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Spain after Reconquista

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  1. Introduction
  2.  
  3. Spanish military history since the Reconquista has traditionally been understood as occurring within two broad chronological periods. During the first phase, starting with the dual reign of Ferdinand and Isabella (1479–1516), and continuing to the Thirty Years’ War, Spain was a superpower, dominant within Europe as well as in its own overseas empire. From the late 17th century to the Spanish-American War of 1898, Spain was in relative decline, overshadowed by rising British and French economic and military power, and struggling to maintain a European and global role. After 1898, Spain was no longer even a minor power, confined as it was to a handful of colonies, and it was a nonfactor in both world wars. While, in general, this is an accurate description, this history was punctuated by significant attempts at military revival, including in the mid-19th century and during World War II (in connection with the Axis powers). While the historiography of Spanish military history in the English-speaking world has focused on the earlier centuries of Spanish strength, as well as on the Spanish Civil War, Spanish-language works have covered a broader scope, thus accounting for what appears to be a relative imbalance between the major fields of study. There has also been a relative deficit within the historiography of works on tactical, and especially operational, warfare. In the 20th century the discipline suffered from the impact of a civil war, self-imposed exile by many historians after that conflict, and ideological and professional restrictions under the Franco regime, all of which left military history almost the exclusive domain of the professional military. With the liberalization of universities from the 1970s onward, many new scholars focused more on broader political and sociological topics related to military affairs, rather than research on traditional military subjects. In many cases, it has been foreign historians who have introduced the most innovative research into Spanish historiography. Perhaps the best example is the thesis of the “military revolution,” the early modern transformation of military operations, articulated most clearly and successful in Parker 2004 (cited under Habsburg Spain), a work on the history of Spain’s military engagement in the Netherlands, in the context of its broader imperial project. Especially since the 2000s, a broader range of historians have engaged more actively in operational and strategic histories, as well as participating in vibrant historiographical debates, such as those on the Spanish Civil War and the role of the former dictator Francisco Franco during that conflict and beyond.
  4.  
  5. General Overviews
  6.  
  7. As with much of Spanish historiography, the era of the Franco regime looms large in setting the context for the study of Spanish military history. While memoirs and biographies, many of them hagiographic, were produced during the decades of the dictatorship, it has been in the years since 1980 that the field has begun to emerge from the cloister of a narrower military audience. Popularizing magazines and paperbacks continue to enjoy success, and major historiographical debates—especially over the Spanish Civil War—receive ongoing attention from educated general readers. Even so, there has yet to be a definitive history of the Spanish army or navy. Payne 1967 inaugurated the study of the modern Spanish military in the English language, and it is still considered the definitive framing work, both in English and in Spanish translation historiography. One of the first approaches in Spanish was Alonso 1974, which focuses on the high politics and mission of the army, a more focused work than Alonso Baquer 1971. Both, however, were completed during the final era of the Franco regime, and both provide an uncritical view of the Spanish army. With a more sociological and academic methodology, Fernández Bastarreche 1978 profiles Spanish army officers in useful ways, allowing readers to appreciate the regional and demographic disparities within the force over time. Headrick 1981 and Herrero 1975 identify changes in the role of the military within society, as well as the general outlines of ideology within the ranks of the army, while Teijeiro de la Rosa 2002 is a focused manuscript on the funding of the Spanish military, highlighting its relative penury, even in times of broader missions and larger units. The most valuable survey is Puell de la Villa 2005, but its lack of notes to accompany the bibliography diminishes its utility for researchers.
  8.  
  9. Alonso, José Ramón. Historia política del ejército español. Madrid: Editora Nacional, 1974.
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  11. Sympathetic portrayal of the army as the true representative of the Spanish people, from the early 18th century to the beginning of the second Spanish Republic in 1931.
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  13. Alonso Baquer, Miguel. El ejército en la sociedad española. Madrid: Ediciones del Movimiento, 1971.
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  15. Examines the relationship between the army, political elites, and Spanish society from the late 18th century to the beginning of the Spanish Civil War. Significant emphasis on key military leaders, monarchs, and the changing legal and doctrinal environment.
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  17. Fernández Bastarreche, Fernando. El ejército español en el siglo XIX. Madrid: Siglo Veintiuno, 1978.
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  19. Presents detailed research on the structure, geographic origins, and social basis of the Spanish officer corps in the 19th century, as well as information about salaries and conditions for the army as a whole.
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  21. Headrick, Daniel. Ejército y política en España, 1866–1898. Madrid: Editorial Tecnos, 1981.
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  23. Describes the significance of the army and its key leaders during the major events in Spanish politics, including the Ten Years’ War in Cuba, the establishment of the first Spanish Republic, the restoration of the monarchy, and the lead-up to the Spanish-American War.
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  25. Herrero, José Luis. El ejército español en el siglo XIX. Madrid: Cuadernos para el Diálogo, 1975.
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  27. Examines the intervention of the army in Spanish politics, divisions within the military during the Carlist Wars, and impact of relevant changes in demographics, technology, and society.
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  29. Payne, Stanley G. Politics and the Military in Modern Spain. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 1967.
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  31. First major work, in English or Spanish, to explain the primacy of the military in Spanish politics during the 19th century.
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  33. Puell de la Villa, Fernando. Historia del ejército en España. 2d ed. Madrid: Alianza Editorial, 2005.
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  35. A survey of the Spanish army, and its precedents, from the Reconquista to the late-20th-century transition to democracy.
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  37. Teijeiro de la Rosa, Juan Miguel, ed. La Hacienda militar: 500 años de intervención en las fuerza armadas. 2 vols. Madrid: Ministerio de Defensa, 2002.
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  39. Comprehensive survey of the financing mechanism behind the Spanish military over the centuries, from the complex systems of the Habsburgs to the modern Spanish state.
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  41. Reference Works
  42.  
  43. There are few general references for modern Spanish military affairs, reflecting the lack of engagement until recently by Spanish academics in military history, and the lack of nontactical publications by historians within the military. Borreguero Beltrán 2000 is an exception to this, with wide coverage of Spanish military topics from the Middle Ages to the 20th century. For researchers, the most useful applied publication is the archival guide Ministerio de Defensa 1995, but it has unfortunately not been updated, because major shifts in archival locations have occurred since its release. For research on the 19th century navy, Bordeje y Morencos 1999 is excellent, but no parallel work exists for other periods. As a primary source, Depósito de la Guerra 1866 provides excellent data on the disposition of the Spanish military in the aftermath of its great midcentury expansion. For additional primary sources, the national archives and museums devoted to the Spanish military each receive detailed coverage in Ministerio de Defensa 2010. The best annotated bibliography of any time period in Spanish military history is Caballero and Ibáñez Hernández 1989, which includes entries on the more than one hundred works of nonfiction and fiction, in many media, that cover the Spanish Blue Division. For a more specific focus on Spanish infantry, Ministerio de Defensa 1998 is invaluable.
  44.  
  45. Bordeje y Morencos, F. de. Crónica de la marina española en el siglo XIX, 1800–1868. Vol. 1. Madrid: Ministerio de Defensa, 1999.
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  47. First published 1993. Continued in Volume 2: Crónica de la marina española en el siglo XIX, 1868–1898 (Madrid: Ministerio de Defensa, 1995). Survey of the Spanish navy, from the Napoleonic Era to the Spanish-American War, with an emphasis on ships, technical specifications, and maritime engagements.
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  49. Borreguero Beltrán, Cristina. Diccionario de historia militar: Desde los reinos medievales hasta nuestros días. Barcelona: Ariel, 2000.
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  51. Entries for most major and minor topics, in all areas of Spanish military history.
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  53. Caballero Jurado, Carlos, and Rafael Ibáñez Hernández. Escritores en las trincheras: La División Azul en sus libros, publicaciones, periódicas y filmografía, 1941–1988. Madrid: Ediciones Barbarroja, 1989.
