The Spanish Labyrinth - Gerald Brenan

Isolated from the rest of Europe politically as well as geographically, Spain is a difficult country for foreigners to understand. Yet when in 1936 the land was divided by the most disastrous civil war of this century, individuals and governments of many nations became involved. This book is an account of how and why things turned out as they did. The answers lie in the labyrinth of Spanish history between 1874 and 1936. Mr Brenan charts this labyrinth, disentangling and identifying the separate forces for disunity; he explains the part played by the Church, the army, and the various political parties - Anarchists, Anarcho-Syndicalists, Carlists and Socialists; and he shows how industrial unrest, unequal privileges, agrarian discontent, and provincial loyalties each had a share in producing a war in which 'the vanquished were beaten and the victors defeated'.