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

In this fastidiously detailed work, military historian Hooton (Eagle in Flames: The Fall of the Luftwaffe) draws on extensive research to demonstrate that the Nationalists who sought to overthrow the standing Spanish Republic in the Spanish Civil War demonstrated battlefield superiority in the major conflicts. According to Hooton, while there are “whole libraries” devoted to almost every aspect of the Spanish Civil War, there are few that focus specifically on its military history. Beginning with the Madrid Front in 1936 and plodding through detailed battle accounts—the Northern Front (along the border with France), the Brunete and Aragon Offensives, the Battle of Teruel, and the last gasps of the Republican stand at Ebroa and Catalonia—Hooton displays his meticulous research and obsession with detail. This means page upon page of brigades and weaponry lists, countless names of military personnel, casualty totals, and detailed descriptions of military maneuvers. While the reading experience can be one of information overload, Hooton does write in surprisingly fast-moving prose (“Glory-hunting Berti asked Franco to rein in Aranda and give the Italians the privilege of reaching the sea first, but received very short shrift”). This meticulous study will be catnip for specialists studying the war—and only them. (Mar.)