The Collapse of the Spanish Republic, 1933-1936: Origins of the Civil War

Stanley G. Payne

Yale University Press, Oct 1, 2008 - History - 432 pages

This book focuses on the short but crucial period that led to the collapse of the Spanish Republic and set the stage for the ensuing civil war. Stanley G. Payne, an internationally known scholar of modern Spanish history, details the political shifts that occurred from 1933 to 1936 and examines the actions and inactions of key actors during these years. Using their own memoirs, speeches, and declarations, he challenges previous perceptions of various major players, including President Alcalá Zamora.
 
The breakdown of political coalitions and the internal rifts between Spain’s bourgeois and labor classes sparked many instances of violent dissent in the mid-1930s. The book addresses the election of 1933 and the destabilizing insurrection that followed, Alcalá Zamora's failed attempts to control the major parties, and the backlash that resulted.  The alliances of the socialist left with communism and the right with fascism are also explored, as is the role of forces outside Spain in spurring the violence that eventually exploded into war.  
 

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User Review  - mvbdlr - LibraryThing

It is extremely difficult to find resources on the Second Spanish Republic, let alone the Spanish Civil War, that are impartial. Stanley G. Payne is the leading historian on modern Spanish history ...

Contents

• The Problem of Representative Government in Spain: 1
• 1 The Republican Project: 8
• 1933: 26
• 3 The Revolutionary Insurrection of 1934: 52
• 4 A Conservative Republic? 19341935: 96
• 5 Frustration of the Parliamentary System: 118
• 6 Toward the Popular Front: 140
• 7 The Elections of February 1936: 170
• FebruaryMarch 1936: 185
• MarchMay 1936: 215
• MayJune 1936: 248
• 11 Competing Utopias: 273
• MayJuly 1936: 294
• 13 The Military Conspiracy: 308
• 14 The Assassination of Calvo Sotelo: 319
• Conclusion: 339
• Notes: 369
• Index: 411

About the author

Stanley Payne has taught history at several universities, including Columbia University, University of California, Los Angeles and the University of Wisconsin. He is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and a corresponding member of Real Academia Espanola de la Historia, Madrid. He has received various awards and prizes, most recently the Marshal Shulman Book Award of the American Association for the Advancement of Slavic Studies (2005) and the Gran Cruz de Isabel la Catolica from the Spanish government (2009). He has been co-editor of the Journal of Contemporary History since 1999. Professor Payne is the author of more than 20 books and 150 articles, as well as co-author or co-editor of 9 books. Most recently, he is the author of The Collapse of the Spanish Republic, 1933 1936: Origins of the Civil War, Franco and Hitler: Spain, Germany, and World War II, Spain: A Unique History and Civil War in Europe, 1905 1949.

Bibliographic information

• Title: The Collapse of the Spanish Republic, 1933-1936: Origins of the Civil War
• Author: Stanley G. Payne
• Publisher: Yale University Press, 2008
• ISBN: 0300130805, 9780300130805
• Length: 432 pages
• Subjects: History / Europe / Western