Modern warfare Books

Book SynopsisA prequel to the authors previous monographs on the Great War and the Foundations of the Spanish Civil War, this book analyses the troubled and often violent path of Spain to modernity. During the nearly 30 years of history explored (18921921), the country appeared to be caught in a kind of Groundhog Day. It was rocked in the 1890s by an ill-fated colonial adventure and a spiral of anarchist terrorism and praetorian-led repression, mostly in Barcelona, which culminated with the murder of the Conservative prime minister, Antonio Canovas, in August 1897. Twenty-four years later, Spain was undergoing a similar set of circumstances: a military quagmire in Morocco and vicious social warfare, with its epicentre in the Catalan capital, which resulted in the killing of the then Conservative prime minister, Eduardo Dato, in March 1921. The chronological framework highlights the gradual crisis, but also resilience, of the ruling Restoration Monarchy. Francisco Romero Salvado pursues the thesis that this crisis could be largely explained by focusing on the correlation between two apparently contradictory conceptual terms, but which in fact proved to be supplementary: the extent to which the persistence of the political comedy embodied by an unreformed liberal but oligarchic order perpetuated a social tragedy. Notwithstanding the peculiarity of the authors approach, this study rejects any notion of determinism or exceptionalism. On the contrary, Spain was not an extraordinary case within the European context but constituted a laboratory par excellence of the turmoil which marked this age. Indeed, a watershed period of fast technological progress, economic modernization and cultural awareness clashed head-on with traditional constitutional and liberal states that found they were unable to retain their past hegemony in the dawning era of mass politics. The outcome was unprecedented social warfare which led in many cases to a reactionary backlash and the establishment of authoritarian formulas of governance. Published in association with the Canada Blanch Centre for Contemporary Spanish Studies

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Book SynopsisA prequel to the authors previous monographs on the Great War and the Foundations of the Spanish Civil War, this book analyses the troubled and often violent path of Spain to modernity. During the nearly 30 years of history explored (18921921), the country appeared to be caught in a kind of Groundhog Day. It was rocked in the 1890s by an ill-fated colonial adventure and a spiral of anarchist terrorism and praetorian-led repression, mostly in Barcelona, which culminated with the murder of the Conservative prime minister, Antonio Canovas, in August 1897. Twenty-four years later, Spain was undergoing a similar set of circumstances: a military quagmire in Morocco and vicious social warfare, with its epicentre in the Catalan capital, which resulted in the killing of the then Conservative prime minister, Eduardo Dato, in March 1921. The chronological framework highlights the gradual crisis, but also resilience, of the ruling Restoration Monarchy. Francisco Romero Salvado pursues the thesis that this crisis could be largely explained by focusing on the correlation between two apparently contradictory conceptual terms, but which in fact proved to be supplementary: the extent to which the persistence of the political comedy embodied by an unreformed liberal but oligarchic order perpetuated a social tragedy. Notwithstanding the peculiarity of the authors approach, this study rejects any notion of determinism or exceptionalism. On the contrary, Spain was not an extraordinary case within the European context but constituted a laboratory par excellence of the turmoil which marked this age. Indeed, a watershed period of fast technological progress, economic modernization and cultural awareness clashed head-on with traditional constitutional and liberal states that found they were unable to retain their past hegemony in the dawning era of mass politics. The outcome was unprecedented social warfare which led in many cases to a reactionary backlash and the establishment of authoritarian formulas of governance. Published in association with the Canada Blanch Centre for Contemporary Spanish Studies

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Book SynopsisThe five-year period following the proclamation of the Republic in April 1931 was marked by physical assaults upon the property and public ritual of the Spanish Catholic Church. These attacks were generally carried out by rural and urban anticlerical workers who were frustrated by the Republic's practical inability to tackle the Church's vast power. On 17- 18 July 1936, a right-wing military rebellion divided Spain geographically, provoking the radical fragmentation of power in territory which remained under Republican authority. The coup marked the beginning of a conflict which developed into a full-scale civil war. Anticlerical protagonists, with the reconfigured structure of political opportunities working in their favour, participated in an unprecedented wave of iconoclasm and violence against the clergy. During the first six months of the conflict, innumerable religious buildings were destroyed and almost 7,000 religious personnel were killed. To date, scholarly interpretations of these violent acts were linked to irrationality, criminality and primitiveness. However, the reasons for these outbursts are more complex and deep-rooted: Spanish popular anti-clericalism was undergoing a radical process of reconfiguration during the first three decades of the twentieth century. During a period of rapid social, cultural and political change, anticlerical acts took on new -- explicitly political -- meanings, becoming both a catalyst and a symptom of social change. After 17--18 July 1936, anticlerical violence became a constructive force for many of its protagonists: an instrument with which to build a new society. This book explores the motives, mentalities and collective identities of the groups involved in anti-clericalism during the pre-war Spanish Second Republic and the Spanish Civil War, and is essential reading for all those interested in twentieth-century Spanish history. Published in association with the Canada Blanch Centre for Contemporary Spanish Studies.

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Book SynopsisDespite over 20,000 published books on the Spanish civil war, it remains the case that the social and cultural dimensions of the conflict have been relatively under-researched. Ruptura focuses on how nationalism, and extremist conceptions and projects, defined daily life experiences in both the battlefield and civilian cities and towns. A principal objective is to demonstrate that the civil war was not a struggle waged between ideologies disconnected from the preoccupations and daily lives of the Spanish people. A tripartite division of the chapter contributions -- Construction of the war; Wartime experiences; Memory and legacies -- brings to light the climate of violence, the social and symbolic transformations resulting from political divergence, and the widespread uncertainty that shaped the behavior, attitudes, lifestyles, practices and experiences of both combatants and civilians. New theoretical approaches on so-called war studies are addressed and engaged with. Several contributions frame their analyses within the international context of radicalization and political violence of interwar Europe. However, attention to the European frame does not diminish the importance accorded throughout the volume to the events that occurred in Spain. Without an understanding of the development of extremist projects, ideologies and attitudes in their particular and international dimensions it is impossible to explain the atmosphere of severe social radicalization and the unprecedented levels of violence reached during and after the civil war. In present times, when the relationship of extremism and nationalism to civil war is once again at the heart of public discourse and a preoccupation of media and governments, an historical perspective on these questions could not be more timely or necessary. Published in association with the Canada Blanch Centre for Contemporary Spanish Studies.

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Book SynopsisThe July 1936 coup d'tat against the Spanish Second Republic brought together a diversity of anti-Republican political and social groups under the leadership of rebel Africanista military officers. In the ensuing Civil War this coalition gradually came under the rule of Generalissimo Franco. This volume explores the hypothesis that the violence and combat experiences of the war were the fundamental ideological crucible for the Francoist regime. The rebels were a group of reactionary and anti-liberal forces with little ideological or political coherence, but they emerged from the conflict not only victorious but ideologically united under the dictator's power. Key to understanding this transition are the different political cultures of the rebel army, how the combatants' war experiences contributed to the transformation of diverse rebel groups, and the role of foreign armed intervention. The contributors examine not only the endogenous Spanish political and military cultures of the Francoist coalition, but also the transnational influence of foreign groups. The roots of Francoist political culture are found in the Falangist and Carlist militias, and Civil Guard units, that lent their support to the military rebellion. The war experiences of conscripts, colonial troops, and junior officers forged the Francoist ideology. It was reinforced by fascist influences and assistance from Germany and Italy, and the lesser-known contributions of Swiss and White Russian volunteers. At the beginning of the conflict the rebel side was not homogeneous. But it weaved together a complex, transnational web of political and military interests in the midst of a bloody and destructive war, transforming itself in the process to a political and dictatorial platform that was to rule Spain for many years.Trade Review‘The Crucible of Francoism offers fresh insights into a period of Spanish history on which so much has been written… I would highly commend this book to anyone interested in understanding the complex nomenclature of Francoism, and how its philosophy and practice was forged in the furnace and brutality of war.’ John McCulloch, Bulletin of Spanish Studies

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Book SynopsisOn the day in 1936 that Franco invaded Spain, a fifteen-year-old girl from Madrid was on vacation in the Sierra de Gredos, a mountain range popular for hikers. Isa (Conchita) Reyes fled Spain for Paris with her mother and sister, taking only what they could carry in their suitcases. Her father stayed behind to fight on the Loyalist side. It was not long before the last piece of jewelry had been sold, and ways had to be found to make a living. Working as a model, she was discovered and given the stage name Isa. A renowned Flamenco dancer, she performed in Paris and in the capitals and resorts of Europe. In 1938 she was crowned Miss Spain in Exile. In Venice, she was courted by Count Ciano, Mussolinis son-in-law, and used an imaginative lie to avoid his affections. In Berlin, in 1939, she performed (unwillingly) at Hitlers fiftieth birthday celebrations organized by Joseph Goebbels. Later in the year, whilst on a dancing tour in Athens, she met the man she would marry my father. Together, they escaped Europe for the New World. This is Isas story, from the nightclubs and ateliers of Paris, to the performance halls of Europe, to the harrowing inspections by the Gestapo while transiting Germany. This is a story of a young girl who had to grow up quickly when war turned her world upside down. Isa fulfilled her dream of becoming a dancer, albeit in ways she could not have imagined when growing up. Her story is told against the backdrop of the Spanish Civil War and Europes inexorable march to conflict. Isa never lost her optimism or her sense of humor. Her dream came true, but the circumstances were tragic and tumultuous.