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  55. Bibliography of the extensive literature on the Blue Division, a volunteer unit of Spaniards who served in the German army during World War II on the eastern front, with brief reviews of the more than one hundred books and other publications on the division.
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  57. Depósito de la Guerra. Cuadro de la composicion y organizacion del ejército español en la peninsula e islas adyacentes. Madrid: Depósito de la Guerra, 1866.
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  59. Maps of the deployments, garrisons, and units of the Spanish army in the mid-19th century.
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  61. Ministerio de Defensa. Guía de archives militares españoles. 2d ed. Madrid: Ministerio de Defensa, 1995.
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  63. Provides general descriptions of primary and secondary source collections held at ten official state archives, with historical materials from the Spanish army, navy, air force, and associated organizations and agencies.
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  65. Ministerio de Defensa. Historia de la infanteria española: La época de los ejércitos nacionales. Madrid: Ministerio de Defensa, 1998.
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  67. Official account of the Spanish infantry during the modern era, with much detail on the composition of forces, unit deployments, and tactical operations.
  68. Find this resource:
  69. Ministerio de Defensa. Guía de museos militares españoles. Madrid: Ministerio de Defensa, 2010.
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  71. Detailed profiles, by province, of the twenty-two major national and regional military museums in Spain, including discussions of their exhibits, materials and, in some cases, archival sources. Bilingual pamphlet, in Spanish and English, with maps, illustrations, and exhibit examples.
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  73. Anthologies
  74.  
  75. There have been many edited collections of essays and conference proceedings on modern Spanish political and diplomatic history that are relevant to military issues. Arikan and Toledo 1995 provides a focus on the complexities of relations between the Spanish and Ottoman Empires. Balfour and Preston 1999 and Lannon and Preston 1990 outline the international context for Spain during the major conflicts of the 20th century, while Bowen and Álvarez 2007 provides more specific accounts of Spanish military engagements and developments during the 19th and 20th centuries. The relationship to, and use of, violence by the Franco regime guides the articles in Casanova, et al. 2002. World War II, and its impact on the Spanish state and military, is the focus of Payne and Contreras 1996. The transition from authoritarian dictatorship to democratic state, and the transformation of the Spanish military during this era, is the central subject of Bañón Martínez and Barker 1988, a now somewhat dated collection, given the ongoing changes in mission, societal role, and structure of the Spanish armed forces since this volume was issued. The contributions in Viñas 2012 are by some of the most prominent historians in Spanish history, writing on key issues in modern military historiography.
  76.  
  77. Arikan, Muzaffer, and Paulino Toledo, trans. and eds. XIV–XVI. Yüzyillarda Türk-Ispanyol Ilişkileri ve Denizcilik Tarihimizle Ilgili Ispanyol Belgelri (Las relaciones Turco-Españoles en los siglos XIV y XVI). Documentos Españoles relatives a la historia naval Otomana. Ankara, Turkey: Deniz Kuvvetleri Komutanliği Karargah Basimevi, 1995.
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  79. Articles and primary documents, in Spanish and Turkish, relating to the naval and strategic rivalry between the Spanish and Ottoman Empires in North Africa and the Mediterranean.
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  81. Balfour, Sebastian, and Paul Preston, eds. Spain and the Great Powers in the Twentieth Century. London and New York: Routledge, 1999.
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  83. Surveys Spain’s international affairs from the Spanish-American War to the Cold War, with articles on both world wars, relations with the United States, and intervention in the Spanish Civil War.
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  85. Bañón Martínez, Rafael, and Thomas M. Barker. Armed Forces and Society in Spain Past and Present. Boulder, CO: Social Science Monographs, 1988.
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  87. Details the transition from authoritarian dictatorship to democratic state, and the transformation of the Spanish military during this era.
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  89. Bowen, Wayne H., and José E. Álvarez, eds. A Military History of Modern Spain: From the Napoleonic Era to the International War on Terror. Westport, CT: Praeger Security International, 2007.
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  91. A collection of essays, from Spanish, US, and British historians and political scientists, examining the organization, campaigns, doctrine, and technology of the Spanish armed forces in the 19th and 20th centuries.
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  93. Casanova, Julián, Francisco Espinosa, Conxita Mir, and Francisco Moreno Gómez. Morir, matar, sobrevivir: La violencia en la dictadura de Franco. Barcelona: Crítica, 2002.
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  95. Examines state violence, counterguerrilla operations by the Franco regime, and military repression during the Spanish Civil War and postwar decades.
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  97. Juliá, Santos, ed. Victimas de la guerra civil. Madrid: Temas de Hoy, 2004.
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  99. Uses statistical analysis to account for and document the relative atrocities committed during the Spanish Civil War, by organized military units and politicized militias.
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  101. Lannon, Frances, and Paul Preston, eds. Elites and Power in Twentieth-Century Spain: Essays in Honour of Sir Raymond Carr. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1990.
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  103. This anthology includes analysis of Spain’s military, political, and economic position during major European and global conflicts, from the Spanish-American War to the two world wars and the Cold War.
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  105. Payne, Stanley G., and Delia Contreras, eds. España y la Segunda Guerra Mundial. Proceedings of a conference held at El Escorial, Spain, July 1995. Madrid: Editorial Complutense, 1996.
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  107. Proceedings of a July 1995 conference, which took place at El Escorial, Spain. Includes papers by Spanish, British, and US historians, as well as by Ramón Serrano Suñer, pro-Axis Foreign Minister (1940–1942) and brother-in-law of dictator Francisco Franco.
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  109. Viñas, Angel, ed. En el combate por la historia. Barcelona: Pasado y presente, 2012.
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  111. Collection of counter-revisionist articles, biographical sketches, and other entries on the Spanish Republic, Spanish Civil War, and Franco regime.
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  113. Journals
  114.  
  115. There are few journals with a focus on Spanish military history, and most of these are government publications. Among the journals published by the Spanish Ministry of Defense are those devoted to key branches of the armed forces, including Ejército de Tierra Español (Spanish Land Forces), Revista Española de Defensa (Spanish Defense Review), and Revista de Historia Naval (Spanish Naval Review). The oldest and most established semiprofessional journal is Revista de Historia Militar, although some of its articles lack academic rigor. Another journal, Revista Digital de Historia Militar, publishes a web edition that includes coverage of Spanish, European, and world military history. Serga and Revista Española de Historia Militar are privately published journals, appealing to popular audiences with full-color illustrations and photographs. Their approach is global, but at least one major article in each is on a Spanish topic. The Spanish navy regularly publishes articles and conference proceedings in its Cuadernos Monográficos del Instituto de Historia y Cultura Naval.
  116.  
  117. Cuadernos Monográficos del Instituto de Historia y Cultura Naval.
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  119. Publication of conference proceedings and other research of Spanish and other naval histories; sponsored by the Spanish Navy.
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  121. Ejército de Tierra Español.
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  123. Published since 1940, it includes articles on military history, as well as updates on changes in doctrine, administration, leadership, and practices.
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  125. Revista Digital de Historia Militar.
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  127. Published online by independent scholars, this journal contains articles on Spanish and global military history.
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  129. Revista Española de Defensa.
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  131. Published since 1988, its focus is on combined and joint operations, with articles on military history and administrative developments within the Ministry of Defense, NATO, and other institutions.
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  133. Revista Española de Historia Militar.
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  135. Published ten times per year since 2001, this eighty-page, glossy monthly magazine focuses on tactical, operational, and strategic campaigns and military technology, written for a popular audience.
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  137. Revista de Historia Militar.
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  139. Published by the Spanish Ministry of Defense since 1957, it is the most comprehensive journal of Spanish military history, with articles, reviews, primary source documents, and other materials, authored by professional historians, active and retired military officers, and other scholars.
