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 Quite Good April 9, 2008
HBH
The Spanish Civil War by Anthony Beevor is an interesting account of a conflict which in many ways was a prelude to the Second World War. Having read some of the author's other works I knew that it was going to be well-written with a well constructed narative, although it is not as good as either Stalingrad or Berlin the Downfall. The work itself shows the destructive impact of a Civil War especially on a country as divided on linguistic and political lines as Spain. It also shows how democracy was allowed to be crushed by facism by Britain and France and also how the Nationalist forces were able to exploit the divisions in their opponents to win. All in all a good book although I have read better by this author.
 Highly Recommended December 21, 2007
Alan Lenton (London)
Having read the author's 'Stalingrad' a few years ago, I was hoping for something of a tour de force with this book, and I wasn't disappointed. The Spanish Civil War is an incredibly convoluted subject to deal with, but Antony Beevor succeeds admirably in fusing the historical, political and military elements into a seamless whole. Of all the books I have read on this subject, this one is by far and away the best.
An Impressive Piece of Work May 3, 2007
Steve Keen (Herts, UK)
31 out of 38 found this review helpful
The Spanish Civil War is an endlessly fascinating period of history. Mixed in with the undoubted tragedy there's a frisson of romance about it. Artists, writers and idealists of many stripes flocked to "help". The likes of Ernest Hemingway, Laurie Lee, George Orwell and Victor Serge have given the Republican side literary credence. Picasso, Dali and others depicted the bestiality in visual art. Numerous commentators and agitators stood on the sidelines or frontlines and stirred the political stew - Trotsky to name just one. Eric Hobsbawm (The Guardian, 17/2/07) has pointed out the very clear paradox of the Spanish Civil War - that it is one of the few conflicts whose history is not monopolised by the victors.
Although this book has been said to be better balanced than average, the balance is still with the Republican side. We know full well how the Republicans "motivated" their own troops. There is less on this subject with regard to the Nationalists, especially the feared Moroccans. What motivated these colonial troops? And would Trotsky's advice for winning them over have worked?
Beevor exposes the idiocy of some in the Republican leadership in pursuing fatuous stunts like that at the Ebro, with catastrophic losses of men, matériel and morale, in the pursuit of a propaganda-worthy victory. There is also something that appears verging on sabotage in the way the Republican generals repeatedly launch initially successful attacks, only to allow their forces to get sucked into trying to mop up isolated resistance rather than pursuing their advantage. It all too often seems like the hesitation born of fear of failure results in increasing amounts of failure, which is then blamed on the hapless ex-Trots of the POUM.
There is less detail of this kind on the Nationalist side. He upbraids Franco for his obsession with Madrid, which nevertheless remained out of his grasp until the very end of the war, his vanity, and his strategic ineptness, and it is apparent that his German and Italian allies were at least close to considering him a buffoon. But there are fewer such stories than there are about Republican leaders such as Negrín, for example.
As Beevor's story progresses, the full horror of Stalinism's insidious effect on the war becomes increasingly tragic in its consequences, with the paranoia rampant in the ranks of the communists, contracted through their Russian commissars, spreading like a contagion within the entire Republican movement, so that trust and comradeship rapidly disintegrate. It is apparent from his account that the fragmented Republican factions were as afraid of each other as of Franco, sometimes with justification (Delores Ibárruri, La Pasionaria, is still commemorated by Trotskyists as L'Assassionaria).The virtual transformation of the International Brigades from volunteers to prisoners is a chilling development. The brutal punishment of Brigadistas after the battle of Brunete following their disintegration will surely have anyone contemplating a similar commitment now, should the opportunity arise, thinking more than twice.
Beevor adds to Stalin's tally of crimes the charge that, far from providing fraternal succour, the Soviet Union profited from its sale of arms and services, overcharging for these items in Spanish gold.
The book includes many references to the reports being made by Soviet agents back to Moscow and Stalin, which are enlightening in indicating the degree to which news from the war was dimensioned according to what Stalin wanted to hear - that blame for military defeats were due to the "fifth columnists" of the "international fascist" POUM, for example, thereby implicitly blaming Trotsky, despite Trotsky's own disavowal of his former devotees because of their participation in the Popular Front. The schismatic gene in the left continues to this day - no less than three Trotskyist candidates in the 2007 French presidential election, plus a communist.
Beevor gives plenty of food for thought in the "What If?" zone.
For example, what would have happened had the US and UK not been so craven, not only backing away from support of the legitimately elected Republicans, but even at times providing tacit support for the Nationalists, though admittedly the Royal Navy did also provide cover for merchant ships supplying the Basques.