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Book SynopsisFor two decades after the civil war the Franco regime applied systematic historical propaganda and imposed relentless repression of history professionals. In the 1960s and 1970s, however, the balance shifted from all-pervading propaganda to structural but flexible censorship. Gradually and reluctantly, the regime had to give back the initiative for explaining the recent past to where it belonged: to the professional historians, but not without oversee and livelihood threat. In its efforts to keep control, the regime could count on historians who were willing to censor their more adventurous colleagues. But the outcome of this process was biased and uncertain. The main issue was always whether an author could be considered a friend of the regime. Personal interventions by Franco himself regularly played a decisive role. Historians fully loyal to the regime and its aims were published without difficulty; others took a reformist path, albeit without endangering the dominant interpretation that favoured the tropes of inevitability and positive consequences of Franco's rebellion. Reformist historians avoided criticism of the personal integrity of the dictator and the army, and did not address the issue of systematically planned terror in Franco's National Zone during the Civil War. Historians who dared to embrace these topics were condemned to write from abroad. Historical works dealing with the Spanish Civil War (1936-1939) have been regularly studied in-depth. Dutch historian Jan van Muilekom provides a wider perspective by viewing the Franco historiography from the time of the preceding Second Republic (1931-1936). His analysis recognizes the crucial 1939-1952 period where Franco consolidated his seizure of power. The research is based on a wealth of published censored books, unpublished manuscripts, censorship archives and historical propaganda material. The book is an important complement to earlier studies that mainly dealt with the regimes dealing with the press, the film industry and literature. Over a span of four decades, Franco never lost his grip on how recent Spanish history should be read. Exploring the historiography of the regime provides multiple insights into the links between authoritarianism and censorship.

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Book SynopsisThe Fabric of Fear deals comprehensively with the process of Francoist state- and nation-building in Spain. Franco’s chosen tools were mass repression and ‘cleansing’, undertaken both during the battlefield war of 1936–39 and in the decade afterwards, when ‘war’ against defeated constituencies continued by institutional means. Mobilising its grass roots supporters made them complicit in the state's project. The complex process of ‘cleansing’ and ‘conversion’ of the political ‘enemy’ required classifying soldiers from the defeated Republican army and Republican-zone civilians into ‘pro-Franco’, ‘indifferent’, or ‘internal enemy’. Many of the latter were either extrajudicially murdered or executed after cursory military trials. Classification used ultra-traditionalist Catholic means, including segregation and forced ‘conversion’. The new society programme implemented between 1936 and 1950 was applied nation-wide to political activists, members of Republican parties, labour organisations, and (poor) urban and (landless) rural social constituencies. The Francoist project adapted to the changing national and international contexts across the period 1936–1950: from a civil war; through the period of relations with the Axis powers at the same time as receiving Nazi assistance in building up Franco’s police force as an agent of repression; to the transformation of Franco into an anti-Communist client of the Cold War West. The Fabric of Fear addresses the social effects of the ‘cleansing’ process on both ‘victors’ and ‘vanquished’. On the one hand, Franco’s violent policy forged a new society and tightened the links between the regime and its social base. On the other hand, the violence and coercion exerted on the ‘vanquished’ resulted in their civil and legal death: they were expelled from Franco’s national community and deprived of all rights in what became de facto an apartheid society in Spain.

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Book SynopsisThe British government's policy of non-intervention in response to the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War sought primarily to prevent the conflict escalating into a wider European war but also to ensure that it could maintain or establish cordial relations with whichever side emerged victorious. Due to General Franco's military successes, the support he received from Fascist Italy and Nazi Germany, and the geostrategic importance of the Iberian Peninsula in Britain's Mediterranean strategy, non-intervention evolved into a policy of appeasing Franco. This sustained strategic programme remained in place beyond the Civil War and throughout the Second World War. It aimed to drive a wedge between Franco and the Axis Powers to prevent Spain's incorporation into the Rome-Berlin Axis and thereby ensure the neutrality of the Iberian Peninsula. The British government's diplomatic recognition of Franco and simultaneous abandonment of the Spanish Republic in February 1939 formed a concession comparable to British policy towards Abyssinia and Czechoslovakia. Negotiating Neutrality uses appeasement as an analytical framework to show how appeasement policies alter power dynamics in diplomatic relationships. As a beneficiary of appeasement, Franco, like Hitler and Mussolini, intuitively understood how to use this policy to his regimes advantage and it formed an important part of his development as a statesman alongside his German and Italian counterparts. For its part, the British government increasingly encountered difficulties when trying to re-assert itself as the dominant power in Anglo-Spanish relations. In this sense, the author challenges the dominant view within the existing historiography that British policy makers harboured ideological prejudices towards the Spanish Republic, or sympathy for the military rebels, and allowed these to cloud their judgement when formulating a policy towards the Civil War to show that Franco's victory was far from the preferred outcome for the British government. Published in association with the Canada Blanch Centre for Contemporary Spanish Studies, LSE.

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Book SynopsisThe coup d'etat of July 1936 split Spain in two, shaping a chessboard of terror, misery and death that would put an end to the Republic and give sustenance to dictatorship. In the rebel territory, Franco's soldiers were often not convinced followers, but mere pawns forced to fight for the future of a Spain in which the only element of cohesion would be fear. The experience of the Spanish Civil War is defined by how the dictator placed citizens before a terrible dilemma: become executioners or die. This experience was not confined to Spain alone. A transnational analysis, hitherto never undertaken, puts the Spanish war experience in the context of the political and military dramas of the first half of the 20th century. Issues of recruitment, terror, and propaganda dominate analysis. But deeper social and indeed psychological issues are equally important in understanding how dictatorship can shape society for the worse, and indeed come to be regarded by the majority as the norm. Special attention is paid to military ethos at all levels of the armed forces. Francos Soldiers, originally published to acclaim in Spain, provides a unique literary platform that better allows the Spanish Civil War experience to be understood in a wide historical context, thus furthering and encouraging international debate. Published in collaboration with the Department of International History, London School of Economics.Trade ReviewFrancisco Leira makes a major contribution by showing more than the two or even three Spains that earlier analysts have scrutinized. -- Bulletin ASPHS, Michael Seidman, University of North CarolinaAn excellent and enlightening book. -- Babelia, El Pais, Antonio Elorza

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Book SynopsisThe coup d'etat of July 1936 split Spain in two, shaping a chessboard of terror, misery and death that would put an end to the Republic and give sustenance to dictatorship. In the rebel territory, Franco's soldiers were often not convinced followers, but mere pawns forced to fight for the future of a Spain in which the only element of cohesion would be fear. The experience of the Spanish Civil War is defined by how the dictator placed citizens before a terrible dilemma: become executioners or die. This experience was not confined to Spain alone. A transnational analysis, hitherto never undertaken, puts the Spanish war experience in the context of the political and military dramas of the first half of the 20th century. Issues of recruitment, terror, and propaganda dominate analysis. But deeper social and indeed psychological issues are equally important in understanding how dictatorship can shape society for the worse, and indeed come to be regarded by the majority as the norm. Special attention is paid to military ethos at all levels of the armed forces. Francos Soldiers, originally published to acclaim in Spain, provides a unique literary platform that better allows the Spanish Civil War experience to be understood in a wide historical context, thus furthering and encouraging international debate. Published in collaboration with the Department of International History, London School of Economics.Trade ReviewFrancisco Leira makes a major contribution by showing more than the two or even three Spains that earlier analysts have scrutinized. -- Bulletin ASPHS, Michael Seidman, University of North CarolinaAn excellent and enlightening book. -- Babelia, El Pais, Antonio Elorza

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Book SynopsisTartan Angels sheds light on the work of the Scottish Ambulance Unit (SAU) and the crucial part it played in British medical and humanitarian aid to Spain. In the eighty-five years since the outbreak of the civil war an immense historiography has developed. A steady widening of focus has seen the inclusion of studies that address the intense and prolonged suffering of a civilian population affected by political repression, relentless military bombardment, deprivation, and disease. Likewise, focus has shifted to those who provided assistance to victims during and after the conflict. To date, academic emphasis has been on the left-wing politics behind such endeavours, with too little attention given to the humanitarian responses themselves. Tartan Angels embraces this argument in its focus on the Scottish Ambulance Unit, an enterprise that was arguably apolitical in nature and comprised of individuals inspired, above all, by compassionate and unselfish motives. However, the reputation of the Unit suffered irreparable damage as a result of a series of incidents and events that still remain not fully explained or understood. Furthermore, there were those who used controversy and rumour to deliberately undermine the fundraising efforts of the Units patron and supporters. There is much still to be learned about the creation and the functioning of the SAU an outstanding but largely overlooked humanitarian gesture on behalf of the people of Scotland to those suffering the effects of a brutal civil war in Spain.

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Book SynopsisExamines the role of Christianity in British statecraft, politics, media, the armed forces and in the education and socialization of the young during the Second World War. This volume presents a major reappraisal of the role of Christianity in Great Britain between 1939 and 1945, examining the influence of Christianity on British society, statecraft, politics, the media, the armed forces, and on the education and socialization of the young. Its chapters address themes such as the spiritual mobilization of nation and empire; the limitations of Mass Observation's commentary on wartime religious life; Catholic responses to strategic bombing; servicemen and the dilemma of killing; the development of Christian-Jewish relations, and the predicament of British military chaplains in Germany in the summer of 1945. By demonstrating the enduring -even renewed- importance of Christianity in British national life, British Christianity and the Second World War also sets the scene for some major post-war developments. Though the war years triggered a 'resacralization' of British society and culture, inherent racism meant that the exalted self-image of Christian Britain proved sadly deceptive for post-war immigrants from the Caribbean. Wartime confidence in the prospective role of the state in religious education soon transpired to be ill-founded, while the profound upheavals of war -and even the bromides of 'BBC Religion'- were, in the longer term, corrosive of conventional religious practice and traditional denominational loyalties. This volume will be of interest to historians of British society and the Second World War, twentieth-century British religion, and the perennial interplay of religion and conflict.Table of Contents1 Introduction - Michael Snape 2 The British State and Spiritual Mobilization during the Second World War - Philip Williamson 3 Radio Religion: The British Broadcasting Corporation and Faith Propaganda at 'Home' and 'Overseas' in the Second World War - Hannah Elias 4 Getting the Message Out: Publishing 'British Christianity' 1939-1943 - Keith Robbins, completed by Stuart Bell 5 Christianity, Culture, and the Universities in Wartime England - Matthew Grimley 6 Mass Observation, Religion, and the Second World War: When 'Cooper's Snoopers' Caught the Spirit - Clive D. Field 7 British Sunday Schools during the Second World War - Caitriona McCartney 8 Principled or Pragmatic? English Nonconformist Opposition to Pacifism in the Inter-War Period - Stuart Bell 9 Where Loyalties Lie: English Catholic Responses to Allied Strategic Bombing in the Second World War - Joshua Madrid 10 British Christians and the Morality of Killing in the Second World War - John Broom 11 Jewish­-Christian Relations in the Second World War - Jonathan M. Lewis 12 Agents of Occupation or Reconciliation? Army Chaplains in Germany in the Summer of 1945 - Peter Howson Index

