Stanley Payne has taught history at several universities, including Columbia University, University of California, Los Angeles and the University of Wisconsin. He is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and a corresponding member of Real Academia Española de la Historia, Madrid. He has received various awards and prizes, most recently the Marshal Shulman Book Award of the American Association for the Advancement of Slavic Studies (2005) and the Gran Cruz de Isabel la Católica from the Spanish government (2009). He has been co-editor of the Journal of Contemporary History since 1999. Professor Payne is the author of more than 20 books and 150 articles, as well as co-author or co-editor of 9 books. Most recently, he is the author of The Collapse of the Spanish Republic, 1933–1936: Origins of the Civil War, Franco and Hitler: Spain, Germany, and World War II, Spain: A Unique History and Civil War in Europe, 1905–1949.

'Payne, drawing on his knowledge and research on Spanish history, has written a legible (rather than just academic) history of the origins, political and military development, and consequences of the Spanish Civil War. His familiarity with twentieth-century European history enables him to place it in a comparative perspective. An important and objective work that … will generate interesting debates.' Juan J. Linz, Sterling Professor Emeritus of Political and Social Science, Yale University

• 1. Modernization and conflict in Spain; 2. From revolutionary insurrection to popular front; 3. The breakdown of democracy; 4. The military insurrection of the eighteenth of July; 5. The Battle of Madrid - the first turning point; 6. Revolution; 7. Terror; 8. A war of religion; 9. Franco's counter-revolution; 10. Foreign intervention and non-intervention; 11. Soviet policy in Spain, 1936–9; 12. The propaganda and culture war; 13. A second counter-revolution?: the power struggle in the republican zone; 14. The decisive northern campaigns of 1937–8; 15. The war at sea and in the air; 16. Civil wars within a civil war; 17. The war in perspective; 18. Costs and consequences: the long dictatorship.

Stanley Payne has taught history at several universities, including Columbia University, University of California, Los Angeles and the University of Wisconsin. He is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and a corresponding member of Real Academia Española de la Historia, Madrid. He has received various awards and prizes, most recently the Marshal Shulman Book Award of the American Association for the Advancement of Slavic Studies (2005) and the Gran Cruz de Isabel la Católica from the Spanish government (2009). He has been co-editor of the Journal of Contemporary History since 1999. Professor Payne is the author of more than 20 books and 150 articles, as well as co-author or co-editor of 9 books. Most recently, he is the author of The Collapse of the Spanish Republic, 1933–1936: Origins of the Civil War, Franco and Hitler: Spain, Germany, and World War II, Spain: A Unique History and Civil War in Europe, 1905–1949.

'Payne, drawing on his knowledge and research on Spanish history, has written a legible (rather than just academic) history of the origins, political and military development, and consequences of the Spanish Civil War. His familiarity with twentieth-century European history enables him to place it in a comparative perspective. An important and objective work that … will generate interesting debates.' Juan J. Linz, Sterling Professor Emeritus of Political and Social Science, Yale University

• 1. Modernization and conflict in Spain; 2. From revolutionary insurrection to popular front; 3. The breakdown of democracy; 4. The military insurrection of the eighteenth of July; 5. The Battle of Madrid - the first turning point; 6. Revolution; 7. Terror; 8. A war of religion; 9. Franco's counter-revolution; 10. Foreign intervention and non-intervention; 11. Soviet policy in Spain, 1936–9; 12. The propaganda and culture war; 13. A second counter-revolution?: the power struggle in the republican zone; 14. The decisive northern campaigns of 1937–8; 15. The war at sea and in the air; 16. Civil wars within a civil war; 17. The war in perspective; 18. Costs and consequences: the long dictatorship.