The Spanish Civil War

Rating:
Summary: Not a Beevor classic, but still very commendable
Review: I've now read four of Anthony Beevor's books and I liked them all. This may be the weakest, although it is not by any standards a dud. I just felt that it wasn't as "human" as the others. But for an overview of the prelude to WWII, which Spain surely was, it is informative and clear.

Rating:
Summary: A complex book on a complex conflict...
Review: More political history than battlefield history, Anthony Beevor's recount of the Spanish Civil War is a complex look at the proxy war that took place in Spain just before the outbreak of the Second World War. A large portion of this book is devoted to the politics inside Spain both before and during the conflict, and the struggles within both "sides," as the political realities of the mid- to late thirties in Spain forced some incompatible ideologies together, eventually leading to the demise of the Republican government.

The best thing about this book is that Beevor finds a way to break down the political struggle along three axes of conflict. While he often bounces back and forth from the battlefield to the political arenas while presenting mountains of complex information, he always finds a common thread and manages to pull all the facts presented back into the theme presented in a given chapter.

Beevor's sympathies seem to lie with the Anarchists, though it seems that this is more a result of the fact that the Communists and the Fascists had foreign support from governments which history shows were less than benevolent. The Anarchist cause is typically portrayed in a more sypathetic light than the Communists and Fascists, whose aspirations were more totalitarian than the anarchists, who (at least as they are presented in this book) simply wanted the right to govern themselves. To his credit, however, he does not spare any party in the description of the murderous brutality between all participants. He takes extra time to explain the propaganda battle (a very important aspect of the conflict), from the atrocities committed against the Church to the efforts of both sides to win victories based on propaganda, rather than military, goals.

Some of the political conundrums of Spain in the '30s are also presented. One of the most interesting is the plight of the Anarchists. They had a massive party capable of wielding immense power, but since they rejected the idea of elections, they were reduced to being bystanders in the political world. The compromises they made once the war started, as a result of the aggressive nature of the Communists (backed by the Stalinist USSR), and the backlash against the Communists near the end of the conflict, are a couple of the major underlying themes of this book. Beevor expalins it best when he says that "The Nationalists defended a common view of the past; the Republican coalition in contrast, had widely differing visions of the future."

This is a very infomative book, and the reader will take a lot of understanding away from it. I would, however recommend two things, the first of which is to read and bookark the list of political parties and organizations on pages 285 through 287, before reading the rest of the book. The second is to take the time to write down the names of important individuals. This will significantly ease the reader's efforts to remember the mass of information presented. While this book is roughly 285 pages long, it is a very long 285 pages, as previous reviewers have noted, and is not an easy read.

Rating:
Summary: Democracy versus Fascism
Review: The Spanish Civil War was one of the great events of the 20th century. It was the great clash between an elected republican government, despite all its inherent flaws, and fascism.

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.


Rating:
Summary: Extremely effective history of a forgotten war...
Review: The Spanish Civil War, by Anthony Beevor, is a fairly detailed survey of the history of this occasionally confusing period. Beevor spends a few chapters giving much needed historical background. The detail is necessary but a little dry and perhaps exhaustive to read as an introduction. The social and economic history of Spain is dealt with in enough detail to put the civil war in context. After covering the events leading up to the war, the bulk of the book is devoted to a very detailed, more or less chronological history of the war itself.
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.

Rating:
Summary: Extremely effective history of a forgotten war...
Review: The Spanish Civil War, by Anthony Beevor, is a fairly detailed survey of the history of this occasionally confusing period. Beevor spends a few chapters giving much needed historical background. The detail is necessary but a little dry and perhaps exhaustive to read as an introduction. The social and economic history of Spain is dealt with in enough detail to put the civil war in context. After covering the events leading up to the war, the bulk of the book is devoted to a very detailed, more or less chronological history of the war itself.
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.

Rating:
Summary: highly informative, excellent.
Review: This book gives a highly informative account of the l936-39 civil war in Spain. If, like me, you find this particular episode of European history complex and vague, then Antony Beevor will be of great help. He takes care to first concisely set in place all information critical for understanding the impetus behind this conflict. Beevor explains that the rebelling Nationalist generals under Francisco Franco uniformly supported an authoritarian and centralized government that served the interests of landowners and industrialists. Arrayed against them was the Republican Spanish government supported by a variety of factions, often with conflicting ideologies, but usually possessing some motivation towards a libertarian and/or decentralized government that favored the working class.

While it is generally appreciated that Mussolini and Hitler greatly aided Franco and his fascist Nationalists, the book takes care to point out that Britain, the United States, and (although most reluctantly) France were all instrumental in orchestrating a fascist victory. The Spanish Republicans received significant support from only the Soviet Union. The reader can judge whether this 'support' helped or hurt the Republican cause.