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  141. Revista de Historia Naval.
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  143. Official publication of the Spanish Ministry of Defense, this journal, published since 1983, contains historical articles from Spanish and global naval history.
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  145. Serga.
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  147. Popular magazine, privately published every two months, with a primary focus on 20th-century warfare. Although it includes non-Spanish topics, at least one major article in each issue is on Spanish military history.
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  149. Habsburg Spain
  150.  
  151. The most significant and pathbreaking book in Habsburg military history is Parker 2004, which not only transformed Spanish history, but in many ways inaugurated the study of the military revolution in Europe. Other works, including Kamen 2004 and Maltby 2009, take a more holistic approach, incorporating broader political, economic, and diplomatic factors into their strategic histories. Thompson 1976 provides a study of the struggles of the Habsburg monarchs—mostly unsuccessful—to institute reforms to provide a more regular, and regularly financed, force to police and expand dynastic holdings. These detailed studies contrast with the more traditional focus on high diplomacy and state affairs of Elliott 1990, and with accounts of the most famous Spanish monarch, Philip II, profiled with great success as a strategic thinker and imperial visionary in Parker 1998.
  152.  
  153. Elliott, J. H. Imperial Spain, 1469–1716. New York: Penguin, 1990.
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  155. Originally published in 1963, this remains the most concise account of the creation of Spanish dynastic power, and its relationship to its European and colonial dependencies. The central narrative is political, but Elliott describes major military campaigns, the subsidiary elites—Italians, Germans, indigenous populations—within Spain’s armed forces and militia structures, and the broader context of early modern warfare.
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  157. Kamen, Henry. Empire: How Spain Became a World Power, 1492–1763. New York: HarperCollins, 2004.
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  159. This book explains how a relatively minor European state, through a combination of dynastic alliances, military entrepreneurship, geographic advantages, and economic partnerships across Europe, forged the first global empire. Kamen highlights the military campaigns that made the establishment of this empire possible, but also the new organizations that enabled their consolidation. Originally titled Spain’s Road to Empire (London: Penguin, 2002).
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  161. Maltby, William S. The Rise and Fall of the Spanish Empire. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2009.
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  163. Argues that the decline of Spanish imperial, military, and political strength was the direct result of the methods employed by Habsburg monarchs to create the empire in the first place. Later Habsburg and Bourbon reforms were unable to address the fundamental weakness of Spain and its abject dependence on its European dynastic territories, as well as its far-flung empire, for resources and status.
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  165. Parker, Geoffrey. The Grand Strategy of Philip II. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1998.
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  167. Outlines the overall military, strategic, and institutional plans and operations of Spain’s most powerful monarch, from his wars against the Ottomans in the Mediterranean, to his attempts to defeat Protestant insurgents in Flanders, to his bold (but ultimately unsuccessful) vision for the Spanish Armada and war against England.
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  169. Parker, Geoffrey. The Army of Flanders and the Spanish Road, 1567–1659. 2d ed. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 2004.
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  171. A comprehensive and pathbreaking work, describing and analyzing Spain’s long war against Protestant rebels in the Low Countries. Parker’s work, originally issued in 1972, examines not only the tactical, operational, and strategic context for the Spanish effort to reinforce and retain their Dutch colony, but also presents the innovations in logistics and ancillary services that emerged in this conflict.
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  173. Thompson, I. A. A. War and Government in Habsburg Spain, 1560–1620. London: Athlone, 1976.
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  175. Examines the struggles of the Habsburgs to finance and conduct warfare, including attempts to create institutions for the recruiting, training, and movements of soldiers, as well as the failed efforts to standardize and regularize revenues that supported military operations, at the regional, national, and imperial levels.
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  177. Spanish Armada and Naval Warfare
  178.  
  179. If nonspecialists have heard of any single battle involving Spain, it is the 1588 defeat of the Spanish Armada by the English navy. Exemplifying as it did the global resources and ambitions of Spain’s Phillip II, as well as the challenges confronting his plans for universal empire, the story of the armada’s creation and defeat has been told in earnest since the 16th century. The best-known book is Mattingly 1959, with its master narrative and award-winning writing. Howarth 1981 is an excellent follow-up, with more specifics on the experiences of sailors assigned to the armada. For detail on the process of how the Spanish fleets were built, Phillips 1986 and Goodman 1997 provide complete accounts of the laborious difficulties involved. For other works on Spain’s use of its maritime strength, Konstam 2005 provides a detailed account of the Spanish fleet in the battle of Lepanto, while Stradling 1992 examines Spain’s naval engagements in the North Sea. The relative decline of Spain’s naval power, along with attempts to revive it, is the focus of Merino Navarro 1981.
  180.  
  181. Goodman, David. Spanish Naval Power, 1589–1665: Reconstruction and Defeat. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1997.
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  183. Chronicles the measures Spain took to rebuild its fleets after the devastating loss of the armada in 1588, from new recruiting methods, to timber acquisition policies, to changes in tactics. Spain was able to reconstruct a navy near the scale of its pre-conflict strength, but also faced even greater threats from increasingly powerful enemies, a challenge even its herculean naval achievements proved unable to surmount.
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  185. Howarth, David. The Voyage of the Armada: The Spanish Story. New York: Viking, 1981.
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  187. This account focuses primarily on the specific experiences of the Spanish Armada at sea in 1588, from their port departures to the final conflict with, and loss to, the English navy. Provides a detailed narrative of the daily lives of sailors and other crew onboard Spanish vessels, as well as contributing factors (climate, maritime conditions, enemy actions, etc.) that led to the destruction of the fleet.
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  189. Konstam, Angus. Lepanto 1571: The Greatest Naval Battle of the Renaissance. Westport, CT: Praeger, 2005.
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  191. A brief, but lavishly illustrated, account of the ships, weapons, tactics, and commanders who led the navies of the Ottoman Empire and the Holy League (Spain, Venice, the Vatican, and other allied Catholic powers) into this famous, but ultimately inconclusive, naval battle. First published in 2003 (Oxford: Opsrey).
  192. Find this resource:
  193. Mattingly, Garrett. The Armada. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1959.
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  195. Still the classic book on the subject, after more than a half-century. Mattingly charts the history of the Spanish Armada from its inception to its crushing defeat at sea in 1588. Contextualizing this naval campaign within the broad sweep of European military, economic, and religious developments, the book provides intense detail within the general context, although some readers may be frustrated with its episodic approach to the narrative.
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  197. Merino Navarro, José P. La Armada Española en el siglo XVIII. Madrid: Fundación Universitaria Española, 1981.
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  199. Examines Bourbon attempts to revive the strength of the Spanish navy, culminating in the creation of the fleet of over two hundred warships, until the debacle of the French Revolution and devastating loss at Trafalgar.
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  201. Phillips, Carla R. Six Galleons for the King of Spain: Imperial Defense in the Early Seventeenth Century. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1986.
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  203. Detailed account of the procurement, outfitting, trials, and eventual deployment of ships for service in the Americas. Useful for an understanding of imperial finance, shipbuilding in the 17th century, naval warfare in early modern Europe, and the fiscal and maritime challenges facing the Spanish monarchy.
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  205. Stradling, R. A. The Armada of Flanders: Spanish Maritime Policy and European War, 1568–1668. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1992.
  206. DOI: 10.1017/CBO9780511470677Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  207. Examines the role of Spain’s northern fleet, which played a decisive role in counterinsurgency in the Low Countries, and also intervened across the North Sea, into the Atlantic and Mediterranean.
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  209. Bourbon Spain and Empire
  210.  
