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Francisco Franco

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Francisco Franco

Francisco Franco
Caudillo of Spain
In office
1 October 1938 – 20 November 1975
Preceded by Miguel Cabanellas
as President of the Technical State Junta of the Nationalist side
José Miaja
as President of the Defence Council of the Republican side
Succeeded by Rodríguez de Valcárcel
as President of the Regency
Juan Carlos I
as King of Spain
President of the Government of Spain
In office
30 January 1938 – 8 June 1973
Vice President Francisco Gómez-Jordana
Agustín Muñoz Grandes
Luis Carrero Blanco
Preceded by Francisco Gómez-Jordana
as President of the Technical State Junta of the Nationalist side
José Miaja
as President of the Defence Council of the Republican side
Succeeded by Luis Carrero Blanco
Personal details
Born Francisco Franco Bahamonde
(1892-12-04)4 December 1892
Ferrol, Spain
Died 20 November 1975(1975-11-20) (aged 82)
Madrid, Spain
Resting place Valle de los Caídos, Spain
Nationality Spanish
Political party Falange Española Tradicionalista y de las JONS
Spouse(s) Carmen Polo
Children María del Carmen
Residence El Pardo, Madrid
Alma mater Infantry Academy of Toledo
Religion Roman Catholicism
Military service
Allegiance Kingdom of Spain (1907–1931)
Second Spanish Republic (1931–1936)
Francoist Spain (1936–1975)
Service/branch Spanish Armed Forces
Years of service 1907–1975
Rank Chief of the General Staff
Commands All (Generalissimo)
Battles/wars Rif War (WIA)
Spanish Civil War
Ifni War

Francisco Franco Bahamonde (Spanish pronunciation: ; 4 December 1892 – 20 November 1975) was a Spanish general and the head of state of Spain from 1936/1939 until his death in 1975. Coming from a military family background, he became the youngest general in Spain and one of the youngest generals in Europe in the 1920s.[1]

As a strong conservative, he was shocked when the monarchy was removed and replaced with a republic in 1931. With the 1936 elections, the conservatives lost by a narrow margin and the leftist Popular Front came to power. Looking to overthrow the republic, Franco and other generals staged a partially successful coup, which started the Spanish Civil War. With the death of the other generals, Franco quickly became his faction's only leader.

Franco's ultranationalist faction received military support from several fascist groups, most notably from Nazi Germany and the Kingdom of Italy, while the Republican side was supported by Spanish communists and anarchists. It also received help from the Soviet Union, Mexico, and the International Brigades. Leaving half a million dead, the war was eventually won by Franco in 1939. He established an autocratic dictatorship, which he defined as a totalitarian state.[2] Franco proclaimed himself as both head of state and government under the title El Caudillo (the Chief), a term similar to Il Duce (Italian) and Der Führer (German). During the Francoist regime, only one political party was legal: a merger of the monarchist party and the fascist party that helped him during the war, FET y de las JONS.

Franco led a series of politically-motivated violent acts, including but not limited to concentration camps, forced labor and executions, mostly against political and ideological enemies,[3][4][5][6][7] causing an estimated 200,000 to 400,000 deaths,[8][9] depending on how death in the more than 190 concentration camps is considered. Franco's Spain maintained an official policy of neutrality during World War II, with the exception of the Blue Division. By the 1950s, the nature of his regime changed from an extreme form of dictatorship to a semi-pluralist authoritarian system.[10] During the Cold War Franco appeared as one of the world’s foremost anticommunist figures; consequently his regime was assisted by the United States, and was asked to join the United Nations and come under NATO's protection. By the 1960s Spain saw progressive economic development and timid democratic improvements.[11]

After a 36-year rule, Franco died in 1975. He restored the monarchy before his death, which made King Juan Carlos I his successor; he betrayed Franco and led the Spanish transition to democracy. After a referendum, a new constitution was adopted, which effectively created a democratic regime in Spain.


  • Early life 1
  • Military career 2
    • Rif War and advancement through the ranks 2.1
    • During the Second Spanish Republic 2.2
      • General election of 1936 2.2.1
  • From the Spanish Civil War to World War II 3
    • The first months 3.1
    • Rise to power 3.2
    • Military command 3.3
    • Political command 3.4
    • The end of the Civil War 3.5
    • World War II 3.6
  • Spain under Franco 4
    • Political oppression 4.1
    • Women in Francoist Spain 4.2
    • Spanish colonial empire and decolonisation 4.3
    • Economic policy 4.4
    • Regions 4.5
  • Franco and the United States 5
  • Death and funeral 6
  • Legacy 7
  • Ancestors 8
  • In popular media 9
    • Cinema and television 9.1
    • Music 9.2
    • Literature 9.3
  • See also 10
  • Notes 11
  • References 12
  • Bibliography 13
  • Further reading 14
  • External links 15

Early life

The coat of arms of the family of Franco until 1940[12][13]

Francisco Franco was born at 12:30 p.m. on 4 December 1892 at number 108 Calle Frutos Saavedra in Ferrol, Spain. He was baptised on 17 December at the military church of San Francisco with the baptismal names Francisco Paulino Hermenegildo Teódulo Franco Bahamonde: Francisco for his paternal grandfather, Paulino for his godfather, Hermenegildo for his maternal grandmother and godmother and Teódulo for the saint day of his birth. His father's ancestry was from Andalusia.[note 1] Since relocating to Galicia, his father's family was strongly involved in the Spanish Navy and over the span of two centuries produced naval officers for six uninterrupted generations, right down to Franco's father Nicolás Franco y Salgado-A (22 November 1855 – 22 February 1942). His mother was María del Pilar Bahamonde y Pardo de Andrade (1865 – 28 February 1934) and she was an upper middle-class Roman Catholic. His parents married in 1890. The young Franco spent much of his childhood with his two brothers, Nicolás (Ferrol, 1891–1977), later a naval officer and diplomat who in time was married to María Isabel Pascual del Pobil y Ravello, and Ramón, and his two sisters, María del Pilar (Ferrol, 1894 – Madrid, 1989), later wife of Alonso Jaráiz y Jeréz, and María de la Paz (Ferrol, 1899 – Ferrol, 1903).

