Antony Beevor, with whom you are no doubt familiar due to the more recent publication of his newest books; Stalingrad and The Fall of Berlin 1945, also wrote The Spanish Civil War. Until I read Beevor's book, I had only encountered disappointment in my efforts to get into the Spanish Civil War. I had the grades from school to remind me not to attempt any of the works actually written in Spanish. As for the others,. they were written with all of the passionate intensity of the war itself There was no effort at a balanced presentation; and for the most part, all the authors wanted to do was make pronouncements in favor of their political faction, to the detriment of absolutely everyone else. This may have its own charm on a sunny day with a glass of sherry, but as a warganter, they weren't my cup of tea.

The book itself is ideal for a wargamer. At 320 pages, it contains far more than any Osprey edition could hope to contain, of coarse, that means you'll be forced to read a book with far more words than pictures. 

Besides its own photographs, the book has 9 excellent maps, and a large chronological chart, without which the war--which rapidly goes. through a number of phases--is at best difficult to follow. It also has a section that sets apart the various political factions, for this is very much a Civil War of political factionalism.

Indeed, the twisted political sub-divisions and secret agendas fragmented both the Republicans and the Nationalists during the war. A perfect example arises with the Basques-who should have belonged to the Nationalist side due to their extreme Roman Catholicism, except they wanted independence from Spain. On several occasions the Basques found themselves fighting against the Godless atheist Anarchists over whether or not to burn the local church or not. On the other side, a group of Irish Catholics joined the Nationalists, but often imbibed too much, and got into several confused firefights with their own side. Then, these two found themselves in the trenches across from each other, and even though they had been willing enough to shoot at members of their own side, they reached a truce, so that they wouldn't be shooting at any good Roman Catholics.

The Russians sent massive amounts of aid in the form of planes and tanks--such as the T-26--but stole all of Spain's gold supply in return. The Italians sent lots of men (4 divisions), as well as planes, tanks, and artillery. While the Italians did give the Republicans their only true victory of the war, they ended up becoming a credible fighting force. The two-man convertible Tankette shown here was fine for infantry support with its machine gun, but the T-26 just ate them up.

With the arrival of the International Brigades, virtually every nationality was involved in this dress rehearsal for World War II. The Germans sent fewer troops and more war material, where Colonel von Thoma--later General von Thoma of the Afrika Korps--developed massed panzer tactics using the frail Panzer.I (see the photo). The Luftwaffe also developed their fighter tactics with the Messerschmidt 109, and used the Stuka dive bomber for the terror bombing of civilian targets at Guernica.

What I enjoyed the most abbot the book was the clean crisp narrative. The generals were all covered and evaluated, as were the various types of troops, the tactics, and the battles. I had almost finished it -- highlighting the important sniff--when my copy disappeared. (I'm sure we've all had things disappear in our day.) It was so good that I want out and bought another copy and re-highlighted it, Since then, I've reread it yet again. So I guess. you could. say that I recommend it for those of you who can plead ignorance about this fascinating little war.