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In the English-speaking world, the Spanish Civil War is perhaps best remembered through the exploits of thousands of foreign volunteers from across the globe who joined the International Brigades – a force of communists, socialists and others who took their opposition to fascism to extraordinary lengths. Their passionate political commitment to Spain’s cause and determination in battle placed them among the crack troops of the Republic’s People’s Army. Yet while much has been written about the political, social and cultural significance of the brigades and their experience in Spain, less has been said about their performance as front-line troops. It is this military history that Alexander Clifford focuses on in vivid detail in this highly illustrated new study which reassess their impact within the Republican People’s Army. His account tells the story of the brigades as combat units, tracing the course of each major battle in which they fought and showing the drastic changes they underwent as the war progressed – from an untrained militia in 1936, to the tried and tested shock troops of 1937, to a shadow of their former selves by 1938 after repeated maulings, and the introduction of Spanish conscripts to fill their ranks.

Reviews

“…a well-documented and attractively illustrated history of volunteers who sided with the government.” –“Toy Soldier Collector & Historical Figures”

“Clifford addresses the communist bias in the selection of officers, which often led to serious casualties due to inept but politically connected commanders, and the suppression of political dissenters, both matters usually ignored in books on the brigades. He also handles the larger war rather well, noting that atrocities were perpetrated by both sides. A good book on a contentious subject.” –“The NYMAS Review”

Alexander Clifford is a history teacher by profession who has studied at the universities of Leeds, Munich and Northumbria, and is an expert on the Spanish Civil War. His previous publications include a study of the Republican army, The People’s Army in the Spanish Civil War: A Military History of the Republic and International Brigades 1936-1939, as well as Divided We Fall, an interactive novel app set in the civil war.