  211. The Bourbon dynasty, imposed on Spain as a result of French victory in the War of the Spanish Succession (1701–1714), was characterized by an ongoing effort to reform the operations of the Spanish government in finance, colonial affairs, and the military. While its successes were incomplete, ending as they did with the French Revolution and the Napoleonic era, both of which were disastrous for Spanish power and prestige, during the 18th century these efforts did yield results. One impact of the “family alliance” with fellow Bourbon Spain was a series of wars against Britain. Chávez 2002 recounts Spanish contributions to the American Revolution, as an ally of France, the main sponsor of the rebels. Other Spanish reforms, centered on returning Spain to great power status, are the focus of Stein and Stein 2003. Borreguero Beltrán 1989 focuses on one aspect of military reform, with attempts to transition to more centralized recruiting for the Spanish army, an effort inspired by Enlightenment ideas about standardizing and modernizing government operations.
  212.  
  213. Borreguero Beltrán, Cristina. El reclutamiento militar por Quintas en la España del siglo XVIII. Valladolid, Spain: Universidad de Valladolid, 1989.
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  215. Presents analysis of attempts by Spanish governments to establish regional and national conscription to support standing armies, replacing more traditional decentralized ways of recruiting soldiers and regiments.
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  217. Chávez, Thomas E. Spain and the Independence of the United States: An Intrinsic Gift. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 2002.
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  219. Examines the critical assistance, provided in alliance with France, provided to the American revolutionaries in their fight against the British. Spanish funds, ammunition, and other war materiel were indispensable to the rebellion, but Spain did not derive the benefits it expected, especially the return of Gibraltar, from this engagement.
  220. Find this resource:
  221. Stein, Stanley J., and Barbara H. Stein. Apogee of Empire: Spain and New Spain in the Age of Charles III, 1759–1789. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2003.
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  223. While primarily focused on economic and political reforms under the Bourbons, this work does include extensive discussions of efforts to improve colonial defenses, raise additional revenues to fund the Spanish army and navy, reclaim Havana from the British, connect the empire more closely to the metropole, and develop alternative military solutions to the long-standing dependence on France.
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  225. The Napoleonic Era and Carlist Wars
  226.  
  227. The most catastrophic and transformative period in Spanish history began with the French occupation of 1807, which led to a bloody uprising (and the coining of the word guerrilla) and decades of absolutism and civil war. At the same time, the coming of revolutionary ideas launched various liberal ideologies, increasing intervention by the military in politics, and a powerful counterrevolutionary movement, which echoed into the 20th century. Gates 1986 and Esdaile 1988 provide excellent surveys of the war of anti-Napoleonic resistance in Spain, 1807–1814, as well as the efforts by political elites to marshal the popular movements rising across the peninsula. Tone 1994 describes one zone of resistance to Napoleon, arguing for its essentiality in the struggle. Liberal politicians in Cadiz and elsewhere attempted to use the collapse of the ancient regime as an opportunity to create a new constitutional system, as well as a new military structure, as described in Blanco Valdés 1988 and Casado Burbano 1982. With the initial restoration of the Bourbon monarchy after the defeat of Napoleon, in a more absolutist form under Ferdinand VII, Spain soon experienced political conflict on a wide scale. With Ferdinand’s death in 1833, however, a dynastic struggle between two branches of the Bourbon royal house led to several rounds of civil war, finally ending in 1876, although only the first phase, 1833–1840, posed an existential threat to the central government. The First Carlist War is the subject of Bullón de Mendoza 1992, Borreguero Beltrán 2007, and Coverdale 1984, all of which provide detailed accounts of the tactical and operational struggles, as well as the international context for the civil war.
  228.  
  229. Blanco Valdés, Roberto L. Rey, Cortes y fuerza armada en los orígenes de la España liberal, 1808–1823. Madrid: Siglo Veintiuno, 1988.
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  231. Examines the transformation of the Spanish military, under the pressure of French occupation, rebellion, Enlightenment ideas, dynastic conflict, and the military revolution in Europe.
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  233. Borreguero Beltrán, Cristina. Burgos en la Guerra de la Independencia: Enclave estratégico y ciudad expoliada. Burgos, Spain: Caja Círculo, 2007.
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  235. Focuses on the key northern industrial and port city, and its role in the military campaigns and planning for both Napoleonic forces and resistance to the French occupation.
  236. Find this resource:
  237. Bullón de Mendoza, Alfonso. La primera guerra carlista. Madrid: Actas, 1992.
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  239. Account of the First Carlist War, fought from 1833 to 1840, over the issue of monarchist succession within the Bourbon dynasty.
  240. Find this resource:
  241. Casado Burbano, Pablo. Las fuerzas armadas en el inicio del constitucionalismo español. Madrid: Editoriales de Derecho Reunidas, 1982.
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  243. Focuses on the military reforms initiated by the Cortes of Cadiz, the Spanish parliament under siege during the Napoleonic occupation. While initially of limited impact, this restructuring would form the basis for the reconstitution of the Spanish armed forces after the expulsion of French forces.
  244. Find this resource:
  245. Coverdale, John F. The Basque Phase of Spain’s First Carlist War. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1984.
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  247. Examines the Carlist uprising against liberal Spain, launched from northern Spain, primarily during 1834–1837.
  248. Find this resource:
  249. Esdaile, Charles. The Spanish Army in the Peninsular War. Manchester, UK: Manchester University Press, 1988.
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  251. Presents the major units, campaigns, leaders, and operations of the remnants of the Spanish army, as it conducted guerrilla operations and attempted to dislodge the French army of Napoleonic occupation. Also discusses those that supported French forces.
  252. Find this resource:
  253. Gates, David. The Spanish Ulcer: A History of the Peninsular War. New York: W. W. Norton, 1986.
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  255. Detailed examination of the tactical, operational, and strategic events of the Peninsular War, 1808–1814, including Spanish regular and irregular operations against the French occupation, as well as British intervention.
  256. Find this resource:
  257. Tone, John Lawrence. The Fatal Knot: The Guerrilla War in Navarre and the Defeat of Napoleon in Spain. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1994.
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  259. Provides an account of the uprising against French forces of occupation in northern Spain, presenting resistance in Navarre and the Basque Country as the keys to Napoleon’s eventual loss of the Iberian Peninsula.
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  261. Spain and Late Empire
  262.  
  263. After the catastrophic early 19th century (after the 1840s), Spain seemed on the path to economic and political stability, which led to major efforts to rebuild the Spanish army and navy. In alliance with France and the United Kingdom, Spain also renewed its efforts to intervene overseas, as profiled in Arnalte 2009 and Anguera 2003. While it did not intervene directly in the Crimean War, the Spanish government did send a robust observer mission, as examined in Prim 1855, the memoir of its commanding officer, who later led the Spanish component of an expedition to Mexico. Spain’s most significant engagements came in the Caribbean, with conflicts with the United States over Cuba in the 1850s and 1860s, as examined in Chaffin 1996 and Cortada 1980. As Bowen 2011 portrays, this even reached consideration over entering the American Civil War on the side of the Confederacy. It was Spain’s occupation of the Dominican Republic, however, as examined in González Calleja and Fontecha Pedraza 2005 and Navarro Méndez 1998, that led to the end of these colonial efforts, as Spanish forces had to withdraw in the face of rebellion and devastating tropical diseases.
  264.  
  265. Anguera, Pere. El general Prim: Biografía de un conspirador. Barcelona: Edhasa, 2003.
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  267. Biography of General Juan Prim, from his years as a rising young officer and observer during the Crimean War to his experience leading the 1860s expedition to force Mexico to pay its foreign debts, and to his political involvement as leading opponent of the monarchy of Queen Isabel II.
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  269. Arnalte, Arturo. Delirios de Grandeza: Las quimeras coloniales del siglo XIX español. Madrid: Editorial Síntesis, 2009.
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  271. Narrative survey of Spain’s attempts to reclaim its global colonial empire, from the late 18th century until the disaster of the Spanish-American War.
