Product Description

The Spanish Civil War of 1936-39 was of enormous international as well as national significance. In this volume, Lannon explains how this internal conflict saw the fight between democracy and communism played out on a small scale, only to be fought out again in World War II. We go behind the scenes to find out the true story of the bitter fighting within the sides, not just between them. The experiences of the men and women caught up in the fighting are highlighted. For them the stakes were painfully high.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #34241 in Books
• Published on: 2002-10-16
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 96 pages

Review
The Spanish Civil War of 1936-39 was of enormous international as well as national significance. In this gripping volume, Frances Lannon explains how this internal conflict saw the fight between democracy and communism played out on a small scale, only to be fought out again in the Second World War.

About the Author
Frances Lannon is Fellow and Tutor in Modern History at Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford. She has published extensively on the cultural and political origins and significance of the Spanish Civil War, including 'Privilege, Persecution and Prophecy: The Catholic Church in Spain 1875-1975' (1987), and recent articles on women in the Civil War.

Customer Reviews

The Culture War
This book is an excellent introduction to this complicated culture war in which the defenders of property, religion and tradition took up arms against a Republican government committed to social reform, devolution and secularisation.

In the early 1930s the Republican government had begun with modest reforms aimed at improving the lot of the country's poor. However, even as early as 1931, the Constituent Assembly approved an amended draft that, while creating a democratic, secular system, also introduced measures which many Spanish people thought an irreligious assault on Spanish tradition. It legalised divorce, permitted the state to expropriate private property for reasons of broader social utility, introduced free, obligatory, secular education for all, dissolved the Jesuits and banned religious communities of nuns, priests and brothers from teaching even in private schools [the unamended draft would have dissolved all religious orders outright]. Many conservatives, including very modest property owners as well as the wealthy, feared that once the balance began to shift so far leftwards revolutionary claims for redistribution of wealth would overwhelm them.

As the decade progressed the Republican government - racked by internecine conflicts between socialists, anarchists and communists, began to lose control. Churches and convents were burned and in July 1936 a former Finance Minister was arrested by uniformed police officers, driven away in a police car and shot. His body was left in the public morgue. The killing of a major political leader while in the custody of law enforcement officers was too much for Spanish conservatives. They concluded the government had totally lost control since its own officers were now dealing out summary executions as though the courts did not exist. A military coup - which had been planned for some time, started in Morocco under the leadership of General Franco who had been flown there from the Canary Islands.

During the following three years the forces of Spanish conservatism waged what many of them saw as a religious crusade against atheistic communism. Germany, Italy and the Soviet Union were all drawn in to the conflict. Many other countries refused to get involved. Accounts of revolution, expropriations and anti-clerical atrocities in Republican Spain frightened conservatives everywhere. Selling arms to a democratically elected government threatened by military coup was one thing. Aiding an atheistic social revolution that killed priests and landlords was quite another. Franco's eventual triumph became inevitable.

Fantastic for historical revision
Although I shall confess I have not read this book from cover-to-cover, I can say that I have found it extreamly useful. I initially bought the book to help with my History G.C.S.E. exam, and I purchased it with no prior knowledge to what it really contained.

I knew that with all my revision I would not have time to read hundreds of pages on a subject I only need to touch upon lightly, and so I can honestly admit I bought the book primarily for its length. Therefore, I was extreamly happy upon the books arrival when I found out not only was the layout reader-freindly, but the pictures and sources were fantastically helpful.

This is definately a book to read if you're looking for subject material or even if you enjoy a bit of light historical reading. I was certainly suprised!