The Spanish Civil War

"This is the first new full-length account of the Spanish civil war to appear in English since the death of General Franco in 1975. The author traces the roots of the conflict as far back as the emergence of Spain as a European nation in the fifteenth century. He then describes the complex events from the coup d'etat which started the war in July 1936 to the final defeat of the Republicans in 1939 with vigour and welcome clarity. He succeeds particularly well in unravelling the complicated political and regional groupings on the Republican side. His approach is brisk and highly readable and the reader will find, in this latest history of the war, explanations for many of the dramatic events in Spain since the death of Franco and the restoration of democracy. It is hardly surprising that the Spanish civil war has attracted so many historians. A world war by proxy, a forerunner of contemporary wars such as Vietnam and El Salvador, it was also a war of atrocities and political genocide, and a military testing ground for Russia, Italy and Germany, whose Condor Legion destroyed the Basque provincial capital of Guernica. This account leaves out none of the familiar aspects, but explores them with a clear eye, and provides important new insights into the war, its causes, its course, and its consequences."--