The People's Army in the Spanish Civil War: A Military History of the Republic and International Brigades 1936-1939

by Alexander Clifford

Overview

Why did the Spanish Republic lose the Spanish Civil War – and could the Republic have won? These are the key questions Alexander Clifford addresses in this in-depth study of the People’s Army and the critical battles of Brunete, Belchite and Teruel. These battles represented the Republic’s best chance of military success, but after bitter fighting its forces were beaten back. From then on the Republic, facing the superior army of Franco and the Nationalists, aided by Germany and Italy, faced inevitable defeat.

This tightly focused and perceptive account of the military history of the Republic and its army is fascinating reading. As well as providing a broad overview of the strategy and tactics of the People’s Army and its Nationalist opponents, Alexander Clifford quotes vivid eyewitness testimony to give the reader a direct insight into the experience of the front-line soldiers on both sides during these three critical battles. Their recollections reveal to the reader what it was like to fight in the scorching heat of the plains around Brunete, in the shattered streets of Belchite – still ruined to this day – and in the frozen hills of Teruel.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781526760920
Publisher:	Pen and Sword
Publication date:	04/20/2020
Pages:	256
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.25(h) x (d)

About the Author

Alexander Clifford is a school teacher by profession, a history graduate who has studied at the universities in Leeds, Munich and Northumbria, and an expert on the Spanish Civil War. He previous work on the war, Divided We Fall, an interactive novel app, followed the lives of four Spaniards during the main events of the conflict both on and behind the lines.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements vii

List of Illustrations ix

List of Maps xii

Introduction 1

Chapter 1 Peace Was Not Possible: Spain from 1898 to the Civil War 7

Chapter 2 The Last Great Cause? The Spanish Republic in 1937 16

Chapter 3 One Fatherland: Spain. One Leader: Franco. Nationalist Spain in 1937 43

Chapter 4 The Republic's Somme: Brunete, July 1937 72

Chapter 5 The Third Siege of Saragossa: Belchite, August-October 1937 116

Chapter 6 Stalingrad in Miniature: Teruel, December 1937-February 1938 172

Chapter 7 A Slow Agony: the Defeat of the Republic, Match 1938-April 1939 230

Chapter 8 To Resist is to Win: The Performance of the People's Army 242

Appendix I Firearms of the Spanish Civil War by Freddy Clifford 256

Appendix II Glossary of Organisations and Parties 275

Appendix III Republican Orders of Battle 277

Appendix IV Foreign Arms Supplied to the Nationalists and Republicans 279

Notes 280

Bibliography 299

Index 307

Editorial Reviews

"...well written and offers a different perspective on the Spanish Civil War."

Balkan Wargamer

…a useful read for anyone with an interest in the Spanish Civil War.

The NYMAS Review