Peace In Their Time

No civil war would be complete without purges and oppression going on behind the frontlines, and this one was no exception.   Bibliography for this episode:    Seidman, Michael The Victorious Counterrevolution: The Nationalist Effort in the Spanish Civil War University of Wisconsin Press 2011 Preston, Paul The Spanish Civil War: Reaction, Revolution, and Revenge Harper Perennial 2006 Preston, Paul...

Wherein I try and contextualize the conflict from the viewpoint of the Anarchists.    Bibliography for this episode:    Evans, Danny Revolution and the State: Anarchism in the Spanish Civil War 1936-1939 AK Press 2020 Guillamon, Agustin Ready for Revolution: The CNT Defense Committees in Barcelona 1933-38 AK Press 2014 Guillamon, Agustin Insurrection: The Bloody Events of May 1937 in Barcelona AK...

Against the backdrop of military defeat, the misadventures of the Spanish Republic's government roll on.    Bibliography for this episode:    Jackson, Gabriel The Spanish Republic and the Civil War, 1931-39 Princeton University Press 1965 Preston, Paul The Spanish Civil War: Reaction, Revolution, and Revenge Harper Perennial 2006 Thomas, Hugh The Spanish Civil War Modern Library 2001 Beevor, Anton...

The Republican zone behind the frontlines of the civil war was a hot mess, and nowhere was it hotter or messier than Catalonia. As it turns out the Leftist joke "Anarchists and Communists can be friends until the Revolution" isn't actually a joke.    Bibliography for this episode:    Jackson, Gabriel The Spanish Republic and the Civil War, 1931-39 Princeton University Press 1965 Preston, Paul The...

Starting a long break from the battlefield, today I am covering political jockeying and the social/economic conditions faced in the zone of Spain controlled by the Nationalists.    Bibliography for this episode:    Seidman, Michael The Victorious Counterrevolution: The Nationalist Effort in the Spanish Civil War University of Wisconsin Press 2011 Payne, Stanley G. Fascism in Spain 1923-1977 Univer...

Busy episode today as in the first part I cover the blizzard battle of Teruel, in the second the lopsided Aragon Offensive, with updates at sea and in the air in between.    Bibliography for this episode:    Jackson, Gabriel The Spanish Republic and the Civil War, 1931-39 Princeton University Press 1965 Preston, Paul The Spanish Civil War: Reaction, Revolution, and Revenge Harper Perennial 2006 Th...

With Bilbao fallen and the Basques effectively knocked out of the war, the Republic was desperate to stall the final collapse of their enclave on the northern coast of Spain. Two large offensives were launched with the intent of drawing Franco's attentions south, but their failures only minimally delayed the final result for their isolated comrades.    Bibliography for this episode:    Jackson, Ga...

Madrid may have been a bust, but Franco still had the initiative. Looking around on where to strike next, he settled on the Republican-held coastal strip along the northern coast. While this was indeed where the anti-Fascist forces were weakest, the combination of terrain and determined fighters would turn the campaign into a months-long affair taking up the bulk of 1937.    Bibliography for this...

Picking back up with the course of the fighting, the Italians enter the fray in force in both the south and north of Spain. Franco also tries again to make a play on Madrid, to about the same results as before.    Bibliography for this episode:    Jackson, Gabriel The Spanish Republic and the Civil War, 1931-39 Princeton University Press 1965 Preston, Paul The Spanish Civil War: Reaction, Revoluti...

The aftermath of the Battle of Madrid left both sides of the war realizing that the conflict was going to be a long and grinding one, and so each began scrambling to consolidate their positions and expand their armies.    Bibliography for this episode:    Jackson, Gabriel The Spanish Republic and the Civil War, 1931-39 Princeton University Press 1965 Preston, Paul The Spanish Civil War: Reaction,...

The big showdown in the Spanish capital got underway in early November 1936 and lasted until just after the new year. While the Nationalists would hurl their forces in the fray time and time again, the resolution of the defenders in forcing them back would shock the world. And maybe even themselves a little bit.    Bibliography for this episode:    Jackson, Gabriel The Spanish Republic and the Civ...

The Nationalist assault Madrid begins.    Bibliography for this episode:    Jackson, Gabriel The Spanish Republic and the Civil War, 1931-39 Princeton University Press 1965 Preston, Paul The Spanish Civil War: Reaction, Revolution, and Revenge Harper Perennial 2006 Thomas, Hugh The Spanish Civil War Modern Library 2001 Beevor, Antony The Battle for Spain: The Spanish Civil War 1936-1939 Penguin Bo...