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Book SynopsisThe Spanish Civil War has had a profound and lasting impact on Britain. At least 2400 Britons volunteered to fight for the Spanish Republic (of whom more than 500 died), while others provided medical assistance, visited Spain in delegations, or covered the Civil War as journalists. In this collection of three of his published articles and seven new essays, all based on primary research, Tom Buchanan sheds light on many facets of this complex relationship. The book's central themes are the impact of loss on families and communities, and the importance of Spain itself -- its history and culture -- in the way that the Civil War was understood in Britain. Some of the chapters deal with individuals involved in the Civil War, such as the writer John Langdon-Davies, the artist Felicia Browne and the journalist GL Steer. Others pursue somewhat neglected themes, such as the response of British artists to the war or the role played by British medical personnel. The final two chapters focus on the long-term impact of the conflict on British politics and on Britain's relations with Spain since 1939.Trade Review"...a rich survey of the war's lessons and legacy..." -- Sasha Pack, University at Buffalo, SUNY, Journal of British Studies."...a very thorough and stimulating book...essential reading for anyone seriously interested in the subject...It deserves and can expect - with it's appeal for the specialist and the interested layperson alike - a wide readership." -- Lewis H. Mates, Durham University, in Twentieth Century British History, vol 19, no 2, 2008.Table of Contents"A far away country of which we know nothing"? British perceptions of Spain and its civil war, 1931-1939; Journalism at war: George Lowther Steer, Guernica and the resistance to fascist aggression; The masked advance: politics, intrigue and British medical aid for the Spanish Republic; The lost art of Felicia Browne; Mobilising art: British artists and the Spanish Civil War; The death of Bob Smillie, the Spanish Civil War and the eclipse of the Independent Labour Party; Loss, memory and the British "volunteers for liberty"; My country right or left: John Langdon-Davies and Catalonia; Spain rediscovered: British perceptions of Franco's Spain and the advent of mass tourism, 1945-1975; The Spanish Civil War in British politics since 1939; Index.

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Book SynopsisPublished in association with the Canada Blanch Centre for Contemporary Spanish Studies. "Churchill and Spain" examines why Franco's regime was alone among Europe's "Big Three" Fascist dictatorships in being able to survive beyond the end of the Second World War, and to what extent Churchill's wartime policies enabled Franco to remain in control of Spain. Richard Wigg draws upon Foreign Office documents and reports -- many of which remained secret until the 1990s or only became available in 2005 under the UK Freedom of Information Act -- and the wartime papers of Churchill and Samuel Hoare, Britain's special envoy to Madrid, to investigate this important aspect of Spanish and British history. The book explores the political, economic and diplomatic relations between Spain and Britain during the Second World War and explains how Churchill's lenient policies towards Franco helped significantly in the survival of Franco's regime after the war. In particular, this work demonstrates how the tolerance shown towards Spain's wartime trading in wolfram allowed the rebuilding of the country's gold reserves, which proved crucial in enabling Franco's Spain to endure post-war international isolation. This book, originally published to great acclaim in 2005, and published now for the first time as a paperback, is essential reading for scholars and students of European twentieth-century history, as well as all those interested in Churchill's international role in the Second World War.Trade Review"A fascinating study of Churchill and of the dire impact of personal relationships on high politics." -- Times Literary Supplement"An important addition to Churchill studies." -- Sir Martin Gilbert"Deserves to be widely read for it's historical accuracy as well as for it's contemporary relevance." Tribune, December 2008Table of ContentsPrologue; In the Hour of Britain's Need, 1940; Spain, a Balancing Country, 1941; Ambiguous Assurances, 1942; Franco Toughs It Out, January - October 1943; The Wolfram War, November - December 1943; Churchill Intervenes I, January - September, 1944; Churchill Intervenes II, October - December, 1944; A Wringing of Hands, January - July, 1945; Epilogue: Hoare versus Churchill over Spain; Bibliography; Index.

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Book SynopsisThis is a groundbreaking English-language examination of the final period of Nazi rule in Germany's eastern provinces at the end of the Second World War. It outlines the wartime role of this region and assesses the impact of Nazi 'popular mobilisation' initiatives during the closing months of the conflict. Major projects such as the preparation of the Ostwall defences and the raising of the Volkssturm (Home Guard) are examined in depth. The book concludes by weighing up the importance of propaganda and coercion to the Nazi regime as it attempted to prolong its existence in the face of crushing military defeats. "The Darkest Hour" incorporates a unique synthesis of archival and printed source material from the English-speaking world, Germany, Poland and Russia. The eastern German Nazi leadership, their crimes and their corruption, are covered collectively to a greater extent in this book than in any English-language account hitherto. As the Third Reich was on the brink of defeat, its leader and lackeys wielded life or death powers and were loathed by the civilian population as much as the advancing Soviets were feared. This extensive account of this important historical period and circumstance is essential reading for all scholars and students of the Third Reich and European military history.Table of ContentsIntroduction; Come the Gauleiters, 1933-1939; An Oasis of Tranquillity? The German East, 1939-1944; Enjoy the War, the Peace Will be Dire; A Deep Anxiety over the Fate of East Prussia; A Unique, Improvised Exertion: Ostwallbau 1944; Confronting Catastrophe: The October Invasion of East Prussia and the Launch of the Volkssturm; A Stay of Execution; The Deluge; Our Brave Fortresses in the East; Conclusion.

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Book SynopsisThis is a groundbreaking English-language examination of the final period of Nazi rule in Germany's eastern provinces at the end of the Second World War. It outlines the wartime role of this region and assesses the impact of Nazi 'popular mobilisation' initiatives during the closing months of the conflict. Major projects such as the preparation of the Ostwall defences and the raising of the Volkssturm (Home Guard) are examined in depth. The book concludes by weighing up the importance of propaganda and coercion to the Nazi regime as it attempted to prolong its existence in the face of crushing military defeats. "The Darkest Hour" incorporates a unique synthesis of archival and printed source material from the English-speaking world, Germany, Poland and Russia. The eastern German Nazi leadership, their crimes and their corruption, are covered collectively to a greater extent in this book than in any English-language account hitherto. As the Third Reich was on the brink of defeat, its leader and lackeys wielded life or death powers and were loathed by the civilian population as much as the advancing Soviets were feared. This extensive account of this important historical period and circumstance is essential reading for all scholars and students of the Third Reich and European military history.Table of ContentsIntroduction; Come the Gauleiters, 1933-1939; An Oasis of Tranquillity? The German East, 1939-1944; Enjoy the War, the Peace Will be Dire; A Deep Anxiety over the Fate of East Prussia; A Unique, Improvised Exertion: Ostwallbau 1944; Confronting Catastrophe: The October Invasion of East Prussia and the Launch of the Volkssturm; A Stay of Execution; The Deluge; Our Brave Fortresses in the East; Conclusion.

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Book SynopsisOf these five major political figures from the National Governments of the 1930s, three were condemned in a famous 1940 pamphlet as major 'Guilty Men' -- appeasers responsible for Britain's failure to contain Hitler and Mussolini. Anthony Eden and Duff Cooper were excused since they had resigned from office in 1938. All of them wrote memoirs to give their version of the events of the 1930s, and each has attracted at least one biographer. Their actions and evolving reputations centred around their different international perspectives and governmental experience with respect to the collective policies advocating appeasement. Each man's career acts as a prism, reflecting different national and international perspectives (or viewpoints) of the time. As such, all five therefore deserve to be judged on their own separate relationships with Neville Chamberlain and his and their attitudes to appeasement, foreign policy, and rearmament. An important theme of the book is that the totality of their experiences, political positions and actions gives the historian a much wider perception of the policy options available to Britain in contrast to concentrating on just the issues and policies of one participant, or of Chamberlain himself. The comparison of their careers, opinions and actions provides a very different slant on the appeasement issue. The work utilises both recent and classic monographs on the period prior to the outbreak of the Second World War, the memoirs and biographies of the five subjects, and numerous other biographies, memoirs, and sources that tackle one of the most perplexing and divisive periods in modern British history.Table of ContentsIntroduction; Sir John Simon; Sir Samuel Hoare; Anthony Eden; Lord Halifax; Alfred Duff Cooper; Conclusions; Index.

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Book SynopsisOlivia Munoz-Rojas critically examines the wartime destruction and post-war rebuilding of three prominent sites in Madrid, Bilbao and Barcelona in the Spanish Civil War and its aftermath. Each case highlights different dimensions of the material impact of the conflict, the practical challenges of reconstruction and the symbolic uses of the two processes by the winning side. The books reveals aspects of the Spanish Civil War and the evolution of the Franco regime from an original and fruitful angle as well as more general insights into the topic of wartime destruction and post-war reconstruction of cities. The title -- Ashes and Granite -- aims to capture, visually and texturally, on the one hand, the damage caused by the war and, on the other, the Franco regime's concept of the ideal Hispanic construction material. Written from an interdisciplinary perspective at the intersection of urban and political history and theory, planning and architecture, the book draws largely on unpublished archival material. Key features of the Franco regime's rebuilding programme are considered, such as the priority given to rural reconstruction and the persistent search for a national architectural style. The case of Madrid centres on the failure of the Falange's ambitious plans for a neo-imperial capital as illustrative of the regime's gradual shift from state planning to privately driven urban development. The case of Bilbao focuses on the reconstruction of the bridges of the city to demonstrate how, occasionally, the regime managed to turn destruction and reconstruction into opportunities for successfully marking the beginning of what was perceived as a new era in Spain's history. Finally, the opening of Avenida de la Catedral in Barcelona exemplifies how wartime destruction sometimes facilitated the implementation of controversial planning, acting as a catalyst for urban redevelopment. Moreover, the opening of the avenue contributed to the disclosure of the ancient Roman city-wall, allowing the regime to appropriate the ancient legacy symbolically. Published in association with the Canada Blanch Centre for Contemporary Spanish Studies.