Military career

Rif War and advancement through the ranks

Francisco was to follow his father into the Navy, but as a result of the Spanish–American War the country lost much of its navy as well as most of its colonies. Not needing any more officers, the Naval Academy admitted no new entrants from 1906 to 1913. To his father's chagrin, Francisco decided to try the Spanish Army. In 1907, he entered the Infantry Academy in Toledo, graduating in 1910 as a lieutenant. Two years later, he obtained a commission to Morocco. Spanish efforts to occupy their new African protectorate provoked the protracted Rif War (from 1909 to 1927) with native Moroccans. Their tactics resulted in heavy losses among Spanish military officers, but they also provided an opportunity to earn promotion through merit. It was said that officers would receive either la caja o la faja (a coffin or a general's sash). Franco quickly gained a reputation as a good officer. In 1913, Franco transferred into the newly formed regulares: Moroccan colonial troops with Spanish officers, who acted as shock troops. This transfer may have been decided because Franco failed to win the hand of his first love, Sofía Subirán.

In 1916, aged 23 and already a captain, he was shot by enemy machine gun fire. He was badly wounded in the abdomen, specifically the liver, in a skirmish at El Biutz and possibly lost a testicle.[15] The physicians of the battle later concluded that his intestines were spared because he inhaled when he was shot. His survival marked him permanently in the eyes of the native troops as a man of baraka (good luck). He was recommended for Spain's highest honor for gallantry, the coveted Cruz Laureada de San Fernando, but was instead received the Cross of Maria Cristina, First Class. With that he was promoted to Major in the end of February 1917. This made him the youngest major in the Spanish army. From 1917 to 1920, he served in Spain. In 1920, Lieutenant Colonel José Millán Astray, a histrionic but charismatic officer, founded the Spanish Foreign Legion, on similar lines to the French Foreign Legion. Franco became the Legion's second-in-command and returned to Africa. On 24 July 1921, the poorly commanded and overextended Spanish Army suffered a crushing defeat at Annual from Rif tribesmen led by the Abd el-Krim brothers. The Legion and supporting units relieved the Spanish enclave of Melilla after a three-day forced march led by Franco. In 1923, by now a lieutenant colonel, he was made commander of the Legion.

Franco in 1923

That year, he married María del Carmen Polo y Martínez-Valdès. Three years later the couple had a daughter, María del Carmen.[16] Following his honeymoon Franco was summoned to Madrid to be presented to King Alfonso XIII.[17] This and other occasions of royal attention would mark him during the Republic as a monarchical officer. Promoted to colonel, Franco led the first wave of troops ashore at Al Hoceima in 1925. This landing in the heartland of Abd el-Krim's tribe, combined with the French invasion from the south, spelled the beginning of the end for the short-lived Republic of the Rif. Franco's recognition eventually caught up to him and was promoted to Brigadier General on February 3, 1926. This made him the youngest General in Spain, and perhaps the youngest General of Europe. Nonetheless, in 1928 Franco was appointed director of the newly created General Military Academy of Zaragoza, a new college for all Army cadets, replacing the former separate institutions for young men seeking to become officers in infantry, cavalry, artillery, and other branches of the army. When Franco was removed as Director of the Zaragoza Military Academy in 1931, about 95% of Franco's former Zaragoza cadets would come to side with him in the Civil War.

During the Second Spanish Republic

With the fall of the monarchy in 1931, Franco did not take any notable stand. But the closing of the Academy in June by War Minister Manuel Azaña provoked his first clash with the Spanish Republic. Azaña found Franco's farewell speech to the cadets[18] insulting. However Franco did in his speech stress the Republic's need for discipline and respect. For six months Franco was without a post and under surveillance.

Franco was a subscriber to the journal of

Political offices
Preceded by
Manuel Azaña
as President of Spain
Head of the Spanish State
1 October 1936 – 20 November 1975
Succeeded by
Alejandro Rodríguez de Valcárcel
as President of the Regency
Preceded by
Juan Negrín
Prime Minister of Spain
30 January 1938 – 8 June 1973
Succeeded by
Luis Carrero Blanco
  • National Foundation Francisco Franco.

