The Spanish Civil War

Posted on 27 April 2018 by Paul Preston

Paul Preston is the world s foremost historian of Spain This surging history recounts the struggles of the 1936 war in which than 3,000 Americans took up arms Tracking the emergence of Francisco Franco s brutal and, ultimately, extraordinarily durable fascist dictatorship, Preston assesses the ways in which the Spanish Civil War presaged the Second World War that ensued so rapidly after it.The attempted social revolution in Spain awakened progressive hopes during the Depression, but the conflict quickly escalated into a new and horrific form of warfare As Preston shows, the unprecedented levels of brutality were burned into the American consciousness as never before by the revolutionary war reporting of Ernest Hemingway, John Dos Passos, Herbert Matthews, Vincent Sheean, Louis Fischer, and many others Completely revised, including previously unseen material on Franco s treatment of women in wartime prisons, The Spanish Civil War is a classic work on this pivotal epoch in the twentieth century. Download The Spanish Civil War Author Paul Preston – kino-fada.fr Preston is extremely sympathetic to the Communists, and it shows in this book Perhaps that sympathy comesfrom his antipathy towards Franco and his regime, which is entirely understandable I m no fan of what Franco did during and after the war Preston seems to let that color his entire understanding of the war, however, to the point that he makes flimsy rationalizations for Communist plots to eradicate their socialist, anarchist, and revolutionary communist opposition at the expense of Preston is extremely sympathetic to the Communists, and it shows in this book Perhaps that sympathy comesfrom his antipathy towards Franco and his regime, which is entirely understandable I m no fan of what Franco did during and after the war Preston seems to let that color his entire understanding of the war, however, to the point that he makes flimsy rationalizations for Communist plots to eradicate their socialist, anarchist, and revolutionary communist opposition at the expense of fighting the actual enemy.Yes, the Communists were organized and, from the Republic s point of view, represented the best chance of defeating Franco, since the Communists also guaranteed aid from the Soviet Union as much as that could occur, at least That doesn t excuse their obsession with consolidating power, to the point of sabotaging the overall war effort Preston, however, disagrees.If you re l...Fascinating, intelligent, compulsively readable, up to date get the third, revised edition 2006 , a marvelous introduction to the Spanish Civil War I had read Hugh Thomas book many, many years ago, while Franco was still alive But I had no idea how utterly sordid an affair this was Some of the most frightful aspects of the Argentine Dirty War find their antecedent in Franco s determination to eliminate all of his ideological opponents On this deathbed, Franco said that he forgives all tho Fascinating, intelligent, compulsively readable, up to date get the third, revised edition 2006 , a marvelous introduction to the Spanish Civil War I had read Hugh Thomas book many, many years ago, while Franco was still alive But I had no idea how utterly sordid an affair this was Some of the most frightful aspects of the Argentine Dirty War find their antecedent in Franco s determination to eliminate all of his ideological opponents On this deathbed, Franco said that he forgives all those who thought of themselves as his enemies He had no remorse.One particularly interestng aspect of this book is Preston s quite plausible explanation for the Communist opposition to POUM and the Anarchists According to Preston, the debate was over which should take precedence the War or the Revolution Moscow joined with the moderate socialists PSOE and with the Left bourgeois Republicans aganst the romantic anarchists in realizing that the War had first to be won, or else there would be...A quick read Preston s focus is on the holocaust carried out by Franco s forces against the Left in Spain But the book also does a good job of highlighting the role that the Catholic Church and the British ruling class played in supporting the fascists and in explaining Franco s military strategy Rather than seek a quick win, which at certain points was within his grasp, Franco chose a methodical conquest of the country and gave his forces plenty of time to purge captured territory of the r A quick read Preston s focus is on the holocaust carried out by Franco s forces against the Left in Spain But the book also does a good job of highlighting the role that the Catholic Church and the British ruling class played in supporting the fascists and in explaining Franco s military strategy Rather than seek a quick win, which at certain points was within his grasp, Franco chose a methodical conquest of the country and gave his forces plenty of time to purge captured territory of the reds The constant descriptions of mass executions and torture carried out by the nationalists is overwhelming.The main drawback of the book from the perspective of a red reader is an insuffic...It s quite frankly impossible for me to believe that anybody could have carried this off better Paul Preston is editor of the Routledge Ca ada Blanch Studies on Contemporary Spain book series and here proves himself to be the doyen of scholarship of the topic