Summary
Kowalsky's study presents a critical reassessment of the role of Josef Stalin and the Soviet Union in the Spanish Civil War. Employing a wide range of declassified Soviet documents, other unpublished materials of Spanish provenance, published memoir accounts, previously unseen cinematic evidence, poster art, and sound recordings, Kowalsky argues that though Stalin's intervention in Spain was enormously ambitious, it was an operational failure of roughly the same scale. The text is accompanied by appendices of images, video clips, and reproductions of archival documents.