THE BATTLE FOR SPAIN

THE SPANISH CIVIL WAR 1936–1939

ANTONY BEEVOR
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
This book has had a curious life. I began
work on what can now be called the
prototype version in 1976, not long after
the death of General Franco. It was
finally published in 1982 under the title
The Spanish Civil War , soon after
Colonel Tejero held the Cortes hostage
at gunpoint in an attempt to overthrow
the democracy which had emerged under
King Juan Carlos. Then, four years ago,
my Spanish publisher, Gonzalo Pontón,
persuaded me to rewrite the book
completely. The idea was to use all the
research carried out so painstakingly by
Spanish and other historians over the
last quarter of a century, as well as add
new material from German archives and
especially from Soviet files which had
not been accessible.
Gonzalo Pontón, the founder
of Crítica, the publishing house which
has brought out more books on recent
Spanish history than any other, made the
project possible by sifting the huge
number of books and academic papers
on the subject which have appeared in
recent years. Quite literally this book,
The Battle for Spain, would never have
been possible without all his help and
enthusiasm in completing a project
which proved far more extensive than
any of us had foreseen when he first
raised the idea. It has been an immense
pleasure and a privilege to work with
him.
For all non-Spanish
editions I have included the original,
perhaps over-mechanistic, synopsis of
the country’s history as a very brief
reminder for readers. The structure of
the book also remains more or less the
same as the prototype edition. The real
difference lies in the detail and the
sources, but interestingly, I find that the
huge increase in information available
today has tended to swell the number of
vital questions rather than reduce them.
This, on the other hand, may also be due
to the author losing some of the more
passionate certainties of youth over the
last 24 years.
In any case, this book could
never have been completed without a
great deal of help from other friends and
colleagues. In Russia, I am deeply
grateful once again to Professor Anatoly
Chernobayev for his advice and above
all to my long-standing research
assistant, Dr Luba Vinogradova, to
whom I owe so much already. As well
as the staff of numerous archives, I am
particularly indebted to those in the
library of ‘Memorial’ in Moscow.
Angelica von Hase once again assisted
me greatly in Germany, especially in the
Bundesarchiv-Militärarchiv in Freiburg.
In Sweden, Björn Andersson and Dr
Lars Erickson obtained documents for
me from the Swedish Krigsarkivet and
Alan Crozier most kindly translated them
for me.
In London, I have been
extremely lucky to work once again with
Ion Trewin, and as always, I am more
than happy to have another old friend,
Andrew Nurnberg, as my agent. All this
turns publishing a book from a fraught
and stressful experience into a cooperative
and delightful one. And once
again, my greatest debt of all is, as
always, to my wife, Artemis Cooper,
who has had to relive these years.