The Battle for Spain

De: Antony Beevor

Narrado por: Sean Barrett

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.

©2006 Antony Beevor (P)2011 Orion

Reseñas de la Crítica

Fascination lies in the human drama, superbly captured by Beevor ... a vivid chronicle of a dreadful time and place (Max Hastings)

An admirably clear-sighted account ... a great achievement (Miranda France)

A moving masterpiece of the indictment of war (Felipe Fernández-Armesto)

Una revisión completa

Primero, excelente autor. Segundo, un relato sin vicio de un conflicto al que quizá no se le da tanta importancia en relación a la Segunda Guerra Mundial y que sin embargo influyó en esta en formas que no imaginaba. Ampliamente recomendado.

A thorough analysis of the Spanish Civil War

Detailed, balanced analysis. Illuminates also why the war was a dress rehearsal for WWII as Britain and France gifted an opportunity to Hitler to hone his military killing machine in aid of the brutal Franco, and why Orwell was right to leave Spain with a dread of Stalinism.