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Book SynopsisIn terms of the Second World War and Britain's wartime strategy three elements deserve close scrutiny: the paramount importance of defending the British mainland and its population; the challenges of building and maintaining coalitions and alliances; and the central role the African continent assumed in all British strategic planning. A concluding essay reflects upon the degree to which in the face of an often uncertain and unconvincing approach these critical themes underpinned the British experience of the conflict. Topics addressed include 1940 and the Defence of Britain; relations with the United States; the British Empire Air Training Plan; General (Boy) Browning and Operation Market Garden; the recall of General Alan Cunningham from Libya in 1941; plans for defending the Royal Family; Exercise Genesis, which turned west London into a battleground for a day in May 1942; and the role of the Eastern Fleet off Africa. Andrew Stewart provides a compelling chapter on the loss of the Tobruk garrison in June 1942 -- one of the worst military disasters suffered by the British Empire during the Second World War. The essay on Tobruk demonstrates how all three defining elements of wartime experience converged: the loss of public confidence about how the war was being conducted; its impact on the relationship with the Union of South Africa, a key partner in the Dominion wartime coalition; and the absolute necessity that existed for deep strategic planning on the African continent -- subsequently to be realised at the final battle at El Alamein.

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Book SynopsisThe Spanish Civil War is one of the most studied events in modern European history. Its origins, that is to say the politics of the Second Republic (1931-1936), have been much debated. The republican period has been much idealised and in particular the myth of Spanish democracy beset by fascism, of which Franco was its leading figure, has been much cultivated. But was this really the case? Recently historians of the Republic have proposed a new and non-ideological perspective on the 1930s. Spain's path was at once different yet in many ways similar to that of Europe during the inter-war period. This book brings together leading and innovative specialists to analyse the main obstacles to the consolidation of democracy in Spain and to debate the principal stereotypes of the traditional historiography of both left and right. The issues addressed include: the breakdown of democracy; whether the CEDA was an opportunity or a threat; the centrist appeal under the Republic; how the elections were viewed and conducted; the transformation of fascism; new revelations about the Communist party; the politics of exclusion at the local level; the perceived necessity for repression; new perspectives on the Civil Guard; the role of intellectuals in the Republic; and revisionism and sectarian history. The book offers a new and dynamic vision of why Spanish democracy failed to consolidate itself and why it finally fell into the terror of civil war. Essential reading for all those interested in modern European history.

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Book SynopsisSalud! reviews the enormously valuable contribution of the volunteers who left Britain to serve with the Republican Medical Services during the Spanish Civil War. Acknowledgement is given to the immense effort and self-sacrifice made by men and women from all walks of life who, working ceaselessly in the rearguard, made it possible for the medical teams to function in Spain. Such was the case in Britain where, in spite of the government's official policy of non-intervention, there was a campaign of fervent support for the legitimate Republican government. The first British Medical Unit in Spain had immense political significance for the Spanish Republic. Barely a month into the start of the civil war and this small group was the first visible sign of international support. It would later become part of the Republican Medical Service and, within that, of the Medical Service of the International Brigades. Not only did volunteers help to create and to maintain an emergency medical service, some of the individuals involved were also responsible for important developments that were of relevance to later military-medical practice and also to the history of medicine in general. Medical personnel generally worked in dreadful conditions, for hours and even days without rest, and with a lack of equipment and provisions of all kinds. They were mostly young and inexperienced men and women who suddenly found themselves thrown together in desperate circumstances, with the task of salvaging something of life amidst the inhumanity and mayhem. That they rose to the challenge is, in itself, worthy of tribute. Published in association with the Canada Blanch Centre for Contemporary Spanish.

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Book SynopsisIn Spain today the civil war remains 'the past that will not pass away'. The long shadow of the Second World War is now also bringing back centre frame its most disquieting aspects, revealing to a broader public the stark truth already known by specialist historians -- that in Spain, as in the many other internecine wars soon to convulse Europe, war was waged predominantly upon civilians -- millions were killed not by invaders and strangers, but by their own compatriots, including their own neighbours. Across the continent, Hitler's war of territorial expansion after 1938 would detonate a myriad 'irregular wars', of culture as well as of politics, which took on a 'cleansing' intransigence as those driving them sought to make 'homogeneous' communities, whether ethnic, political or religious. So much of this was prefigured with primal intensity in Spain in 1936, where, on 17-18 July, a group of army officers rebelled against the socially-reforming Republic. Saved from almost certain failure by Nazi and Fascist military intervention, and by a British inaction amounting to complicity, these army rebels unleashed a conflict in which civilians became the targets of mass killing. The new military authorities authorised and presided over an extermination of those sectors associated with Republican change -- especially those who symbolised cultural change and thus posed a threat to old ways of being and thinking: progressive teachers, self-educated workers, 'new' women. In the Republican zone, resistance to the coup also led to the murder of civilians. This extrajudicial and communal killing in both zones would fundamentally make new political and cultural meanings that changed Spain's political landscape forever. Helen Graham explores the origins, nature and long-term consequences of this exterminatory war in Spain, charting the resonant forms of political, social and cultural resistance to it and the memory/legacy these have left behind in Europe and beyond. Not least is our growing sense of the enormity of what, in greater European terms, the Republican war effort resisted: Nazi adventurism, and the continent-wide wars of ethnic and political 'purification' it would unleash.Trade Review"Spain, it shows, was not a one-off but rather a distinctive victim of a relatively isolated southern European variant of extreme nationalism, one whose development was assisted by the fascist Axis powers and facilitated by the democracies policy of non-intervention. On the other hand, her brilliant demonstration of the European context relativizes and aids comprehension and her compassionate focus on individuals, particularly her chapter on the Brigaders (her inaugural lecture at Royal Holloway), serves to incite engagement and sympathy." - J. K. J. Thomson, University of Sussex,International Affairs 89: 2, 2013Table of ContentsRecollecting the Child; History, Marriage & the Afterlife; To the East; Gone West; Opening the Guarded Door; Explorations in the Craft; Kingdom of the Wise; An Ark for England; A Walk in the Folk Park; Anglican Outcasts & Orthodox Catholicism; Wartime Trials; Cyprus & Beyond Notes; Index.

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Book SynopsisIn Spain today the civil war remains 'the past that will not pass away'. The long shadow of the Second World War is now also bringing back centre frame its most disquieting aspects, revealing to a broader public the stark truth already known by specialist historians -- that in Spain, as in the many other internecine wars soon to convulse Europe, war was waged predominantly upon civilians -- millions were killed not by invaders and strangers, but by their own compatriots, including their own neighbours. Across the continent, Hitler's war of territorial expansion after 1938 would detonate a myriad 'irregular wars', of culture as well as of politics, which took on a 'cleansing' intransigence as those driving them sought to make 'homogeneous' communities, whether ethnic, political or religious. So much of this was prefigured with primal intensity in Spain in 1936, where, on 17-18 July, a group of army officers rebelled against the socially-reforming Republic. Saved from almost certain failure by Nazi and Fascist military intervention, and by a British inaction amounting to complicity, these army rebels unleashed a conflict in which civilians became the targets of mass killing. The new military authorities authorised and presided over an extermination of those sectors associated with Republican change -- especially those who symbolised cultural change and thus posed a threat to old ways of being and thinking: progressive teachers, self-educated workers, 'new' women. In the Republican zone, resistance to the coup also led to the murder of civilians. This extrajudicial and communal killing in both zones would fundamentally make new political and cultural meanings that changed Spain's political landscape forever. Helen Graham explores the origins, nature and long-term consequences of this exterminatory war in Spain, charting the resonant forms of political, social and cultural resistance to it and the memory/legacy these have left behind in Europe and beyond. Not least is our growing sense of the enormity of what, in greater European terms, the Republican war effort resisted: Nazi adventurism, and the continent-wide wars of ethnic and political 'purification' it would unleash.Trade Review"Spain, it shows, was not a one-off but rather a distinctive victim of a relatively isolated southern European variant of extreme nationalism, one whose development was assisted by the fascist Axis powers and facilitated by the democracies policy of non-intervention. On the other hand, her brilliant demonstration of the European context relativizes and aids comprehension and her compassionate focus on individuals, particularly her chapter on the Brigaders (her inaugural lecture at Royal Holloway), serves to incite engagement and sympathy." - J. K. J. Thomson, University of Sussex,International Affairs 89: 2, 2013"Spain, it shows, was not a one-off but rather a distinctive victim of a relatively isolatedsouthern European variant of extreme nationalism, one whose development was assistedby the fascist Axis powers and facilitated by the democracies policy of non-intervention.On the other hand, her brilliant demonstration of the European context relativizes andaids comprehension and her compassionate focus on individuals, particularly her chapteron the Brigaders (her inaugural lecture at Royal Holloway), serves to incite engagementand sympathy." - J. K. J. Thomson, University of Sussex,International Affairs 89: 2, 2013Table of ContentsRecollecting the Child; History, Marriage & the Afterlife; To the East; Gone West; Opening the Guarded Door; Explorations in the Craft; Kingdom of the Wise; An Ark for England; A Walk in the Folk Park; Anglican Outcasts & Orthodox Catholicism; Wartime Trials; Cyprus & Beyond Notes; Index.

