Episode 234 - Desolation of Empire

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 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    Questions? Comments? Email me at [email protected]

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 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 Preston, Paul The Spanish Civil War: Reaction, Revolution, and Revenge Harper Perennial 2006 Thomas, Hugh The Spanish Civil War Modern Library 2001   Questions? Comments? Email me at [email protected]

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 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 Preston, Paul The Spanish Civil War: Reaction, Revolution, and Revenge Harper Perennial 2006 Thomas, Hugh The Spanish Civil War Modern Library 2001 Evans, Danny Revolution and the State: Anarchism in the Spanish Civil War 1936-1939 AK Press 2020 Payne, Stanley G. Fascism in Spain 1923-1977 University of Wisconsin Press 1999   Questions? Comments? Email me at [email protected]

The establishment of the Second Republic's 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 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 Preston, Paul The Spanish Civil War: Reaction, Revolution, and Revenge Harper Perennial 2006 Thomas, Hugh The Spanish Civil War Modern Library 2001 Evans, Danny Revolution and the State: Anarchism in the Spanish Civil War 1936-1939 AK Press 2020   Questions? Comments? Email me at [email protected]

Today I take a look at some of the basic conditions found across the regions of Spain and the big political player 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 Division in Modern Spain 1874-2018 William Collins 2020 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 Evans, Danny Revolution and the State: Anarchism in the Spanish Civil War 1936-1939 AK Press 2020   Questions? Comments? Email me at [email protected]

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 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 Preston, Paul The Spanish Civil War: Reaction, Revolution, and Revenge Harper Perennial 2006 Thomas, Hugh The Spanish Civil War Modern Library 2001   Questions? Comments? Email me at [email protected]

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. Imperial Spain 1469-1716 Penguin 2002 Thomas, Hugh The Spanish Civil War Modern Library 2001   Questions? Comments? Email me at [email protected]

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 the Nazis wanted, which turned their approach on its head.    Bibliography for this episode:  Taylor, AJP The Oxford History of England, Vol 15 Oxford University Press, 1978 Moway, Charles Loch Britain Between the Wars Methuen & Co, 1972 Shen, Peijian The Age of Appeasement: The Evolution of British Foreign Policy in the 1930s Sutton Publishing Limited 1999 Roi, Michael L. Alternative to Appeasement: Sir Robert Vansittart and Alliance Diplomacy, 1934-1937 Praeger Publishers 1997 Davis, Richard Anglo-French Relations Before the Second World War: Appeasement and Crisis Palgrave Macmillan 2001   Questions? Comments? Email me at [email protected]

The tour of the British Empire concludes with a quick check-in on the four Dominion countries that fought alongside the UK during WWII.    Bibliography for this episode:  Brown, Judith & Louis, Roger The Oxford History of the British Empire: Volume IV - The Twentieth Century Oxford University Press 1999 Roberts, AD The Cambridge History of Africa: Volume 7 from 1905 to 1940 Cambridge University Press 1986 Darwin, John The Empire Project: The Rise and Fall of the British World System 1830-1970 Cambridge University Press 2009 Bothwell, Robert The Penguin History of Canada Penguin Books Ltd 2006 Bashford, Alison and Stuart MacIntyre The Cambridge History of Australia Volume 2: The Commonwealth of Australia Cambridge University Press 2013 King, Michael The Penguin History of New Zealand Penguin Books 2003   Questions? Comments? Email me at [email protected]