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  273. Bowen, Wayne H. Spain and the American Civil War. Columbia: University of Missouri Press, 2011.
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  275. Presents Spanish military campaigns in the Caribbean and North Africa in the 1850s and 1860s, as well as efforts to create an alliance between Spain and the Confederacy during the American Civil War. Includes information on modernization efforts within the Spanish state and armed forces during this period.
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  277. Chaffin, Tom. Fatal Glory: Narciso López and the First Clandestine U.S. War against Cuba. Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 1996.
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  279. Traces the filibustering movement, and its attempts to launch a US-based seizure of Cuba during the 1840s and 1850s, along with Spain’s successful military campaigns to defeat the insurgents.
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  281. Cortada, James W. Spain and the American Civil War: Relations at Mid-century, 1855–1868. Philadelphia: American Philosophical Society, 1980.
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  283. First major work on Hispano-US relations during the period. Surveys the prewar tensions between Spain and the United States in the Caribbean, as well as wartime and postwar diplomacy over Cuba and other issues.
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  285. González Calleja, Eduardo, and Antonio Fontecha Pedraza, eds. Una cuestión de honor: La polémica sobre la anexión de Santo Domigo vista desde España, 1861–1865. Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic: Fundación García Arévalo, 2005.
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  287. Examines domestic Spanish opinion on the re-annexation of the Dominican Republic, the largest foreign Spanish intervention in the 19th century, from political, military, and economic perspectives. Also includes discussion of the short- and long-term impacts of this operation on and within the Spanish monarchy, liberal political parties, and the press.
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  289. Navarro Méndez, Joaquín. “Anexión y abandono de Santo Domingo, 1861–1865.” Revista de Historia Militar 84 (1998): 163–188.
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  291. Detailed survey of the military campaigns involved in the annexation of the Dominican Republic, including major tactical operations, the impact of yellow fever and other tropical diseases on Spanish forces, the rising success of resistance to Spanish occupation, and the eventual decision to withdraw the Spanish army.
  292. Find this resource:
  293. Prim, Juan. Memoria sobre el viaje militar á Oriente. Madrid: Imprenta de Tejado, 1855.
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  295. Account of the Crimean War by a Spanish military observer, and later army general and politician, including background on Ottoman history, geography, demographics, political and military structure, as well as an account of the events of the war.
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  297. Spanish-American War
  298.  
  299. After the debacle of the Chincha Islands War of the late 1860s, in which Spain found itself at war with Peru, Chile, and Bolivia over ephemeral issues (as recounted in Rodríguez González 1999), Spanish politics reverted to its previous internal emphasis. With the collapse of Spain’s attempted imperial revival of the 1850s and 1860s, the Spanish military refocused on the four remaining overseas territories: Cuba, Puerto Rico, the Philippines, and Guam. While the navy attempted to maintain viable bases, coaling stations, and trained crews, the Spanish army devoted its energies to counterinsurgencies, in the face of repeated and serious rebellions in Cuba and the Philippines. Cuba, in particular, under threat by rebels and against a renewed interest in the island by the United States, witnessed violent upheavals, from the Ten Years’ War (1868–1878) to a violent, and violently repressed, uprising from 1895 to 1898. The general who crushed this rebellion, Valeriano Weyler, infamously known as “Butcher Weyler” in the United States, receives a more objective portrayal in Cardona and Losada 1997, and, not surprisingly, in his own reissued memoirs, Weyler 2004. Callahan 1899 emphasizes the colony’s importance in a global context, with a rising United States eager to assert itself in the Western Hemisphere and beyond. Fermoselle 1987 examines the indigenous and criollo (Cuban-born whites of Spanish origin) forces that augmented Spanish peninsular troops in defense of the island, while Tone 2006 analyzes the violent tactics used by Spanish forces during the last colonial rebellion under Spain’s rule. Balfour 1997 provides an insightful and comprehensive view of the final collapse of Spain’s empire, not only in Cuba, but in its other territories as well. For detailed information on the Spanish-American War and its constituent elements, see Tucker 2009.
  300.  
  301. Balfour, Sebastian. The End of the Spanish Empire, 1898–1923. Oxford: Clarendon, 1997.
  302. DOI: 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198205074.001.0001Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  303. Detailed examination of the Spanish-American War from Spain’s perspective, with a primary emphasis of the resulting impact on Spain’s military, domestic politics, self-image, and subsequent approach to foreign policy.
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  305. Callahan, James Morton. Cuba and International Relations. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1899.
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  307. Dated, but still comprehensive review of the role of Spain in the international system, from Spanish attempts to secure a military guarantee of its colony, to defensive measures taken to prevent US seizure of the island, to local rebellions and the Spanish response.
  308. Find this resource:
  309. Cardona, Gabriel, and Juan Carlos Losada. Weyler: Nuestro hombre en la Habana. Barcelona: Planeta, 1997.
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  311. Academic and extensive biography of the general who led Spain’s counterinsurgency efforts in Cuba before the Spanish-American War, and whose name became associated in the American press with repressive Spanish colonialism. Traces his long and extensive military and political career, from a bout with yellow fever, to his prominence in Spanish politics, until his death in 1930.
  312. Find this resource:
  313. Fermoselle, Rafael. The Evolution of the Cuban Military, 1492–1986. Miami, FL: Ediciones Universales, 1987.
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  315. Profiles the militias, local defense units, conscripts, and Spanish forces that manned Cuba’s defenses, during the colonial era as well as after Cuban independence.
  316. Find this resource:
  317. Rodríguez González, Agustín R. La Armada Española, la campaña del Pácifico, 1862–1871. Madrid: Agualarga, 1999.
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  319. Portrays the Chincha Islands War, the accidental war between Spain and several former South American colonies, including Peru, Chile, and Bolivia, over questions of honor, diplomatic recognition, and reparations.
  320. Find this resource:
  321. Tone, John Lawrence. War and Genocide in Cuba, 1895–1898. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2006.
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  323. Details the Cuban insurgency again Spain’s colonial authority in the years preceding the Spanish-American War.
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  325. Tucker, Spencer C. The Encyclopedia of the Spanish-American and Philippine-American Wars: A Political, Social, and Military History. 3 vols. Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO, 2009.
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  327. Essential reference guide for Spain’s last wars in Asia and the Americas, this encyclopedia continues two main volumes, with an additional volume containing primary sources, maps, and other ancillary materials.
  328. Find this resource:
  329. Weyler, Valeriano. Memorias de un general: De caballero cadete a general en jefe. Barcelona: Ediciones Destino, 2004.
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  331. Autobiography of the Spanish officer who led the counterinsurgency against Cuban rebels during the 1890s, defending his use of concentration camps and other measures against the uprising.
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  333. Colonial Wars in Morocco and the Rise of Spanish Militarism
  334.  
  335. After the loss of Spain’s overseas empire in 1898, its small enclaves in North Africa remained its only colonial presence. The initial acquisition of these territories is recounted in Hardman 1860. After 1898, Spanish military doctrine and practices also changed, with liberalism yielding to authoritarianism, and faith in technology to that of esprit de corps as the decisive necessity in battle, as argued in Jensen 2002, Boyd 1990, and Cardona 1983. In the 1920s, after a series of defeats at the hands of Muslim rebels, Spain redoubled its effort to retain and expand Spanish Morocco, and it succeeded in doing so on a modest scale, as examined in Fleming 1991. A new unit, the Spanish Foreign Legion, played a key role in this process, as discussed in Álvarez 2001. In the process, Spanish officers gained valuable experiences that many, including Francisco Franco, would leverage into promotions and key positions during the Spanish Civil War. Morocco would also be a launching point for the Spanish Civil War itself, with Spain’s best-equipped and best-trained units joining the Nationalist movement almost unanimously.
  336.  
