Spain Betrayed: The Soviet Union in the Spanish Civil War, edited by Ronald Radosh, Mary R. Habeck and Grigory Sevostianov. Hardcover book published 2001.
A few years ago I read Antony Beevor’s “Battle for Spain” which is another Spanish Civil War book (not this one). Antony is a great writer and I have enjoyed (if “enjoyed” is the word) reading his epic military histories. His books on Stalingrad and Berlin were books that I found incredibly interesting. Indeed I had trouble putting them down and looking back they have left a powerful impression of these events and the history of the Second World War. So it was with great excitement that I read his book on the Spanish Civil War. Oh boy… I found this book, and I guess the subject matter, to be incredibly complicated and involved. When I finally put the book down I had more questions than answers and to be honest… and it might be just me… I don’t know that I really understood what happened.
What I do remember is that the Soviets were not always doing things in the best interest of the Spanish and that they were mainly concerned with… the Soviets. The Germans weren’t much better (they were on the other side) and again from memory it appears that they were more concerned with testing equipment and strategies (mmmm… I wonder why). This book is made up of a collection of documents highlighting Soviet policy and action in Spain during the civil war. I haven’t read this title, but from my little knowledge of the subject matter, this is an incredibly complex and interesting subject and should be of interest to anyone interested in the Spanish Civil War. The big question though is anyone else interested in the Spanish Civil War?
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