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Book SynopsisPatience Darton's unpublished letters and papers from 1930s Spain and 1950s China are at the heart of this new biography by Angela Jackson, together with testimony from recorded interviews and a wealth of photographs that illustrate the life of this remarkable woman. 'For us it was Heaven' tells the story of a young, upper middle-class nurse in the 1930s who becomes dramatically caught up in Spain's civil war and the passionate political issues of her times, but whose intimate writings reveal emotions and attitudes that will strike a chord with most self-aware and determined women today. While Patience nursed near the front lines in Spain, she met and fell in love with Robert, a German volunteer in the International Brigades, deeply committed to fighting fascism. Their passionate relationship coloured the rest of her long life, taking her to communist China and then, finally, back to Spain. Published in association with the Canada Blanch Centre for Contemporary Spanish Studies.Trade Review"Ms Jackson describes the personalities, the medical treatments, the living conditions, the politics, and the conduct of everyday life with an immediacy which makes this biography such a readable and vivid portrayal of a war which it will help to keep alive in our memories, and the index and references make it also an important resource. Through interviews and letters, she paints an unforgettable picture of an intrepid, stubborn, indomitable character, a woman of great ability who might not have made a very comfortable friend or lover, but whose concern for others was a driving force throughout her life." - Nick Coni, The Royal Society of Medicine Newsletter, March 2012This is a moving and illuminating book a wonderful, if extremely sad, love story, infused with selfless political dedication, it also provides a fascinating insight into English involvement with two key periods in countries which experienced major political upheaval and conflict during the 20th century: Spain, with its Civil War, and the International Brigades involvement; and newly-Communist China, with its idealistic foreign revolutionaries. - Books4Spain 2012Table of ContentsAcknowledgementsIntroductionPART ONE: BUILDING A FRAME OF REPRESENTATION1. The Press, the Personal and News Values2. Issues of Public and Private3. Unifying Key ThemesPART TWO: EXPLORING TRADITIONAL REPRESENTATION4. Histories of Homosexuality: Definition and Discrimination5. Private Lives, Public Consequences: Representation Pre-19806. Immoral Sexuality, Moralistic Press Coverage: Representation 19801990PART THREE: EXPLORING CONTEMPORARY REPRESENTATION7. Histories of Homosexuality: the (Slow) Advancement of Gay Equality8. Scurrilous Politicians, Scandalous Stories: Representation 199019979. Public Life, Public Pressures: Representation Post-1997ConclusionBibliographyIndex

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Book SynopsisThis book sets out to analyse the schism in French public opinion during the Spanish Civil War that was to end in the tragic collapse of French national unity. It makes no claim to being a new history of the conflict, or even of the international events surrounding it. It touches only cursorily upon the events in Spain proper. It considers only tangentially French public opinion in regard to the two Spains. Instead, it examines how the French people viewed their position in the international imbroglio swirling around the Spanish question, and how news was manipulated as never before. And since opinion polls were inexistent and radio commentary had little influence, almost the only means of gauging public opinion is the press. Mainstream historical fact is presented merely as the skeleton on which French press reportage is grafted. Included in the historical material is the author's research in the archives of all five of the French departements bordering on Spain. Within the press, four areas predominate: editorial opinion; propaganda; French correspondents in Spain; and collateral events in France (frontier incidents, arms supplies, foreign volunteers, and espionage activities). The work is divided into two parts, the chronological hiatus coming in December 1936. This division is explained by the policy formulated by the democracies that went through no appreciable change; a policy sufficiently strong, perhaps, to deter the Axis powers from all-out intervention in Spain, but weak enough to allow them to pursue with impunity a victory by attrition. The periodic opening and closing of the French frontier played no decisive part in the outcome, since French aid to the Spanish Republic never came close to what the Axis provided the Nationalists. The book ends with the agony of the Republican exodus. Published in association with the Canada Blanch Centre for Contemporary Spanish Studies.

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Book SynopsisThis book examines the human consequences (individual, social, cultural, and economic) of civil war and political repression in Castilleja del Campo, a town in southern Spain with barely more than 600 inhabitants today. The narrow geographical focus allows for a coherent chronological narrative with relevance to current public issues such as the unequal distribution of wealth, political polarisation, the violation of human rights, government surveillance of civilian populations, and extra-legal detentions, torture and executions. The declarations of eyewitnesses are complemented by personal documents, contemporary newspaper accounts, and documents from the town's municipal archive and other archives in the province of Seville. The work presents the events from the proclamation of the Second Spanish Republic in April 1931 onward from multiple points of view and analyses the interactions among a gallery of characters: Republican and pro-Franco mayors and councilmen; union leaders and affiliates; members of the fascist-inspired Spanish Falange; the schoolteacher; the priest; widows and orphans of the men who were shot; administrators and managers of the estates of the nobles; shaved women paraded through the streets; combatants; day labourers; civil guards; black marketeers; prisoners. Placing these characters and events in their provincial, regional, and national context, the town becomes a microcosm that reflects the experience of Spain during those traumatic years. Published in association with the Canada Blanch Centre for Contemporary Spanish Studies.Table of ContentsPreface; Introduction; A Review of the literature; The Model; Simulating the Entry of Multinationals without Profit Repatriation; Simulating the Entry of Multinationals with Profit Repatriation; Conclusions; Index.

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Book SynopsisThe five-year period following the proclamation of the Republic in April 1931 was marked by physical assaults upon the property and public ritual of the Spanish Catholic Church. These attacks were generally carried out by rural and urban anticlerical workers who were frustrated by the Republic's practical inability to tackle the Church's vast power. On 17- 18 July 1936, a right-wing military rebellion divided Spain geographically, provoking the radical fragmentation of power in territory which remained under Republican authority. The coup marked the beginning of a conflict which developed into a full-scale civil war. Anticlerical protagonists, with the reconfigured structure of political opportunities working in their favour, participated in an unprecedented wave of iconoclasm and violence against the clergy. During the first six months of the conflict, innumerable religious buildings were destroyed and almost 7,000 religious personnel were killed. To date, scholarly interpretations of these violent acts were linked to irrationality, criminality and primitiveness. However, the reasons for these outbursts are more complex and deep-rooted: Spanish popular anti-clericalism was undergoing a radical process of reconfiguration during the first three decades of the twentieth century. During a period of rapid social, cultural and political change, anticlerical acts took on new -- explicitly political -- meanings, becoming both a catalyst and a symptom of social change. After 17--18 July 1936, anticlerical violence became a constructive force for many of its protagonists: an instrument with which to build a new society. This book explores the motives, mentalities and collective identities of the groups involved in anti-clericalism during the pre-war Spanish Second Republic and the Spanish Civil War, and is essential reading for all those interested in twentieth-century Spanish history. Published in association with the Canada Blanch Centre for Contemporary Spanish Studies.

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Book SynopsisBorn to fanatical religious zealots, deeply wounded by an unloving mother and a weak father whom he hated, Norman Bethune struggled throughout his life to overcome deep emotional scars. Sexually inhibited, given to outbursts of near psychopathic rage, this wounded doctor healed himself through healing others. In the mid-1930s, Bethune emerged as a renowned surgeon fighting the twin plagues of disease and fascism. When Franco launched his offensive, Bethune travelled quickly to Madrid, organised a mobile transfusion service and, often under fire, brought blood to the wounded at the front. David Lethbridge presents the complex of Bethune's unique activities and personality as they intersected with history: His engagement with medical, political, and military civil war players, and the Communist party; his cadaver blood transfusion work with the Nobel Prize-winning geneticist, Hermann Muller; the profound effect that the Malaga atrocity had on him, and the role it played in his attempt to build "children's cities" outside war zones; his meeting with Graham Spry a high-ranking functionary in the Canadian social democratic party, the CCF; the unravelling of Bethune's romantic relationship with the Swedish journalist Kasja Rothman; the implications of his friendship with Henning Sorensen, a possibly secret member of the Communist Party of Canada, and the circumstances of the conspiracy that led to Bethune's ejection from Spain. The book concludes with Bethune's political tour throughout North America raising funds and public awareness on behalf of the Spanish Republic.

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Book SynopsisIn the fall of 1938, following Kristallnacht, the symphonic orchestra in Palestine cancelled the performance of Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg. No one could foresee that this would be the beginning of a never-ending boycott. The boycott began in a society struggling for its existence and collective identity; it continues in a well-established culture that maintains close ties with Germany and German culture, when numerous Israeli institutions are involved in commemorating the Holocaust. At present Wagner is known in Israel mainly as a symbol of the Holocaust. From the late twentieth-century Wagner is the only composer who aroused strong opposition when attempts were made to publicly play his music. Analysis of this controversy sheds light on the changes that have taken place in Israel -- from a pioneering to a traditional society, and from a socialist to a capitalistic one. In the Wagner Year "The Ring of Myths" appears in a revised edition, including interpretations from new perspectives on the place of the Holocaust in Israeli society and the processes of change until 2012.

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Book SynopsisIn this history of Spain since 1975, with the collapse of dictatorship and transition to democracy, Aitana Guia demonstrates that a key factor left out of studies on the period -- namely immigration and specifically Muslim immigration -- has helped reinvigorate and strengthen the democratic process. Despite broad diversity and conflicting agendas, Muslim immigrants --often linking up with native converts to Islam -- have mobilized as an effective force. They have challenged the long tradition of Maurophobia exemplified in such mainstream festivities as the Festivals of Moors and Christians; they have taken to task residents and officials who have stood in the way of efforts to construct mosques; and they have defied the members of their own community who have refused to accommodate the rights of women. Beginning in Melilla, in Spanish-held North Africa, and expanding across Spain, the effect of this civil rights movement has been to fill gaps in legislation on immigration and religious pluralism and to set in motion a revision of prevailing interpretations of Spanish history and identity, ultimately forcing Spanish society to open up a space for all immigrants.Trade Review"Guias archival work and oral history make for a valuable contribution to a broader understanding of the Transition, and to migration studies in Spain. Of particular note is her shrewd engagement with questions of gender. By highlighting the importance of female activism in Melilla and Barcelona, and exploring various responses to the issue of the veil, she challenges accusations that Islamic culture is inherently discriminatory in this respect...there is much to gain from this innovative approach to Spains relationship with Islam today." Stuart Green, University of Leeds, Journal of Contemporary History,volume 22, issue 4, 2014

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Book SynopsisThe Spanish Civil War is one of the most studied events in modern European history. Its origins, that is to say the politics of the Second Republic (1931-1936), have been much debated. The republican period has been much idealised and in particular the myth of Spanish democracy beset by fascism, of which Franco was its leading figure, has been much cultivated. But was this really the case? Recently historians of the Republic have proposed a new and non-ideological perspective on the 1930s. Spain's path was at once different yet in many ways similar to that of Europe during the inter-war period. The Spanish Second Republic Revisited brings together leading and innovative specialists to analyse the main obstacles to the consolidation of democracy in Spain and to debate the principal stereotypes of the traditional historiography of both left and right. The issues addressed include: the breakdown of democracy; whether the CEDA was an opportunity or a threat; the centrist appeal under the Republic; how the elections were viewed and conducted; the transformation of fascism; new revelations about the Communist party; the politics of exclusion at the local level; the perceived necessity for repression; new perspectives on the Civil Guard; the role of intellectuals in the Republic; and revisionism and sectarian history. The Spanish Second Republic Revisited offers a new and dynamic vision of why Spanish democracy failed to consolidate itself and why it finally fell into the terror of civil war. The book is essential reading for all those interested in modern European history.

