This title features previously unpublished material that conveys the chaos, confusion, and realities of the earliest days of the war. It analyzes firsthand accounts of the Spanish Civil War written by American military observers. It concentrates on the military history, not the political history, of the Spanish Civil War. During the Spanish Civil War, U.S. Army officers stationed in Spain wrote highly elaborate reports of their experiences. One of the key observers was Stephen O. Fuqua, who had been a major general in the U.S. Army. His presence was highly unusual for most military observers were captains, majors, and light colonels. Fuqua’s reports contained important observations about Spanish armament and troop movements, and he managed to acquire Nationalist propaganda and information despite being situated entirely within Republican military lines. His reporting experience was considered so valuable that during World War II, Fuqua was tapped to be Time magazine’s military commentator. In this compelling book, editor James W. Cortada brings Fuqua’s and others’ observations to light, creating a volume of such immediacy that the reader feels transported to a time of great historical uncertainty amid the twentieth century’s great ‘dress rehearsal’ for fascism and the conflagration of World War II.