The Spanish Civil War : Revised Edition

Rating:
Summary: Strong narrative / some weak points in analysis
Review: This book is a 1000+ page-turner. When I picked it up, I knew nothing about the Spanish Civil War. This book definitely remedied that. Hugh Thomas begins shortly before the outbreak of the war and tells the story through to its completion (essentially 1936-1939). It is somewhat long, but the story itself is so compelling and Thomas' writing so good that it sucked me in and moved along nicely.

I have only a couple of gripes. First, if someone wants a short introduction, this may not be the book. I am sure there are other titles out there that will give you the basic facts in less time. As I said, however, reading the book was entertaining enough that I did not mind at all. As an example of an interesting factoid that emerges from this book, it seems that a substantial portion of the treasure from America that Spain won in the 16th century was given to the Soviets for safe-keeping. It is still there.

Second, while the book is strong on narrative, it is a little bit weak in analysis. What is especially lacking is an understanding of the factors that led to the outbreak of war in the first place. The books starts with a short chapter describing Spain in the early 20th century and plunges directly into the events leading up to the war. While the suspense before the outbreak of the war is palpable, the basic question of why a country would degenerate into civil war is hardly touched. In fairness to the author, he may have deliberately chosen to focus on the war itself rather than its causes. On the other hand, the discussion about why the Nationalists defeated the Republicans is fairly good. Two factors stand out. First, the Republicans were crippled by in-fighting amongst the factions, a fact that is admirably discussed. Second, the Nationalists received substantial help from abroad.

Author background: I am not a historian, but have read a handful of books on Spanish history.

Rating:
Summary: Strong narrative / some weak points in analysis
Review: This book is a 1000+ page-turner. When I picked it up, I knew nothing about the Spanish Civil War. This book definitely remedied that. Hugh Thomas begins shortly before the outbreak of the war and tells the story through to its completion (essentially 1936-1939). It is somewhat long, but the story itself is so compelling and Thomas' writing so good that it sucked me in and moved along nicely.

I have only a couple of gripes. First, if someone wants a short introduction, this may not be the book. I am sure there are other titles out there that will give you the basic facts in less time. As I said, however, reading the book was entertaining enough that I did not mind at all. As an example of an interesting factoid that emerges from this book, it seems that a substantial portion of the treasure from America that Spain won in the 16th century was given to the Soviets for safe-keeping. It is still there.

Second, while the book is strong on narrative, it is a little bit weak in analysis. What is especially lacking is an understanding of the factors that led to the outbreak of war in the first place. The books starts with a short chapter describing Spain in the early 20th century and plunges directly into the events leading up to the war. While the suspense before the outbreak of the war is palpable, the basic question of why a country would degenerate into civil war is hardly touched. In fairness to the author, he may have deliberately chosen to focus on the war itself rather than its causes. On the other hand, the discussion about why the Nationalists defeated the Republicans is fairly good. Two factors stand out. First, the Republicans were crippled by in-fighting amongst the factions, a fact that is admirably discussed. Second, the Nationalists received substantial help from abroad.

Author background: I am not a historian, but have read a handful of books on Spanish history.

Rating:
Summary: The best book on the Spanish Civil War
Review: When I moved to Barcelona, Spain in 1980, people were still talking about the Civil War. They had only recently been allowed public discussion of such topics since the death of the dictator, Franco. So, the war was still very recent for a lot of people.

I couldn't understand who all the factions were and what the background of this conflict was when listening to people talk about it. I found this book, read it and it told me everything I wanted to know. I highly recommend it to anyone interested in this era of Spanish history. Very well-written and readable.