The Last Days of the Spanish Republic
Published on 25. February 2016
Book
Hardback
400 pages
978-0-00-816340-2 (ISBN)
Description
Told for the first time in English, Paul Preston's new book tells the story of a preventable tragedy that cost many thousands of lives and ruined tens of thousands more at the end of the Spanish Civil War.
This is the story of an avoidable humanitarian tragedy that cost many thousands of lives and ruined tens of thousands more.
On 5 March 1939, the eternally malcontent Colonel Segismundo Casado launched a military coup against the government of Juan Negrin. To fulfil his ambition to go down in history as the man who ended the Spanish Civil War, he claimed that Negrin was the puppet of Moscow and that a coup was imminent to establish a Communist dictatorship. Instead his action ensured the Republic ended in catastrophe and shame.
Paul Preston, the leading historian of twentieth-century Spain, tells this shocking story for the first time in English. It is a harrowing tale of how the flawed decisions of politicans can lead to tragedy.
This is the story of an avoidable humanitarian tragedy that cost many thousands of lives and ruined tens of thousands more.
On 5 March 1939, the eternally malcontent Colonel Segismundo Casado launched a military coup against the government of Juan Negrin. To fulfil his ambition to go down in history as the man who ended the Spanish Civil War, he claimed that Negrin was the puppet of Moscow and that a coup was imminent to establish a Communist dictatorship. Instead his action ensured the Republic ended in catastrophe and shame.
Paul Preston, the leading historian of twentieth-century Spain, tells this shocking story for the first time in English. It is a harrowing tale of how the flawed decisions of politicans can lead to tragedy.
Reviews / Votes
A Daily Telegraph Book of the Year'Preston's mission in life is to bring clarity to the confusing tragedy of the Spanish Civil War. This is his twelfth book on the war and its legacy ... [it] is written with the same sober lucidity that distinguishes the previous eleven' The Times
'Compelling and convincingly argued ... the story of the final, tragic days of the Spanish Republic has never been told so clearly before. With a keen eye for historical detail and a painful sense of the human lives at stake, Preston paints a vivid portrait of those involved' Spectator
'Masterly and intensely moving ... in Preston, author of several award-winning books on the conflict, the reader could not hope for a more sure-footed guide ... Britons today know far less than they should about the Spanish Civil War ... our knowledge would be poorer still but for Preston's indefatigable scholarship, elegant prose and impeccable judgement' Sunday Telegraph
'Scholarly and authoritative' Literary Review
More details
Language
English
Place of publication
London
United Kingdom
Publishing group
HarperCollins Publishers
Dimensions
Height: 240 mm
Width: 159 mm
Thickness: 36 mm
Weight
680 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-00-816340-2 (9780008163402)
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Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
Paul Preston
The Last Days of the Spanish Republic
E-Book
02/2016
William Collins
€8.99
Available for download
Person
SIR PAUL PRESTON CBE is Professor of Contemporary Spanish History at the London School of Economics and was previously a lecturer at the University of Reading and Professor of Modern History at Queen Mary University London. He is a Fellow of the British Academy and holds the Marcel Proust Chair of the European Academy of Yuste. He has been awarded honorary doctorates by universities in Spain and the UK. In 2006, he was awarded the International Ramon Llull Prize by the Catalan Government and, in 2018, the Guernica Peace Prize. Among his many works are Franco: A Biography, Comrades, Doves of War: Four Women of Spain, Juan Carlos, The Spanish Civil War, The Spanish Holocaust, The Last Stalinist, The Last Days of the Spanish Republic and A People Betrayed. In Spain, he was appointed a Comendador de la Orden del Merito Civil in 1986 and awarded, in 2007, the Gran Cruz de la Orden de Isabel la Catolica. He lives in London.