Spanish Civil War History

Spanish Civil War Speculations

• The 1936-1939 Spanish Civil War caused bitter post-mortem speculations among Spanish historians.
• Attempts to assign blame reflected political and emotional involvement, along with traditional political interpretations of history.
• Historians who were liberals or left-leaning during the war were exiled or sidelined afterward.
• The majority of recent Spanish historiography comes from "establishment historians," conservatives adhering to traditional views.
• A small group of young, promising historians on the left-wing has emerged in recent years.

Historical Writing and Censorship

• Victors aimed to write history that aligned with their interests and ideology.
• Official versions of Spanish history were published and are still in use.
• A vigilant body of political censors scrutinized manuscripts until the censorship was abolished in 1966.
• Censorship primarily affected writings that were for a wide audience and dealt with the Civil War period or taboo subjects.
• Control of source material has been more restricting than direct censorship.
• The political climate has severely handicapped historical research and writing since the Civil War.

Historians and Their Attitudes

• Passions were strong during and after the war, blinding historians.
• Some historians were explicitly intolerant of differing opinions.
• Some historians are deaf, forgetful, and cling to a liberal conception of the monarchy.
• Blaming deficiencies solely on political partisanship would be a mistake; an extreme version of historical events may still be accurate.
• Ideological bias can focus attention on new fields of research.

Historical Research in Spain

• Patriotic fervor in Spain has not led to studies on Spanish foreign policy or the Spanish domination of Morocco.
• Militarism has not fostered research into military history.
• Militant Catholicism has not produced major work on the Church in modern Spain.
• Conservative historians tend to adopt a traditional view of history, focusing on political history and ideology.

Key Representatives

• Melchor Fernández Almagro, the Duke of Maura, and Jesús Pabón are notable representatives.
• Their works provide the background for any political study of contemporary Spain.
• Almagro died in 1966 and authored several books on the contemporary period, including "Historia política de la España contemporánea".
• Gabriel Maura died in 1963 and published "Por qué cayó Alfonso XIII" in 1948.
• Jesús Pabón is known for his biography of Cambó.

Views on Francoism

• Maura and Fernández Almagro accepted francoism as an alternative to the disorders or leftism of the Republic.
• They disliked the system's stridencies, hankering for "better times".
• They looked backwards with nostalgia, preserving their sense of history and historical perspective.
• The best modern Spanish history students learn to appreciate their writing ability.

Post-Civil War Historians

• Post-Civil War historians writings are marked by crudeness and mediocrity.
• Many are reliable, with more solid work than historians of the past. One must, however, question their motives.
• The Civil War taught a harsh lesson about violence, influencing rulers and the ruled.
• Preoccupation with the origins of the Republic is immediately apparent in discussions.

Division of Spain

• The idea of the "two Spains" reflects a strong connotation of intransigence.
• One had to opt for one or another of the two real Spains because, there was no such thing as the middle way.
• Force preserves privilege; this has worked in Spain.

Political Maneuvering

• Supporters of the regime have tried unsuccessfully to justify its origins with a new political philosophy.
• The official Falangist doctrine's bankruptcy is apparent.
• Newness resides solely in the Leader's person.
• Political problems are seen as unnecessary, with a focus on social and economic issues instead.

Historical Perspectives

• The dream of the enlightened despot makes the historian and his job as obsolete.
• Government becomes a matter of piecemeal social engineering.
• The all-pervading presence of an arbitrary regime leads to constant compromise.
• Historians who are acclimatized to the current conditions find themselves without a part to play.

Historiographic Morality

• Some historians want to "make patent once again [his] limpid historiographic morality, which follows a single and august watchword: Spain".
• Diego Sevilla Andrés quoted St Ignatius to justify his own attitude of 'compassionate understanding'.
• Discerning actual trends in investigations are difficult.
• Historians are of little value to Spanish society presently, there is no demand for the investigation of specific aspects of history

Study of Republic and Civil War

• The Republic and Civil War are treated as separate periods.
• J. Plá's study of the Republic is relatively impartial but is limited to strictly political aspects.
• M. Aznar's military history of the conflict is probably the coolest.
• C. Seco Serrano's account may be the best compendium of the Republic and Civil War period (by a Spanish author).

