The Battle for Spain was a challenging book to read, Beevor peppered it with a lot of detail about the numerous battles that took place in the Spanish civil war and the personalities involved. However, it was a rewarding book to read as I have read very little on the subject and so I learnt a lot, it was really shadow boxing for WWII with the Nazis and Mussolini's forces backing Franco and the Soviets backing the Communists in the Republican movement. I see parallels between the Spanish and Irish civil wars, they split families and communities apart and the wounds go deep and its a subject rarely spoken about in each country. It also showed how inept the British government were under Neville Chamberlain with such a lame response to the tragic human loss in Spain. It's also a country I am familiar with, haven visited there several times and I will now see it through a slightly different lens.