The 'Red Terror' and the Spanish Civil War: Revolutionary Violence in Madrid

by Julius Ruiz

This book deals with one of most controversial issues of the Spanish Civil War (1936–1939): the “Red Terror.” Approximately 50,000 Spaniards were extrajudically executed in Republican Spain following the failure of the military rebellion in July 1936. This mass killing of “fascists” seriously undermined attempts by the legally constituted Republican government to present itself in foreign quarters as fighting a war for democracy. This study, based on a wealth of scholarship and archival sources, challenges the common view that executions were the work of criminal or anarchist “uncontrollables.” Its focus is on Madrid, which witnessed at least 8,000 executions in 1936. It shows that the terror was organized and was carried out with the complicity of the police, and argues that terror was seen as integral to the antifascist war effort. Indeed, the elimination of the internal enemy – the “Fifth Column” – was regarded as important as the war on the front line.

Genres: History

398 pages, Paperback

First published January 17, 2012

Reviews

[Iñaki Tofiño · Rating 5 out of 5]

Un historiador serio que escribe a partir de fuentes fiables y, sobre todo, contrastadas, republicanas y rebeldes; que presenta un relato coherente de las violencias en la zona republicana (especialmente en Madrid, pero no únicamente allí), explicando el cómo y el porqué, sin medias tintas pero sin los maniqueísmos y los revanchismos tan propios de la historiografía filofranquista. Muy recomendable.

[Max Korte · Rating 1 out of 5]

It‘s always great to see Francoist revisionism paint itself over with the veneer of academic legitimacy! Though this book is just that, a veneer; it fails to meet any academic merits.

[Andres Gonzalez Lopez · Rating 4 out of 5]

No suelo leer sobre este asunto, no me interesan los aspectos contables de la carnicería. Este libro no es un ranking del asesinato político y sí una autopsia de los fracasos además de un buen antídoto contra mitos perniciosos. Es otra lectura recomendable.