The Spanish Civil War is a book by Hugh Thomas. It provides a scholarly historiographic account of the Spanish Civil War. Begun in 1957, it was first published in 1961 simultaneously in the United Kingdom by Eyre & Spottiswoode and in the United States by Harpers'. It won the Somerset Maugham Prize in 1962 and during the following few years was translated and published in Portugal, France, Germany, Denmark and Italy. Despite initial approving reviews, in Francoist Spain the book received unfavorable treatment and was never published.
The work was revised and enlarged in 1965, 1977 and 2001. It was re-issued many times, the last edition during the lifetime of the author in 2012 and the last known edition in 2022. Over the decades it remained the most popular monograph on the war and was translated into at least 13 languages, reportedly selling over a million copies around the globe. It continues to be quoted in scholarly works on the war. It is usually acclaimed for its unbiased perspective, high level of detail and lively narrative. Detractors claim that it emphasizes storytelling at the expense of historical analysis, that some interpretations advanced are doubtful, and that it relies too heavily on some sources while neglecting others.
Background
Previous historiography
The first serious works on the Spanish civil war appeared when the conflict was still ongoing (Rudolf Rocker 1937,Rudolf Rocker, The Tragedy of Spain, New York 1937 Frantisek Jellinek 1938Frank Jellinek, The Civil War in Spain, London 1938). Numerous books went to print in Francoist Spain, but they were largely propagandistic; the best and the most detailed one was also plagued by censorship limitations (Joaquín Arrarás, 1940–1943).Joaquín Arráras, Historia de la cruzada española, Madrid 1940-1943 The analysis by Gerald Brennan covered causes rather than the war itself (1943).Gerald Brennan, The Spanish labyrinth: an account of the social and political background of the Civil War, Cambridge 1943 Beyond Spain there were personal accounts (e.g. Julió Álvarez del Vayo 1940),Julió Álvarez del Vayo, Freedom’s Battle, New York 1940 partisan narratives (e.g. Herbert Matthews 1958)Herbert Matthews, The Yoke and the Arrows, New York 1958 or works which focused on particular dimensions of the war (e.g. Patricia van der Esch 1951,Patricia van der Esch, Prelude to war. The international repercussions of the Spanish Civil War, The Hague 1951 David Cattell 1954David Tredwell Cattell, Communism and the Spanish Civil War, Los Angeles 1954). In 1953 Brennan declined a proposal to write a broader workPaul Preston, Raymond Carr (1919-2015), [in:] Bulletin of Spanish Studies 94/3 (2017), pp. 527-533 and suggested that Raymond Carr, who got interested in Spain only in the early 1950s, write it instead, a suggestion that would not bear fruit until much later. Herbert Southworth would not start writing his most famous work until 1963. Pierre Broué and Émile Témime were about to commence work on their book, to be published in 1961, but it reflected their Trotskyist leanings.Pierre Broué, Émile Témime, La Révolution et la guerre d’Espagne, Paris 1961 Burnett Bolloten was merely collecting data, gathered in his later book (also 1961). Gabriel Jackson was a young college teacher and had not begun his account, which appeared in the mid-1960s.Javier Paniagua, José A Piqueras, Jooaquim Prats, Conversación con Gabriel Jackson, [in:] Aula-Historia Social 2 (1998), pp. 4-14
Author
In the late 1950s Thomas was in his mid-20s. A Cambridge graduate, former employee of the Foreign Office and member of the British delegation to the UN Disarmament Commission, he was released at his own request due to unease with policies he was asked to promote.Tom Buchanan, 1961: Hugh Thomas and the Turning Point, [in:] “Spain Mad”. British Engagement with the Spanish Civil War, Liverpool 2024, ISBN 9781802075496, p. 183 In 1956 he published a barely noticed novel on diplomatic life, The World Game. In 1957 he co-authored a Fabian Society brochure titled Disarmament – The Way Ahead.Cf., e.g., Disarmament – the way ahead, London 1957, available at NLA service Disarmament remained "one of his main areas of interest".Buchanan 2024, p. 183. In the 1960s Thomas kept publishing on disarmament, see e.g. Disarmament: dream or reality, [in:] Political Quarterly 31 (1960), pp. 17-25 Together with Philip Noel-Baker he considered setting up a National Disarmament League.Buchanan 2024, p. 183 As director of the Disarmament CampaignBarnolsdwick & Earby Times 04.11.1960, p. 8 of the United NationsClitheroe Advertiser and Times 04.11.1960, p. 1 he took part in various conferencesWorthing Gazette 01.03.1961, p. 5 as well as a meeting of the British-Soviet Friendship Society.Croydon Times, 05.05.1961, p. 4 He admitted left-wing sympathies, possibly bordering socialism."He later wrote that the 'fresh Left-wing ideas blowing along the Left Bank' made him – if not a socialist – at least a 'passionate opponent' of the policies that he was later asked to promote, such as German rearmament and the nuclear deterrent", Buchanan 2024, p. 183 He was the Labour Party parliamentary candidate 1957-1958 for Ruislip and Northwood.Paul Preston, 