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173 of 183 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Best book on the Spanish Civil War, 14 Aug 2001
The Spanish Civil War is often poorly understood, indeed misunderstood, firstly because of its complexity (as Antony Beevor makes clear there were multiple conflicts going on at different levels, not least the strife between different Republican groups which weakened the Republican government fatally), secondly because most of us outside Spain know about the war from those who fought on the Republican side and subsequently wrote about it (best known of whom is of course George Orwell in Homage to Catalonia). Antony Beevor cuts through the confusion with a marvellously clear and concise account of the war, not sparing the reader a taste of how horrific conditions were in Spain for combatant and non-combatant alike. The introductory chapters on the state of Spain and the origins of the Civil War are particularly enlightening. The book also makes clear and obvious why the Nationalists won - they were better organised, more professional soldiers, better tacticians - and had the support of Hitler and Mussolini, to say nothing of the fatal internecine conflict among the Republican parties. Perhaps Beevor is a little sniffy about the non-intervention of the western democracies but how realistic this would have been (and whether it would have done anything to help the fatally fissile Republican cause) is to me questionable. But as Beevor points out, as the Spanish proverb has it, history is a common meadow in which everyone can make hay, and there is plenty of raw material for discussion in this excellent book. It should be read by anyone who is interested in European history, 20th century history, politics or simply those interested in how a country can disintigrate into such horror in such a short time.
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57 of 62 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A Squalid War in a Spiteful Land, 1 Dec 2008
Anthony Beevor is a fine narrative historian. His books on Stalingrad and Berlin have been widely read and praised. However it would be hard for any competent writer not to produce interesting books on these apocalyptic battles. Spain in the thirties is a very different challenge.
Having read a little of the Peninsular War, I had no enthusiasm to re-visit Spain. A sideshow of the Napoleonic War (despite tireless English efforts to make it more important) it was replete with duplicitous arrogant people, fighting in a mean country, vain incompetent generals, vile politicians, and the pervasive interference of the church. Extreme cruelty is something the Spanish do well. I was not motivated to read further into the twentieth century. Then I watched Ken Loach's film "Land and Freedom" finding the commentary an excellent history lesson. It was on my list to read something solid, so to Beevor's Battle for Spain.
If you want to read one book on the events between 1936-39 then this will do the job. It was originally published in 1982 then revised using fresh research to mark the 70th anniversary. Beevor is a master of detail. An ex soldier his battle descriptions are complex and required supplemental maps to follow the narrative. The politics are also complicated, fragmenented, bizarre especially taken out of context decades on. How could you expect anarchists and communists to form a government, herding cats would be easier? The military aspects, incompetence on both sides, militias, international brigades are uninspiring and savage. The Spanish civil war was a fetid affair, both sides excelled at torturing and shooting prisoners/civilians while in conventional fighting running away and indiscipline was widespread. It was the Germans and Russians who added backbone. As for the Italian military contribution or the role of external intellectuals, no glory is reflected on either.
Big geo political issues were being tested within an essentially pointless civil war - another sideshow with the Spain of 1939 much the same as 1814, a spiteful land. Nationalist and Republican, it was hard to tell who were the most repugnant and the entire dreadful war best relegated to a dusty shelf in history. Proof of this was that after the real war (1939-45) Franco was allowed to drift on until his natural demise in 1975. No one really cared about Spain. From the embers of the war, a plethora of interpretation (much of dubious logic) has emerged seeking to show the relevance of the conflict, that it emboldend fascists, inducing the Second World and then the Cold War.
Left alone I would have skim read this book. But I went to the library and borrowed the CD audio version and loaded it onto my IPod. Sean Barrett read it well, and his Spanish pronunciation was helpful. I listened to his narration as I simultaneously read the book. It made it more enjoyable, actually bearable. If you are feint hearted and peripherally interested in the war - consider doing the same. Beevor has produced a good book but it is a slog to read. I have now filled a gap in my knowledge but do not feel the better for it.
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39 of 45 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The Spanish Civil War, 24 Nov 2006
Antony Beevor's (AB) book on the Spanish Civil war is excellent background reading on this rather tragic event in the Spain's History. AB goes through every single detail of the war.
He starts off with describing the development of Spain right up to the `Rising of the Generals' in 1936 and follows this up by going through the various factions involved. There is also a whole section on the involvement of other countries - most notably that of Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union - in the civil war. When he covers the intellectuals' reaction to the whole event, I was quite surprised at some of the `nostalgic views' expressed. The section, which made me shudder was the book's section on the internal power struggle between the various Republican factions. A lot of this was a copy-cat event of the Stalinist purges in the Soviet Union during the 1930s. AB goes into quite a bit of detail.
I must agree that some of the battles can be hard to follow, but it does help if you study the maps quite thoroughly. But then again I think it would also help if these maps weren't all at the beginning of the book but instead put at the spot of the corresponding battles.
AB of course covers the nationalist victory plus the time after and he doesn't exactly mince words on the style of politics under Franco. But he also asks if a republican victory would have been the better solution and he does not give any definite answer except saying that a Stalinist-type communist regime could have been significantly worse.
All told I found this book very good.
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