertarian and/or decentralized government that favored the working class.

While it is generally appreciated that Mussolini and Hitler greatly aided Franco and his fascist Nationalists, the book takes care to point out that Britain, the United States, and (although most reluctantly) France were all instrumental in orchestrating a fascist victory. The Spanish Republicans received significant support from only the Soviet Union. The reader can judge whether this 'support' helped or hurt the Republican cause.

The book also notes that Franco relied on a foreign legion of Moroccans as his most effective and ruthless troops (by all accounts, they were gruesomely fond of bayonet work). Coupled with overt aid in the form of armaments and soldiers from Italy and Germany, this suggests that the conflict was less of an internal struggle than might normally be implied by 'civil war'.

Beevor gives an unbiased treatment of the wartime propaganda efforts. These mainly consisted of one side charging the other with committing atrocities. Beevor's effort to sort the sensationalized from the reality appears sincere. Indeed, this coolheaded analysis is even more frightening in that it still produces a horribly high tally of executions and massacre. Franco's promise to, if necessary, "shoot half of Spain," was clearly a sentiment unique to neither side.

The book is excellently written and faults are few. However, the maps are inadequate, and placing events in their geographical context is difficult. Moreover, the initial chapters are chockfull of newly introduced parties and factions. Their names, leaders, and political allegiances soon became for me a jumbled mess. Beevor supplies a brief but descriptive appendix of these organizations, and it should be referred to regularly. In any case, after the first 50 pages or so the reading becomes smooth and seamless.

Those drawn to this book out of admiration for Beevor's Stalingrad: The Fateful Siege might be bit thrown by the difference in style, especially in the first few chapters. For me, Stalingrad read breezily, like an informative and engaging discussion, while The Spanish Civil War is more akin to a formal scholarly lecture. The author does however have an appreciation for wit, and his commentary is wry more often than dry.

The Spanish civil war is a fascinating topic in its own right. A greater comprehension is realized when one considers the degree to which it served as a proving ground for military equipment, tactics, and also the political ideologies that would soon conflict in truly global proportions during World War II. The Spanish Civil War impressively equips the reader to appreciate this important period of European history.

This is a standard history of the Spanish Civil War by military historian Anthony Beevor. It's deceptively small in size (the type in the book is about the smallest I've ever seen, short of a footnote or something) but full of detail. The author doesn't, however, pull any punches, and he doesn't think much of the communist leadership in the war, so those of a liberal bent who want to read the good vs. bad story of this war should look elsewhere. In the author's mind, the combatants were different flavors of bad, though he seems to sympathize somewhat with the non-communist Republicans, especially the anarchists and the Trotskyists.

The author spends a good deal of time going over the background to the war, and a similar amount of time dealing with its aftermath. He also works hard to argue that some of the stories of the war are myths: in his view, the airlift the Luftwaffe provided to Franco's forces to get the Moroccans to Spain has been overestimated. All in all, this was an interesting book, though the author was new to being a writer when it was written (1983) and the prose is a bit wooden, to be truthful. A good effort nonetheless, and a useful alternative to Hugh Thomas' masterful but massive tome on the same subject, which runs to well over a thousand pages in its current edition.

The new edition of Beevor's classical account of the Spanish Civil War does not disappoint the author's many fans. His narrations of famous battles are outstanding, particularly in the cases of Teruel and Ebro. His characterizations remain spot-on. Franco is wily as he sacrifices thousands of his men for political gains. Azaña is decent but weak. Largo Caballero is a poor man's Kerensky, whereas Negrín is a would-be Stalin. Communist leaders Líster and El Campesino quarrel as the front collapses. Stalin steals Spain's gold reserves. Hitler gets paid for his help with mineral resources, whereas Mussolini gives his help for free (and wastes over 3 billion dollars in the process!). André Malraux is a louse, who gets rich selling sub-standard weapons to the Republic and then pretends to be a hero.

