Paul Preston

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Paul Preston (born 1946) is a British historian, specialized in Spanish history, in particular the Spanish Civil War, which he has studied for more than 30 years. He is currently based at the London School of Economics, but is a frequent visitor to Spain, where his work appears in translation. He also speaks very good Catalan and has been distinguished with the Ramon Llull International Prize in Catalonia (2005), where his support for the return of the famous Salamanca Papers is very much appreciated.

In 1996 he published the book A Concise History of the Spanish Civil War (Fontana Press, 1996), where he describes the final victory of Francisco Franco's troops as "an international war that happened in Spanish fields, that wasn't decided in Spain but in the hands of the great powers."^{[citation needed]} Perhaps the novelty of this book is the idea that "the presence of Italy in Spain wasn't by accident, as one could consider the German troops, but it must be understood as a non-formal declaration of war from Italy to the Republican Government."^{[citation needed]}

He has produced an authoritative biography of Franco (Basic Books, 1994). Preston is quoted as saying that "Franco wasn't a fascist, but something much worse, as he brought the African mentality of repression and coldness, and treated the Spanish the same way as the natives of Morocco."^{[citation needed]} He has been strongly criticised by Spanish pseudo-historian Pío Moa as "simply absurd"^{[citation needed]}. He has also published a biography of King Juan Carlos I (2003). In 2006 he published The Spanish Civil War: Reaction, Revolution and Revenge (Harper Collins). More recently he has published on the subject of foreign correspondents who reported the Spanish Civil War (a surprisingly varied collection including Kim Philby) and Franco's control of his generals.