Spain in Arms: A Military History of the Spanish Civil War 1936 - 1939

by E.R. Hooton

Spain in Arms is a new military history of the Spanish Civil War. It examines how the Spanish Civil War conflict developed on the battlefield through the prism of eight campaigns between 1937-1939 and shows how many accounts of military operations during this conflict are based upon half-truths and propoganda.

The book is based upon nearly 60 years of extensive research into the Spanish Civil War, augmented by information from specialised German, Italian and Russian works. The Italian campaign against the Basques on the Northern Front in 1937 was one of the most spectacular Nationalist successes of the Civil War, with 60,000 prisoners taken. This is also the first book to quote secret data about Italian air operations intercepted by the British. The figures intercepted by the British show the Italians flew 1,215 sorties and dropped 231 tons of bombs during the campaign, whilst also suffering the heaviest losses.

It also demonstrates how the Nationalists won not simply by benefitting from a cornucopia of modern arms from the Fascist powers but by using its limited resources to maximum effect. Spain in Arms reveals the Nationalist battlefield superiority in terms of training and overall command, and the Republic's corresponding weaknesses in the same fields. The Republican Brunete and Belchite offensives of 1937 are described in detail, from the weapons they carried and the tactics they employed to the dynamic Nationalist response and reaction of the generals. This book also explores how the extent of foreign intervention on both sides has been greatly exaggerated throughout history and provides the first accurate information on this military intervention, using British and French archives to produce a radically different but more accurate account of the battles and the factors and men who shaped them.

Hooton finally gives the historical context and operational implications of the battlefield events to provide a link between the First and Second World Wars.

Genres: Spanish Civil War, History, Military History

256 pages, Hardcover

First published March 19, 2019

About the author

E.R. (Ted) Hooton is a retired defence journalist who worked for Moench and Jane’s before establishing his own successful newsletter. A member of the Royal United Services Institute and the British Commission for Military History since retirement he has focused upon military history.

Reviews

[Shrike58 · Rating 2 out of 5]

I've been wondering whether this book was worth my time for awhile, as the publisher (Casemate) is as capable of publishing a book you should miss as not. This book is definitely one to miss, and that's a shame, as Hooton had done 80% of the work on the way to creating a worthwhile synthesis of the recent Spanish-language literature on the war. Maybe the author was up against a hard page count, but there was a crying need for such things as a strong introductory chapter, a chronology, more orders of battle on how the force structures of the two antagonists evolved, and so forth. Also, maybe coming up with a strong thesis to test, as opposed to off-handed commentary about separatist tendencies in the Iberian peninsula, was the biggest quality missing.

[John Robinson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Exactly what it claims to be, a military analysis of the Spanish Civil War. There is little in the way of political insights or anything like that, just accounts of battle after battle, and that's really it. If you're looking for a general history of the Spanish Civil War, I recommend starting with either The Spanish Civil War by Hugh Thomas or Antony Beevor's Battle for Spain (both have their detractors and I really don't want to get into a Spanish Civil War nerdfight because this is a site we can all pretend is more respectable than Facebook's International Brigades group) before diving into some work by Agustin Guillamon or Murray Sperber. This book is intended for the armchair historian who already knows the political layout of Spain before and during the war.

[Robert Russek · Rating 3 out of 5]

Factual but hard to follow. Poor connection between text and maps. Text sometimes refers to towns not identified on maps. Hard to follow where people are and a what they're doing.

Best part was description of equipment and people.

[ZorroG · Rating 5 out of 5]

counterweight to all the mythology

Very interesting book that brings the complexity to a level the average person can understand. This is why anarchism consistently loses to autocracy.

[George Polansky · Rating 4 out of 5]

Military history of the Spanish Civil War. A balanced presentation. If you are interested in the politics of this war , you have to look elsewhere.