  337. Álvarez, José E. The Betrothed of Death: The Spanish Foreign Legion during the Rif Rebellion, 1920–1927. Westport, CT: Greenwood, 2001.
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  339. This book traces the origins of the Spanish Foreign Legion (later the Spanish Legion) from its inception to its pivotal role in defeating the uprising of Abd el-Krim in Morocco. Includes significant material on and analysis of tactical engagements, casualties, and the careers of leading officers of the legion, including Francisco Franco and unit founder José Millán Astray.
  340. Find this resource:
  341. Boyd, Carolyn. La política pretoriana en el reinado de Alfonso XIII. Madrid: Alianza, 1990.
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  343. A revised and expanded version of Boyd’s Praetorian Politics in Liberal Spain (1979), this work examines the turn from liberal toward authoritarian politics within the officer corps of the Spanish army, culminating in the military regime of General Miguel Primo de Rivera in the 1920s.
  344. Find this resource:
  345. Cardona, Gabriel. El poder militar en la España contemporánea hasta la guerra civil. Madrid: Siglo Veintiuno, 1983.
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  347. Reviews the political involvement of the Spanish army, from the late-19th-century monarchist restoration to the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War. Examines the doctrine, institutions, and individuals that encouraged public—and explicitly political—engagement, especially by senior officers.
  348. Find this resource:
  349. Fleming, Shannon E. Primo de Rivera and Abd-el-Krim: The Struggle in Spanish Morocco, 1923–1927. New York: Garland, 1991.
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  351. Detailed account of the efforts by Spanish dictator, General Miguel Primo de Rivera, to defeat the Rif rebellion in Morocco, within the contexts of international and domestic politics and military affairs.
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  353. Hardman, Frederick. The Spanish Campaign in Morocco. London: William Blackwood, 1860.
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  355. This collection of letters and diaries, including excerpts originally published in the Times of London, is a journalist’s first-person account of the 1859–1860 Spanish war against Morocco, a victory that began a ten-year effort—ultimately disastrous—to enlarge the empire in Africa, Asia, and the Americas.
  356. Find this resource:
  357. Jensen, Geoffrey. Irrational Triumph: Cultural Despair, Military Nationalism, and the Ideological Origins of Franco’s Spain. Reno: University of Nevada Press, 2002.
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  359. An intellectual history of the rise of Spanish militarism, this book examines the transformation of elite military culture from one based in liberalism to one more receptive to the authoritarianism exemplified by Francisco Franco. In the context of Spanish inferiority in war materiel and technology, leading military writers argued for the superiority of moral and spiritual strength over the merely physical.
  360. Find this resource:
  361. Togores, Luis E. Millán Astray: Legionario. Madrid: La Esfera de Los Libros, 2003.
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  363. Detailed biography of General José Millán Astray, founder of the Spanish Legion, and its first military commander in Spanish Morocco. Tracing his history from that of visionary officer to propaganda minister for Franco, the author draws a sympathetic, but complex, picture.
  364. Find this resource:
  365. Villalobos, Federico. El Sueño Colonial: Las guerras de España en Marruecos. Barcelona: Ariel, 2004.
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  367. Best single volume survey of Spain’s attempts to control an increasing share of Morocco, from the early 20th century to the successful end of counterinsurgency operations in 1927. Emphasizes tactical and operational warfare, within the context of broader political, diplomatic, and cultural developments in Morocco and Spain.
  368. Find this resource:
  369. Second Republic and Spanish Civil War
  370.  
  371. The broad social and political tensions that characterized the Spanish Republic, 1931–1936, came to full fruition in the Spanish Civil War. The military campaigns of this conflict ranged from the Strait of Gibraltar to the northern Basque Country, and from Portugal to the French border, with refugees, recruits, and arms flowing across these international boundaries. Military historiography has been increasingly contentious as well, with historians in Spain engaged in polemic and invective as the history and legacy of the period remains highly contested and relevant to contemporary Spanish politics. Beevor 2006 is a useful, brief survey, which in its more recent edition does factor in Russian sources, while Carr 2000 and especially Thomas 2001 (the final of many editions) provide lengthier and more detailed introductions to the conflict, with more discussion of the belligerent forces and the international context. Other works, including Viñas 1974 and Keene 2001 provide more insight into the European-wide nature of the Spanish Civil War, with aid and volunteers flowing from the Great Powers to each side. For the tactical and operational actions of the two sides, Cortada 2012 and Graham 2002 are useful in looking at the conflict, with Graham focusing on the Republican forces. Radosh, et al. 2001 exemplifies the revisionist perspective, arguing for the Left’s responsibility for the collapse of the Spanish Republic, as well as for the greater atrocities and military failures in the Spanish Civil War, while Preston 2007 provides the more traditional critique of the Right as owning responsibility for its antidemocratic rebellion of 1936. Although recent historiographical and popular debates have been rancorous over responsibility for the origins of the war, as well as through mutual revisionism over the extent of atrocities by both sides, there does seem to be an emerging consensus that the most illustrative and complete interpretations will be more nuanced and complex. Books on the Spanish Civil War routinely make best-seller lists in Spain, indicating an ongoing interest in this subject.
  372.  
  373. Beevor, Antony. The Battle for Spain: The Spanish Civil War, 1936–1939. New York: Penguin, 2006.
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  375. The most fluid and accessible short account of the conflict, Beevor’s award-winning narrative relies primarily on secondary sources. It also, unlike most surveys, incorporates the Soviet/Russian perspective.
  376. Find this resource:
  377. Carr, Raymond. The Spanish Tragedy: The Civil War in Perspective. London: Phoenix, 2000.
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  379. An engaging work, with a powerful narrative and clear thesis, that explains its persistence in multiple editions (it was first published in 1977). However, its use of sources—listed for each chapter, rather than directly referenced through notes—poses challenges for historians engaged in follow-on research.
  380. Find this resource:
  381. Cortada, James W., ed. Modern Warfare in Spain: American Military Observations on the Spanish Civil War, 1936–1939. Washington, DC: Potomac Books, 2012.
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  383. Primary source accounts from US military attachés in Spain; indispensable information about tactical engagements, relations between Spanish and foreign units, and command structures of belligerent forces.
  384. Find this resource:
  385. Graham, Helen. The Spanish Republic at War, 1936–1939. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 2002.
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  387. Focuses on the organizational, tactical, operational, and political efforts of the forces of the Spanish Republicans to win the Spanish Civil War, despite internecine struggles, an arms embargo, a fractured system of command and control, and the increasing military effectiveness of their Nationalist opponents.
  388. Find this resource:
  389. Keene, Judith. Fighting for Franco: International Volunteers in Nationalist Spain during the Spanish Civil War, 1936–39. London: Leicester University Press, 2001.
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  391. Examines the foreign units and individuals—English, Irish, French, White Russians, Romanians, and others—who joined the Nationalist insurgency during the Spanish Civil War. While few in comparison to those who served in the Communist-led International Brigades, rightist volunteers reflected the foreign support for Franco that did characterize antidemocratic movements across Europe during the period.
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  393. Preston, Paul. The Spanish Civil War: Reaction, Revolution, and Revenge. New York: W. W. Norton, 2007.
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  395. Explains the Spanish Civil War in terms of a military and conservative rebellion against the Spanish Republic. Focuses less on the campaigns of the war, and more on the political context for each side.
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  397. Radosh, Ronald, Mary Habeck and Grigory Sevastianov, eds. Spain Betrayed: The Soviet Union in the Spanish Civil War. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2001.
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  399. Provides documentation, with critical commentary, on the objectives of the USSR during the Spanish Civil War, including its political involvement, arms policies toward the Spanish Republicans, and direct intervention in the political and military strategies of constituent movements within the Popular Front.
