I could continue by commenting, how certain views of the world, like libertarian thought, constitute a poor basis for a success in extended conflict, but perhaps it is best everybody finds it out for themselves by reading the book. It was a grip which brought the government to the brink of becoming a communist state. His description of the main battles are masterly and full of new and revalatory detail.”, “Every Spaniard now has a brilliantly written, judicious and non-ideological history of the Civil War to contemplate. solid presentation of SCW. I've been reading Antony Beevor, The Battle for Spain: The Spanish Civil War 1936-1939 (London: Phoenix, 2006), and just got through the intro and Part I, “Old Spain and the Second Republic”. It's a marvelously clear, though overly concise, account of some of the key events and for this reason will be an excellent starting point for anyone new to the subject and a good refresher for those who already know some of it. by Penguin Books. . A fresh and acclaimed account of the Spanish Civil War by the bestselling author of Stalingrad and The Battle of Arnhem To mark the 70th anniversary of the Spanish Civil War's outbreak, Antony Beevor has written a completely updated and revised account of one of the most bitter and hard-fought wars of the twentieth century. It was published first with great acclaim in Spain, where, even after 70 years, the wounds of this terrible conflict are still open. The Spanish Civil War is widely seen as a precursor of World War II in the sense that both the Soviets and Germans (as well as the Italians, to lesser effect) were able to test military theories, strategies, and equipment. It was a struggle between ideologies, in which both th. . This was one of Beevor's earlier books, and it shows. Before reading it, I thought I knew roughly enough about the war and the role of countries like Germany and Italy on one hand, and the Soviet Union on the other. Price - 650. It's a combination of poor organization (it's hard to figure out at any given point where he is going with things - he makes detours from a purely chronological account for no apparent reason) and excessive, mind-numbing detail in places. Well, I did not. Beevor makes all this clear, and his account is comprehensive, full. Communist leaders Líster and El Campesino quarrel as the front collapses. Before reading it, I thought I knew roughly enough about the war and the role of countries like Germany and Italy on one hand, and the Soviet Union on the other. Yet it is in his account of the military operations that Beevor is at his most brilliant. The civil war that tore Spain apart between 1936 and 1939 and attracted liberals and socialists from across the world to support the cause against Franco was one of the most hard-fought and bitterest conflicts of the 20th century: a war of atrocities and political genocide and a military testing ground before WWII for the Russians, Italians and Germans, whose Condor Legion so notoriously destroyed … . Instead of the narrative storytelling we've come to expect from him, this book reads more like an encyclopedia especially in the beginning when he's explaining the bewildering array of parties that formed the Republican government. The Battle for Spain: The Spanish Civil War 1936-1939 by antony beevor. It's a marvelously clear, though overly concise, account of some of the key events and for this reason will be an excellent starting point for anyone new to the subject and a good refresher for those who already know some of it. At the end the republic had no-one to turn to but the Soviet Union, which did not agree to lend a hand, This book is a comprehensive and detailed account on the Spanish civil war. While one might expect a historian of the Second World War to treat the Spanish conflict as a prologue to that larger and deadlier global struggle, Beevor sees that the civil war had great significance in its own right. After five months in the top ten, it sold more than 50,000 copies in hardback. His narrations of famous battles are outstanding, particularly in the cases of Teruel and Ebro. Only with Franco’s death could the Spain we know and love today begin to flourish. The battle for Spain by Antony Beevor, 2008, Penguin Group USA, Inc. edition, Electronic resource in English He has made extensive and intensive use of the Spanish sources … . Man hat also ein rundherum profundes Papierbündel in den Händen, dessen Autor sich um historische Fairneß bemüht.”, “Der britische Militärhistoriker zeichnet in seinem gründlich recherchierten Buch den Kampf der nationalspanischen Verbände gegen die von Sozialisten geführte und von den immer stärker werdenden Kommunisten und Anarchosyndikalisten unterstützte Regierung nach: vom Franco-Putsch in Spanisch-Marokko über die Schlacht um Madrid bis hin zum Fall Kataloniens und zum Untergang der Republik.”, “Beevors Buch läßt kaum Fragen offen und bewegt sich auf der Höhe der Forschung.”, “Antony Beevors gut geschriebene Chronik eines Krieges zeigt ein weiteres Mal, zu welchen Verbrechen die Politik um der Macht willen fähig sein kann. Because I was intimidated by the complexity of the political events in Spain during the 1930s I'd put off reading it. And it shows. Thus, the most convincing tributes to Antony Beevor’s history of the Spanish Civil War come from Madrid’s reviewers whose applause kept this book at the top of their bestseller lists for months. I say "must be" because this is the first one that I have read in its entirety (up to now, I had only read the first volume of Hugh Thomas' book, which was good, but left me a bit cold, to be honest) so I don't think I would be fair if I said that it is the best and most balanced, in spite of having read reviews in the Spanish press that point in that direction. This book charts not only the course of the war in a fresh light, but illuminates the vicious infighting on both sides. The Battle for Spain: The Spanish Civil War 1936-1939 Kindle Edition by Antony Beevor (Author) Format: Kindle Edition. He does warn you in the preface that it started off as a bunch of separate articles that he was later persuaded to turn into a book. 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