External links

Further reading


  1. ^ Payne (2000), p. 67
  2. ^ El “ideal supremo” totalitario de Franco que bendicen con dinero público los académicos de la Historia. 26 May 2012. (in Spanish)
  3. ^ Sinova, J. (2006) La censura de prensa durante el franquismo [The Media Censorship During Franco Regime]. Random House Mondadori. ISBN 84-8346-134-X.
  4. ^
  5. ^ Rodrigo, J. (2005) Cautivos: Campos de concentración en la España franquista, 1936–1947, Editorial Crítica. ISBN 8484326322
  6. ^ Gastón Aguas, J. M. & Mendiola Gonzalo, F. (eds.) Los trabajos forzados en la dictadura franquista: Bortxazko lanak diktadura frankistan. ISBN 978-84-611-8354-8
  7. ^ Duva, J. (9 November 1998) "Octavio Alberola, jefe de los libertarios ajusticiados en 1963, regresa a España para defender su inocencia". Diario El País
  8. ^ Richards, Michael (1998) A Time of Silence: Civil War and the Culture of Repression in Franco's Spain, 1936–1945, Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0521594014. p. 11.
  9. ^ Jackson, Gabriel (2005) La república española y la guerra civil RBA, Barcelona. ISBN 8474230063. p. 466.
  10. ^ Stanley G. Payne, The Franco Regime, 1936–1975, pp.625-628
  11. ^ "Francisco Franco Biography"
  12. ^ Vidal y de Barnola, Luis Alfonso. Ortegal genealogy. Retrieved 13 August 2012. (Galician)
  13. ^ Image of the family Franco Bahamonde coat of arms with a helmet and the common shape of Spanish Heraldry. Some mistakes in some quarters cover of Luis Suárez (2009). Franco. Ed. Ariel. ISBN 978-8434467811. Retrieved 13 August 2012.
  14. ^ a b Payne (2000), p. 68
  15. ^
  16. ^ Carmen Franco y Polo, 1st Duquesa de Franco. Retrieved 8 August 2006.
  17. ^ Preston, pp. 42, 62
  18. ^
  19. ^ Preston, Paul (2010) "The Theorists of Extermination", essay in Unearthing Franco's Legacy, pp. 42, 45. University of Notre Dame Press, ISBN 0-268-03268-8
  20. ^ Preston, p. 103
  21. ^ Preston, Paul (2010) "The Theorists of Extermination", essay in Unearthing Franco's Legacy, p. 61. University of Notre Dame Press, ISBN 0-268-03268-8
  22. ^ Thomas, p. 132
  23. ^ Sebastian Balfour, Deadly Embrace: Morocco and the Road to the Spanish Civil War, OUP 2002 252–254
  24. ^ "Riots Sweep Spain on Left's Victory; Jails Are Stormed", The New York Times, 18 February 1936.
  25. ^ Muggeridge, Malcolm, editor, Ciano's Diplomatic Papers, Odhams, London, 1948: 17–18
  26. ^ Preston, p. 120
  27. ^
  28. ^
  29. ^
  30. ^
  31. ^
  32. ^ Santos, Juliá (1999). Víctimas de la guerra civil, Madrid, ISBN 84-8460-333-4
  33. ^ a b
  34. ^
  35. ^ Thomas, p. 258
  36. ^ Thomas, p. 282: "to pacify, rather than to dignify, him."
  37. ^ Thomas, p. 282
  38. ^ Thomas, p. 421
  39. ^ Thomas, pp. 423–424
  40. ^ Thomas, p. 356
  41. ^ Thomas, pp. 420–422.
  42. ^ a b Thomas, p. 424.
  43. ^ Thomas, pp. 689–690.
  44. ^ Jackson, Gabriel (1967) The Spanish Republic and the civil war 1931–39,
  45. ^ Payne (1987), pp. 627, 628
  46. ^ Payne (1987), p. 57
  47. ^ Payne (1987), p. 172
  48. ^ Payne (1987), p. 234
  49. ^
  50. ^
  51. ^ Recent searches conducted with parallel excavations of mass graves in Spain (in particular by the Association for the Recovery of Historical Memory, ARMH) estimate that the total of people executed after the war may arrive at a number between 15,000 to 35,000. See for example Fosas Comunes – Los desaparecidos de Franco. La Guerra Civil no ha terminado, El Mundo, 7 July 2002 (Spanish)
  52. ^ Jackson, Gabriel. The Spanish Republic and the Civil War, 1931–1939. Princenton University Press. 1967. Princenton. p.539
  54. ^
  55. ^
  56. ^
  58. ^
  59. ^ a b c The Goebbels Diaries, ed. Louis P. Lochner (London: Hamish Hamilton, 1948), 25 October 1940, 153.
  60. ^ Reagan, Geoffrey (1992) Military Anecdotes. Guinness Publishing. ISBN 0-85112-519-0. p. 51
  61. ^
  62. ^
  63. ^
  64. ^
  65. ^ a b
  66. ^ Aderet, Ofer. "World War II document reveals: General Franco handed Nazis list of Spanish Jews." Haaretz News Agency. 22 June 2010
  67. ^
  68. ^
  69. ^ a b Laqueur, Walter (1996) Fascism: Past, Present, Future. Oxford University Press. ISBN 0195092457. p. 13
  70. ^ De Meneses, Filipe Ribeiro (2001) Franco and the Spanish Civil War. Routledge. ISBN 0415239257. p. 87
  71. ^ Gilmour, David (1985) The Transformation of Spain: From Franco to the Constitutional Monarchy. Quartet Books. p. 7
  72. ^ a b Payne, Stanley (1999) Fascism in Spain, 1923–1977. University of Wisconsin Press. ISBN 0299165647. p. 476
  73. ^ Payne, Stanley (1999) Fascism in Spain, 1923–1977. Univ. of Wisconsin Press. ISBN 0299165647. pp. 347, 476
  74. ^ Roman, 27 Mar (27 October 2007). "Spain frets over future of flamenco." Associated Press.
  75. ^
  76. ^
  77. ^ Tremlett, Giles (2006). Ghosts of Spain. Faber and Faber Ltd. London. ISBN 0802716741. p. 211.
  78. ^
  79. ^ Rubottom, R. Richard and Murphy, J. Carter (1984) Spain and the United States: Since World War II. Praeger.
  80. ^
  81. ^
  82. ^ Churchill, Winston. "The gathering storm", Houghton Mifflin, 1948, p. 221
  83. ^ Europe diary: Franco and Finland, BBC News, 6 July 2006
  84. ^ Santander retira la estatua de Franco, El País, 18 December 2008
  85. ^
  87. ^ Von Martyna Czarnowska, Ein halbes Jahr VorsprungAlmunia, Joaquin: EU-Kommission (4): , Weiner Zeitung, 17 February 2005 (article in German language). Retrieved 26 August 2006.
  88. ^ a b c d Luis Gomez and Mabel Galaz, La cosecha del dictador, El País, 9 September 2007 (Spanish)
  89. ^ Spain OKs Reparations to Civil War Victims, Associated Press, 28 July 2006
  90. ^ Politics As Usual? The Trials and Tribulations of The Law of Historical Memory in Spain, Georgina Blakeley (The Open University), 7 September 2008
  91. ^ Proyecto de Ley por la que se reconocen y amplían derechos y se establecen medidas en favor de quienes padecieron persecución o violencia durante la Guerra Civil y la Dictadura (Spanish)
  92. ^ Franco's Prisons. The Museum maintains a permanent online version of the exhibition entitled Les Presons de Franco
  93. ^ El general franquisimo de Vazquez de Sola


  1. ^ After the Spanish Government allowed Sephardi and other Jews to seek refuge via Spain from National Socialist areas, an urban legend appeared as a form of derision claiming that the Francos were of Sephardi ancestry. However Payne explains; "Persistent rumours about Franco's alleged Jewish ancestry have no clear foundation, and Harry S. May, Francisco Franco: The Jewish Connection is somewhat fanciful".[14] Furthermore, "a significant portion of the Spanish and Portuguese populations have some remote Jewish ancestry; if this were true of Franco he would simply be in the position of millions of other Spaniards."[14]


See also


  • French singer-songwriter and anarchist Léo Ferré wrote "Franco la muerte", a song he recorded for his 1964 album Ferré 64. In this highly confrontational song, he directly shouts at the dictator and lavishes him with contempt. Ferré refused to sing in Spain until Franco was dead.
  • Franco is referenced in Andrew Lloyd Webber's musical Evita, in the song "Rainbow Tour".