The book also notes that Franco relied on a foreign legion of Moroccans as his most effective and ruthless troops (by all accounts, they were gruesomely fond of bayonet work). Coupled with overt aid in the form of armaments and soldiers from Italy and Germany, this suggests that the conflict was less of an internal struggle than might normally be implied by 'civil war'.

Beevor gives an unbiased treatment of the wartime propaganda efforts. These mainly consisted of one side charging the other with committing atrocities. Beevor's effort to sort the sensationalized from the reality appears sincere. Indeed, this coolheaded analysis is even more frightening in that it still produces a horribly high tally of executions and massacre. Franco's promise to, if necessary, "shoot half of Spain," was clearly a sentiment unique to neither side.

The book is excellently written and faults are few. However, the maps are inadequate, and placing events in their geographical context is difficult. Moreover, the initial chapters are chockfull of newly introduced parties and factions. Their names, leaders, and political allegiances soon became for me a jumbled mess. Beevor supplies a brief but descriptive appendix of these organizations, and it should be referred to regularly. In any case, after the first 50 pages or so the reading becomes smooth and seamless.

Those drawn to this book out of admiration for Beevor's Stalingrad: The Fateful Siege might be bit thrown by the difference in style, especially in the first few chapters. For me, Stalingrad read breezily, like an informative and engaging discussion, while The Spanish Civil War is more akin to a formal scholarly lecture. The author does however have an appreciation for wit, and his commentary is wry more often than dry.

The Spanish civil war is a fascinating topic in its own right. A greater comprehension is realized when one considers the degree to which it served as a proving ground for military equipment, tactics, and also the political ideologies that would soon conflict in truly global proportions during World War II. The Spanish Civil War impressively equips the reader to appreciate this important period of European history.

Rating:
Summary: Excellent Overall Picture of The Spanish Civil War
Review: This booked has recently been re-released in Australia. I picked it up knowing little of the war in Spain. This book gave me a good understanding of the causes of the war and the main protagonists of the conflict. It also tries to give the reader a comprehension of the political ideologies that drove the various sides during the conflict. Finally the international politics of the era are well described as the author shows the reader where the war's place was in history. The author also explains what effect it's outcome had on the people of Spain, and upon Europe in general. It is a very good introduction for a reader, with little or no knowledge of the war, who is looking for a good broad text to learn about this event in history.

Rating:
Summary: Good solid history a bit tough to read or follow
Review: This is a standard history of the Spanish Civil War by military historian Anthony Beevor. It's deceptively small in size (the type in the book is about the smallest I've ever seen, short of a footnote or something) but full of detail. The author doesn't, however, pull any punches, and he doesn't think much of the communist leadership in the war, so those of a liberal bent who want to read the good vs. bad story of this war should look elsewhere. In the author's mind, the combatants were different flavors of bad, though he seems to sympathize somewhat with the non-communist Republicans, especially the anarchists and the Trotskyists.

The author spends a good deal of time going over the background to the war, and a similar amount of time dealing with its aftermath. He also works hard to argue that some of the stories of the war are myths: in his view, the airlift the Luftwaffe provided to Franco's forces to get the Moroccans to Spain has been overestimated. All in all, this was an interesting book, though the author was new to being a writer when it was written (1983) and the prose is a bit wooden, to be truthful. A good effort nonetheless, and a useful alternative to Hugh Thomas' masterful but massive tome on the same subject, which runs to well over a thousand pages in its current edition.

Rating:
Summary: Very Good One Volume Overview
Review: This is a very good one volume history of the Spanish Civil War. Beevor begins with a nice precis of Spanish history leading up to the Spanish Civil War, covering both long term trends and a concise history of the specific events causing the War. The narrative of the war itself is excellent with a nice balance of broad description, discussion of specific events, and revealing anecdote. Beevor is careful to discuss the social and economic consequences of the war. There is very good analysis of the problems faced by the Republicans and their considerable internal struggles. This topic is ideologically charged but Beevor is evenhanded in his judgements, sparing neither the zealots of the right or the left. The description of the international aspects of the war and sources of aid for the combatants is enlightening. Most readers will know that the Nationalists received substantial and crucial aid from the Nazi and Italian Fascist governments but the Nationalists received also significant aid from a variety of other sources including British and American businesses, financial institutions, and even the Royal Navy. This book is written quite well. This book was written about 20 years ago and is published now because of the recent success of Beevor's book on Stalingrad. The Spanish Civil War is not dated and I believe that the quality of writing in superior to Beevor's Stalingrad book. For many years, the only one volume history generally available on this topic was Hugh Thomas' book with the same title. The Thomas book was a landmark and encyclopedic but rather dense. Beevor's is the best introduction to this important topic I have encountered. There are some deficiencies. The maps are adequate but could be improved. There is no map of Spain depicting the traditional regions, despite the fact that Beevor is referring constantly to the different regions. For readers unfamiliar with Spanish historical geography, this is a real defect. The bibliography is cursory, another real defect in an introductory work.