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Book SynopsisWhen a military coup provoked civil war in Spain in July 1936, many thousands of people around the world rallied to provide humanitarian aid. Britons were no exception. Collective efforts in Britain to provide aid for the Spanish Republic were vast in both scope and effect. Whilst such enterprise has formed the focus of a few previous studies, some of the most dramatic stories of the Spanish war have yet to be uncovered. This book seeks to shed light on the activities of two separate ventures that played important roles in British medical and humanitarian aid to Spain the Scottish Ambulance Unit and Sir George Young's Ambulance Unit. The volunteer members of these teams (those who went out to Spain and those who supported them in Britain) earned the unstinting praise of the Spanish government for their selfless commitment to the cause, as well as winning the respect and gratitude of the citizens whose welfare they strove so selflessly to protect. Recently discovered documentation reveals previously undisclosed details of these remarkably altruistic and, indeed, heroic enterprises, clarifying the reasoning behind their creation and documenting their endeavours in Spain endeavours of key relevance to the wider history of the conflict. In Spain, the volunteers of the Scottish Ambulance Unit and the George Young Ambulance Unit offered a heartening and inspiring antithesis to the suffering they sought to relieve. They deserve to be remembered for what they embodied during those days of untold cruelty and destruction outstanding examples of man's humanity to man.Trade Review"In Aristocrats, Adventurers and Ambulances : British Medical Units in the Spanish Civil War Palfreeman has rescued from the shadows the invaluable contribution made by the SAU and the GYAU during the Spanish Civil War, in the process illuminating the complex nature of the war-time organisational relationships that developed during this period. It is through such studies that a more nuanced understanding becomes possible of how something seemingly as simple as the provision of what by todays standards and even by the standards of the day were two small ambulance units, could have such a big impact upon the lives of those people it touched." - Jonathan Sebastian Browne, University of Kent, Cercles, June 2014"Linda Palfreemans new book, Aristocrats, Adventurers and Ambulances. British Medical Units in the Spanish Civil War, makes an important contribution to the historiography of Spains bitter civil war." - Alan Sennett, Left Central, 28th July 2014"...a strongly researched and well-written book that explores both political and humanitarian commitment in the Spanish conflict. Her desire to set the historical record straight leaps from the page." - Peter Anderson, University of Leeds, War in History 22(1)

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Book SynopsisWhen a military coup provoked civil war in Spain in July 1936, many thousands of people around the world rallied to provide humanitarian aid. Britons were no exception. Collective efforts in Britain to provide aid for the Spanish Republic were vast in both scope and effect. Whilst such enterprise has formed the focus of a few previous studies, some of the most dramatic stories of the Spanish war have yet to be uncovered. This book seeks to shed light on the activities of two separate ventures that played important roles in British medical and humanitarian aid to Spain the Scottish Ambulance Unit and Sir George Young's Ambulance Unit. The volunteer members of these teams (those who went out to Spain and those who supported them in Britain) earned the unstinting praise of the Spanish government for their selfless commitment to the cause, as well as winning the respect and gratitude of the citizens whose welfare they strove so selflessly to protect. Recently discovered documentation reveals previously undisclosed details of these remarkably altruistic and, indeed, heroic enterprises, clarifying the reasoning behind their creation and documenting their endeavours in Spain endeavours of key relevance to the wider history of the conflict. In Spain, the volunteers of the Scottish Ambulance Unit and the George Young Ambulance Unit offered a heartening and inspiring antithesis to the suffering they sought to relieve. They deserve to be remembered for what they embodied during those days of untold cruelty and destruction outstanding examples of man's humanity to man.Trade Review"In Aristocrats, Adventurers and Ambulances : British Medical Units in the Spanish Civil War Palfreeman has rescued from the shadows the invaluable contribution made by the SAU and the GYAU during the Spanish Civil War, in the process illuminating the complex nature of the war-time organisational relationships that developed during this period. It is through such studies that a more nuanced understanding becomes possible of how something seemingly as simple as the provision of what by todays standards and even by the standards of the day were two small ambulance units, could have such a big impact upon the lives of those people it touched." - Jonathan Sebastian Browne, University of Kent, Cercles, June 2014"Linda Palfreemans new book, Aristocrats, Adventurers and Ambulances. British Medical Units in the Spanish Civil War, makes an important contribution to the historiography of Spains bitter civil war." - Alan Sennett, Left Central, 28th July 2014"...a strongly researched and well-written book that explores both political and humanitarian commitment in the Spanish conflict. Her desire to set the historical record straight leaps from the page." - Peter Anderson, University of Leeds, War in History 22(1)

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Book SynopsisBased on a combination of a wide range of second-hand sources with previously unknown archival material from Spain, Britain, France and the United States, this book explores the Spanish Civil War of 1936-39 as a propaganda battle aimed mainly at foreign public opinion. It shows how both Nationalists and Republicans used the experiences of previous conflicts such as World War I, as well as that of their totalitarian allies, in order to set up a number of propaganda and censorship services with the goal of persuading foreign -- and specifically British -- audiences of the legitimacy of their causes, and of the need to give them political, military, and relief assistance. The propaganda messages designed by both sides -- ranging from the atrocities committed by the enemy to illegal foreign intervention on its behalf -- are analysed in detail, together with the techniques that were employed to transmit these messages: eye-witness accounts, official commissions, unofficial missions of investigation, documentaries, art exhibitions, etc. As to the impact of both campaigns on the British population, the author argues that their crude nature helped to mobilise both the extreme right and the extreme left, but alienated the great majority, who preferred to rally to the Non-Intervention policy adopted by the Baldwin and Chamberlain governments. The chronicle of this relatively neglected topic demonstrates not only the utter modernity of the Spanish conflict, but also the origin of some of the arguments still employed by current historians of the war.Table of ContentsIntroduction: The Truth about Spain; The Age of Modern Propaganda, 1896-1939; The Nationalists: Between Intransigence & Pragmatism; The Republicans: Triumphing Over Chaos; Defining the War; The Battle of Atrocities; The Battles of Civilization: Religion, Art, Culture; The Battle over Foreign Intervention; The Converted & the Unconverted: The British & the Spanish Conflict; Epilogue: Echoes of the Battle; Glossary.

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Book SynopsisValencia has traditionally been seen as somewhat exceptional within Spain: a prosperous, agricultural export-oriented economy dominated by small- and medium-sized farmers. This tranquil image of Levante feliz contrasts sharply with those of rebellious, proletarian Barcelona, or impoverished, feudal Andalusia, with which the CNT and the Spanish anarchist movement is most closely associated. However, this new study shows that Valencia in the 1920s and 1930s was anything but tranquil. The vertiginous growth of the CNT between 1918 and 1920 led to the province being a major target of government repression. The situation there was considered by one Interior Minister as more worrying than in Barcelona. Later, in the 1930s, urban Valencia became the focus of a fierce struggle between hard-line revolutionaries linked to the anarchist FAI and more moderate trade unions, whilst numerous local insurrections broke out in rural areas of the province. Eventually, these two factions would form an uneasy truce in time to lead the Valencian left in the battle to overcome the military coup of July 1936 and secure this vital economic region for the Republican side. In providing the first English-language study of this important movement, Dr Purkiss fills a significant gap in the historiography of the Spanish left. Drawing on a wide range of previously underused primary sources, he shows that not only was Valencia a hugely important source of anarchist support, but that the local movement was far more radical than has previously been thought. He thus provides a vital insight into the origins of the revolutionary and anti-clerical violence which swept the province in the early months of Civil War, introducing us to the 'expropriators' and 'men of action' whose activities terrified bourgeois Valencia in the 1930s. Published in association with the Canada Blanch Centre for Contemporary Spanish Studies.Table of ContentsIntroduction; Valencian Politics, Society & Economy at the Beginning of the Twentieth Century; The Rise of the CNT in Valencia, 1918-1920; Anarchist Violence, the Grupos & Repression, 1920-1923; Culture, Ideology, & Conspiracy: The Battle for Control of the CNT; The Re-organisation of the CNT, 1930-1932: Consolidation & Conflict; 'Revolutionary Gymnastics', Expropriations & the Split Within the CNT; The Fascist Danger & the Search for Working-class Unity, 1934--1936; Conclusion; Index.

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Book SynopsisBased on first-hand diplomatic, political and journalistic sources, most unpublished, Mexico and the Spanish Civil War investigates the backing of the Second Republic by Mexico during the Spanish Civil War. Significant military, material and financial aid was given by the government of Lázaro Cárdenas (1934-1940) to the Republic, which involved not only direct sales of arms, but also smuggling operations covertly undertaken by Mexican diplomatic agents in order to circumvent the embargo imposed by the London Committee of Non Intervention. This path-breaking account reveals the operations in Spain of Mexican workers, soldiers, artists and intellectuals -- such as later Nobel Laureate Octavio Paz and the Muralist David Alfaro Siqueiros -- as volunteers and propagandists for the Republican cause. Engagement with the Spanish Civil War also had a profound impact upon Mexico's domestic politics as support for the Republic was equated by Cárdenas with his own revolutionary project. The defeat of the Republic in 1939 therefore had far-reaching repercussions for the post-1940 governments. Originally published to critical acclaim in Spanish, the work has been quoted and reviewed by many leading specialists on the Civil War, including Anthony Beevor, Ángel Viñas, Santos Juliá, and Pedro Pérez Herrero. This book is essential reading for students and scholars specialising in contemporary European history and politics, Latin American studies, and all those with an interest in the Spanish Civil War and the Mexican Revolution.

