Episode 253 - May Days

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 Architects of Terror: Paranoia, Conspiracy, and Anti-Semitism in Franco's Spain Harper Collins 2023 Ruiz, Julius The "Red Terror" and the Spanish Civil War: Revolutionary Violence in Madrid Cambridge University Press 2014   Questions? Comments? Email me at [email protected]

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 Press 2020   Questions? Comments? Email me at [email protected]

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, Antony The Battle for Spain: The Spanish Civil War 1936-1939 Penguin Books 2006  Preston, Paul A People Betrayed: A History of Corruption, Political Incompetence, and Social Division in Modern Spain 1874-2018 William Collins 2020   Questions? Comments? Email me at [email protected]

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 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 Books 2006  Preston, Paul A People Betrayed: A History of Corruption, Political Incompetence, and Social Division in Modern Spain 1874-2018 William Collins 2020   Questions? Comments? Email me at [email protected]

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 University of Wisconsin Press 1999 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 Preston, Paul A People Betrayed: A History of Corruption, Political Incompetence, and Social Division in Modern Spain 1874-2018 William Collins 2020   Questions? Comments? Email me at [email protected]

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 Thomas, Hugh The Spanish Civil War Modern Library 2001 Beevor, Antony The Battle for Spain: The Spanish Civil War 1936-1939 Penguin Books 2006  Preston, Paul A People Betrayed: A History of Corruption, Political Incompetence, and Social Division in Modern Spain 1874-2018 William Collins 2020   Questions? Comments? Email me at [email protected]

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, 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 Books 2006  Preston, Paul A People Betrayed: A History of Corruption, Political Incompetence, and Social Division in Modern Spain 1874-2018 William Collins 2020   Questions? Comments? Email me at [email protected]

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 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 Books 2006  Preston, Paul A People Betrayed: A History of Corruption, Political Incompetence, and Social Division in Modern Spain 1874-2018 William Collins 2020   Questions? Comments? Email me at [email protected]  

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, 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 Books 2006  Preston, Paul A People Betrayed: A History of Corruption, Political Incompetence, and Social Division in Modern Spain 1874-2018 William Collins 2020   Questions? Comments? Email me at [email protected]

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, 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 Books 2006  Preston, Paul A People Betrayed: A History of Corruption, Political Incompetence, and Social Division in Modern Spain 1874-2018 William Collins 2020   Questions? Comments? Email me at [email protected]