Travels Through the Spanish Civil War

by Nick Lloyd

Fifty years after Franco’s death, and almost ninety since the Civil War began, the scars of violence still run deep in Spain.

Nick Lloyd traces this legacy through a series of road trips. Travelling through Catalonia and Aragón, among the last Republican strongholds, he visits battle sites, museums, memorials and more. Speaking with historians, local guides and descendants of International Brigaders, he discovers how places and objects offer clues to a painful past. A Barcelona plaque, metres from the author’s home, commemorates the birthplace of Francesc Boix, a photographer whose short but eventful life took him from the Catalan front to the Nuremberg witness box. In Huesca, a dogged journalist builds monuments to his city’s wartime resistance, while the preserved ruins of Belchite mark the devastation of fierce street fighting. A journey across the Franco-Spanish border follows the footsteps of the anti-fascist refugees later incarcerated in French concentration camps.

As debates over ‘historical memory’ highlight enduring political rifts, Lloyd powerfully chronicles how war is remembered—or not—in Spain and beyond.

Genres: History, Spanish Civil War

335 pages, Kindle Edition

Published November 20, 2025

About the author

One of Britain’s new generation of military historians, Nick Lloyd is a Professor of Modern Warfare at King’s College London and the author of four books on World War I, including The Western Front, Hundred Days, and Passchendaele. He lives in Cheltenham, England.

Reviews

[Jake · Rating 5 out of 5]

A very thoughtful and much enjoyed Christmas present. Nick is clearly incredibly knowledgeable about the topic and adds to that base with wonderful insights from other historians, archivists and people he has met during his life in Barcelona. Taking a chunk out of a subject like this and making it coherent is never straightforward but I thought it was very well done in this instance, with a good balance of context, overview and individuals stories.

[Darren H · Rating 5 out of 5]

A truly brilliant, thought provoking, wonderful piece of work from a gifted writer. I have followed Nick on Twitter/X for many years and I have always admired his work. This is the first book of his that I've read. The book is superbly written, genuinely thought provoking and heartbreakingly sad in places. The book addresses a very serious subject matter and part of history in a very sensitive and empathetic way. The author also pulls no punches in addressing such a serious subject matter and part of history, the impact it had and continues to have on Spain and indeed worldwide to this day. This is a very important book, brilliantly written by a very talented writer.

[George Watson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book that combines history with a travel narrative. Personal tragedies linked to the places Lloyd travels to as he goes, and great links made both to present conflicts and the wider geopolitics of the 1930s.

[Daniel Xiberras · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good stuff. Always forget how many acronyms there were in this conflict. Shout out The Durutti Column.

[Tim Briedis · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the best books I’ve ever read on the Spanish Civil War. Simply incredible.