Everyone is in here: from the International Brigades to their sympathisers (including Hemingway and Capa), to the Carlists and Falangists and their allies abroad, leftish French catholics Mauriac and Bernanos, ebullient but unreliable Italians, cold-blooded and efficient Germans, murderous Communists and well-meaning anarchists, priests and nuns, novelists and poets (including García Lorca). Beevor's diagnosis can't be faulted: Franco won because he led a professional army, because the democracies did nothing to help the Republic, because the fascists and the communists helped their allies (but the fascists did a better job), because the Republic's defenders were divided between a liberal, social-democratic wing and a millenarian anarcho-soviet wing and they couldn't get their act together, and because the Republican leaders wasted their strenght in battles that couldn't be won, but in which they engaged for political purposes.

Beevor's characterization of the two sides is generally even-handed, but sometimes he allows his own sympathies to creep in. He describes the management of the economy by Franco in the post-war years as an Iberian version of Ceaucescu's regime in Romania. But if this was the case, how come Spain was quite prosperous in 1975, whereas Romania was bankrupt in 1989? He says that the economic opening of the 1960s was brought on by the crisis of self-sufficiency in the 1950s, and was not integral to Francoist thought. This may be the case, but then he would have to explain why Spain was able to correct its track in the 1960s, whereas the Soviet Union was unable to do so in the 1980s (If the Francoist economy was able to re-generate itself, it must have been because it was capable of re-generation). He downplays the awfulness of a Communist-led Spain assuming that a native form of communism might have developed, and points to the leadership of Santiago Carrillo (who in the 1960s would develop the tenets of Eurocommunism) as a positive sign. But in the 1930s and 1940s Spanish communists were among the most fervent Stalinists anywhere. There is no reason to assume that they wouldn't have behaved as their fellows did in North Korea or in Eastern Europe.

And if the Communists had been in power in Spain in 1939, it is hard to imagine that Portugal wouldn't have gone communist as well (it nearly did, in the 1970s). In this situation, in 1945 the Red Army probably wouldn't have stopped in Central Germany, but might have moved on to France, the Benelux Countries and Italy. In this situation, all of Europe might have been communist after WWII. Thus, most of Africa and Asia would have been run by communists prior to de-colonization (which might not have occurred). Without the help of Western Europe, it is not certain how the US might have behaved at torrid points of the Cold War. I think a nuclear conflict would have been much likelier.

Spain under Franco was surely not a democratic place. Linguistic minorities were oppressed, and former opponents were mistreated to a horrid degree. But there is no reason to assume that the other side would have behaved better.

This is an excellent book, which has received much well deserved praise. Rather than repeating the praise, I would like to take up a few points which I feel a good editor would have corrected:

In a book of this kind there is necessarily much numerical information (men, arms etc for both sides), yet the book does not contain a single table. In this second edition there are maps, but all without scale. There are also battles described in the text which do not have any corresponding map.

The German and Italian support in getting the Army of Africa across from Morocco was extremely important for the nationalists. However, the information about this support is partly too scattered and partly incomplete (relative to much other information in the book). First, tha composition of the Army of Africa is not given in the text, only in the notes (p.459) Second, the German Ju52 planes airlifted the major part of the soldiers. On p. 64 it says that Franco asked for ten planes, on p.137 it says Hitler gave twice the number asked for. I suspect I am not the only one who had forgotten the original request when I reached p. 137. How did the Ju52s reach Africa? The distance from Germany is larger than he normal range of Ju52.
Thirdly, the German naval assistance. On p. 73 the "convoy of victory" was screened by two German pocket battle ships, on p.117 they screened convoys (plural). How come they were there at that time? When did they get their orders? From Hitler (as for the planes)?

Population: Is not given for Spain around 1936. Latest figure for early 1900s. It says that there was a significant rise in the birth rate durin WW1 "which would have its effect twenty yers later". This later effect is not described anywere.

Franco is not much described. There were probably some reasons he was the youngest general in Spain. Around one page background on Franco would have helped.

Spanish regions like Old Castile and Levante are not explained; probably very few readers know what they are. Likewise "belligerent rights", what are they since they were so important?

p.100: Strange to see Dia de Hispanidad translated to Day of the Spanish Race, when it would better be Spanishness. Likewise on translatios, it is again strange to see references to Spanish translations of English book in this English edition

The author is a little too fond of French expressions, showing off his erudition.

