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The Battle for Spain

The Spanish Civil War 1936-1939

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The Battle for Spain

By: Antony Beevor
Narrated by: Sean Barrett
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About this listen

 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.

Antony Beevor's 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.

Read by Sean Barrett

(p) 2011 Isis Publishing Ltd©2006 Antony Beevor 20th Century Europe Military Modern Spain War Interwar Period Imperialism Russia Soviet Union Middle Ages Latin American Civil War Socialism Winston Churchill Liberalism Africa Royalty Capitalism

Critic reviews

Fascination lies in the human drama, superbly captured by Beevor ... a vivid chronicle of a dreadful time and place (Max Hastings)
In many ways it's his most impressive book to date because he coolly makes sense of such a complicated story: the narrative sweep is consummate, the seamless use of so many sources masterful, and the eye for details makes it a superb read (Simon Sebag Montefiore)
An admirably clear-sighted account ... a great achievement (Miranda France)
A moving masterpiece of the indictment of war (Felipe Fernández-Armesto)
A gripping, revelatory account
This is an enthralling book. The narrative is masterly, wonderfully clear as a guide through the labyrinth. It is even-tempered and full of good sense ... It is admirable
It is an admirably clear-sighted account. What Beevor does so well is to place the war in the context of Spanish history and world politics ... Beevor's understanding of warfare and tactics is second to none ... This is a great achievement
A very different book, which displays all Beevor's exceptional narrative skills and literary flair. 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
Antony Beevor's revised history of the Civil War, which vividly anatomises a state and a society in the process of disintegration, is a tract for our times ... Above all, he has Beevorised the book, given it the richness of detail and the narrative drive that made Stalingrad such a success
For the big picture of the war, all the more powerful for its blending of narrative intensity with emotional restraint, there is no rival to Antony Beevor's masterly The Battle for Spain
The Battle for Spain looks likely to become the standard account of the conflict for at least the next generation
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Any additional comments?

I'm a great fan of audiobooks, and history ones in particular. However, this book would be best in the good old-fashioned dead tree format, because that gives you two things an audiobook doesn't: maps and an index.

Maps are vital if your geography of Spain is anything less than A-level standard, and mine isn't even up to basic tourist standard.

An index is very, very vital. I can sympathise with other reviewers who have talked about the barrage of names that hits you, particularly in the opening chapters. They can indeed get confusing. In, say, a history of World War 2 it's pretty easy to tell which side a certain name belongs to, but with a civil war, no such luck (unless the name is German or Russian, which in fairness many are). As such it's fairly easy to lose track of who's fighting on which side, which wouldn't happen if you could quickly flip to the index (which you can't do on a kindle, either, or at least not very easily).

Other preparations which would probably pay dividends would be to swot up on the Spanish name formats, as they aren't straightforward and don't always make sense to an anglophone ear; and also to be clear on Spanish pronunciation. Sean Barrett is to be congratulated on the excellence of his Spanish accent when names of people or places appear in the text, but I sometimes found myself wondering how a certain name would actually be spelt. Again, an argument that for me at least, this was in the wrong format.

Despite all this the book was a pleasant experience overall, and as my only real understanding of the Spanish Civil War before this came from "For Whom The Bell Tolls" and "Homage To Catalonia", it answered many questions. It can also be seen in many ways as a prequel to the Second World War, and for that reason forms a vital part of European history which deserves to be better understood.

Good book, but the wrong format

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A very good listen - very accessible to the layman. Seems to cover just about everything with just suffecient depth.

Great

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This work examines the complex layers of a conflict beset by internecine tensions within both the nationalist and republican movements. One cannot help but be moved by the enormous and pointless loss of life on the alters of hubris and ideology or be angered by the deceit and hypocrisy of Britain, France, Germany, Italy and The Soviet Union. The romantic myths surrounding The International Brigades is exposed as just propagandist twaddle whilst those who propagated it valued their own rhetoric over the lives of those in their care. There can barely be a family in Spain not to have been touched by this conflict the viciousness of which is all too clear. Highly recommended as an insight into military strategy and tactics, international politics and theme barbarous capacity of humanity.

A civil war the scale and breadth of which is little understood outside of Spain

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As others have said, the Spanish civil war is a complicated affair and one can easily become overwhelmed by the complexity. This book is a brilliant detailed account of the war covering both military and political matters. Furthermore it is read at a brisk pace, perfectly accented and emphasised by Sean Barrett. Might be best to do some homework first or read another lighter book on the Spanish civil war befor embarking on this one. Orwell's Homage to Catalonia is available on Audible for instance. My experience of Spanish history is that it is maddeningly complicated, Ireland's too, and doesn't fall into the relatively simple but perhaps deceptive patterns we are used to with some other countries, notably England and the USA.

Detailed account of civil war

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Excellent overview of the conflict, its immediate causes, the main protagonists and the course of this incredibly divisive civil war. Well read with appropriate emphasis, good pronunciation of Spanish names and locations that assist in the overall understanding of this complex conflict.

Excellent factual account of an incredibly complex conflict.

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