'A professional historian in private practice'. Hugh Thomas: The Spanish Civil War and Beyond, [in:] Bulletin of Spanish Studies 95/9-10 (2017), p. 2 [pagination referred after the online version At the time, he was a lecturer at the Royal Military College at Sandhurst.Preston 2017, p. 3 Some sources claim that in 1955 Thomas visited Spain for the first time and began his research on the civil war,"In 1955, he visited Spain for the first time and began his research on the Spanish Civil War", Carmen Balcells, Hugh Thomas, [in:] Agencia Literaria 2017 though the introduction to his book mentions no such visit.compare Introduction to the 50th Anniversary Edition, [in:] Hugh Thomas, The Spanish Civil War, London 2012, ISBN 9780141011615, pp. v-vii At the time Thomas did not know any SpanishPreston, 2017, p. 4 and, though a historian by education, had not published a single historiographic work. According to a contemporary, "in the late 1950s Thomas was casting around for the best use of his talents".Buchanan 2024, p. 183
In the making
Origins
James MacGibbon, a wartime Soviet spy (later a suspect under the MI5 surveillance, which was all unknown to Thomas)Hamish MacGibbon, Maverick Spy: Stalin’s Super-Agent in World War II, [in:] GoogleBooks service and literary agent of the Curtis Brown literary agency, approached the 25-year-old Thomas some time halfway through 1957.Thomas 2012, p. v. Another version as to inception of the book, accounted also by Thomas himself, is presented in his earlier introduction to the Spanish edition. According to this story, when on holidays in Spain during the winter of 1955/56, "se enamoró de Andalucía". Back in England he asked one of his colleagues in FO why so far no-one has written a history of the civil war; the answer he got was "why don't you write it?", Enriqueta Vila, Hugh Thomas, hispanista e hispanoamericanista, [in:] Cuadernos Hispanoamericanos 821 (2018), pp. 23-24 MacGibbon claimed having liked The World Game and its acid portrait of British diplomatic circles.Preston 2017, p. 3 He hinted to Thomas that an American firm Coward McCann wanted to commission a book about the Spanish civil war; he asked whether Thomas would be interested. Thomas confirmed and in August he provided an outline to Cass Canfield Jr., at the time the representative of Coward McCann.Thomas 2012, p. v Canfield liked it and commissioned Thomas for Harper's, which he had by then joined. Thomas shared the outline also with his agent at Eyre and Spottiswoode (the British company which published The World Game), Douglas Jerrold, an active supporter of Franco 20 years before. By the autumn Thomas cashed in the $300 advance from Harper Brothers and £250 from Eyre and Spottiswoode,Thomas 2012, p. vi both considerable amounts (in 1957 average annual earnings in the UK were some £390, the Ford Anglia model cost £571).Dominic Midgley, 1957 was the happiest year of the 20th century, study reveals, [in:] Express 24.01.2017, How much did things cost in 1957?, [in:] Retrowow service Further details are unknown; many years later, when approached by an Australian historian who was writing about impact of the Cold War on Anglo-American representations of Spanish civil war, Thomas denied him access to the correspondence between himself and his publisher.Darryl Anthony Burrowes, Historians at war. Cold war influence on Anglo-American representations of the Spanish Civil War [PhD thesis Flinders University], Adelaide 2016, p. 24
Work in progress
Thomas was working on the book for almost 4 years, since the summer of 1957 until the spring of 1961.Thomas 2012, p. vi It is not clear whether he visited a single Spanish archive; in his introduction he did not mention any, though he was in Spain a number of times. He did research some documents of the Foreign Office, available at the time, the League of Nations papers in Geneva and numerous printed collections of American, German and Italian diplomatic sources. However, his key source was "a great library of books" written by the participants, "in every language imaginable".Thomas 2012, p. x Thomas also spoke to tens of individuals from all sides of the conflict, involved in the war; the highest-ranking ones were former ministers in their respective wartime governments, Ramón Serrano Suñer on the Nationalist side and Federica Montseny, Manuel Irujoin the prologue Thomas listed „Don Martín de Irujo" as one of his interlocutors, Thomas 2012, p. xxv. There is no "Martín Irujo" involved, and the person meant must be Manuel Irujo and Julio Alvarez del Vayo on the Republican one. Others included e.g. Pablo Azcárate, Alberto Onaindia, Josep Maria Tarradellas, José María Gil Robles, cardenal Ángel Herrera, Manuel Fal Conde and Don Juan de Borbón. His research carried him as far away as to Buenos Aires and Santiago de Chile.to speak to a Polish-Jewish emigree, Maurycy Amster, Thomas 2012, p. 478 In later editions he listed 36 Spaniards and 49 people of other nationalities (mostly Britons) he interviewed.Thomas 2012, p. xxv Thomas also engaged in epistolographic exchange with a number of individuals, including war correspondents like Herbert Matthews and Henry Buckley.Preston 2017, p. 4
Publication