The Battle for Spain: The Spanish Civil War 1936-1939

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 Guernica. This was Antony Beevor's first work of non-fiction, pre-dating his international bestselling Stalingard and Berlin: The Downfall 1945. Now, more than 20 years later, he has substantially rewritten it drawing on masses of newly-discovered material from the Spanish, Russian and German archives. His account narrates the origins of the Civil War and its violent and dramatic course from the coup d'etat in July 1936 through the savage fighting of the next three years which ended in catastrophic defeat for the Republicans in 1939. And he succeeds especially well in unravelling the complex political and regional forces that played such an important part in the origins and history of the war.

About the Author :
Antony Beevor served as a regular officer in the 11th Hussars in Germany. Stalingrad and Berlin: The Downfall have been translated into 25 languages and won a plethora of the major prizes. His latest work, A Writer at War - Vasily Grossman with the Red Army 1941-1945, is an edition, with his Russian researcher, Dr Luba Vinogradova, of Grossman's wartime notebooks. A fellow of the Royal Society of Literature and Chevalier de l'Ordre des Arts et Lettres in France, Beevor has been chairman of Society of Authors; he is a visiting professor at Birkbeck College, University of London. He is married to the writer Artemis Cooper.

Review :
he has produced a moving masterpiece of the indictment of war. - THE TLS - Felipe Fernandez-Armesto Fascination lies in the human drama, superbly captured by Beevor... a vivid chronicle of a dreadful time and place. - THE SUNDAY TIMES - Max Hastings he is also very good on the political manoeuvrings of this most intensely ideological of conflicts. - THE SUNDAY TELEGRAPH - Andrew Roberts it is an admirably clear-sighted account.... a great achievement. - THE DAILY TELEGRAPH - Miranda France the story he tells is grimly familiar but he presents it with a freshness, an eye for detail and a degree of detachment that makes this one of the best accounts to date of the Spanish crisis. - THE EVENING STANDARD - Richard Overy This is an enthralling bok. The narrative is masterly, wonderfully clear as a guide through the labyrinth. It is even-tempered and full of good sense. - THE LITERARY REVIEW - Allan Massie To appreciate the magnitude of that rapid and extraordinary achievement, do read Antony Beevor's account of the bubbling cauldron of horror from which Spain escaped. - THE DAILY MAIL - Tom Rosenthal clear prose, peppered with fresh perceptions, especially where strategy, tactics, and soldiers are concerned. - THE TIMES - Paul Preston