The Battle for Spain begins with a brief overview of Spanish history before plunging into the complicated political and military struggle that ravaged Spain for three years. This overview helps set the table, and prepares the reader for Beevor's evanhandedness. Beevor manages to keep clear of most of the mythologizing connected with the war, while lending his calm and occasionally understated style to the debunking of many myths promulgated by both sides.

This book is very useful for the detail with which Beevor treats the political developments in Spain and internationally. Franco's political manuvering, which achieved his primacy among the Nationalists by 1937, are deftly described. The infighting among the Republicans, especially the Catalonia-Madrid squabbling and its corrosive effect on the Republican cause, are also masterfully covered. I appreciated Beevor's allowing the sheer numbers of the civilian casualties, especially those killed in massacres by Nationalist and Republican troops, to speak for themselves.

Who comes off badly in this history? Franco is politically astute, and militarily obtuse. The Nationalist generals range in performance from the stolid to the careless. One of the great assets that the Nationalist cause had was the insistence of the Communist faction among the Republicans on "political offensives" that squandered the men and treasure of the Republican army.

While I think highly of this book, I would recommend Ian Westwell's "Condor Legion: The Wehrmacht's Training Ground" as a companion book for those with more interest in the military aspects of the war. One unfortunate lack in the book is a comparative table of the forces and equipment supplied by the Soviet Union, Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy. The maps in Westwell's book are easier to follow, but lack some of the unit detail in Beevor's.

Altogether this is a superb introduction to this harrowing conflict.

le for Spain: The Spanish Civil War 1936-1939 by Antony Beevor is a much better book than the first full length book that I read on the Spanish Civil War--The Spanish Republic and the Civil War, 1931-1939 by Gabriel Jackson. Beevor is much more clear in his explanations and much more thorough in his description of the actual war. In defense of Jackson, he spent much of his book examining the pre-war history of the Second Spanish Republic as his title implies.

Beevor starts by setting the stage for the drama to follow. He gives a good thumbnail sketch of the important factions--including the Carlists--followers of a century-old "lost cause" of dynastic struggle for the Spanish throne. Beevor then discusses how bitter partisan battles between the Left and the Right kept spiraling out of control. Most of the parties of the Left--socialist, anarchist, and communist--banded together as The Popular Front to win control of the Cortes (legislature).

The various parties of "the Right" feared that a full blown Marxist revolution was about to occur, a fear that rhetoric from some in the Popular Front didn't calm. The result was a plot by leading generals, along with the Carlists and the Spanish Falange, to mount a coup d'etat. Beevor includes an anecdote about how the Falange ("Phalanx") was formed in a musical comedy theater. Beevor actually contests the idea that the Falange was a fascist party in the same sense as Italian Fascists or Nazis. The German and Italian fascists were populist revolutionaries, but much of the Falange was quite reactionary (in its purest sense). Yet the Falange certainly evolved into something close to its German and Italian counterparts.

In fact, Beevor illustrates how both the Republic and the Nationalists had to manage a coalition of different factions. I don't remember a discussion in Jackson's book about just how Franco managed to outmaneuver other rebel leaders and become the supreme leader for the Nationalist forces and factions. Meanwhile, the anarchists running Catalonia almost started their own civil war with the Republic over the autonomy of Catalonia.

Beevor pulls no punches about the brutality of both sides in the war. He makes the point that the "losers" sort of wrote the story of the Spanish Civil War because Franco's benefactors lost the Second World War. Although the Nationalists certainly engaged in more widespread repression, Beevor does not make any apologies for the Republic--whose secret police were run by the Soviet NKVD. Even more interesting is the fact that the communists maintained their own secret prisons where people freed by the actual courts of the Republic were incarcerated.

So while we're on the subject of the communists, it seems clear to me that, the Republic would have been overthrown by a communist coup had it managed to win the war. Beevor never says it plainly, but the picture he paints leaves no doubts for me. The communists were at the forefront of insisting that the Republic would need a "regular" army rather than just party militias to defend it once the rebellion started. The communists dominated this new "People's Army," especially since they controlled the flow of aid to it. The one Great Power supporting the Republic fully was the Soviet Union. There were numerous anecdotes of unit commanders being forced to join the Communist Party in order to get arms, supplies, and even medical support for their units. And I already mentioned how the NKVD ran the Republic's secret police once the war started.

