The Spanish Civil War Read Free

Civil War himself. Desmond Williams was excellent in the
IrishPress
.
The Times Literary Supplement
was very supportive (I learned later that the review, in those anonymous days, had been written by Alun Lord Chalfont). The only serious criticism I received was by Arnold Lunn in
The Catholic Herald
.
    In America I also had wonderful reviews in the main newspapers, beginning with the
New York Times
, where Vincent Sheehan, “Jimmy”, praised it enthusiastically; the
New York Times
even had a leader devoted to the book. William Stuart Chamberlain wrote in the
Wall Street Journal
, Salvador de Madariaga in the
Sunday Herald Tribune
. My reputation seemed made.
    In Spain the reaction was interesting. There was a splendid review by General Martínez Campos in
ABC
. Otherwise there were just notices that the work had been published. The book itself was prohibited. Some years later I found references to General Franco’s reaction in the interesting work of Franco’s cousin and ADC Franco Salgado,
Mis conversaciones privadas con Franco
(My private conversations with Franco). For example: “El general ha hecho preguntas sobre el libro de Mr Thomas … El general me contesta demintiendo muchas afirmaciones de este escritor inglés” (The general has asked questions about Mr Thomas’s book … The general answers me denying many of the statements of this English writer).
    By that time, there was a Spanish edition. I had never thought that a possibility. Before the book was even out in England I had been visited by two members of the Spanish opposition, Nicolás Sánchez Albornoz, son of the historian Claudio Sánchez Albornoz, and a rebellious former member of the Spanish foreign service, Vicente Girbau, who were helping to found a publishing house in Paris which would concentrate on works condemned by the Franco regime. My book seemed a good one with which to start. I agreed and Ruedo Ibérico (as the publishers became known), driven by an anarchist from Valencia, Pépé Martínez, set to work on a translation.
    I soon had other publishers: for example Robert Laffont in Paris (still my French publisher, I am glad to say), Ullstein in Germany and the powerful Einaudi in Italy. In the end, the book had seventeen foreign publishers, and was printed in every language of the European Union.
    Spanish Civil War historical studies have been transformed since my book was first published in 1961. We have experienced thoughtful livesof General Franco, of José Antonio Primo de Rivera, of Calvo Sotelo, of Dr Juan Negrín, of Indalecio Prieto and of Manuel Azaña, and the complete diaries of the latter have been published. The international side of the Civil War has been amply covered with historically responsible works. The supply of armaments to both sides has been fully explored. The atrocities behind the two lines have been exhaustively investigated, and many figures have been hazarded. Even the role of the Soviet Union has been authoritatively studied and the Church of Rome analysed in depth. The military side of the conflict has of course not been ignored. Such works as Ian Patterson’s
Guernica
have shown that micro-studies still reveal as much as macro-investigations. But some problems remain. For example, what was the real role of Colonel Martínez Fusset, General Franco’s military adjutant, who turns out to have been an intimate friend early in life of the poet García Lorca?
    In the early 2000s during the government of Señor Zapatero, the Spanish Civil War again became a matter of contemporary politics. The problem was that, whereas in the years immediately after the end of the Civil War in 1939, the victors were able to use memories of the atrocious behaviour of many left-wing parties and militia groups as a warning against allowing any truck with Communism, the Left had never been permitted to have a similar revenge for right-wing and governmental injustices. This was especially scandalous, it seemed, because, in the years