The Foundations of Civil War: Revolution, Social Conflict and Reaction in Liberal Spain, 1916-1923

by Francisco J. Romero Salvado

Overview

This book analyzes the decay of Liberal politics in Spain as the regional version of the general crisis that engulfed most of Europe between 1916 and 1923. Romero enriches the important wider debate about this watershed period of European history when, in the face of unprecedented mass social protest and political mobilization, incumbent governing elites struggled to find a valid formula of social containment in the dawning of mass politics which also saw the spread of the radical new doctrines of Bolshevism and Fascism.

Above all, this book examines Spain’s "crisis of modernization," a process marked by complex social and political realignments through which the nature of civil society was profoundly altered. It resulted in an unprecedented spiral of violence and a polarization that firstly led to an authoritarian formula of social control in 1923, and ultimately to the outbreak of civil war in 1936.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780415890298
Publisher:	Taylor & Francis
Publication date:	12/15/2010
Series:	Routledge/Canada Blanch Studies on Contemporary Spain
Pages:	434
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x (d)

About the Author

Francisco J.Romero Salvado is Lecturer in History at London Metropolitan University, UK. His previous book, Spain: 1914-1918, is also available from Routledge.

Table of Contents

Preface. Acknowledgements. List of Abbreviations. Maps 1. La España Invertebrada, 1874–1914 2. The Gathering Storm 3. A Fatal Neutrality 4. The Artlessness of Insurrection: The Spanish Revolution of 1917 (A Drama in Three Acts) 5. The Catalanist Offensive 6. The Hour of the CNT 7. The Red Tide 8. Reaction on the March 9. Si Vis Pacem Para Bellum 10. The Moroccan Nightmare 11. The Death of the Liberal Patient. Notes. Bibliography. Index

Editorial Reviews

'Romero Salvado, author of two studies and numerous articles on Spain in the 20th century, provides a remarkable political narrative of this period, drawing upon extraordinary research. Utilizing correspondence and newspapers, he captures the daily flow of events and probes the motives of king and politicians. The notes and bibliography are a treasure for historians to exploit.' - N. Greene, Wesleyan University, Choice, Vol. 46, No. 08, April 2009

'...the book clearly succeeds in providing a comprehensive and updated synthesis of one of the most fascinating, if tragic, moments in modern Spanish history.' – Pamela Radcliff, Journal of Modern History

From the Publisher