by Antony Beevor (Author)
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.
Format: Paperback
Pages: 461
Edition: reprint
Publisher: Orbis Publishing
Published: 01 Jan 2002
ISBN 10: 0304358401
ISBN 13: 9780304358403
Book Overview: The Spanish Civil War was not simply a class struggle, it was 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 Anthony 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.