The Spanish Civil War

A Military History

Charles J Esdaile

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2018
• eBook ISBN: 9780429859298
• Topic: History
• Subtopic: 20th Century History
• Index: History

The Spanish Civil War: A Military History takes a new, military approach to the conflict that tore Spain apart from 1936 to 1939.

In many histories, the war has been treated as a primarily political event with the military narrative subsumed into a much broader picture of the Spain of 1936–9 in which the chief themes are revolution and counter-revolution. While remaining conscious of the politics of the struggle, this book looks at the war as above all a military event, and as one in whose outbreak specifically military issues – particularly the split in the armed forces produced by the long struggle in Morocco (1909–27) – were fundamental. Across nine chapters that consider the war from beginning to endgame, Charles J. Esdaile revisits traditional themes from a new perspective, deconstructs many epics and puts received ideas to the test, as well as introducing readers to foreign-language historiography that has previously been largely inaccessible to an anglophone audience.

In taking this new approach, The Spanish Civil War: A Military History is essential reading for all students of twentieth-century Spain.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half-Title
• Series
• Title
• Copyright
• Dedication
• Contents
• List of maps
• Preface
• 1 Beginnings
• 2 Spain is divided
• 3 First campaigns
• 4 The battle of Madrid
• 5 Winter battles
• 6 The war in Euzkadi
• 7 Diversions and disasters
• 8 Collapse in Aragón
• 9 Endgame
• Appendix 1: Organization of the Spanish Home Army, 1936
• Appendix 2: Organization of the Army of Africa, 1936
• Appendix 3: Spanish military and naval aviation, 1936
• Appendix 4: Spanish Navy, 1936
• Appendix 5: Weapons in service with the Spanish Army, 1936
• Appendix 6: Obsolete weapons brought back into service, 1936
• Appendix 7: Aircraft, tanks and other weapons supplied to Nationalist Spain
• Appendix 8: Aircraft, tanks and other weapons supplied to Republican Spain
• Appendix 9: Machine-guns and rifles supplied to the Republic
• Appendix 10: Foreign aid in the Spanish Civil War
• Appendix 11: The International Brigades
• Appendix 12: Nationalist forces engaged in the assault on Madrid, November 1936
• Appendix 13: Nationalist order of battle, campaign in Vizkaya, April 1937
• Appendix 14: The Republican Army at the Battle of Brunete
• Bibliography
• Index