The Battle for Spain: The Spanish Civil War 1936-1939 (CASSELL MILITARY PAPERBACKS) [Paperback]

he has produced a moving masterpiece of the indictment of war. (Felipe Fernandez-Armesto THE TLS )

Fascination lies in the human drama, superbly captured by Beevor... a vivid chronicle of a dreadful time and place. (Max Hastings THE SUNDAY TIMES )

he is also very good on the political manoeuvrings of this most intensely ideological of conflicts. (Andrew Roberts THE SUNDAY TELEGRAPH )

it is an admirably clear-sighted account.... a great achievement. (Miranda France THE DAILY TELEGRAPH )

the story he tells is grimly familiar but he presents it with a freshness, an eye for detail and a degree of detachment that makes this one of the best accounts to date of the Spanish crisis. (Richard Overy THE EVENING STANDARD )

This is an enthralling bok. The narrative is masterly, wonderfully clear as a guide through the labyrinth. It is even-tempered and full of good sense. (Allan Massie THE LITERARY REVIEW )

To appreciate the magnitude of that rapid and extraordinary achievement, do read Antony Beevor's account of the bubbling cauldron of horror from which Spain escaped. (Tom Rosenthal THE DAILY MAIL )

clear prose, peppered with fresh perceptions, especially where strategy, tactics, and soldiers are concerned. (Paul Preston THE TIMES )

Antony Beevor has produced an absorbing re-working of the book he originally wrote in 1982 (Paul Callan THE DAILY EXPRESS )

'It is powerfully brought to life, not only by his practical grasp but by often graphic material found recently in Spanish, German, and particularly, Russian archives. (Jeremy Treglown THE FINANCIAL TIMES )

it's his most impressive book to date beacause he coolly makes sense of such a complicated story: the narrative sweep is consummate, the seamless use of so many sources masterful, and the eye for details makes it a superb read. (Simon Sebag Montefiore THE MAIL ON SUNDAY )

BATTLE FOR SPAIN is this summer's corking military history.... essential if you're going Iberian. (David Sexton THE EVENING STANDARD )

it looks destined to become the definitive popular work on the war. (Rob Stokes SPAIN MAGAZINE )

his characteristically excellent book (Barrie Clement TRIBUNE )

¿For the big picture of the war, all the more powerful for its blending of narrative intensity with emotional restraint, there is no rival to Antony Beevor¿s masterly, THE BATTLE FOR SPAIN¿ (Boyd Tonkin THE INDEPENDENT )

Beevor's account of the war is a valuable work for anyone wishing to understand the complexities and contradictions of modern Spain. (Kim Bielenberg THE IRISH INDEPENDENT )

a brilliant account of the battle for Spain (Dermot Bolger IRISH SUNDAY INDEPENDENT )

essential reading (Raymond Carr THE SPECTATOR ) --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

'Fascination lies in the human drama, superbly captured by Beevor... a vivid chronicle of a dreadful time and place.' --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

'he is also very good on the political manoeuvrings of this most intenseley ideological of conflicts.' --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

'it is an admirably clear-sighted account.... a great achievement.' --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

The story of the Spanish Civil War, one of the most bitter armed struggles of the 20th Century, by the best-selling author of Stalingrad.

'clear prose, peppered with fresh perceptions, especially where strategy, tactics, and soldiers are concerned.' --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Antony Beevor has produced an absorbing re-working of the book he originally wrote in 1982
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

'he is also very good on the political manoeuvrings of this most intensely ideological of conflicts.' --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

'BATTLE FOR SPAIN is this summer's corking military history.... essential if you're going Iberian.' --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

'his characteristically excellent book' --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Best-selling author of Stalingrad.

A comprehensive history of one of the most fiercely fought ideological wars of modern times.

Now in new, updated and corrected edition.

When the first version of this book was published in 1982 under the title, The Spanish Civil War, Gerald Brenan described it as 'by a long way the best, and fairest and the most accurate book upon it'. Over the intervening years, a huge amount of new material has appeared in Spain and from documents finally emerging from Russian, German and other archives. Antony Beevor's Spanish publisher persuaded him that the time was right, with the approach of the war's seventieth anniversary, to rewrite the book, taking advantage of the new information and reinforcing it with new research. The Spanish edition, published in September, 2005, ran to over 900 pages, and received a [adjective to be chosen later depending on the outcome!!] reception in Spain as the first major history of the subject for the 21st Century. This version, incorporating still more detail from foreign archives, is necessarily condensed for British and overseas markets. The Spanish Civil War, even after all these years, remains one of the most passionately debated conflicts of modern times. Many see it as the opening round of the Second World War and almost a world war by proxy, with Nazi, Fasist and Soviet intervention. Some supporters of the Republic still believe that a victory of the left in Spain would have defeated fascism and saved Europe from the horrors to come. Nationalists, on the other hand, argue that the civil war was in fact the opening round of the Cold War between western civilisation and Soviet dictatorship. This book charts not only the course of the war in a fresh light, but illuminates the vicious infighting on both sides. The hopes and fears of a whole generation foundered in disillusionment and despair at the cruel war which destroyed the Spanish Republic. From reviews of the original work 'It is a rare book which cannot be supplemented, and Antony Beevor writes with insight, skill and an admirably pithy style both in narrative and characterisation.' John Keegan in The Sunday Times. 'Bold, clean driving narrative.' The Times Literary Supplement. 'Lucid, expert and even-handed.' The Economist. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

FROM REVIEWS OF THE SPANISH 2005 EDITION WHICH RECEIVED THE LA VANGUARDIA PRIZE FOR NON-FICTION. ¿From the very first moment, Beevor recreates the political climate of the period. . . The structure of the book, the rhythm of the action, his insights on the characters, the white terror, the red terror, the revolution and the political infighting, the foreign intervention: all, despite belonging to that ¿other country¿, put us right back in the war amid the flames of those years. Yet it is in his account of the military operations that Beevor is at his most brilliant. . . . This book is destined for the first rank of general histories of the Civil War.¿ Santos Juliá in El País. ¿All in all, perhaps the best general work on the war to be published in the last decades.¿ Rafael Núñez Florencio in El Mundo ¿Beevor has surpassed the challenge he set himself with efficacy, rigour, soundness and clarity.¿ Xavier Casals in Clio ¿His narrative capacity, which has fascinated his readers since Stalingrad, is confirmed once again in this book, which will contribute, without doubt, to constructing the historical memory of the civil war which we need: a non-sectarian memory, broad and deep, which covers all sides of the miasma and which explores the reasons which led to to that sleep of the reason which was our last civil war.¿ Ricardo García Cárcel, ABC ¿The magnificent book of Antony Beevor on the Civil War, really using this time the Moscow archives and the recent bibliography of the war, shows how to explain the logic of the war.¿ Antonio Elorza in El País --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Anthony Beevor served as a regular officer in the 11th Hussars in Germany. He has written several novels. His non-fiction includes Inside the British Army, Crete: The Battle and the Resistance (which won him a Runciman Prize in 1992), and in 1998 the best-selling Stalingrad.