  400. Find this resource:
  401. Thomas, Hugh. The Spanish Civil War. Rev. ed. New York: Modern Library, 2001.
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  403. A comprehensive volume, which takes advantage of primary sources in multiple languages, and remains, after multiple editions, the best single account of the military, political, and diplomatic context of the Spanish Civil War.
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  405. Viñas, Angel. La Alemania nazi y el 18 de julio. Madrid: Alianza Editorial, 1974.
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  407. Groundbreaking study of the indispensable involvement of Germany on the side of the Nationalists during the Spanish Civil War, from their prewar support for movements opposed to the Spanish Republic to their consistent and decisive military, financial, and diplomatic support for Francisco Franco and his military rebellion.
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  409. World War II
  410.  
  411. Spain was officially neutral during World War II, but, as a result of ideological affinity and geostrategic interests, it was supportive of the Axis, as described in Bowen 2000 and Payne 2008. This support included the dispatch of a unit of volunteer soldiers to serve in the German army (the Blue Division), intelligence and diplomatic collaboration, and an agreement to send Spanish workers to Germany. Dictator Francisco Franco offered to enter the war, but at the price of territories in North Africa, as well as other concessions, that Hitler considered too steep. These negotiations are portrayed in Goda 1998 and Tusell 1995. Nonetheless, Spain and Germany did undertake joint planning to attack the British enclave of Gibraltar, examined in Burdick 1968, and Spain also allowed German U-boats to refuel and take on supplies in Spanish waters. Not all Spaniards supported the Axis, however, as Spanish exiles, who had been expelled or fled before the Nationalist victory of 1939, enlisted in the French Resistance, as recounted in Fernandez 1973. Others engaged in cross-border attacks, in an attempt to dislodge Franco, as World War II was ending, as told in dramatic detail in Romeu Alfaro 1989.
  412.  
  413. Bowen, Wayne H. Spaniards and Nazi Germany: Collaboration in the New Order. Columbia: University of Missouri Press, 2000.
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  415. Chronological narrative of Spanish contributions toward the Axis war effort, from the sending of the Blue Division, to military collaboration with German forces, to attempts by pro-Nazi Spaniards to pressure Franco to enter the war.
  416. Find this resource:
  417. Burdick, Charles B. Germany’s Military Strategy and Spain in World War II. Syracuse, NY: Syracuse University Press, 1968.
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  419. Examines the detailed German plans to incorporate Spain into the war, focused around a proposed assault on British-held Gibraltar. Covers the negotiations between Spanish and German military and political officials over seizing the territory, as well as German contingency plans to occupy Spain or its Canary Islands, without the consent of the Franco regime, to forestall Allied operations.
  420. Find this resource:
  421. Fernandez, Alberto. Españoles en la Resistencia. Madrid: Zero, 1973.
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  423. Examines the actions of Spanish exiles in the French Resistance, from engagement in guerrilla actions against the Germans to attempts to launch an uprising in northern Spain against the Franco regime in 1944–1946.
  424. Find this resource:
  425. Goda, Norman J. W. Tomorrow the World: Hitler, Northwest Africa, and the Path toward America. College Station: Texas A&M University Press, 1998.
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  427. Presents Germany’s strategy for war against the United States, through consolidation of new Axis partners (Spain and Vichy France), the development of long-range bombers, and leapfrogging across the Atlantic islands. Analyzes the relative strengths of the armies of Nationalist Spain, Vichy France, and Germany, in the context of potential operations against Gibraltar and North Africa, and explains the failure of Nazi planning in the context of the wider war.
  428. Find this resource:
  429. Payne, Stanley G. Franco and Hitler: Spain, Germany, and World War II. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2008.
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  431. Magisterial account of the overall strategic balance, military decisions, and diplomatic relationship between Nazi Germany and the Franco regime, including negotiations toward a potential Spanish entry into the war, and what that would have meant for the Spanish armed forces and broader society.
  432. Find this resource:
  433. Romeu Alfaro, Fernanda. “Panorámica sociopolitical de los primeros movimientos guerrilleros.” In El primer franquismo: España durante la segunda guerra mundial. Edited by Manuel Tuñón de Lara and José Luis García Delgado. Madrid: Siglo Veintiuno, 1989.
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  435. Profiles the actions and composition of the armed resistance movement against the Spanish government in northern Spain, including the political, ethnic, and social background of its participants.
  436. Find this resource:
  437. Tusell, Javier. Franco, España y la II Guerra Mundial: Entre el eje y la neutralidad. Madrid: Temas de Hoy, 1995.
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  439. This comprehensive work makes the case for the Franco regime’s strong affiliation with the Axis powers, examining Spanish political and military preparations for war, the changing context of the conflict in Europe, the Mediterranean, and North Africa, and the missteps of Francisco Franco.
  440. Find this resource:
  441. División Azul (Blue Division)
  442.  
  443. The Blue Division is perhaps the most studied single unit in Spanish military history, with more than one hundred published memoirs by veterans, as well as dozens of films, novels, magazines, and newsletters devoted to its memory and history. Each phase of the divisional history, from its creation in the aftermath of Nazi Germany’s invasion of the Soviet Union, to its incorporation into the German army, to its two years of heavy fighting on the Eastern Front, has been extensively chronicled. While the most common approach has been the war diary, with Gómez Tello 1945 being the earliest and best example, other veterans’ accounts have focused more on the higher operational level, including those of senior officers (Troncoso 1942, Díaz de Villegas 1967, Esteban-Infantes 1956, Martínez Esparza 1943). The groundbreaking historical work on the subject was Kleinfeld and Tambs 1979, followed by Moreno Juliá 2005. Also of note are the many detailed and enthusiastic volumes written by Fernando Vadillo (such as Vadillo 1994), which combine thorough research with a narrative flair.
  444.  
  445. Díaz de Villegas, José. La División Azul en línea. Barcelona: Ediciones Acervo, 1967.
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  447. Memoir by the last divisional chief of staff. Includes extensive discussions of major operations, as well as environment within the division’s headquarters and with the German army.
  448. Find this resource:
  449. Esteban-Infantes, Emilio. La Division Azul: Donde Asia Empieza. Barcelona: Editorial AHR, 1956.
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  451. Tactical and operational analysis of the unit, written by the second commander of the division. Includes maps.
  452. Find this resource:
  453. Gómez Tello, José Luis. Canción de invierno en el este: Crónicas de la División Azul. Barcelona: Luis de Caralt, 1945.
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  455. Memoir of Falangist soldier within the unit, with dramatic personal stories of combat on the eastern front, interactions with German officers and Russian civilians, and the harsh winter conditions. One of the best-written and most popular accounts by veterans.
  456. Find this resource:
  457. Kleinfeld, Gerald, and Lewis Tambs. Hitler’s Spanish Legion: The Blue Division in Russia. Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press, 1979.
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  459. First major academic study of the Blue Division, a unit of Spanish volunteers in the army of Nazi Germany, that incorporates Spanish and German primary sources into a compelling narrative.
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  461. Martínez Esparza, José. Con la División Azul en Rusia. Madrid: Ediciones Ejército, 1943.
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  463. One of the first memoirs of the unit, written by a former regimental infantry commander, and emphasizing the bitter Russian winters, along with camaraderie within the division.
  464. Find this resource:
  465. Moreno Juliá, Xavier. La División Azul: Sangre española en Rusia, 1941–1945. Barcelona: Crítica, 2005.
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  467. The first major academic work since Kleinfeld and Tambs 1979, based on extensive use of Spanish, German, and other primary sources. Comprehensive and balanced in its approach, it provides a solid, evidence-based general narrative of the unit’s creation, engagements, and impact on World War II and Hispano-German politics.
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  469. Troncoso, José M. “Con la División Española de Voluntarios en un campamento aleman.” EJERCITO 25 (February 1942): 52–58.
