First published in 1961 and now updated, this has become one of the
definitive studies of what essentially turned into an international
civil war. Combatants of various nations, political shades and
religions pitched in to fight for ideologies that in most cases
even their own governments would not support. For a time it seemed
the conflict could lead to a world war - then a world war did
indeed come, but from a different direction, and the Spanish
struggle became relegated to little more than a footnote in our
history books. Thomas examines every aspect of the war in
meticulous detail, beginning with the causes of resentment and
ending with a long and considered summary that puts the bewildering
range of events into context. The focus is penetrating, even down
to the most minute details of individual skirmishes. Equally
harrowing are descriptions of the effects on Spain's civilian
population as the warring factions fought for causes that to the
average Spaniard were not always clear. Essentially, the war was
born out of fear - many people feared the rise of fascism in
Germany and Italy, others feared the spread of communism in Russia.
Add to that a host of religious intolerances and you have, as Hugh
Thomas says, a situation that in recent decades has become all too
familiar. Many Britons took part in the Spanish Civil War, some
members of the same families fighting for opposite sides. That
internecine split became magnified many thousands of times over in
Spanish households, and the repercussions are still felt today. The
book is not an easy read, Thomas's style being somewhat didactic
and old-fashioned, but there is no better background to a
long-misunderstood conflict. (Kirkus UK)
Since its first publication, The Spanish Civil War has become established as the definitive one-volume history of a conflict that continues to provoke intense controversy. What was it that roused left-wing sympathizers from over the world to fight against Franco between 1936–39? Why did the British and US governments refuse to intervene? And why did the Republican cause collapse so violently? Now revised and updated, Hugh Thomas’s classic account presents the most objective and unbiased analysis of a passionate struggle where fascism and democracy, communism and Catholicism were at stake – and which was as much an international war as a Spanish one.
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