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Arms for Spain: The Untold Story of the Spanish Civil War. By Gerald Howson. New York: St. Martin's Press, 1999. ISBN 0-312-24177-1. Maps. Tables. Appendixes. Notes. Index. Pp. vii, 354. $25.95.
This important book investigates the sale of arms to the Republicans and the Nationalists during the Spanish Civil War, 1936-39. Ideological partisanship long has colored interpretations of every aspect of this conflict, and of course the sources and amount of military supplies furnished to each side have been the subject of vigorous dispute. Pro-Franco writers have overestimated Russian support to the government, while anti-Franco authors have played down Communist aid. Many historians have assumed that the Republic's ample gold supply allowed it to purchase necessary arms from a variety of suppliers, despite the attempts of the democracies to prevent such sales....