The Spanish Civil War

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Format: Paperback
Pages: 320
Edition: New
Publisher: Cassell
Published: 07 Oct 1999
ISBN 10: 0304352810
ISBN 13: 9780304352814
Book Overview: The Spanish Civil War was not simply a class struggle, it was a conflict between right and left, between centralist and regionalist forces, and between authoritarianism and libertarianism. It was also a war of atrocities and political genocide, and a military testing ground for some of the major players in the Second World War: Russia, Italy and Germany, whose Condor Legion destroyed the Basque provincial capital of Guernica. In this clear and comprehensive account Antony Beevor describes in detail the major events of the Spanish Civil War, from the coup d'etat in the summer of 1936 to the final defeat of the Republicans in 1939. He traces the roots of the war, the course of the fighting, and each of the key campaigns and battles. He also unravels the complex of different factions who fought, each with their separate ideologies, and describes the self-interested motives which brought foreign powers into what was to become one of the most bitterly fought wars of modern times.