Cinema and television

In popular media


The accumulated wealth of Franco's family (including much real estate inherited from Franco, such as the Pazo de Meirás, the Canto del Pico in Torrelodones and the Cornide Palace in A Coruña[88]), and its murky provenance, have also become matters of public discussion. Estimates of the family's wealth have ranged from 350 million to 600 million euros,[88] well above what could possibly be accumulated from investing his official income. When Franco was ill, the francoist Cortes voted a large public pension for his wife Carmen Polo, which the later democratic governments kept paying. At the time of her death in 1988, Carmen Polo was receiving more than 12.5 million pesetas (four million more than Felipe González, then head of the government).[88]

Official endeavors to preserve the historical memory of the Franco regime include exhibitions like the one the Museu d'Història de Catalunya (Catalonian Museum of History) organized around the prison experience.[92]

Recently the Association for the Recovery of Historical Memory (ARHM) initiated a systematic search for mass graves of people executed during Franco's regime, which has been supported since the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party`s (PSOE) victory during the 2004 elections by José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero's government. A Ley de la memoria histórica de España (Law on the Historical Memory of Spain) was approved on 28 July 2006 by the Council of Ministers,[89] but it took until 31 October 2007 for the Congress of Deputies to approve an amended version as "The Bill to recognise and extend rights and to establish measures in favour of those who suffered persecution or violence during the Civil War and the Dictatorship" (in common parlance still known as Law of Historical Memory).[90] The Senate approved the bill on 10 December 2007.[91] Among other things, the law is supposed to enforce an official recognition of the crimes committed against civilians during the Francoist rule and organize under state supervision the search for mass graves.

Sign in Santa Cruz de Tenerife for a street bearing Franco's name

In Spain, a commission to repair the dignity and restore the memory of the victims of Francoism (Comisión para reparar la dignidad y restituir la memoria de las víctimas del franquismo) was approved in the summer of 2004, and is directed by the socialist vice-president María Teresa Fernández de la Vega.[86]

In March 2006, the Permanent Commission of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe unanimously adopted a resolution "firmly" condemning the "multiple and serious violations" of human rights committed in Spain under the Francoist regime from 1939 to 1975.[86][87] The resolution was at the initiative of Leo Brincat and of the historian Luis María de Puig, and was the first international official condemnation of the repression enacted by Franco's regime.[86] The resolution also urged public access to be given to historians (professional and amateurs) to the various archives of the Francoist regime, including those of the private Fundación Francisco Franco which, as well as other Francoist archives, remain as of 2006 inaccessible to the public.[86] The Fundación Francisco Franco received various archives from the El Pardo Palace, and is alleged to have sold some of them to private individuals.[88] Furthermore it urged the Spanish authorities to set up an underground exhibition in the Valle de los Caidos monument to explain the "terrible" conditions in which it was built.[86] Finally, it proposed the construction of monuments to commemorate Franco's victims in Madrid and other important cities.[86]

A statue of Franco in Santander which was removed in 2008

In 2006 the BBC reported that Maciej Giertych, an MEP of the clerical-nationalist League of Polish Families, had expressed admiration for Franco, stating that he "guaranteed the maintenance of traditional values in Europe".[83] Many Spaniards, particularly those who suffered under Franco's rule, have sought to remove official recognition of his regime. Most government buildings and streets that were named after him during his long rule reverted to their original names. Owing to Franco's human rights record, the Spanish government in 2007 banned all official public references to the Franco regime and removed any statues, street names and memorials associated with the regime, with reportedly the last statue in Santander being removed in 2008.[84] Churches that retain plaques commemorating Franco and the victims of his Republican opponents may lose state aid.[85] Since 1978 the national anthem of Spain, the Marcha Real, has not been accompanied by the lyrics introduced by Franco. Recent attempts to give the national anthem new lyrics have failed due to lack of consensus.

The length of his rule, the suppression of opposition, and the effective propaganda sustained through the years have made a detached evaluation almost impossible. Franco had won the hearts of many and was then able to win the Civil War; Churchill said that if he was a Spaniard living in Spain he would have supported Franco.[82] For 40 years, Spaniards, and particularly children at school were told that Divine Providence had sent him to save Spain from chaos and poverty.

In Spain and abroad, the legacy of Franco remains controversial. The Oxford Dictionary uses Franco's regime as an example of fascism.[81]



As his final years progressed, tension within the various factions of the Movimiento would consume Spanish political life, as varying groups jockeyed for position to control the country's future. The death on 20 December 1973 of prime minister Luis Carrero Blanco in a spectacular bombing by ETA eventually gave an edge to the liberalizing faction. On 19 July 1974 the aged Franco fell ill from various health problems, and Juan Carlos took over as Acting Head of State. Franco soon recovered, and on 2 September he resumed his duties as Head of State. One year later he fell ill once again from more health problems including a long battle with Parkinson's disease. On 30 October 1975, he fell into a coma and was put on life support. Franco's family agreed to disconnect the life-support machines, and he died just after midnight on 20 November 1975, at the age of 82—just two weeks before his 83rd birthday—the same date as the death of José Antonio Primo de Rivera, founder of the Falange. However the historian Ricardo de la Cierva claims to have been told, around 6 pm on 19 November, that Franco had already died. After Franco's death, and according to his own wishes, he was buried at Valle de los Caídos, a colossal memorial built by the forced labour of political prisoners to honour the Francoist casualties of the Spanish Civil War. Franco's funeral was attended by Prince Rainier III of Monaco, the Chilean dictator General Augusto Pinochet, who revered Franco and modelled his leadership style in Chile in the way Franco led Spain, Bolivia's dictator General Hugo Banzer, Jordan's King Hussein and US Vice President Nelson Rockefeller.[80]

Franco lying in repose in the Royal Palace of Madrid

In 1969 Franco designated Prince Juan Carlos de Borbón, who had been educated by him in Spain, with the new title of Prince of Spain, as his heir-apparent. This designation came as a surprise for the Carlist pretender to the throne, as well as for Juan Carlos' father, Don Juan, the Count of Barcelona, who had a superior claim to the throne, but was feared by Franco to be too liberal. By 1973 Franco had surrendered the function of prime minister (Presidente del Gobierno), remaining only as head of state and commander in chief of the military.

