The Spanish Civil War is one of the most studied events in modern European history. Its origins, that is to say the politics of the Second Republic (19311936), have been much debated. The republican period has been much idealized and in particular the myth of Spanish democracy beset by fascism, of which Franco was its leading figure, has been much cultivated. But was this really the case? Recently historians of the Republic have proposed a new and non-ideological perspective on the 1930s. Spains path was at once different yet in many ways similar to that of Europe during the interwar period....