Yes, it s heavily angled towards the Left in terms of sympathy but to complain of that would be to complain about Human Rights themselves I find it chilling that so many Spaniards will still praise Franco for his strong leadership.Tha It s quite frankly impossible for me to believe that anybody could have carried this off better Paul Preston is editor of the Routledge Ca ada Blanch Studies on Contemporary Spain book series and here proves himself to be the doyen of scholarship of the topic Yes, it s heavily angled towards the Left in terms of sympathy but to complain of that would be to complain about Human Rights themselves I find it chilling that so many Spaniards will still praise Franco for his strong leadership.That said, Franco is portrayed very much as a follower in the conflict, less ideologically driven than his forebears, stolid an...Far too short on detail for me Plus I find Preston too much of an apologist for the Spanish Communist Party in regard to its actions during the Spanish Civil War I really did not agree with his generalised opinions on the Anarchists and other Leftist factions either but then again I am extremely biased in that regard I agree with the author that thanks to the Spanish Communist Party Madrid held out for so long but there was no excuse for their later conduct against the other Leftist factions Far too short on detail for me Plus I find Preston too much of an apologist for the Spanish Communist Party in regard to its actions during the Spanish Civil War I really did not agree with his generalised opinions on the Anarchists and other Leftist factions either but then again I am extremely biased in that regard I agree with the author that thanks to the Spanish Communist Party Madrid held out for so long but there was no excuse for their later conduct against the other Leftist factions ...En general bien Tiene cosicas, como llamar a Alcoy ciudad portuaria , que te dejan la mosca detr s de la oreja sobre el rigor del conjunto.This is a high level history of the Spanish civil war, focusing mostly on the political and social aspects of the war Preston is, naturally, quite sympathetic to the Republican cause, and offers detailed and compelling evidence of the mass murder perpetrated by Franco s nationalist forces.The stance taken toward the civil war by Britain, France, and the US is quite revealing of the inherently corporate and imperialist bias of those governments at the time The League of Nations voted a non in This is a high level history of the Spanish civil war, focusing mostly on the political and social aspects of the war Preston is, naturally, quite sympathetic to the Republican cause, and offers detailed and compelling evidence of the mass murder perpetrated by Franco s nationalist forces.The stance taken toward the civil war by Britain, France, and the US is quite revealing of the inherently corporate and imperialist bias of those...Hay que ver lo poco que cuesta enterarse de las cosas En poco m s de una semana y con un m nimo esfuerzo he aprendido m s acerca de nuestra historia reciente que en los ltimos 10 a os Soy consciente de que eso no dice mucho en favor de mis conocimientos previos, pero es que no pod a seguir debatiendo sobre rep blica, monarqu a, comunismo, fascismo, nacionalismo y todos los dem s ismos con los que se llenan la boca hasta las pescaderas, sin tener una m nima base sobre la que asentar mis idea Hay que ver lo poco que cuesta enterarse de las cosas En poco m s de una semana y con un m nimo esfuerzo he aprendido m s acerca de nuestra historia reciente que en los ltimos 10 a os Soy consciente de que eso no dice mucho en favor de mis conocimientos previos, pero es que no pod a seguir debatiendo sobre rep blica, monarqu a, comunismo, fascismo, nacionalismo y todos los dem s ismos con los que se llenan la boca hasta las pescaderas, sin tener una m nima base sobre la que asentar mis ideas Llegados a este punto parece que el peri dico ya no basta El libro es corto y directo al grano, si bien es cierto que, como nos aclara el autor en el pr logo, la imparcialidad brilla por su ausencia De todos modos a n no me considero lo suficientemente le do como para juzgar la magnitud de ese sesgo, de modo que no me queda m s remedio que leer alguna obra de P o Moa o Stanley Payne para equilibrar la balanza C sar Vidal queda descartado directamente por pertenecer al g nero de fi...No est mal, este es un gran escritor y un buen conocedor de esa etapa de la historia espa ola, pero el libro a mi entender comete dos errores el primero es que, para tratarse de una cr nica de una guerra, Preston pasa ol mpicamente de los acontecimientos militares, centrandose fundamentalmente en el tema pol tico que por otro lado, es su punto fuerte El segundo es que elabora poco, se salta meses enteros de acontecimientos y, aunque se agradece la concisi n y el ir al grano , creo que en es No est mal, este es un gran escritor y un buen conocedor de esa etapa de la historia espa ola, pero el libro a mi entender comete dos errores el primero es que, para tratarse de una cr nica de una guerra, P...Detailed history of the Spanish Civil WarThis book provided a very detailed description of the Civil War It notably described the roles of the Spanish but also that of Italy and Germany The atrocities described were shocking given that both sides were countrymen One criticism is that one could...

English
27 April 2018

Paul Preston