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  471. Recounts the experiences of Spanish soldiers undergoing training at the German army facilities at Grafenwöhr, in the summer of 1941, in preparation for their service on the eastern front. Useful contrasts between Spanish and German army methods and conditions.
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  473. Vadillo, Fernando. Lucharon en Krasny Bor. 2 vols. Alicante, Spain: García Hispan, 1994.
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  475. One of six volumes on the Blue Division and its successor units by Vadillo, this account focuses on the battle of Krasny Bor of February 1943, when the division, outnumbered 5 to 1, successfully defeated a Soviet offensive near Leningrad (Saint Petersburg).
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  477. Francisco Franco
  478.  
  479. Francisco Franco, born into a family of naval officers, was the longest-serving dictator in modern Europe, ruling from 1936 until his death in 1975. He served at every level of command within the Spanish military, from cadet to commander in chief of the Spanish armed forces. During the Moroccan colonial wars, he led small units in tactical engagements (Franco 1986), and he became the youngest European general since Napoleon. During the Spanish Civil War, he commanded the successful Nationalist military campaign against the Spanish Republic. As head of state until his death, he appointed hundreds of generals and admirals to positions of command and administration, within the military and throughout traditionally civilian posts in his government (Olmeda Gómez 1988, Baquer 2005, Cardona 2001). Franco’s life has promoted many biographies, from hagiography to indictments; the most comprehensive, invariably interpreting events in ways least flattering to the subject, is the award-winning Preston 1994. In many ways, Franco’s was the most military of any 20th-century European regime (Jensen 2005).
  480.  
  481. Baquer, Miguel Alonso. Franco y sus generales. Madrid: Taurus, 2005.
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  483. Introduces the flag rank officers who led the most indispensable pillar of the Franco regime—the Spanish armed forces. From the generals who selected Franco to lead them in the Spanish Civil War to those who survived the dictator and witnessed the transition to democracy, they comprised a coherent and consistent ruling elite in western Europe’s most militarized dictatorship of the 20th century. Includes short biographies of the most important generals.
  484. Find this resource:
  485. Cardona, Gabriel. Franco y sus generales: La manicura del tigre. Madrid: Temas de Hoy, 2001.
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  487. Profiles the key military figures in the life of Franco, as well as their roles in the politics of the regime, from cabinet ministries to field commanders to personal advisers. Also examines the monarchist movement within the officer corps, who constituted an internal, and mostly domesticated, opposition.
  488. Find this resource:
  489. Franco, Francisco. Papeles de la Guerra de Marruecos. Madrid: Fundación Nacional Francisco Franco, 1986.
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  491. Personal diaries and articles written by Francisco Franco, future dictator of Spain, based on his combat experience in Spanish Morocco during the 1920s. Includes significant detail on military campaigns; counterinsurgency efforts; relations with the Arab, Berber, and Jewish residents of the zone; and the combined Spanish-French naval landings at Alhucemas, a major victory that crippled the Muslim rebellion.
  492. Find this resource:
  493. Jensen, Geoffrey. Franco: Soldier, Commander, Dictator. Washington, DC: Potomac Books, 2005.
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  495. This short military biography examines the training, campaigns, and strategic vision of Francisco Franco, from his earliest years as an infantry cadet to his thirty-nine years as dictator of Spain (1936–1975). Chapters on the Moroccan counterinsurgency and Spanish Civil War highlight Franco’s tactical competence, as well as placing his actions in the broader context of Spanish and European military affairs.
  496. Find this resource:
  497. Olmeda Gómez, José Antonio. Las fuerzas armadas en el estado franquista. Madrid: Ediciones El Arquero, 1988.
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  499. Examines the political significance, budgets and resources, and professional trajectory of the Spanish army, navy, and air force within the Franco regime, from 1939 to 1975. Includes demographic profiles of military personnel, participation levels of military officers seconded to civilian governmental agencies, and information on the transition from a politicized force to an apolitical and professional military by the end of the regime.
  500. Find this resource:
  501. Preston, Paul. Franco: A Biography. New York: Basic Books, 1994.
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  503. Biography of Spain’s last dictator, which, although thorough in every regard, attributes every political, military, or economic success of Franco to contingency, and every failure to incompetence. Less focus on the military career and command than on the political decisions and personal life.
  504. Find this resource:
  505. The Cold War and Democratic Transition
  506.  
  507. After a brief period of international diplomatic isolation, in recognition of Spain’s identification with Nazi Germany during World War II, Franco emerged as an American ally during the Cold War, allowing US air and naval bases on Spanish soil. Whitaker 1962 profiles the challenges of integrating Spain into the Western alliance system, given its authoritarian regime and lack of military strength. The Cold War is also the focus of Suárez Fernández 1987, with a discussion of the mutually suspicious, and always tenuous, negotiations between Spain and the Soviet Union. The Spanish military’s first real test after World War II, presented in Canales and del Rey 2010, came in its struggle to maintain Sidi Ifni, one of its last colonies, after having surrendered Spanish Morocco in 1956. The long struggle over Northwest Africa is the focus of Diego Aguirre 1991, which chronicles the surrender of Spain’s last colonial possessions, other than the long-held enclaves of Ceuta and Melilla, in the 1970s. The transition to democracy after 1975 receives some examination in Serra 2010, as well as in the final chapters of Preston 1990, but the definitive work on the military’s experience during this era remains unwritten.
  508.  
  509. Canales, Carlos, and Miguel del Rey. Breve historia de la guerra de Ifni-Sahara. Madrid: Ediciones Nowtilus, 2010.
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  511. Survey of the Ifni War, 1957–1958, Spain’s successful defense against Morocco’s attack on its isolated Saharan enclave on the Atlantic coast.
  512. Find this resource:
  513. Diego Aguirre, José Ramon. Guerra en el Sáhara. Madrid: Ediciones Istmo, 1991.
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  515. Presents the long military conflict over this territory, initially between Spain and Morocco, for control over its strategic location, as well as its mineral resources.
  516. Find this resource:
  517. Preston, Paul. The Politics of Revenge: Fascism and the Military in 20th-Century Spain. London: Routledge, 1990.
  518. DOI: 10.4324/9780203400371Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  519. Examines the ideological foundation for authoritarianism within the Spanish military, ending with the failed resistance to democratization after the death of Francisco Franco.
  520. Find this resource:
  521. Serra, Narcís. The Military Transition: Democratic Reform of the Armed Forces. Translated by Peter Bush. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 2010.
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  523. Translation of La transición militar: Reflexiones en torno a la reforma democrática de las fuerzas armadas (Barcelona: Random House Mondadori, 2008). Using the transition from Franco’s dictatorship in the late 1970s and early 1980s as his prime example, Serra, a former Spanish Defense Minister, outlines the process of institutional reform that shifted Spain’s military structures to a democratic system.
  524. Find this resource:
  525. Suárez Fernández, Luis. Franco y la URSS: La diplomacia secreta, 1946–1970. Madrid: Ediciones Rialp, 1987.
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  527. Based on the private papers of Francisco Franco, this book examines the “secret diplomacy” between Spain and the Soviet Union during the Cold War, an undercurrent of discussions between two hostile states, over the repatriation of Spanish prisoners from the Gulag, the initial steps toward a détente between Spain and the USSR, and the development, in the later years of both regimes, of commercial ties.
  528. Find this resource:
  529. Whitaker, Arthur P. Spain and the Defense of the West: Ally and Liability. New York: Harper, 1962.
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  531. Examines the strategic, military, and political potential of Spain, in the context of the Cold War, US national interests, and the NATO alliance. Explains the Spanish dictatorship, with its pillars and potential fissures, arguing for the continued partial integration of Spain, with its geographic advantages in the global struggle against the Soviet Union. Published by Harper for the Council of Foreign Relations.
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