Carlos Arias Navarro and Franco in 1975

Death and funeral

President Richard Nixon toasted Franco, and, after Franco's death, stated: "General Franco was a loyal friend and ally of the United States." American military facilities in Spain built during this era included Naval Station Rota, Morón Air Base, and Torrejón Air Base.[79]

This historic alliance began with the signing of the Pact of Madrid in 1953, which guaranteed American support for Franco's regime. Spain was admitted to the United Nations in 1955 and Eisenhower visited Spain.[78]

At the end of World War II, Spain's fascist dealings made it an international pariah and kept the country out of the United Nations, the Marshall Plan and NATO; in the 1950s, however, Spain's strategic location and hostility towards the Soviet Union led the U.S. to reconsider its position towards Spain and entered into a trade and military alliance as part of its policy of containment.

Franco and the United States

Franco abolished the official statute and recognition of the Basque, Galician, and Catalan languages that the Second Spanish Republic had granted for the first time in the history of Spain. He returned to Castilian as the only official language of the State and education. The Franco era corresponded with the popularisation of the compulsory national educational system and the development of modern mass media, both controlled by the State and in the Castilian language, and heavily reduced the number of speakers of Basque, Catalan and Galician, as happened during the second half of the 20th century with other European minority languages which were not officially protected, such as Scottish Gaelic or French Breton. By the 1970s the majority of the population in urban areas could not speak the minority language or, as in some Catalan towns, their social use had been abandoned, leaving them limited to family use. Because of the already fragile situation of the Basque language before the Civil War, it became the most endangered language in Spain. By the 1970s Basque lacked a sufficient number of new speakers to assure its future, and moved closer to extinction. It is now recognised that the Basque language would have disappeared in a few more decades if the same linguistic policies had been preserved. This was the main reason that drove the Francoist provincial government of Álava to create a network of Basque medium schools (Ikastola) in 1973 which were State-financed.

Among Franco's greatest area of support during the civil war was Navarre, the northern half of which was Basque-speaking. Navarre remained a separate region from the Basque Country and Franco also decided to preserve its centuries-old fiscal privileges and autonomy, the so-called Fueros of Navarre. The regional privileges for Álava and Navarre were kept because Álava and Navarre had participated in the initial coup d'état against the Republican government on 18 July 1936.

The Basque Country and Catalonia were among the regions that offered the strongest resistance to Franco in the Civil War. Franco dissolved the autonomy granted by the Second Spanish Republic to these two regions and to Galicia. Franco abolished the centuries-old fiscal privileges and autonomy (the fueros) in two of the three Basque provinces: Guipuzcoa and Biscay, but kept them for Álava which had sided with the nationalists in the civil war.

Franco was reluctant to enact any form of administrative and legislative decentralisation and kept a fully centralized government with a similar administrative structure to that established by the House of Bourbon and General Miguel Primo de Rivera y Orbaneja. Such structures were both based on the model of the French centralised State. The main drawback of this kind of management is that government attention and initiatives were irregular, and often depended more on the goodwill of regional Government representatives than on regional needs. Thus, inequalities in schooling, health care or transport facilities among regions were patent: classically affluent regions like Madrid, Catalonia, or the Basque Country fared much better than Extremadura, Galicia or Andalusia. Some regions, like Extremadura or La Mancha did not have a university.


During the 1960s, the wealthy classes of Francoist Spain experienced further increases in wealth, particularly those who remained politically faithful, while a burgeoning middle class became visible as the "economic miracle" progressed. International firms established factories in Spain where salaries were low, company taxes very low, strikes forbidden and workers' health or state protections almost unheard of. State-owned firms like the car manufacturer SEAT, truck builder Pegaso and oil refiner INH, massively expanded production. Furthermore, Spain was virtually a new mass market. Spain became the second-fastest growing economy in the world between 1959 and 1973, just behind Japan. By the time of Franco's death in 1975, Spain still lagged behind most of Western Europe but the gap between its per capita GDP and that of the leading Western European countries had narrowed greatly, and the country had developed a large industrialized economy.

Concurrent with the absence of social reforms, and the economic power shift, a tide of mass emigration commenced to other European countries, and to a lesser extent, to South America. Emigration helped the regime in two ways. The country got rid of populations it would not have been able to keep in employment, and the emigrants supplied the country with much needed monetary remittances.

When Franco replaced his ideological ministers with the apolitical technocrats, the regime implemented several development policies that included deep economic reforms. After a recession, growth took off from 1959, creating an economic boom that lasted until 1974, and became known as the "Spanish Miracle".

On the brink of bankruptcy, a combination of pressure from the United States, the IMF and, most importantly, the technocrats from Opus Dei, managed to convince the regime to adopt a freer market economy. Many of the old guard in charge of the economy were replaced by "technocrata", despite some initial opposition from Franco. From the mid-1950s there was modest acceleration in economic activity after some minor reforms and a relaxation of controls. But the growth proved too much for the economy, with shortages and inflation breaking out towards the end of the 1950s.

The Civil War had ravaged the Spanish economy. Infrastructure had been damaged, workers killed, and daily business severely hampered. For more than a decade after Franco's victory, the devastated economy recovered very slowly. Franco initially pursued a policy of autarky, cutting off almost all international trade. The policy had devastating effects, and the economy stagnated. Only black marketeers could enjoy an evident affluence.

1963 Spanish peseta coin with an image of Franco and lettering reading: Francisco Franco, Leader of Spain, by the grace of God

Economic policy

In 1968, under United Nations pressure, Franco granted Spain's colony of Equatorial Guinea its independence, and the next year ceded the exclave of Ifni to Morocco. Under Franco, Spain also pursued a campaign to force a negotiation on the British overseas territory of Gibraltar, and closed its border with that territory in 1969. The border would not be fully reopened until 1985.

Spain attempted to retain control of its colonial empire throughout Franco's rule. During the Green March, did Morocco take control of all of the former Spanish territories in the Sahara.

