The Battle for Spain: The Spanish Civil War 1936-1939

The Battle for Spain: The Spanish Civil War 1936-1939

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Editorial Reviews

A fresh and acclaimed account of the Spanish Civil War by the bestselling author of Stalingrad and The Fall Of Berlin 1945

To mark the 70th anniversary of the Spanish Civil War’s outbreak, Antony Beevor has written a completely updated and revised account of one of the most bitter and hard-fought wars of the twentieth century. With new material gleaned from the Russian archives and numerous other sources, this brisk and accessible book (Spain’s #1 bestseller for twelve weeks), provides a balanced and penetrating perspective, explaining the tensions that led to this terrible overture to World War II and affording new insights into the war—its causes, course, and consequences.

Customer Reviews

Thorough, Somewhat Boring History of the Spanish Civil War

Reviewed by The Czar of Arkansas, 2010-01-18

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.

Light into the Darkness of a Civil War...

Reviewed by D. S. Thurlow, 2009-12-06

Antony Beevor's excellent 1982 "The Spanish Civil War" has been updated and revised for a 2006 edition to mark the 70th anniversary of the conflict. Beevor has taken advantage of improved access to former Soviet archives and recent scholarship to add depth and detail to his original book.

The Spanish Civil War, widely seen as a precursor to the Second World War, was a highly complex struggle with deep roots in Spanish history and politics. Author Beevor rejects a simplistic Republican versus Nationalist characterization of the conflict. In a brisk and generally readable account, Beevor finds and explores three different axes of conflict: Left-Right, centralist-regionalist, and authoritarian-libertarian. The Republican and Nationalist sides were actually coalitions that experienced significant internal turbulence during the 1936-1939 fighting.

Beevor also examines the impact of foreign assistance on the coalitions and on the battlefield. German and Italian manpower, equipment and expertise were highly valuable to the cause of General Franco, who early established his dominance over the Nationalist cause. In contrast, Soviet support was a decidedly mixed blessing for the Republican side. After Britain and France chose non-intervention, the Republicans had few alternatives to aid from Moscow, but that aid came with a price tag. Beevor finds the increasing Communization of the Republican war effort was a significant factor in its ultimate defeat.

"The Spanish Civil War" does a highly creditable job of casting light on a complex, bitter civil war, although in places the density of detail on political discourse can be exhausting. The overall effort is however worthwhile and highly recommended to the general reader and to the student looking for a concise account.

A Well Balanced, Fresh View of the Spanish Civil War

Reviewed by John Kelly, 2009-12-01

My initial foray into the Spanish civil War was Hugh Thomas' excellent book from the 1960s. Beevor, in my view takes a fresh view on the conflict, moving beyond recent revisionism by Stanley Payne and Robert Radosh, especially, as other reviewers have noted, in his treatment of the Anarchists. This is not to say that Beevor is a partisan of the anarchist narrative, he does not flinch from describing the atrocities committed by the militias. One interesting point, echoing Thomas, was how the Stalinist communist party steadily gained influence over the Republic by being a conservative counterweight to the Anarchists and the POUM, even to the point of reversing collectivisation efforts in Catalonia, cementing the support of the middle class in Republican areas. This is probably the only time in history where the communist party represented conservative business owners.

I was especially interested in how Beevor incorporated the opening of the Soviet Archives on the SCW, and how that compared to Hugh Thomas' book which was written at the height of the cold war. One surprise was Beevor's evidence of how uninterested Stalin appeared to be in Spain, and how he was almost forced into intervention by political concerns -- he was afraid that not intervening would hurt the Soviet's image among the foreign communist parties. He demonstrates that Stalin was committed to the popular front strategy in Spain, and at no time instructed his cadres to start revolutionary activity. This flies in the face of conventional wisdom which, in the last twenty years, chiefly due to revisionist historians like Stanley Payne, has the Soviets as the puppet masters from the beginning.

Beevor's description of the military campaign was clear without becoming ponderous. He describes how the the Republic almost defeated itself by engaging in set piece offensives for propaganda purposes, that decimated the Republican army while achieving little of military value. He also contradicts conventional wisdom as to the ineffectiveness of the Anarchist columns, showing that they were just as effective in urban warfare as the more disciplined Republican units like the International Brigades.

Another interesting theme was his detailed description of the actions of other democracies, especially the members of the so-called non-intervention committee, led by Britain and including France, the Soviets, Nazi Germany and Mussolini's Italy. He describes the ludicrous hypocrisy of Britain, who turned a blind eye to massive Italian and German aid to Franco, while using the Royal navy to prevent arms going to the Republic. He demonstrates that British concern about Soviet influence on the Republic was vastly conflated, pointing out that by denying the Republic arms, Britain, and later France created a self fulfilling prophecy -- by forcing the Republic to go to the Soviets to buy arms they greatly enhanced communist influence in the Republican government. But more importantly, Beevor frames British/French policy in the context of appeasement -- placing Spain in the same category as Czechoslovakia, a sacrifice to the fascist maw, hoping to sate it. History obviously shows the result.

Beevor also puts to rest the suggestion that Franco was apolitical and not a "real" fascist. He provides evidence that Franco was eager to enter WW2 on the side of the Axis, holding out only to convince Hitler to cede French North Africa to him. Also, Franco provided 50,000 "volunteers" to the SS to fight on the Russian front -- an enormous contribution considering that the pre civil war Spanish army was only 100,000 soldiers. He also points out that Franco allowing Hitler to use Spanish ports to launch U-Boat raids on American and British shipping in the North Atlantic.

All in all, Beevor's book is an excellent read, scholarly, but aimed at the general reader. I recommend it highly.

Not Fair and balanced

Reviewed by Arthur E. Amidano, 2009-11-01

I am not an expert in the Spanish Civil War. This was the first book I ever read on it. I want to learn more about it. I understand that abuses in war occur on both sides but I feel the author showed that he disliked the Nationalists and favored the Republic. I was looking for a book that is fair and balanced.Only two chapters appeared to be fair and balanced in the entire book. It appears the war was the result of a conflict between two ideologies ie liberalism verus traditionalism. Traditionalism won the war. I wish more would have been written about the good side of the traditionalist ideology instead of portraying it as evil through most of the book. I guess I will have to keep researching to find out.

Great Background For A Novel

Reviewed by M. Feldman, 2009-10-28

All aspects of this books' historical account of the event that can be called, "the First 'True' Battle of the 'isms' in the 20th Century" are wonderfully written and documented visually. A must have for any historical lover or novelist's library.