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Book Synopsis"It was bright moonlight -- good bombing light -- and once we had to stop and put out our lights as a Fascist aeroplane flew over. They usually come swooping down with guns firing at cars, especially ambulances. Finally we arrived at a town among the hills about 12.30pm. Here there is a hospital of about 100 beds in a former convent. They expect an attack tonight". In these words New Zealand nurse Dorothy Morris described her journey to a Republican medical unit of the Spanish civil war in early 1937. This book is based on the vivid, detailed and evocative letters she sent from Spain and other European countries. They have been supplemented by wide-ranging research to record a life of outstanding professional dedication, resourcefulness and courage. Dorothy Aroha Morris (1904-1988) volunteered to serve with Sir George Young's University Ambulance Unit, and worked at an International Brigades base hospital and as head nurse to a renowned Catalan surgeon. She then headed a Quaker-funded children's hospital in Murcia, southern Spain. As Franco's forces advanced, she fled to France and directed Quaker relief services for tens of thousands of Spanish refugees. Nurse Morris spent the Second World War in London munitions factories, as welfare supervisor to their all-female workforces. She then joined the newly formed UN Relief and Rehabilitation Administration, working in the Middle East and Germany with those who had been displaced and made homeless and destitute as a result of the war. Dorothy Morris's remarkable and pioneering work in the fields of military medicine for civilian casualties, and large-scale humanitarian relief projects is told in this book for the first time. Published in association with the Canada Blanch Centre for Contemporary Spanish Studies.Trade Review"This is an intriguing book which seeks to interpret the world-changing events of the Spanish Civil War and World War Two through the eyes of a nurse from Christchurch, New Zealand..." Murray Rowlands, former director of Morley College, London, New Zealand Studies Network UK & Ireland, August 2015

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Book SynopsisDuring the darkest days of the Second World War a select group of people gathered together in Mayfair to listen to a series of secret lectures organised by the Royal Central Asian Society (now the Royal Society for Asian Affairs). Lecturers and their hand-picked audience examined fast-moving events in the Middle East, Persia and Russia with the intention to propose strategies for Britain's post-war international role. The lecturers were chosen for their inside knowledge of these countries: a British General who had visited Russia's front-line held against the German invasion; an RAF officer who was in Iraq during the pro-German coup by Rashid Ali, and the subsequent defence of the Habbaniya air base; a Persian-speaking British diplomat stationed in Teheran; a Mancunian of Lebanese descent who spoke frankly about Arab hopes and fears; a Home Officer advisor sent to Moscow to inspect its fire-watching arrangements; and a Polish countess forcibly transported to a collective farm in Siberia, among others. Secrecy surrounded these lectures many of the scripts were marked 'Secret' or 'Confidential'; they were not published in the Society's Journal, and the audience was warned not to reveal the topics discussed outside the Clarges Street premises. The discussions which followed the lectures were held in the knowledge that frank views could be freely expressed, and are included in this volume. Although so much has changed in the international arena, these seventy-year old lectures, only recently rediscovered in the Society's Archives, have a peculiar poignancy and relevance in understanding today's unquiet Middle East and how war-time events and strategies were to shape post-war policy with regard to Arab nationalism and Arab unity.

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Book SynopsisWar is sometimes mistakenly construed as the chief impetus for medical innovation. Nevertheless, military conflict obliges the implementation of discoveries still at an experimental stage. Such was the case with the practice of blood transfusion during the Spanish Civil War, when massive demand for blood provoked immediate recourse to breakthroughs in transfusion medicine not yet integrated into standard medical practice. The Spanish Civil War marked a new era in blood transfusion medicine. Frederic Durán-Jordà and Carlos Elósegui Sarasoles, directors, respectively, of the blood transfusion services of the Republican Army and of the insurgent forces, were innovators in the field of indirect blood transfusion with preserved blood. Not only had they to create transfusion services, almost from scratch, capable of supplying campaigning armies with blood in wartime conditions, they also had to struggle against the medical establishment and to convince their medical peers of the value (not to mention the scientific significance) of what they were doing. The Blood Transfusion Service of the Republic was a truly international effort, with medical volunteers from all over the world carrying out transfusion work in primitive and often dangerous conditions. All took their lead from one man the young Catalan haematologist, Frederic Durán-Jordà, the indisputable pioneer of civil war blood transfusion medicine. From humble beginnings at the outbreak of war, blood transfusion services were created in Spain that would later become crucial in the treatment of casualties during the Second World War and would shape the future evolution of blood transfusion medicine throughout the developed world.

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Book SynopsisThis book, translated from the original Spanish, is the primary academic and historical study of the Blue Division -- a Falangist initiative involving the dispatch of some forty-thousand Spanish combatants (over a half of whom paid with their lives, health, or liberty) to the Russian Front during the Second World War. Xavier Moreno Julia does not limit himself to relating their deeds under arms, but also analyses -- for the first time -- the political background in detail: the complex relations between the Spanish government and Hitler's Germany; the internal conflicts between the Falangists and the Army; the rise and fall of Franco's brother-in-law, Minister Ramon Serrano Suner, who inspired the Blue Division and became the second most powerful person in Spain; and the attitude of General Agustin Munoz Grandes, commander of the Blue Division, who was encouraged by Berlin to seriously consider the possibility of taking over the reins of Spanish power. In the end, there were 45,500 reasons that led to joining the Blue Division -- one for each young man who decided to enlist. To understand all of the complex reasons behind their military service under German command is impossible at this juncture. It is an irrecoverable past that lies in Spanish cemeteries and on the Russian steppes. This book, based on massive documentation in German, British and Spanish archives, is an essential source of information to understand Spain in the 1940s -- an epoch when the Caudillo's power and the regime's good fortune were less secure than is often believed. Published in association with the Canada Blanch Centre for Contemporary Spanish Studies, LSE.

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Book SynopsisThis book, translated from the original Spanish, is the primary academic and historical study of the Blue Division, a Falangist initiative involving the dispatch of some forty-thousand Spanish combatants (more than a half of whom paid with their lives, health, or liberty) to the Russian Front during the Second World War. Xavier Moreno Julia does not limit himself to relating their deeds under arms, but also analyses for the first time the political background in detail: the complex relations between the Spanish government and Hitler's Germany; the internal conflicts between the Falangists and the Army; the rise and fall of Franco's brother-in-law, Minister Ramón Serrano Suñer, who inspired the Blue Division and became the second most powerful person in Spain; and the attitude of General Agustín Muñoz Grandes, commander of the Blue Division, who was encouraged by Berlin to seriously consider the possibility of taking over the reins of Spanish power. In the end, there were 45,500 reasons that led to joining the Blue Division one for each young man who decided to enlist. To understand all of the complex reasons behind their military service under German command is impossible at this juncture. It is an irrecoverable past that lies in Spanish cemeteries and on the Russian steppes. This book, based on massive documentation in German, British and Spanish archives, is an essential source of information to understand Spain in the 1940s an epoch when the Caudillo's power and the regime's good fortune were less secure than is often believed. Published in association with the Canada Blanch Centre for Contemporary Spanish Studies, LSE.Trade Review"Dr. Moreno has written what undoubtedly will remain the definitive treatment of a difficult and multi-layered subject for the foreseeable future. Both as a unit history and as an analysis of a small, but critically important, segment of Francoist Spain's wartime foreign policy it has no peer. A translation would appear to be a highly desirable undertaking" - Dr. Klaus Schmider (Royal Military Academy Sandhurst), in The Journal of Military History, Lexington (Virginia, USA), 70.3, July 2006, page 865."The great merit of this work by Moreno Julia is that it is first to be free from much of the rhetoric of the trenches, and to address the phenomenon of the Blue Division in a spirit of objectivity and completeness. The first-hand research in national and foreign archives is a first, and a delightful novelty." - Dr. Eduardo Gonzalez Calleja (CSIC, Centro Superior de Investigaciones Cientificas), in Melanges de la Casa de Velazquez, 36.1, 2006, page 329."We must welcome the publication of this book with enthusiasm. It is the work of a Spanish author and a fine testament to the best historical writing, about the recent past, from our country. The book by Moreno Julia is of the best in that it respects information from a number of archive sources. It tackles a question of primary importance. It goes beyond the precise object of his study, making a more global approach. It results, in the end, to be an investigation with definitive conclusions." - Dr. Javier Tusell Gomez (Universidad Nacional de Educacion a Distancia), in "Babelia"; El Pais newspaper, Madrid, 11.12.2004, page 24."Such an exhaustive history - subtle, profound, and free from bitterness -emerges only occasionally in some books. Xavier Moreno Julias study of the Blue Division is, without doubt, one of those books." - Dr. Ricardo Garcia Carcel (Universidad Autonoma de Barcelona) in "ABC Cultural"; ABC newspaper, Madrid, 08.01.2005, page 19."In line with the great works by English speaking historians on a similar theme, here is a total history of the events, without leaving anything out, no matter how insignificant." - Rafael Nunez Florencio, critic and historian, in "El Cultural"; El Mundo newspaper, Madrid, 09.12.2004, page 13"Far from the hundreds of hagiographies and memoirs on the Spaniards who fought for Hitler against the USSR, The Blue Division by Xavier Moreno is the result of an investigation of Spanish, British and German archives and from the oral testimonies of, among others, the minister and brother-in-law of Franco, Ramon Serrano Suner." - Dr. Andreu Mayayo Artal (Barcelona University), in El Periodico newspaper, Barcelona, 25.11.2004, page 11"Xavier Moreno is a solid investigator and a good writer who has based his book on unpublished Spanish and German documents The book is entertaining, and its quality sources and solid investigation combine to make it a fascinating and definitive work." - Dr. Gabriel Cardona Escanero (Barcelona University), in Clio history review, 4.39; Barcelona, January 2005, page 93."Xavier Moreno Julia has gone into the history of the Blue Division as never before: with rigorous and detailed investigation, avoiding ideological obsessions... Like a jigsaw puzzle, where one piece leads to another and yet another, Moreno Julia has brought together eleven years of study." - La Razon newspaper, Madrid, 30.11.2004, page 29."Few history books have such extensive investigation behind them or such an impartial point of view." - ABC newspaper, Madrid, 21.11.2004, page 76."An up to date, profound and detailed reconsideration of one of the saddest episodes of the Second World War - forgotten and characteristic of Francos Spain." - "Revista", in La Vanguardia newspaper, Barcelona, 31.10.2004, page 10."The Blue Division returns from the past in a study of its history by Xavier Moreno In over 500 pages, Moreno analyses the political context in which the Division developed, and the later clash of interests between Falangism and the Spanish Army. The international reactions that the initiative generated occupies a good part of the book, as does a detailed description of the military operations in which the Spanish combatants were engaged." - El Pais newspaper, Madrid, 31.11.2004, page 46."Moreno Julia knows it like nobody else and, in a study praised by his fellow historians, explains it with rigor and without prejudices in The Blue Division. Subtitled Spanish Blood in Russia, 1941-1945. Reading it is a lesson in history." - La Vanguardia newspaper, Barcelona, 12.05.2005, back page."Doctor of contemporary history,Xavier Moreno has proved with his book on the Blue Division that the study of detail illuminates much more. In this case he reveals the politics of this early step in Francoism as a strong light on an ant reveals an ant hill". - "El Sabado", in El Faro de Vigo newspaper, Pontevedra, 05.03.2005, page 1."Letras. The Best of the Year - Non Fiction. The Blue Division. Xavier Moreno thoroughly re-examines the history from Serrano Suners first call to arms until the devastating return. It is an overwhelming portrait of a wretched adventure." - "El Cultural", in El Mundo newspaper, Madrid, 30.12.2004, page 15."Spanish history writing congratulates the appearance of this study with its unmistakeable title which reveals in depth what happened to the 40,000 Spaniards sent to fight with the Germans on the Russian front The book has been written by the doctor in contemporary history, Xavier Moreno Julia, who has searched through and poked his nose into Spanish and German archives, and has obtained live testimony from old combatants." - Mercurio, cultural review, 67; Sevilla, January 2005, page 36."Xavier Morenos Blue Division can be considered the most rigorous and comprehensive book on the Blue Division to date". - "Quadern", in El Pais newspaper, 21.02.2013, page 3."The historian Xavier Moreno Julia is the author of The Blue Division, Spanish Blood in Russia, considered the most rigorous and comprehensive study published so far on this question." - "Mes Periodico", weekly review in El Periodico newspaper, Barcelona, 14.07.2013, page 7.

