Hell and Good Company

by Richard Rhodes
Category: "World History - Military"
Pages:239
Year of Publication:2015
Date Added:03/23/2018
Date Read:12/08/2019
Notes:Subtitle: The Spanish Civil War and the World It Made

An overview of the war and the way it led to advances in warfare itself—particularly air bombing—and medical care. There was also quite a bit about Ernest Hemingway and Pable Picasso and their writing and painting about the war.

There wasn't much about the politics or campaigns, but I wasn't looking for much. Basically, after years of suppression by the army generals, the wealthy, and the church, the people of Spain got fed up and voted in a republic. A few years later, the ousted leaders attaced, led by Fascist Francisco Franco. With troops and equipment from Germany and Hitler, and troops from Morocco, the Nationalist mercilessly fought and killed anyone who disagreed with them. The Republican forces, many of whom were Communists, were helped by Russia and by volunteer soldiers from many countries. The Republicans held their own for a couple of years, but when Russia pulled out, and the Republican factions quarreled among themselves, the Nationalists won. There were assassinations of many Republicans right after the war. Franco ruled by oppression until he died in the 1970's.
My Rating: 6

Reviews for Hell and Good Company

Review - Hell and Good Company

Hard war to process. It was basically Fascists against Communists, with plenty of bad to go around. But the Fascists were more brutal and more willing to kill anyone to get their way.

Rhodes spent a lot of time on Hemingway's observance of the war and his affairs without making it clear why I should care. Picasso painted work Guernica, about the carpet bombing of Basque Gernika, and Rhodes found that fascinating too. I'm not qualified to judge whether Picasso had talent, but his work is certainly unappealing and I don't really care who he was sleeping with when he painted it.

Reviewed by Roger on 2019-12-09 19:22:26

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