Antony Beevor has argued that Negrín's "active war policy", attacking rather than adopting strong defences and hoping for a wider European conflict or harrying the Nationalist forces, was driven primarily by the PCE's desire for propaganda victories, and, at the Ebro, destroyed the Republican army for no great purpose. The Republicans were unable to accomplish any of their strategic objectives and, according to Beevor, were unwilling to apply the theory of the deep operation to their attacks—meaning their forces spent a long time clearing Nationalist secondary defensive positions, allowing the highly mechanised Nationalist forces to quickly deploy in strong defensive positions.