The Spanish Civil War

Rating:
Summary: An excellent account of a proxy war
Review: ...
This is a book that will teach you about the first real battles of the second world war. All of the European participants were involved, and you can see how all players worked the diplomatic and military levers in an attempt to obtain an advantage. You will also learn how lethargic France was in the thirties, where most of its' activist foreign policy was written in London. In my opinion, any serious study about the forces that led to the second world war and whether it could have been prevented should include this book.

Rating:
Summary: fascinating
Review: An essential book about the most important forgotten war of the 20th century. I agree with those who say that Beevor leaned towards the Republic and against the Nationalists, but that didn't bother me - I expected it. Altho we hear a lot about the International Brigades, I was surprised to see how far the moneyed classes in both England and the U.S. supported Franco. The British let Franco use Gibraltar as a communications station in the vital first months of the General's revolt? Maybe that explains why Franco wouldn't let Hitler occupy it, he owed the British a big debt. Maybe the way the British upper classes leaned towards fascism also explains why Hitler didn't invade England - perhaps he expected them to make peace - they weren't as far away ideologically as we're now led to believe.

Beevor pretty much skips the prosecutions of the Church in the Republican sector - a fact that made my Irish family intensely pro-Franco. If you want to read about that, check out "The Last Crusade: Spain 1936" by Warren Carroll.

Rating:
Summary: Lacking Objectivity
Review: Antony Beevor has done an excellent job of research and of articulating the results of that research for those wishing to learn about the fascinating Spanish Civil War. Unfortunately, Mr. Beevor's effort has been marred by his manifest bias -- he clearly prefers the Republicans over the Nationalists (though he has few illusions about the Communists), and is distastefully anti-Catholic. A pity, but an effective antidote might be Warren Carroll's "The Last Crusade."

Rating:
Summary: Fine History
Review: Beevor's history of the Spanish Civil War is a wonderful read. It deals well with the events that led up to the war as well as the social and cultural causes. The only limitation is when the author discusses the battles. The book could have used more maps to describe the battles ebbs and flows.

I espically liked the discussion of the role that Germany and Italy played in the Nationalists victory and the internal disputes that helped dome the Republicans.

Rating:
Summary: Detailed description of a horrific conflict
Review: Between 1936 and 1939 Spain was torn apart by a civil war. On one side were the Republicans: the legally elected government, consisting of leftish political, civil and trade union groups as diverse as the anarchists, communists, socialists and liberals backed by Russia and an international group of people willing to fight for their cause. On the other side stood the Nationalists: the army led by Generalissimo Franco and firmly backed by the Catholic church, right wing groups and the ... governments of Italy and Germany who used the war for experimenting with war tactics to be used during WW2. And here lies the weakness of the democratic countries in Europe, in particular France and Great Britain who remained not only neutral, but actively hampered the actions of the Republicans and turned a blind eye on the involvement of Germany and Italy.

Everyone but the staunchest right winger cannot have anything but sympathy for the initial movement of the Republicans: with only the barest means plus a lot of enthusiasm the majority of the population supports their cause and start to build a new society. But then things go desperately wrong: the communists start to build a state within the state, build a secret police force and control the republican army and do everything to block the activities of the other movements. This, plus their predilection to senseless military action pave the road to disaster.

This book gives a very thorough description of the actions and mechanisms, even a bit too much detail to my taste, making the book sometimes rather long-winded. But after reading the book one knows about everything that took place during the Spanish civil war.

Rating:
Summary: Not on par with his Stalingrad book
Review: I bought this book for historical interest but also on the basis of what a good book Beevor's 'Stalingrad' was. While his study of the Spanish war is detailed yet broad and provides a great history in a modest-sized one volume, it just fails to be as gripping or even interesting as 'Stalingrad.' That could be due to the subject matter, but I don't think so because the Spanish conflict directly preceded WWII and many of the day's powers were substantially involved and had vested interests in the outcome.
Rather, the canvas of this entire conflict is broader than what Beevor tackled in 'Stalingrad,' and perhaps he is better suited to a more narrow focus. There are so many competing political factions before and during the war, and competing interests from outside countries, that Beevor seems overwhelmed. Frequent confustion results where he makes too many presumptions on each and every name being remembered by the reader, etc.
Still a fascinating purely for the amount of information contained in a rather short book. At least initially, the leftists in this conflict truly endear sympathy for their cause and are one of the few examples in the past century of a communist movement even somewhat capable of evoking sympathy. By the end, both sides mean nothing but heartache for the future of Spain, and certainly helped stir up the already rumbling war clouds elsewhere.