Work by Vicente Cacho

• Vincente Cacho's work on the Institución Libre
• Maria Dolores Gómez Molleda's book on regenerationsim are intellectual history works
• Lacking are Spanish literary criticisms that touch on the aforementioned time periods
• Spanish essayism is abundant.

Reaction to Traditional View

• A reaction against the traditional view of history has set in among some younger historians.
• J. Vicens Vives did more in this context more than anyone could expect.
• He left a body of works that constitute a major source for anyone interested in the economic and social history of contemporary Spain.
• Vicens Vives spoke bitterly of historians who saw the nineteenth century as a struggle between dogma and godlessness, absolutism and liberalism.
• He promoted a different kind of history that was life in all its complex diversity.

Economic History

• Vicens Vives brought tables and graphs into history books.
• Barcelona University's Faculty of Economics Economic History led to greater vigour in social and economic studies.
• Barcelona being an important industrial and financial centre helped encourage interest in economic and social problems of the past.
• A number of valuable monographic studies were produced but provided factional data.

Catalan Intelligentsia

• Social and economic interpretation of history and the emphasis on social and economic studies prevailed.
• Also of note, is the emergence of Catalan intelligentsia and the strength of the left-wing opposition in Barcelona.
• Some disciples of Vincens Vives are from the Barcelona region, and were among the younger historians, are breaking new ground in unexplored fields.
• Of the works already in print, J. Termes' book on the First International in Spain stands out.
• A. Balcells' short essay on syndicalism in Barcelona (1915-23) is also good.

Problems with Books

• There are publishers who specialize in Catalán-language publications.
• Publishers are understandably eager to bring out books on Catalan history.
• To be noted, too, is if a working knowledge of the Catalan language is needed to anyone interested in contemporary Spanish history.

Conditions for Spanish Historians

• The "new" view of history was a revelation, with a few of its adepts being aware of their role as innovators.
• There is a low standard of contemporary material due to the discouraging conditions.
• There is a general lack of means.
• Spanish historians cannot expect to make a living from their books.

University Conditions

• Few grants or scholarships are available to support the historian.
• University chairs are few, only full professors can hope to support themselves adequately
• A recent reform has raised the salary of lecturers above subsistence level.
• Historians have to earn their living in some other way.

States of Affairs

• There is a deplorable state of affairs in regard to sources, with official archives difficult to get at.
• Military archives covering the whole contemporary period are closed.
• Printed sources had problems; authors does not quote sources and books without indexes; bibliographic studies are absent.
• In all important Spanish libraries many books, mainly on social topics, were withdrawn from the shelves and from the catalogue.

Libraries

• Many books have been withdrawn from the shelves and catalogues for political reasons.
• Most works published since 1939 outside Spain by exiled historians are not to be found in these libraries.
• Spanish libraries are sadly incomplete due to lack of interest and funds.
• Most have very short and impractical opening hours.
• Newspaper libraries of Madrid and Barcelona are very good and survived the hazards of the Civil War.

Catalan Cowardice

• A number of problems have to be taken into account when it comes to private papers, which remain in private hands.
• Vicens Vives spoke of the 'collective cowardice' of Catalan industrialists, who refused him access to their family archives.
• Many feel that those who fear personal attack or libel are not altogether fanciful.
• They are precautions taken by most owners of private papers are extravagant.

Excessiveness

• Is common with those who had memoirs and volumes of correspondence.
• There is an incipient tendency to reprint some old publications of value, complete works and documents of various kinds.
• A considerable proportion of the best books on contemporary Spanish history have been published outside Spain, by exiled and foreign historians.
• Historians working in Spain are at a disadvantage.