There is a certain macabre irony that of the nations supposedly operating a blockade of Spain, two of them were Germany and Italy, so whilst everyone else was blocking supplies to both sides, the Germans and Italians were blocking supplies to the Republicans and actively supplying the Nationalists. The other powers, notably Britain, turned a blind eye to this state of affairs. Beevor reveals, perhaps tellingly, that Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain's sister-in-law was openly a fascist sympathiser.
This made the civil war a very one-sided rehearsal for WWII. The Germans and Italians were able to field-test their armaments, battle-harden elite forces, and experiment with tactics - the blitzkrieg and one of its principal components, the Stuka, made their debuts in the service of Franco. Meanwhile, Soviet advisors received their initiation into the appliance of techniques which would not attract Stalin's disfavour because of their association with purged generals, rehearsed the infallible motivational technique of shooting their own retreating troops irrespective of circumstance, and perfected their blame-passing capabilities. The British and Americans not only chose to avert their gaze, they also intimidated the French into inaction. In fact, even at the death, as rampaging Nationalist forces slaughtered everything in their path, it was only the most searing embarrassment that persuaded the French to permit the retreating Republican forces to cross the border. But the relative humanitarianism of that act was soon smothered by their internment of refugees in horrendous concentration camps.
The irony is, as Niall Ferguson asserts in War Of The World, had the British acted sooner they would have caught the Germans underresourced and unprepared for full-scale conflict, thus averting WWII; had they done so, the Republicans would have been in far better shape to repulse the Nationalists, who would have been denied the men and matériel provided by the Germans, if not the Italians.
Beevor himself considers that history must always end with questions; conclusions are way too convenient.
The Battle For Spain is the first work of Beevor's I have read, but I doubt it will be the last. Overall, it is an impressive piece of work: thorough and well-written, even-handed at least insofar as it sees the flaws in both sides, and providing a plethora of localised stories for reflection. For example, how many, having read of the Republicans pitched over its side by marauding Nationalists, will be able to look into the ravine at Ronda in quite the same light again?
The account of the bombing of Guernica, harrowing as it is, is short on histrionics. Beevor reveals that the death toll was lower than the Republicans claimed, but the attack is confirmed as ruthless and brutal, a test of the effects of aerial bombardment by Richtofen and the Condor Legion. The collusion of the Catholic church in blaming such atrocities on the Republicans must rate as the greatest betrayal in Christian history since Judas: it was, after all, Catholics in Durango whose church was bombed and who were subsequently strafed as they fled. The bombing and strafing were courtesy of the Nationalists; the Catholic church put it about that the Republicans were responsible for the deaths. But short as it is on martial porn - overgraphic descriptions of carnage - the end of the war comes as something of a relief, aftershocks notwithstanding, because you don't need graphic descriptions to know it was hell.
It does, however, leave some questions unanswered, such as what was all this like for the people of Spain as a whole? What was it like to live in a Nationalist or Republican village but to be a non-combatant? Was it actually possible to be a non-combatant, or be relatively ignorant of the war? These questions are either overlooked or only partially answered, which is less a criticism of Beevor than an opportunity for someone else.
The Spanish Civil War November 24, 2006
Thomas Koetzsch (Hong Kong)
33 out of 36 found this review helpful
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.
Tragic Spain October 18, 2006
Michael Wilson (UK)
27 out of 30 found this review helpful
The Spanish Civil war must be one of the most tragic European wars of all time. Spaniard against Spaniard, a bloody conflict characterised by the failures on both sides but mainly the Republicans, to recognise modern warfare when they saw it and the clash of two bitterly opposed, totalitarian beliefs, Stalinist communism and Fascism. The contribution of Nazi Germany, Fascist Italy, Soviet Russia and indeed, France and Great Britain to the perpetuation of this conflict as a testing ground for troops, tactics and weapons is well documented in this book.
Antony Beevor works through the mire of 1930's Spanish politics with aplomb, if confusingly, between the plethora of parties on both the left and the right, many identified simply by acronyms such as the POUM and the JONS. However, once the reader perseveres through the initial, context setting chapters the book opens up into a rich account of the often bloody and generally wasteful war through to its conclusion in 1939 on the eve of World War 2. The final chapter relates the continuing, relentless repression of the left in Spain right up to the 1960's when the advent of the package holiday finally opened up the country to peaceful outside influences and with General Franco's death, brought economic growth and stability.
This book was written sometime ago (1982) and it shows. A less polished if undoubtedly scholarly Antony Beevor shows through in comparison with later works (Stanlingrad, Berlin) and overall, the book has a more `academic' feel to it. One cannot help but feel the hand of a publisher seeing an early work re-published with a new title as a money-spinner. That said, I am pleased that it was and would recommend the book to all but the very casual reader.
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