The SCW was from word go an international affair, although the help rendered was not even on the two sides. Today I take a look at how material aid for both factions materialized.    Bibliography for this episode:  Preston, Paul A People Betrayed: A History of Corruption, Political Incompetence, and Social Division in Modern Spain 1874-2018 William Collins 2020 Jackson, Gabriel The Spanish Republi...

Today I finally get to some of the real-deal fighting as the first two months of the war sees the balance of strength already turn against the Republic.    Bibliography for this episode:  Preston, Paul A People Betrayed: A History of Corruption, Political Incompetence, and Social Division in Modern Spain 1874-2018 William Collins 2020 Jackson, Gabriel The Spanish Republic and the Civil War, 1931-3...

With Spain split between warring zones that by the late summer of 1936 would each function as coherent entities, the battlelines were set. Which means today I am taking a look at the internal conditions of each zone to establish where each side stood as the big battles approached.    Bibliography for this episode:  Preston, Paul A People Betrayed: A History of Corruption, Political Incompetence, a...

After the initial shock of the uprising had passed, Republican forces mobilized to contain the military uprising.    Bibliography for this episode:  Preston, Paul A People Betrayed: A History of Corruption, Political Incompetence, and Social Division in Modern Spain 1874-2018 William Collins 2020 Jackson, Gabriel The Spanish Republic and the Civil War, 1931-39 Princeton University Press 1965 Prest...

The Spanish Civil War was kicked off by a massive army uprising across the country, which turned all of Spain into a battlefield for the first weeks of the conflict.    Bibliography for this episode:  Preston, Paul A People Betrayed: A History of Corruption, Political Incompetence, and Social Division in Modern Spain 1874-2018 William Collins 2020 Jackson, Gabriel The Spanish Republic and the Civi...

The final six months leading up to the Spanish Civil War kicked off with the electoral triumph of that nation's Popular Front coalition. But this time around the Reactionary element of Spain was not about to give the new government even the opportunity of governing. The nation sank into chaos as the political right-wing withdrew its support for the Republic and the army began plotting a massive up...

The first two years of the Second Spanish Republic were marked by a great burst of reformist energy after years of stagnation. The changes made though sparked a conservative reaction that would in turn dominate the next two, and set the stage for the proponents of the New and Old Spains to be hopelessly polarized against each other.    Bibliography for this episode:  Preston, Paul A People Betraye...

The establishment of the Second Republic represented an acknowledgement that Spain had changed greatly, and that reforms had been long overdue. The new state though was not without controversy, and even from those early days its opponents would be working to undermine its work.    Bibliography for this episode:  Preston, Paul A People Betrayed: A History of Corruption, Political Incompetence, and...

Today I take a look at some of the basic conditions found across the regions of Spain and the big political players around in 1931. Also covered are the immediate events that led to the Second Republic's foundation and some of the happenings during its first months.    Bibliography for this episode:  Preston, Paul A People Betrayed: A History of Corruption, Political Incompetence, and Social Divis...

The overview of Spain leading up to the Second Republic continues as I cover the turbulent period from 1833-1931. Monarchs and governments would rise and fall, civil and foreign wars would be fought, but rarely would a political order manage to last more than a decade or so.    Bibliography for this episode:  Preston, Paul A People Betrayed: A History of Corruption, Political Incompetence, and Soc...

Today marks the start of the Spanish Civil War miniseries, and true to form I'm going to do some table setting. Today I introduce the conflict, why it was important, and focus in on Spain's imperial experience to explain the long-term conditions that made Spain so unstable.    Bibliography for this episode:  Kamen, Henry Empire: How Spain Became a World Power 1492-1763 Perennial 2004 Elliott, J.H....

Hey all, it's been a while since I took a break on making this show, and I've hit a nice little stopping point, so I'm taking some time off! Additional details in the recorded announcement. 

The British response to Axis aggression concludes with a brief overview of its foreign policy, which yeah can be summed up with the word "appeasement." Feeling themselves behind in rearmament compared to the Axis, especially Germany, the UK took the course of offering concessions to buy time to build a military that could counter the emerging threats. Too bad for them a reckoning is exactly what t...