And this gets us to the subject of foreign aid to the Nationalists. From the start, Italy and Germany were on the side of the Nationalists. The most crucial early aid was in the use of German transport planes to transport the Army of Africa from Morocco into metropolitan Spain. Beevor also brings out facts I never knew before. I have long been fascinated by the Condor Legion, the German military contingent primarily consisted of Luftwaffe personnel. (On both sides of the war, the foreigners ran the air arms.) But who knew that the Germans used their pocket battleships to shell Republican-held coastal towns? And the Italians not only sent three divisions of Fascist Party militia, but they also sent a regular army division.

Speaking of the Army of Africa, it disappears from Jackson's book once the initial drive on Madrid fails to capture the city. So I sort of assumed that it was consumed by the effort, with the survivors going to other units. Wrong. The Army of Africa was reorganized into the Morocco Corps within the elite Army of Maneuver. The Nationalist Army of Maneuver was deployed wherever a major offensive was to be conducted. Jackson's book left out such military details--like why the Madrid offensive failed in 1936. Beevor also discusses the other major decisive battles of the war. He also critiques the generalship of both sides. Although the Nationalists get faint praise, Beevor excoriates the Republican leadership.

One of the amusing and ironic features is how the ultra-Catholic Carlists would fight side by side with the Moorish regulares of the Army of Africa. The regulares were allowed to loot, rape, and pillage on many occasions.

But let us return to the subject of foreign aid. While the Soviet Union supported the Republic, France vacillated. Part of this vacillation was because of British pressure. In Britain and America, the Republic enjoyed popular sympathy. But in the ruling elites, there was suspicion about the far-left nature of the Popular Front government. Franco was also astute enough to "mortgage" Spanish mineral rights and industrial output to secure aid from business interests overseas. Apparently, Franco's logistics were greatly aided by thousands of Ford trucks imported from the U.S.

In a lesson still resonating today, Beevor details some of the tragic farce that was the Non-Intervention Committee. Britain, France, Italy, Germany, and the Soviet Union sat upon it. Officially, there was supposed to be no foreign intervention in Spain. Yet even the parading of Italian POW's didn't sway Britain and France from enforcing the arms embargo. But Britain and France were increasingly more concerned with events in Central Europe as Hitler made his moves against the Rhineland, Austria, Czechoslovakia, etc. In other words, no matter how perfidious the acts of the Axis Powers, the weak and indecisive democracies averted their eyes and refused to act.

Beevor's book finishes with not only a discussion of the ridiculous machinations within the dying Republic, but also how the survivors faired after the collapse of the Republic. Tens of thousands were interned in France. Some key leaders were arrested by the Vichy French Milice or the German Gestapo after the Fall of France--and then turned over to Franco. Some key communists went to the Soviet Union and served there. Apparently, there was a Spanish company in the 2nd Free French Armored Division that led the way in liberating Paris. Beevor also discusses the careful neutrality of Franco in the Second World War. Beevor tries to make the case that Franco wanted to join the Axis, but that his asking price was too high--new Spanish possessions at the expense of the ambitions of Mussolini and vast quantities of military equipment and economic aid. This contradicts other historians who believe that Franco never really wanted to join the Axis but that he coyly strung Hitler along.

All in all, this is a superb work to introduce someone to the Spanish Civil War. It is also excellent for those of us who knew some things, but wanted to learn more. The only real gripe that I have is that all of the maps are up front and not interleaved at the relevant points in the narrative. Otherwise, call this one a 4.5 out of 5 stars in my book.

I was a little scared at first about reading a book about the spanish civil war because it is,in my opinion, a very difficult conflict to understand.I bought Hugh Thomas book about the spanish civil war and it was just awful ( read my review).So when i picked this book i was a little concerned.But when i started reading Mr Beevor's account my concerns were gone.Mr. Beevor's account is much simpler than Mr Thomas' book. Mr Beevor explains every aspect and every faction of the war.He explains in basic terms what was the agenda of every political party and political group in Spain.He also does a very good job explaining the strategies and tactics of both sides.Altough his narrative is a little dry for me,he gets the main points across.If you want an introduction to the spanish civil war this is your book.