"Can you recommend reading for the SCW?" Topic

Hi guys,

I am interested in learning about the Spanish Civil War. I know nothing about the period and I'd like to learn about the battles, personalities, background, units, etc.

Basically everything from A to Z. Can you recommend some books for me?

Cheers!

A classic which has been updated a number of times is Hugh Thomas' The Spanish Civil War.
George Orwell's Homage to Catalonia is a personal account of the war--Orwell served with the Republicans. Peter Wyden's The Passionate War is good--I got an inexpensive second hand copy. I haven't read Anthon Beevor's book, The Battle for Spain, which is newer, and I believe well regarded.

For a different approach, try Hemingway's novel For Whom the Bell Tolls or the Gary Cooper/Ingrid Bergman movie based on the novel. There is also a movie, Last Train From Madrid, that has some nice newsreel film in it (the rest of the movie isn't all that wonderful).

This is one of those periods where newer stuff is likely to be better: we latched onto all the Nazi records after WWII (they were backing Franco); a lot of good stuff on the Soviet involvement didn't come out until after the end of the Cold War in the 90s. Little was published in Spain until after the death of Franco.

Also a period where feelings can still run high: I mentioned to a teacher that my great uncle died the same day Franco did; my teacher was sorry about the uncle, but not even remotely sorry about Franco.

Grelber

You will not have sympathy for Franco's death from many Spaniards if any.

As above, Hugh Thomas is a good start. Anthony Beevors more modern "Spanish Civil War" is also very good, but avoid his earlier effort which is pretty poor, partly why he redid it.

Another vote for Beevor. Reading matters about the SCW with a skeptical reserve is advisable; the republican government was not the "good" side, but the least of two evils. Plenty of "lateral" sides: the carlists were the defeated in the victors, totally fooled by the rebels (to the point of armed confrontation with former allies in the rebel side); the nationalists sided with the republic only to see themselves scorned; while the extreme leftists got the good press they still dealt a good share of terrorist acts (in the vein of those they commited pre-war), and in fact their infighting condemned the republic…

For an excellent account of an individual battle try "They Shall Not Pass: The British Battalion at Jarama " by Ben Hughes.

I second They Shall Not Pass, I have just read it myself and thoroughly enjoyed it.

Frank Thomas wrote an account of his service in the Spanish Foreign Legion, another great read.

Richard Baxell's books are always worth a read too.

I'm reading Thomas right now – really excellent.

Not a book but I think that Ken Loach's film 'Land and Freedom' is very evocative of the period. I read somewhere that its loosely based on George Orwell's experience and there are certainly many of the elements from Homage to Catalonia in the film. As others have mentioned both Orwells and Hemingways books are good. I've read Beevors book a few times and found this very informative but not looked at the Thomas book for a long time (but it is very well regarded). Finally, I know that Osprey books are a bit like marmite to people but there is a wide selection on the SCW which cover many aspects of the war.

The Penguin Book of Spanish Civil War verse. Depending on one's point of view revelatory, or boiler-plate commie . Contains Spain, by WH Auden, and a VERY interesting introductory essay.

Those are all very great ideas! Thank you.

Are there any atlas's or pictorial books about it?

Apprentices of Freedom
by Judith Cook
ISBN-13: 978-0704321861
An anthology of ordinary working people's experience of fighting in the SCW.

Whichever books you select, be prepared to spend quite a bit of time looking up what all the abbreviations for different movements and organizations mean, particularly on the republic side.

For pictorial treatments, Osprey are the most accessible. As mentioned above, a bit patchy.

There are others, but often OOP or hugely obscure and hard to obtain.

In English a couple of heavily pictorial coverages:

"Images of the Spanish Civil War" by Raymond Carr is a great album of photos and colour pictures (posters, paintings by war artists etc) with a brief overview and chronology.

"The Spanish Civil War 1936-1939 (Osprey Essential Histories)" by Frances Lannon

Sourcebooks for wargamers:

"La Ultima Cruzada: A Wargamers Guide to the Spanish Civil War" by Bob Cordery

"Viva La Muerte" and "Revolutionary Warfare: Spain 1936-37" both by Chris Hall dealing with the Nationalists and the Republican militias respectively. Small, cheap booklets with the gamer in mind.

"Uniformes Militares en la Guerra Civil Española" by JM Bueno. Spanish book in the style of the old Blandford uniform books with tons of colour plates and descriptions at the back. Most recent edition has English captions.

General histories in English:

"The Battle for Spain: The Spanish Civil War 1936–39" by Antony Beevor

"The Spanish Civil War (Studies in European History)" by Andy Durgan (historical adviser on Loach's "Land and Freedom" film)

"The Spanish Civil War" Hugh Thomas

"The Spanish Civil War: Reaction, Revolution and Revenge" by Paul Preston

"The Battle for Madrid" by George Hills deals in depth specifically with that front.

The 6 part Granada TV series "The Spanish Civil War" can be found on Youtube. Made in the early 1980s it is perhaps a bit outdated but still excellent and was responsible for my first getting interested in the subject when first shown.

As mentioned by others, there is a lot of controversy still surrounding many events given that this is probably the biggest clash of varied ideologies in history. No matter how objective an author tries to be there will inevitably be charges of bias so it can be important to look for any political alignment they might have.

A good example is the "May Days" events in Barcelona, 1937 which saw internal fighting in the Republican side. I've seen this variously describes as (a) internal rivalry between extremist factions, (b) the culmination of a Communist Party coup d'etat to destroy rivals after they had gained control of the government (c) quelling of an anarchist uprising (d) elimination of Trotskyists in league with the fascists! I happen to trust George Orwell's account in "Homage to Catalonia" which indicates (b)…

Great suggestions. Thanks!