Hi all,
I'm coming down off of a wonderful WW1 book binge (Although Pandora's Box by Jörn Leonhard, sitting on my bookshelf, has me reconsidering another dive into the madness). I'm working through "The Coming of the Third Reich", and recently came across the Spanish Civil War. Considering this happened in between WW1 and WW2, I thought it a good idea to jump into this topic. That said, I'm caught between two of the most accomplished books (it seems...) in this realm.
The Spanish Civil War by Hugh Thomas and The Battle For Spain by Antony Beevor.
So, just wanted to see what everyone's opinion was on which of these two I should grab? I'm attracted to Thomas' because of how much I've seen it recommended as the gold standard of Spanish Civil War books and I truly feel it would be a great investment and a wild ride to delve that deep into. Then again, I love Beevor and his books, however I'm a little concerned it might be too much into the "battles" and not enough into what happened and why.
Thanks!
Both are decent overviews, if that's what you're after. My recollection is that Beevor, despite his usual approach, does a fairly decent job of getting stuck into the politics as well as the battles. I'd nonetheless personally go with Thomas - he has a depth of knowledge regarding modern Spain that Beevor can't hope to match.
The downside of Thomas' book though is that despite a couple of revised editions coming out since the original 1960s version, it never really got brought fully up to date with newer scholarship. I don't think Beevor is quite at the cutting edge either, so it's less relevant to your decision between the two texts.