Spanish Civil War: The White Terror

The White terror that occurred in Spain during and after the Spanish Civil War refers to the actions carried out by the Nationalist regime. Among these actions were politically motivated acts of violence, rape, and murder. Such brutality was used because the Nationalist Movement believed that they needed to cleanse the country of all leftist ideologies. Lfhe purge of the nation did not stop with the war's end because there were still those individuals who refused to change their beliefs and accept the Nationalist way of life. The post-war White Terror was the beginning of new policies that lead to economic collapse, the spread and takeover of the Catholic Church as well as social changes that did away with individuality.

The White Terror consisted of acts of violence against the Spanish people during the Nationalist movement in Spain. Mass executions by the Nationalists had begun with the start of the war and continued into Francisco Franco's dictatorship. The E,lange believed that these acts of violence were the best way to eliminate the leftist ideas that were held by the Republicans as and their supporters. The way to advance their regime was to eliminate the opposition. Upon capturing an area of land, there were drastic social changes that were used in the name of the regime. The actions of the Nationalists also had negative effects on the nation's economy as many of the people who fell victim to the wartime practices were important to the workforce, causing a shortage of laborers in the areas that were captured.

The beginning of the White Terror was the same day as the Nationalists coup d’état, July 17, 1936. The mass killings were premeditated as Emilio Mola had ordered his troops to destroy all traces of the leftist ideal...

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...le because it was written by Paul Preston who is the world’s foremost historian on twentieth century Spain.

This book investigates the social and political backgrounds of Spain before and during the civil war. This book is valuable because it was written almost immediately after the war, which allows for the book to more accurately represents the ideas of the time. However, this book is limited by the fact that Brenan writes somewhat condescendingly about the Spanish people, mainly those of the lower class.

This book is a compilation of several articles about the Spanish Civil War by different authors each one dealing with a different subject matter. This is useful because it gives different perspectives on the war. However, the accuracy becomes compromised as there are conflicting points of view in the book that rr(a'y cause the information to be less reliable.