A People Betrayed

Paul Preston's The Coming of the Spanish Civil War is widely regarded as a classic account of the collapse of democracy in Spain and the and outbreak of the civil war. In a narrative that paints a picture of picture of a deeply divided country, he coherently and excitingly outlines the social and economic background to the conflict. Explaining Spain's predicament as a predominantly poor, agricultural country riven by economic inequality, Preston deftly shows how the Republican-Socialist coalition's attempts to reform Spain in the early 1930s were continually undermined and thwarted by right-wing parties and factions. The incompatible interests represented by these two mass parliamentary parties - those of the landless labourers and big landlords, of industrialists and workers - spilled over into conflict which could not be contained within the parliamentary arena, leading ultimately to the outbreak of conflict in 1936.Drawing on archives, diaries and letters of major protagonists, The Coming of the Spanish Civil War remains the definitive account of a conflict whose legacy is still being confronted in Spain today.This Routledge Classics edition includes a new Preface by the author, in which he reflects on how the book came to be written.

A TIMESHISTORY BOOK OF THE YEARFrom the preeminent historian of 20th century Spain Paul Preston, Architects of Terror is a new history of how paranoia, conspiracy and anti-Semitism was used to justify the military coup of 1936 and enabled the construction of a dictatorship built on violence and persecution.It is the previously untold story of how antisemitic beliefs were weaponised to justify and propagate the Franco overthrow of liberal Spain.The Spanish military coup of 1936 was launched to overturn the social and economic reforms of the democratic Second Republic, and its educational and cultural challenges to the established order. The consequent civil war was fought in the interests of the landowners, industrialists, bankers, clerics and army officers whose privileges were threatened. However, a central justification for a war that took the lives of around 500,000 Spaniards was that it was being fought to combat an alleged scheme for world domination by a non-existent 'Jewish- Masonic-Bolshevik Conspiracy'. Despite the fact that Spain had only a tiny minority of Jews and Freemasons, Franco and his inner circle were ardent believers in this fabricated conspiracy and spread the notion that the survival of Catholic Spain, as well, of course, of the establishment ' s economic interests, required the total annihilation of Jews and Freemasons.Architects of Terror is the story of how fake news, mendacity, corruption and nostalgia for lost empire generated violence and hatred. The book presents vivid portraits of the key ideologues who propagated the myth of the Jewish-Masonic-Bolshevik Conspiracy and of the military figures who implemented the atrocities that it justified. Among the convictions shared by these individuals was their belief in the idea that Freemasonry was responsible for Spain ' s loss of empire and in the factual veracity of The Protocols of the Elders of Zion, the notorious fiction about the global domination of the Jews.This is a history that reverberates in our own political moment

La represión durante la guerra y en la inmediata posguerra contada por el más prestigioso hispanista de la actualidad. 'Durante la Guerra Civil española, cerca de 200.000 hombres y mujeres fueron asesinados lejos del frente, ejecutados extrajudicialmente o tras precarios procesos legales, y al menos 300.000 hombres perdieron la vida en los frentes de batalla. Además, un número desconocido de hombres, mujeres y niños fueron víctimas de los bombardeos y los éxodos que siguieron a la ocupación del territorio por parte de las fuerzas militares de Franco. En el conjunto de España, tras la victoria definitiva de los rebeldes a finales de marzo de 1939, alrededor de 20.000 republicanos fueron ejecutados. Muchos más murieron de hambre y enfermedades en las prisiones y los campos de concentración donde se hacinaban en condiciones infrahumanas. Otros sucumbieron a las condiciones esclavistas de los batallones de trabajo. A más de medio millón de refugiados no les quedó otra salida que el exilio, y muchos perecieron en los campos de internamiento franceses. Varios miles acabaron en los campos de exterminio nazis. 'Todo ello constituye lo que a mi juicio puede llamarse el 'holocausto español'. El propósito de este libro es mostrar, en la medida de lo posible, lo que aconteció a la población civil y desentrañar los porqués.'Paul PrestonReseña:'Debiera ser de lectura obligada no solo para los interesados por nuestro pasado sino, y sobre todo, para los educadores de las generaciones futuras.'Ángel Viñas, Babelia, El País