Spanish colonial empire and decolonisation

Francoism professed a devotion to the traditional role of a woman in society, that is: loving child to her parents and brothers, faithful to her husband, residing with her family. Official propaganda confined the role of women to family care and motherhood. Immediately after the war most progressive laws passed by the Republic aimed at equality between the sexes were nullified. Women could not become judges, or testify in a trial. They could not become university professors. Their affairs and economy had to be managed by fathers and husbands. Even in the 1970s a woman fleeing from an abusive husband could be arrested and imprisoned for "abandoning the home" (abandono del hogar). Until the 1970s a woman could not have a bank account without a co-sign by her father or husband.[77] In the 1960s and 1970s these restrictions were somewhat relaxed, but it was not until after Franco's death that a more egalitarian view of the sexes was adopted.

Franco and his wife, Carmen Polo in 1968.

Women in Francoist Spain

The enforcement by public authorities of traditional Catholic values was a stated intent of the regime, mainly by using a law (the Ley de Vagos y Maleantes, Vagrancy Act) enacted by Azaña.[75] The remaining nomads of Spain (Gitanos and Mercheros like El Lute) were especially affected. Through this law, homosexuality, pedophilia and prostitution were in 1954 made criminal offenses,[76] although its application was seldom consistent.

Student revolts at universities in the late 1960s and early 1970s were violently repressed by the heavily armed Policía Armada (Armed Police). Plainclothes secret police worked inside Spanish universities. In May 1972, an American student was arrested by university secret police in Barcelona and charged and imprisoned under martial law for the crime of wearing an old Spanish Army jacket.

Most country towns and rural areas were patrolled by pairs of Guardia Civil, a military police for civilians, which functioned as Franco's chief means of social control. Larger cities and capitals were mostly under the Policia Armada, or grises ("greys", due to the color of its uniform) as they were called.

On the other hand the Catholic Church was upheld as the established church of the Spanish State, and regained many of the traditional privileges it had lost under the Republic. Civil servants had to be Catholic, and some official jobs even required a "good behavior" statement by a priest. Civil marriages which had taken place under Republican Spain were declared null and void unless confirmed by the Catholic Church. Divorce was forbidden, and also contraceptives and abortion.

Franco also used language politics in an attempt to establish national homogeneity. He promoted the use of Castilian Spanish and suppressed other languages such as Catalan, Galician, and Basque. The legal usage of languages other than Castilian was forbidden. All government, notarial, legal and commercial documents were to be drawn up exclusively in Castilian and any written in other languages were deemed null and void. The usage of any other language was forbidden in schools, in advertising, and on road and shop signs. For unofficial use, citizens continued to speak these languages. This was the situation throughout the 1940s and to a lesser extent during the 1950s, but after 1960 the non-Castilian Spanish languages were freely spoken and written, and reached bookshops and stages, although they never received official status.

Franco's Spanish nationalism promoted a unitary national identity by repressing Spain's cultural diversity. Bullfighting and flamenco[74] were promoted as national traditions while those traditions not considered "Spanish" were suppressed. Franco's view of Spanish tradition was somewhat artificial and arbitrary: while some regional traditions were suppressed, Flamenco, an Andalusian tradition, was considered part of a larger, national identity. All cultural activities were subject to censorship, and many, such as the Sardana, the national dance of Catalunya, were plainly forbidden (often in an erratic manner). This cultural policy relaxed with time, most notably in the late 1960s and early 1970s.

By the start of the 1950s Franco's state had become less violent, but during his entire rule, non-government trade unions and all political opponents across the liberal democrats and Catalan or Basque separatists, were either suppressed or tightly controlled by all means, up to and including violent police repression. The Confederación Nacional del Trabajo (CNT) and the Unión General de Trabajadores (UGT) trade unions were outlawed, and replaced in 1940 by the corporatist Sindicato Vertical. The Spanish Socialist Workers' Party and the Esquerra Republicana de Catalunya (ERC) were banned in 1939, while the Communist Party of Spain (PCE) went underground. The Basque Nationalist Party (PNV) went into exile, and in 1959 the ETA armed group was created to wage a low-intensity war against Franco.

The first decade of Franco's rule following the end of the Civil War in 1939 saw continued oppression and the killing of an undetermined number of political opponents. Estimation is difficult and controversial, but the number of people killed probably lies somewhere between 15,000 and 50,000.

* Personal Standard Franco as Head of State.
* Coat of arms of Franco as Head of State.
* The Victor, another emblem used by Franco.

Political oppression

In 1952 a syndicate from Dallas, Texas, including Jack Crichton, Everette Lee DeGolyer, and Clint Murchison sought drilling rights to petroleum in Spain. The operation was handled by Delta Drilling Company.

With the end of World War II, Spain suffered from the economic consequences of its isolation from the international community. This situation ended in part when, in the light of Cold War tensions and of Spain's strategic location, the United States entered into a trade and military alliance with Franco. This historic alliance commenced with United States President Eisenhower's visit in 1953 which resulted in the Pact of Madrid. Spain was then admitted to the UN in 1955.

The aftermath of the Civil War was socially bleak: many of those who had supported the Republic fled into exile. Spain lost thousands of doctors, nurses, teachers, lawyers, judges, professors, businessmen, artists, etc. Many of those who had to stay lost their jobs or lost their rank. Sometimes those jobs were given to unskilled and even untrained personnel. This deprived the country of many of its brightest minds, and also of a very capable workforce. However, this was done to keep Spain's citizens consistent with the ideals sought by the Nationalists and Franco.

Franco and US President Eisenhower in Madrid, December 1959

Although Franco and Spain under his rule adopted some trappings of fascism, he, and Spain under his rule, are generally not considered to be fascist; among the distinctions, fascism entails a revolutionary aim to transform society, where Franco and Franco's Spain did not seek to do so, and, to the contrary, although authoritarian, were conservative and traditional.[69][70][71][72][73] Stanley Payne notes: "scarcely any of the serious historians and analysts of Franco consider the generalissimo to be a core fascist".[69][72] The few consistent points in Franco's long rule were above all authoritarianism, nationalism, Catholicism, anti-Freemasonry, and anti-Communism.