Rating:
Summary: Not on par with his Stalingrad book
Review: I bought this book for historical interest but also on the basis of what a good book Beevor's 'Stalingrad' was. While his study of the Spanish war is detailed yet broad and provides a great history in a modest-sized one volume, it just fails to be as gripping or even interesting as 'Stalingrad.' That could be due to the subject matter, but I don't think so because the Spanish conflict directly preceded WWII and many of the day's powers were substantially involved and had vested interests in the outcome.
Rather, the canvas of this entire conflict is broader than what Beevor tackled in 'Stalingrad,' and perhaps he is better suited to a more narrow focus. There are so many competing political factions before and during the war, and competing interests from outside countries, that Beevor seems overwhelmed. Frequent confustion results where he makes too many presumptions on each and every name being remembered by the reader, etc.
Still a fascinating purely for the amount of information contained in a rather short book. At least initially, the leftists in this conflict truly endear sympathy for their cause and are one of the few examples in the past century of a communist movement even somewhat capable of evoking sympathy. By the end, both sides mean nothing but heartache for the future of Spain, and certainly helped stir up the already rumbling war clouds elsewhere.

Rating:
Summary: Not perfect... but close enough...
Review: I must admit the account of the author is quite informative in a very complex subject!... I have read many book about that preambul of WWII and it never ceases to amaze me how even trying to be unbiased IT IS VERY DIFFICULT...
I can recommend the book to anyone searching for a clarification of the political complexity of the conflicting sides... and to understand better the nuances of the war inside the war in the republican side ... but also be aware the military operations are rather sketchy and a good set of maps would have been better then the pictures provided...(that would have made the book five stars then!...)
A good synthesis in so few pages...
The Spanish Civil War could also have been called the FOURTH CARLIST WAR (from the point of view of the carlists)... or the failed Revolution in Spain (from the point of view of the communists)... or the training ground for WWII (at least for the germans and italians and their weapons)... or how the Falange was a party without a leader and Franco a leader without a party (Author's words not mine... a good paradox but not exact at 100%...).
The "rebels" become the "nationalists" and the "defenders of the traditional values"... (Winning a War is often the difference between traitor or patriot... specially in civil wars!), and had the common sense to aglutinate (not without inner tensions) behind a unique leadership (all the right and a few national-leftists, monarchics, and of course the financial powers...); stupidly enough (for the republicans) the legal government become less and less legal and more and more entangled in a war inside a war (anarchists against communists, socialists oscillating between the two... nationalist/independentists catalans and basques playing their own game... wow! really VERY COMPLICATED FRAME and not at all as simple as fascists (rightwingers) againts republicans (leftwingers)... a strong sector of the Falange was national-socialist (and a leftist party)... and the basque church and the PNV were'nt leftists at all...
The book suffers from his main trump: The Author is a foreigner!, impartiality can be achieved this way (or tried to...) but to feel like a spaniard or even know what a "gallego" (galician in the text) means is in fact out of his grasp...

A brutal and nasty war where excesses where commited by both sides undoubtedly... but what civil war is'nt a nasty war?...
A GOOD BOOK ON THE SUBJECT BUT NO MASTERPIECE (I DOUBT IF THAT CAN EVER BE WRITTEN ABOUT THAT WAR...)...


Rating:
Summary: Good Intro to a very complex civil war
Review: 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.

Rating:
Summary: Detailed and Objective Account With No Agenda
Review: I've noticed a number of complaints about this book that Beevor was overly sympathetic to the communists and anarchists when he wrote the Spanish Civil War. While I can understand why this would be a charge brought against him, it is not a fault of Beevor, he provides objective information about a conflict that to this day has people highly divided, particularly those from Spain or descended from those who survived the war. Fortunately Beever is not guilty of these charges. As someone with no emotional involvement in the Spanish Civil War I can honestly say that his account of events is very even. I walked away thinking that neither side was in the right, and honestly how could they be when both were guilty of so many summary executions, so many murders of innocents? If a fascist sympathy exists in the world it is because Franco DID turn Spain into a solid and successful nation after the war and prevented it from being drawn into the maelstrom of the Second World War.

I do think the book suffers from one of Beevor's strengths. The man goes into incredible detail and is not afraid to describe all factors and parties involved. For someone who knows little about the Spanish Civil War this book can be a fairly difficult read. It introduces a number of factions, many of which are represented by acronyms of Spanish language words, so if you don't already know a fair amount about the war or do not have a strong grasp of Spanish, this can be confusing. Beevor writes at an advanced level, and in his accounts of World War II this is a very good thing because his books are very obviously intended for advanced readers. This is an overall history of the war however, and not so obviously for advanced readers.

If you're looking for a book to give you a complete and accurate picture of the Spanish Civil War, look no further. If you're trying to get the basics without delving into a lot of detail, then I suggest you look elsewhere.