Recommended reading on the Spanish Civil War

[Haven]

The Politics of Revenge: Fascism & the Military in 20th-century Spain
Paul Preston
Routledge, 1990

The role of the Spanish Right in the course of the 20th-century has been a neglected area of academic study. The Politics of Revenge redresses this, providing a succinct and disturbing account of how the Spanish Right seized power through a bloody civil war in the 1930s, held power for nearly 40 years through the exercise of state terror and then fought to block the return of democracy. This book presents a readable and disturbing analysis of the ruthless and violent political scene. Apart from the brief intervals of the Second Republic (1931-1936) and the post-1977 democratic regime, modern Spain has been dominated by the Right. On the occasions when that dominance has been challenged by the forces of democracy the Right has responded with violence. In 1936, it called upon the military to reimpose it's hegemony though a fierce and bloody civil war. The consequence was 40 years of repressive dictatorship under Franco. Subsequent progress towards the re-establishment of democracy has been punctuated by frequent attempts at military coups.

Google Books: https://books.google.com/books?id=yqGIA ... ry&f=false

I own this in PDF -- Haven

[Haven]

Class, Culture & Conflict in Barcelona, 1898-1937
Chris Ealham
Routledge/Canada Blanch Studies on Contemporary Spain
2014

This is a study of social protest and repression in one of the twentieth century's most important revolutionary hotspots. It explains why Barcelona became the undisputed capital of the European anarchist movement and explores the sources of anarchist power in the city. It also places Barcelona at the center of Spain's economic, social, cultural and political life during 1898-1937.

PDF Copy: https://libcom.org/files/Class,%20Cultu ... lona_0.pdf

[Haven]

Franco & the Axis Stigma
David Wingeate Pike
Palgrave Macmillan
2008

The German Admiralty's archives in Freiburg, Germany, reveal details of the extent to which Franco collaborated with the Axis both by supplying U-boats in Spanish ports and by setting up observation posts on both sides of the Straits of Gibraltar, to the utter detriment of the British convoys on the Malta route. The German archives also provide evidence that Franco's Blue Division on the eastern front, while illustrious in combat, was disgraceful in German eyes for its behaviour away from the front.

Against a background of major events in Europe and the world in the period 1939-45, Franco and the Axis Stigma provides a systematic examination of the Franco press, in all its four dimensions: Church, military, monarchist and Falangist, representing the four differing expressions of what was then a totalitarian regime. What it reveals is that the regime's yearning for an Axis victory never waned up to the bitter end.

A PDF of the Introduction. It will download immediately, as soon as you 'click': https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q ... _6PSci-uOQ

I have the entire book on PDF. -- Haven

[MartialPrince]

Paul Preston's latest effort, from 2012, has received awards. http://www.amazon.com/The-Spanish-Holoc ... 0393345912:

Deeply desired is a book about the Muslim mercenaries, Franco's best soldiers, apart perhaps from the Condor Legion. Is there any book that talks of how heroic there were?

[von thoma]

A tribute to Mr. Hugh Thomas ( 1931-2017 ), always interested in our story, especially in SCW period.
Thanks and R.I.P.

[rusoviet]

Great fiction - The Second Son Rabb, Jonathan / The Horseman's Song - Pastor, Ben / A Million Drops, Del Arbol, Victor / Hermanos, Herrick, Willam (a truly unknown gem).

The GRU holding the freighters off the coast until all the gold was in their holds

As Paul Johnson said this war has been the most lavishly praised by the intelligentsia as their 'raison d'etre'. One of the main unidentified 'wreckers' were those thugs that terrorized Mexico in the Cristero War (1926-29) '....well we didn't quite do what we wanted. Hey let's go back to the motherland and stir things up!"

[Porphyrogenita]

Hello all - my first book was released a couple of weeks ago and I think it will be of interest to many of you. The People's Army in the Spanish Civil War is a narrative military history of the war from a Republican and International Brigade perspective, with plenty of first-hand testimony and over 50 photos and maps. It provides the most detailed accounts in English of several key battles of the civil war; Brunete, Belchite and Teruel, in my view the most closely fought battles in which the Republic had the best (albeit slim) chance of achieving a victory in the field. It fills a gap in the English-language literature on the war, namely providing a readable combat account of the Republican army and adds the rather sparse literature on the military history of the Spanish conflict. I'm sure enthusiasts for the war will enjoy it and learn something new as well!
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Link removed, if you want to buy advertising, please contact me.

//georg

[Sid Guttridge]

Looks promising. I've ordered it.

Sid

[Felix C]

Kuznetsov's memoir is available in English.

[Rivet]

I finished The Victorious Counterrevolution: The Nationalist Effort in the Spanish Civil War, by Michael Seidman (University of Wisconsin Press, 2011) last night. If found it interesting as it covered the topic of how the Nationalist side mobilized support and handled the logistics and finances for their war. It is a bit dry in parts, but overall I found it a good read on a topic not covered deeply elsewhere.

[liberprieto]

I absolutely recommend German Military Vehicles in the Spanish Civil War: A Comprehensive Study of the Deployment of German Military Vehicles on the Eve of WW2. It's a deep study of the logistics and combat vehicles that took part in the German contingent that provided help in the Spanish Civil War alongside the Franco troops.

[Terry Duncan]

A post by vicky101 was removed by this author for quoting an article and not citing sources. Plagiarism is not allowed, when quoting something directly can you please post a link to the original.

Terry

[PhilipWalker]

For a different and illuminating read about what it is like to be caught up in a war – something most of us assume will not happen to us – try “On the Tracks of a Shadow”, available as a Kindle book on Amazon.

Written by the protagonist’s son, it tells the true story of a young student in Madrid who was involuntarily enlisted on what turned out to be the losing side in the Spanish Civil War (1936-39) and suffered immeasurably at the hands of the victors.

I wish I had read this short book when I was a Spanish student. Most books about the Spanish Civil War focus on politicians, generals and key battles whereas this one recounts the experience of an ordinary person who would not have chosen to go to war and certainly not on the side he ended up on. This was less than 90 years ago and should still give us pause for thought today: those of us who live in peaceful countries are more fortunate than we realise.

A great read full of insight about what it was like for ordinary people in Madrid and about how so many suffered in the early years of Francoism. Available on Amazon https://amzn.to/3N2sQwW

[Ironmachine]

For a different and illuminating read about what it is like to be caught up in a war – something most of us assume will not happen to us – try “On the Tracks of a Shadow”, available as a Kindle book on Amazon.

If you are the same Philip Walker who is listed as translator in the amazon link, there is a potential conflict of interest with your recommendation.

[PhilipWalker]

Hi, I am the same person. Not sure it is a conflict of interest, more a case of being interested in two things - translation and Spanish history. I have used my real name as my user ID on this forum and my name is on the front of the book so quite transparent

Basically I am a qualified translator and recently I was lucky enough to translate a book about a subject I have been interested in for years - the Spanish Civil War. I thought members of this forum might be interested in a different take on the war: professional historians like Paul Preston, Anthony Beevor and others have written in depth about the war, excellent books, but this one is a personal story written by the protagonist's son about his father's experience. At the time, his father was in his early twenties and rather involuntary caught up in the war. It does make you wonder, could it happen again, until you realise it is happening now in conflicts around the world. Ukrainians, Yemenis etc who never wanted to be part of a conflict.

Anyway, it was fascinating to translate and well worth a read, either my translation or the Spanish original.