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The Spanish Civil War Reissue Edition
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With his thorough and contemporary examination of the Spanish civil war, historian Antony Beevor unravels the complex events from the coup d'etat which started the war in July of 1936 to the final defeat of the Republicans in 1939. This highly readable account leaves out none of the familiar aspects, exploring them with a clear eye and providing important new insights into the war-its causes, course, and consequences.
- ISBN-100141001488
- ISBN-13978-0141001487
- EditionReissue
- PublisherPenguin Books
- Publication dateJuly 1, 2001
- LanguageEnglish
- Dimensions6.14 x 0.81 x 8.4 inches
- Print length352 pages
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- Publisher : Penguin Books; Reissue edition (July 1, 2001)
- Language : English
- Paperback : 352 pages
- ISBN-10 : 0141001488
- ISBN-13 : 978-0141001487
- Item Weight : 1 pounds
- Dimensions : 6.14 x 0.81 x 8.4 inches
- Best Sellers Rank: #2,753,364 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #1,292 in Military History (Books)
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About the author

A regular in the 11th Hussars, Antony Beevor served in Germany and England. He has had a number of books published and his book Stalingrad was awarded the Samuel Johnson Prize, the Wolfson History Prize and the Hawthornden Prize. Among the many prestigious posts he holds, he is a fellow of the Royal Society of Literature.
Photo by Bengt Oberger (Own work) [CC BY-SA 4.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0)], via Wikimedia Commons.
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As far as politics goes, that it so pervades our outlook on this crisis cannot be questioned. Originally, I believed in the journalistic and liberal view that the Republican cause was noble and that the world enabled fascism by letting them down. Then, several years of studying the Soviet Union changed my mind. I regarded Spain as just being one other area in which Stalin foisted his paranoia on an entire population and stomped out any of the good that existed. I now know that my easy and extrapolative analysis was hasty. While the communists and the NKVD tainted immeasurably the Republican side, the majority of the people and soldiers should be the objects of our pity and remembrance. A feeling of emotion is conveyed within these pages and one cannot control the well of sympathy the narrative creates. Franco was a despicable man and more totalitarian than authoritarian in nature. The atrocities he committed in the name of Spain and Catholicism were absolutely atrocious and extended far beyond Guernica. Repeatedly they slaughtered the inhabitants of villages and military installations for no apparent reason. The Nationalists were the most dishonorable of men as they seldom took prisoners and even betrayed the commands of foreign governments in their blood lust for executions. That the church was fooled initially by them is understandable; that they would continue to endorse their side in full knowledge of the truth is reprehensible. In retrospect, despite my disdain for emotional journalism, sentimental non-sense, the Soviet Union, communism and its adherents, I must reverse previous judgment and proclaim that the Republican cause was the noble one after all.
Yes, this tale is horrific, but it is brilliantly told by a brilliant man and worth your time.
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.
Antony Beevor has compiled a fine history of the events of 1936-39. He carefully tracks the election of the republican government and then the subsequent coup initiated by Franco. War followed with all its inevitable carnage until Franco finally captured Madrid and then continued seeking retribution from any remaining government supporters.
In many respects, war in Spain was probably unavoidable. The two sides had divergent views that democracy seemed unable to manage. Foreign intervention to support the government was virtually non-existent while Franco had the direct and continuing support of both Hitler and Mussolini. The western democracies simply sat on their hands. The only support that the republic could muster was the limp assistance offered by Stalin, a man with much blood on his hands. Spain was thus trapped in slowly heating cauldron with no escape.
Beevor's work is to be commended. However, it is inevitable that his work will be compared with his subsequent books on the siege of Stalingrad and the fall of Berlin. When this comparison is made, it is clear that "The Spanish Civil War" is a markedly lesser effort than his later works. Yet do not let this fact deter the keen reader of history. Spain was a massive tragedy and its story needs to be understood.
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The book is very good at clarifying the conflict's basis and historical context. Beevor's characteristic ability to write a highly readable narrative, while simultaneously handling complexity, is as evident here as in his more recent books.
Some will not be happy with his account of the UK and other countries, in offering no support to a legitimately elected democratic government. But it seems to be the - maybe unpalatable - truth. He isn't particularly direct in his criticism, and leads the reader to make his or her own mind up. The only defence that could be offered for the UK, rather than conclude that reactionary conservatism was the cause of its attitude, may be that the British leaders wanted at all costs to avoid a wider conflict; a conflict that could lead to another war like the 1914-19 one, that devastated Europe physically and psychologically. Beevor doesn't point this possible defence out, and this is my only criticism of a book that is as good as those he went on to write on Stalingrad and the fall of Berlin.
The denial of arms to the Republicans, the legitimate government, by Britain thus driving them to turn to Russia, must be to our eternal shame. At that time not only were Germany and Italy supplying military equipment to Franco's Nationalist, they were crewing it and providing infantry units as "volunteers" as well. The feats of our contribution to the International Brigades do not redeem us. It ranks with the betrayal of Czechoslovakia.
Thought from a friend of mine: "The British buy their enemies and sell their friends"