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Book SynopsisBased on first-hand diplomatic, political and journalistic sources, most unpublished, Mexico and the Spanish Civil War investigates the backing of the Second Republic by Mexico during the Spanish Civil War. Significant military, material and financial aid was given by the government of Lázaro Cárdenas (1934-1940) to the Republic, which involved not only direct sales of arms, but also smuggling operations covertly undertaken by Mexican diplomatic agents in order to circumvent the embargo imposed by the London Committee of Non Intervention. This path-breaking account reveals the operations in Spain of Mexican workers, soldiers, artists and intellectuals -- such as later Nobel Laureate Octavio Paz and the Muralist David Alfaro Siqueiros -- as volunteers and propagandists for the Republican cause. Engagement with the Spanish Civil War also had a profound impact upon Mexico's domestic politics as support for the Republic was equated by Cárdenas with his own revolutionary project. The defeat of the Republic in 1939 therefore had far-reaching repercussions for the post-1940 governments. Originally published to critical acclaim in Spanish, the work has been quoted and reviewed by many leading specialists on the Civil War, including Anthony Beevor, Ángel Viñas, Santos Juliá, and Pedro Pérez Herrero. This book is essential reading for students and scholars specialising in contemporary European history and politics, Latin American studies, and all those with an interest in the Spanish Civil War and the Mexican Revolution.

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Book SynopsisThis book examines the most polemical atrocity of the Spanish Civil War: the massacre of 2,500 political prisoners by Republican security forces in the villages of Paracuellos and Torrejâon de Ardoz near Madrid in November/December 1936. The atrocity took place while Santiago Carrillo -- later Communist Party leader in the 1970s -- was responsible for public order. Although Carrillo played a key role in the transition to democracy after Franco's death in 1975, he passed away at the age of 97 in 2012 still denying any involvement in 'Paracuellos' (the generic term for the massacres). The issue of Carrillo's responsibility has been the focus of much historical research. Julius Ruiz places Paracuellos in the wider context of the 'Red Terror' in Madrid, where a minimum of 8,000 'fascists' were murdered after the failure of military rebellion in July 1936. He rejects both 'revisionist' right-wing writers such as Cesar Vidal who cite Paracuellos as evidence that the Republic committed Soviet-style genocide and left-wing historians such as Paul Preston, who in his Spanish Holocaust argues that the massacres were primarily the responsibility of the Soviet secret police, the NKVD. The book argues that Republican actions influenced the Soviets, not the other way round: Paracuellos intensified Stalin's fears of a 'Fifth Column' within the USSR that facilitated the Great Terror of 1937-38. It concludes that the perpetrators were primarily members of the Provincial Committee of Public Investigation (CPIP), a murderous all-leftist revolutionary tribunal created in August 1936, and that its work of eliminating the 'Fifth Column' (an imaginary clandestine Francoist organisation) was supported not just by Carrillo, but also by the Republican government. In Autumn 2015 the book was serialised in El Mundo, Spain's second largest selling daily, to great acclaim.

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Book SynopsisThis book examines the most polemical atrocity of the Spanish Civil War: the massacre of 2,500 political prisoners by Republican security forces in the villages of Paracuellos and Torrejâon de Ardoz near Madrid in November/December 1936. The atrocity took place while Santiago Carrillo -- later Communist Party leader in the 1970s -- was responsible for public order. Although Carrillo played a key role in the transition to democracy after Franco's death in 1975, he passed away at the age of 97 in 2012 still denying any involvement in 'Paracuellos' (the generic term for the massacres). The issue of Carrillo's responsibility has been the focus of much historical research. Julius Ruiz places Paracuellos in the wider context of the 'Red Terror' in Madrid, where a minimum of 8,000 'fascists' were murdered after the failure of military rebellion in July 1936. He rejects both 'revisionist' right-wing writers such as Cesar Vidal who cite Paracuellos as evidence that the Republic committed Soviet-style genocide and left-wing historians such as Paul Preston, who in his Spanish Holocaust argues that the massacres were primarily the responsibility of the Soviet secret police, the NKVD. The book argues that Republican actions influenced the Soviets, not the other way round: Paracuellos intensified Stalin's fears of a 'Fifth Column' within the USSR that facilitated the Great Terror of 1937-38. It concludes that the perpetrators were primarily members of the Provincial Committee of Public Investigation (CPIP), a murderous all-leftist revolutionary tribunal created in August 1936, and that its work of eliminating the 'Fifth Column' (an imaginary clandestine Francoist organisation) was supported not just by Carrillo, but also by the Republican government. In Autumn 2015 the book was serialised in El Mundo, Spain's second largest selling daily, to great acclaim.

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Book Synopsis'Today with the Red Army captive and disarmed, the Nationalist [nacionales] troops have achieved their final military objectives. The war is over.' With these two sentences, on 1 April 1939, General Franco announced that his writ ran across the whole of Spain. His words marked a high point for those who had flocked to Franco's side and since the start of the Civil War in July 1936 had carried out what they regarded as the steady occupation of the country. The history of this occupation remains conspicuous by its absence and the term occupation lies discredited for many historians. The danger of leaving the history of the occupation unexplored, however, is that a major process designed to control the conquered population remains in the shadows and, unlike many other European countries, the view of occupation as an imposition by outsiders remains unchallenged. Friend or Foe? explores how Francoist occupation saw members of the state and society collaborate to win control of Spanish society. At the heart of the process lay the challenging task in civil war of distinguishing between supporter and opponent. Occupation also witnessed a move from arbitrary violence towards selecting opponents for carefully graded punishment. Such selection depended upon fine-grained information about vast swathes of the population. The massive scale of the surveillance meant that regime officials depended on collaborators within the community to furnish them with the information needed to write huge numbers of biographies. Accordingly, knowledge as a form of power became as crucial as naked force as neighbours of the defeated helped define who would gain reward as a friend and who would suffer punishment as a foe.

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Book Synopsis'Today with the Red Army captive and disarmed, the Nationalist [nacionales] troops have achieved their final military objectives. The war is over.' With these two sentences, on 1 April 1939, General Franco announced that his writ ran across the whole of Spain. His words marked a high point for those who had flocked to Franco's side and since the start of the Civil War in July 1936 had carried out what they regarded as the steady occupation of the country. The history of this occupation remains conspicuous by its absence and the term occupation lies discredited for many historians. The danger of leaving the history of the occupation unexplored, however, is that a major process designed to control the conquered population remains in the shadows and, unlike many other European countries, the view of occupation as an imposition by outsiders remains unchallenged. Friend or Foe? explores how Francoist occupation saw members of the state and society collaborate to win control of Spanish society. At the heart of the process lay the challenging task in civil war of distinguishing between supporter and opponent. Occupation also witnessed a move from arbitrary violence towards selecting opponents for carefully graded punishment. Such selection depended upon fine-grained information about vast swathes of the population. The massive scale of the surveillance meant that regime officials depended on collaborators within the community to furnish them with the information needed to write huge numbers of biographies. Accordingly, knowledge as a form of power became as crucial as naked force as neighbours of the defeated helped define who would gain reward as a friend and who would suffer punishment as a foe.

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Book SynopsisConspiracy, Coup d'état and Civil War in Seville, 1936-1939 dissects the conspiracy against the democratic Second Spanish Republic in the context of the uprising and civil war in Seville, the capital of Spain's largest region, Andalusia, and the most populous urban centre seized by the military rebels during the coup d'état of July 1936. As the major industrial and economic centre in insurgent Spain, Seville remains central to understanding the rebels' repressive project, for this Andalusian province witnessed the highest number of extra-judicial assassinations throughout the war. This is the first book in any language to bring together the subject of the civil war in Seville, the career of one of the most influential leaders of the rebel faction, General Queipo de Llano, and Francoism's most resilient myth. It dismantles, one by one, a series of carefully constructed narratives employed as rhetorical weapons to justify both the rebellion and the murderous rule of Queipo de Llano. The size and importance of the city meant that it became a critical battleground in the struggle for political legitimacy and it remains so for Spain's on-going memory wars, a series of public and academic disputes over the historical memory of the Franco regime. Rúben Serém examines the socio-economic context of Queipo's great purge, the painful transition from democracy to autocracy and the political nature of the general's rule in Andalusia. In doing so, this work demonstrates how several features of Queipo's system of government were enthusiastically embraced by the nascent Francoist state, hence Seville's unenviable status as a Laboratory of Terror.

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