1934–
America's most prominent historian arguing the Second Republic's radicalization brought on the Spanish Civil War
The very expression 'historical memory' is an oxymoron, a fundamental contradiction in terms. Memory is intrinsically individual, subjective, and very frequently fallacious.
America's leading historian of modern Spain, Payne taught at the University of Wisconsin–Madison for 37 years and shaped the conservative interpretation of the Spanish Civil War through over twenty books on the Second Republic, Franco, and European fascism. His central thesis holds that the collapse of the Second Republic stemmed not from right-wing conspiracy but from the revolutionary radicalization of the Socialist-led left, reading the Civil War as a clash of revolution and counterrevolution. Since the 2000s, critics including Ángel Viñas, Helen Graham, and Paul Preston have charged his later work with excessive benevolence toward Francoism, yet Payne's revisionist framework remains an indispensable pole in Civil War historiography.
Activities and affiliations
Career Timeline
- 1955B.A. in History, Pacific Union College
- 1960Ph.D. in History, Columbia University (advisor Shepard B. Clough)
- 1962–1968Assistant Professor of History, UCLA
- 1968–2005Professor of History, UW–Madison; Hilldale-Jaume Vicens Vives Professor
- 1987Corresponding member, Spanish Royal Academy of History
- 2004Professor Emeritus, UW–Madison
Related historical events
Comparative fascism and the Spanish Civil War
Payne’s scholarship treats modern Spain alongside European fascism, with comparative history providing a framework for defining and applying the concept of fascism to particular movements. A History of Fascism, 1914–1945 is a comparative study of fascist movements in different countries, while Fascism in Spain, 1923–1977 traces Spanish fascism and the changing Falange. The latter examines the Falange’s incorporation as the Franco regime’s state party during the Civil War and its later transformation into the Movimiento Nacional, including the Falangists’ effort to increase their influence in 1939–1942. It also analyzes the regime’s process of “defascistization,” begun after Mussolini’s fall.
In his writing on the Second Republic and the Civil War, Payne examined political polarization, attacks on the Republic from left and right, political violence, and the choices of key actors as factors in the Republic’s breakdown and the context of the war’s outbreak. The Collapse of the Spanish Republic, 1933–1936 draws on contemporary memoirs, speeches, and declarations, and addresses the relationship between the Socialist left and Communism, between the right and fascism, and the role of forces outside Spain. A separate study of the Soviet Union and Communism narrates Soviet strategies, Comintern activity, and the Spanish Communist Party’s role during the Civil War, based on Soviet and Spanish primary sources. These works challenge accounts that treat the conflict simply as a struggle between democracy and fascism, analyzing separately the Republic’s democratic and undemocratic elements and the political character of the Communist Party. This summarizes the approach presented in Payne’s books; its interpretations remain subjects of historiographical debate.