Franco initially sought support from various groups. His administration marginalized fascist ideologues in favor of technocrats, many of whom were linked with Opus Dei, who promoted economic modernization.[68]

In 1947 Franco proclaimed Spain a monarchy, but did not designate a monarch. This gesture was largely done to appease the monarchists in the Movimiento Nacional (Carlists and Alfonsists). Although a self-proclaimed monarchist himself, Franco did not feel it was time to have a king to rule the country yet, let alone proclaim himself king. As such he left the throne vacant, proclaiming himself as a de facto regent for life. At the same time Franco appropriated many of the privileges of a king. He wore the uniform of a Captain General (a rank traditionally reserved for the King) and resided in the El Pardo Palace. In addition he began walking under a canopy, and his portrait appeared on most Spanish coins and postage stamps. He also added "by the grace of God", a phrase usually part of the styles of monarchs, to his style.

Franco was recognized as the Spanish head of state by Britain and France in February 1939. Already proclaimed Generalísimo of the Nationalists and Jefe del Estado (Head of State) in October 1936,[42] he thereafter assumed the official title of "Su Excelencia el Jefe de Estado" ("His Excellency the Head of State"). However, he was also referred to in state and official documents as "Caudillo de España" ("the Leader of Spain"), and sometimes called "el Caudillo de la Última Cruzada y de la Hispanidad" ("the Leader of the Last Crusade and of the Hispanic heritage") and "el Caudillo de la Guerra de Liberación contra el Comunismo y sus Cómplices" ("the Leader of the War of Liberation Against Communism and Its Accomplices").

Franco giving a speech in Eibar in 1949

Spain under Franco

On 14 June 1940 Spanish forces in Morocco occupied Tangier (a city under the rule of the League of Nations) and did not leave it until the war's end in 1945.

According to the recent discovery of a World War II document, Franco ordered his provincial governors to compile a list of Jews while he negotiated an alliance with the Axis powers.[65] Franco supplied Reichsführer-SS Heinrich Himmler with a list of 6,000 Jews in Spain, for the Nazis' "Final Solution".[65] Despite the creation of the list, there is no evidence of any Jew seeking refuge from Germany being sent back to Germany. That the list of Spanish Jews was produced may have not reflected Franco's personal beliefs about Jewry. Although Franco made occasional negative references to Jews, he had Jewish friends in Morocco and even publicly stopped an outbreak of discriminations against Jews in Morocco. When Franco became dictator, no Jewish concentration camps were built on Spanish territory nor did he voluntarily hand Jews over to Germany.[66] Spanish Jews in the army served Franco with the same conditions as anyone else. The Spanish government never enacted any regulation that restricted or discriminated Jews. Spain ended up helping more Jews than any other neutral nation during WW2. Furthermore, Spanish diplomats extended their diplomatic protection over Jews in Hungary, Czechoslovakia and the Balkans.[67]

Franco was initially disliked by Cuban President Fulgencio Batista, who, during World War II, had suggested a joint U.S.-Latin American assault on Spain in order to overthrow Franco's regime.[64]

Yet, after the Fall of France in June 1940, Spain did adopt a pro-Axis non-belligerency stance (for example, he offered Spanish naval facilities to German ships and U-boats) until returning to complete neutrality in 1943 when the tide of the war had turned decisively against Germany and its allies. In 1940 Franco also considered blocking allied access to the Mediterranean Sea by invading British-controlled Gibraltar,[59] but he abandoned the idea after learning that the plan would have likely failed and it would have given the British the grounds to declare war on Spain and thus give Great Britain and its allies an excellent opportunity to take both the Canary Islands and Spanish Morocco, as well as possibly invade mainland Spain itself.[59][63] Some volunteer Spanish troops (the División Azul, or "Blue Division")—not given official state sanction by Franco—went to fight on the Eastern Front under German command from 1941 to 1943. Some historians have argued that not all of the Blue Division were true volunteers and that Franco expended relatively small but significant resources to aid the Axis powers' battle against the Soviet Union.

In September 1939 World War II broke out in Europe, and on 23 October 1940 Hitler and Franco met in Hendaye in France to discuss the possibility of Spain's entry on the side of the Axis. However, Franco's demands, which included food, military equipment, and Spanish control of Gibraltar and French North Africa proved too much for Hitler, and no agreement was reached. (An oft-cited remark attributed to Hitler is that the German leader would rather have some teeth extracted than to have to deal further with Franco.)[59][60] Although Franco's tactics had received important support from Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini during the Spanish civil war, Franco remained emphatically neutral in the Second World War, but nonetheless offered various kinds of support to Italy and Germany. He allowed Spanish soldiers to volunteer to fight in the German Army against the USSR (the Blue Division), but forbade Spaniards to fight in the West against the democracies. Franco's common ground with Hitler was particularly weakened by Hitler's propagation of Nazi mysticism and his attempts to manipulate Christianity, which went against Franco's fervent commitment to defending Christianity and Catholicism.[61] Contributing to the disagreement was an ongoing dispute over German mining rights in Spain. Some historians argue that Franco made demands he knew Hitler would not accede to in order to stay out of the war. (German resistance leader Wilhelm Canaris had secretly briefed him on which demands would be found excessive.[62]) Other historians argue that Franco, as the leader of a destroyed country in chaos following a brutal three-year civil war, simply had nothing to offer the Germans and their military.

Front row in order from left to right: Karl Wolff, Heinrich Himmler, Franco and Spain's Foreign Minister Serrano Súñer in Madrid, October 1940

World War II

After the proclamation by Marshal Philippe Pétain of the Vichy France regime, the refugees became political prisoners, and the French police attempted to round up those who had been liberated from the camp. Along with other "undesirables", they were sent to the Drancy internment camp before being deported to Nazi Germany. 5,000 Spaniards thus died in Mauthausen concentration camp.[57] The Chilean poet Pablo Neruda, who had been named by the Chilean President Pedro Aguirre Cerda special consul for immigration in Paris, was given responsibility for what he called "the noblest mission I have ever undertaken": shipping more than 2,000 Spanish refugees, who had been housed by the French in squalid camps, to Chile on an old cargo ship, the Winnipeg.[58]

The end of the war led to hundreds of thousands of exiles, mostly to France (but also Mexico, Chile, Cuba, the USA and so on.).[55] On the other side of the Pyrenees, refugees were confined in internment camps of the French Third Republic, such as Camp Gurs or Camp Vernet, where 12,000 Republicans were housed in squalid conditions (mostly soldiers from the Durruti Division[56]). The 17,000 refugees housed in Gurs were divided into four categories (Brigadists, pilots, Gudaris and ordinary 'Spaniards'). The Gudaris (Basques) and the pilots easily found local backers and jobs, and were allowed to quit the camp, but the farmers and ordinary people, who could not find relations in France, were encouraged by the Third Republic, in agreement with the Francoist government, to return to Spain. The great majority did so and were turned over to the Francoist authorities in Irún. From there they were transferred to the Miranda de Ebro camp for "purification" according to the Law of Political Responsibilities.


