The Battle for Spain

The Spanish Civil War 1936-1939

By: Antony Beevor

Narrated by: 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.

Read by Sean Barrett

(p) 2011 Isis Publishing Ltd©2006 Antony Beevor

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

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.

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.