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Travels Through the Spanish Civil War
The Spanish Civil War was one of the twentieth century’s most momentous conflicts.
Nick Lloyd explores its causes and consequences through various road trips across Spain and into the rest of Europe. Setting off from Barcelona, he journeys around Catalonia and Aragón, among the last regions to fall to Franco. Visiting battle sites, museums, memorials and more, he reveals how the scars of violence still criss-cross Spain’s rural and urban landscapes. Along the way, he encounters historians, writers and descendants of Republican fighters, who bring to life the experiences of combatants and civilians alike. He tells the story of Francesc Boix, a photographer born metres from the author’s home, whose short but eventful life took him from the Catalan front to the Nuremberg witness box. In Huesca, he meets a dogged journalist working to unearth local history, while amid the rubble of Belchite, he describes the brutal street combat that destroyed the town. And on the Franco-Spanish border, he traces the journey of the refugees who fled fascism, only to be incarcerated in French concentration camps.
As debates over ‘historical memory’ reopen deep rifts in Spanish society, Lloyd powerfully chronicles how war is remembered—or not—in Spain and beyond.
Nick Lloyd explores its causes and consequences through various road trips across Spain and into the rest of Europe. Setting off from Barcelona, he journeys around Catalonia and Aragón, among the last regions to fall to Franco. Visiting battle sites, museums, memorials and more, he reveals how the scars of violence still criss-cross Spain’s rural and urban landscapes. Along the way, he encounters historians, writers and descendants of Republican fighters, who bring to life the experiences of combatants and civilians alike. He tells the story of Francesc Boix, a photographer born metres from the author’s home, whose short but eventful life took him from the Catalan front to the Nuremberg witness box. In Huesca, he meets a dogged journalist working to unearth local history, while amid the rubble of Belchite, he describes the brutal street combat that destroyed the town. And on the Franco-Spanish border, he traces the journey of the refugees who fled fascism, only to be incarcerated in French concentration camps.
As debates over ‘historical memory’ reopen deep rifts in Spanish society, Lloyd powerfully chronicles how war is remembered—or not—in Spain and beyond.
352 pages, Paperback
Published January 5, 2026
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About the author
Nick Lloyd
14 books95 followersOne 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.
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January 8, 2026
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.
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