The Spanish Civil Wars: A Comparative History of the First Carlist War and the Conflict of the 1930s

Description

CHOICE Outstanding Academic Title 2017 This book provides a comparative history of the domestic and international nature of Spain's First Carlist War (1833-40) and the Spanish Civil War (1936-39), as well as the impact of both conflicts. The book demonstrates how and why Spain's struggle for liberty was won in the 1830s only for it to be lost one hundred years later. It shows how both civil wars were world wars in miniature, fought in part by foreign volunteers under the gaze and in the political consciousness of the outside world. Prefaced by a short introduction, The Spanish Civil Wars is arranged into two domestic and international sections, each with three thematic chapters comparing each civil war in detail. The main analytical perspectives are political, social and new military history in nature, but they also explore aspects of gender, culture, nationalism and separatism, economy, religion and, especially, the war in its international context. The book integrates international archival research with the latest scholarship on both subjects and also includes a glossary, a bibliography and several images. It is a key resource tailored to the needs of students and scholars of modern Spain which offers an intriguing and original new perspective on the Spanish Civil War.

Mark Lawrence is Lecturer in History at the University of Kent, UK. He is the author of Spain's First Carlist War, 1833-40 (2014).

Its historiographical value is twofold. On one level, it convincingly depicts an intricate pattern of historical fault lines specific to the Spanish context that appear to link civil disturbances that were separated by over one hundred years. And, finally, by focusing on the peculiarities or distinctive features of Spain's past, the book makes a compelling argument for revisiting our assumptions about the precise place the Spanish Civil War holds in twentieth-century European history. * American Historical Review * [A] novel and creative comparison between two civil wars in Spain 100 years apart, the first virtually unknown outside of Spain and the second one of the most well-studied events of Spanish history ... [A] worthy subject of inquiry, and the book will likely open up a productive discussion about change versus continuity in modern Spanish history. * Journal of Modern History * [The] book is superbly organized, provocative, and informative ... Very valuable for fresh, thoughtful insights into Spanish history. Summing Up: Essential. All academic levels/libraries. * CHOICE * In substance this is a laudable work, first, as an unusually keen comparative historical analysis, and, second, in the very helpful way in which it contributes further to the understanding of the First Carlist War within a broader context. * The English Historical Review * Mark Lawrence's highly original comparison of Spain's civil wars of the 1830s and 1930s teems with insight.While historians have seen the conflict of 1936-1939 as very much part of a wider European war, the Carlist war of a century earlier has been seen as more exclusively Spanish. Dr Lawrence now provides important nuance with prolific evidence of the extent to which the war so much better known thanks to Hemingway and Orwell was also utterly Spanish. He thereby uncovers a previously unremarked continuity between the two wars in religious, geographical and political terms.The study of nineteenth- and twentieth-century Spain will be considerably enriched by this fascinating work. * Paul Preston, Professor of Contemporary Spanish Studies, LSE, UK * This is the first history which systematically compares the First Carlist War (1833-40) and the Spanish Civil War (1936-39). The results, which are based on an impressive range of primary and secondary sources in many languages, renovate the traditional theme of the "Two Spains" and produce remarkable insights into both conflicts. * Michael Seidman, University of North Carolina Wilmington, USA * A thought-provoking read: like the best comparative history, it helps us see important structural differences as well as similarities. * Helen Graham, Professor of Modern European History, Royal Holloway, University of London, UK * During both the 1830s and the 1930s, Spain endured lengthy, brutal and internationalized civil wars. The Carlist War of the 19th century is virtually unknown outside of Spain while the Spanish Civil War of the 20th has been the subject of tens of thousands of volumes, and until now the two have never been systematically compared in a single volume. By doing so here, Mark Lawrence has given us a book which is long overdue. * Adrian Shubert, Professor of History, York University, Canada * The Spanish Civil War has been the subject of a veritable blizzard of general texts. Until now, however, no-one has thought to present it in the context of the Carlist Wars of the nineteenth century. As Mark Lawrence shows, however, there are some extraordinary parallels, these reminding us that the Civil War was a product not just of the 1930s but also of a much wider range of Spanish history. * Charles J. Esdaile, University of Liverpool, UK *