In his recent, updated history of the Spanish Civil War, Antony Beevor "reckons Franco's ensuing 'white terror' claimed 200,000 lives. The 'red terror' had already killed 38,000."[53] Julius Ruiz concludes that "although the figures remain disputed, a minimum of 37,843 executions were carried out in the Republican zone with a maximum of 150,000 executions (including 50,000 after the war) in Nationalist Spain."[54]

Although leftists suffered a high death toll, the Spanish intelligentsia and atheists were also targeted for liquidation, as well as military and government figures who had remained loyal to the Madrid government during the civil war.

At least 70,000 people were executed during the civil war.[33][49][50] Franco's victory was followed by thousands of summary executions (from 15,000 to 25,000 people[51]) and imprisonments, while many were put to forced labour, building railways, drying out swamps, digging canals (La Corchuela, the Canal of the Bajo Guadalquivir), construction of the Valle de los Caídos monument, etc. The 1940 shooting of the president of the Catalan government, Lluís Companys, was one of the most notable cases of this early suppression of opponents and dissenters. According to Gabriel Jackson, the number of victims of the "White Terror" (executions and hunger or illness in prisons) only between 1939 and 1943 was 200,000.[52]

Thereafter only Madrid (see History of Madrid) and a few other areas remained under control of the government forces. On 27 February Chamberlain and Daladier's governments recognized the Franco regime, before the official end of the war. The PCE (the Spanish Communist Party) attempted a mutiny in Madrid with the aim of re-establishing Negrín's leadership, but José Miaja retained control. Finally, on 28 March 1939, with the help of pro-Franco forces inside the city (the "fifth column" General Mola had mentioned in propaganda broadcasts in 1936), Madrid fell to the Nationalists. The next day, Valencia, which had held out under the guns of the Nationalists for close to two years, also surrendered. Victory was proclaimed on 1 April 1939, when the last of the Republican forces surrendered. On the same day, Franco placed his sword upon the altar of a church and in a vow, promised that he would never again take up his sword unless Spain itself was threatened with invasion.


The end of the Civil War

This new political formation appeased the pro-Nazi Falangists while tempering them with the anti-German Carlists. Franco's brother-in-law Ramón Serrano Súñer, who was his main political advisor, was able to turn the various parties under Franco against each other to absorb a series of political confrontations against Franco himself. Franco expelled the original leading members of both the Carlists (Manuel Fal Condé) and the Falangists (Manuel Hedilla) to secure his political future. Franco also appeased the Carlists by exploiting the Republicans' anti-clericalism in his propaganda, in particular concerning the "Martyrs of the war". While the loyalist forces presented the war as a struggle to defend the Republic against Fascism, Franco depicted himself as the defender of "Catholic Spain" against "atheist Communism."

From 1937 to 1948 the Franco regime was doctrinally at least a semi-fascist state, the categorical fascism of the FET (Falange Española Tradicionalista) as state party being mitigated above all by the confessional nature of the regime—creating the strange hybrid known to some as clerical fascism and to Amando de Miguel as "fascismo frailuno" (friar fascism).[45] On 19 April 1937 Franco managed to fuse the ideologically incompatible national-syndicalist Falange ("phalanx", a fascist Spanish political party founded by José Antonio Primo de Rivera) and the Carlist monarchist parties under a single-party under his rule, dubbed Falange Española Tradicionalista y de las Juntas de Ofensiva Nacional-Sindicalista (FET y de las JONS), which became the only legal party in 1939. Unlike some other fascist movements, the Falangists did develop an official program, the Twenty-Seven Points. These exhibited all the main points of fascistic doctrine.[46] Franco made himself "jefe nacional" of the new FET (Falange Española Tradicionalista), with a secretary, Junta Political and National Council to be named subsequently by himself. Five days later (24 April) the raised-arm Fascist salute of the Falange was made the official salute of the Nationalist regime.[47] In 1939 the fascist style heavily predominated, with ritualistic invocations of "Franco, Franco, Franco."[48] The Falangists' hymn, Cara al Sol, became the semi-national anthem of Franco's not-yet-established regime.

Political command

It is said that Franco's direction of the German and Italian forces was limited, particularly in the direction of the Condor Legion; however he was by default their supreme commander, and they rarely made decisions on their own. For reasons of prestige it was decided to continue assisting Franco until the end of the war, and Italian and German troops paraded on the day of the final victory in Madrid.[44]

Although both Germany and Italy provided military support to Franco, the degree of influence of both powers on his direction of the war seems to have been very limited. Nevertheless, the Italian troops, despite not being always effective, were present in most of the large operations in large numbers, while the German airplanes helped the Nationalist air force dominate the skies for most of the war. António de Oliveira Salazar's Portugal also openly assisted the Nationalists from the start, contributing some 20,000 troops.

Franco personally guided military operations from this time until the end of the war. After the failed assault on Madrid in November 1936, Franco settled on a piecemeal approach to winning the war, rather than bold maneuvering. As with his decision to relieve the garrison at Toledo, this approach has been subject of some debate; some of his decisions, such as in June 1938 when he preferred to head for Valencia instead of Catalonia, remain particularly controversial from a military viewpoint. However, Valencia, Castellon and Alicante saw the last Republican troops defeated by Franco.

Military command

[43] On 1 October 1936, in

Mola had been somewhat discredited as the main planner of the attempted coup that had now degenerated into a civil war, and was strongly identified with the Carlist monarchists and not at all with the Falange, a party with Fascist leanings and connections ("phalanx", a far-right Spanish political party founded by José Antonio Primo de Rivera), nor did he have good relations with Germany; Queipo de Llano and Cabanellas had both previously rebelled against the dictatorship of Miguel Primo de Rivera and were therefore discredited in some nationalist circles; and Falangist leader José Antonio Primo de Rivera was in prison in Alicante (he would be executed a few months later) and the desire to keep a place open for him prevented any other Falangist leader from emerging as a possible head of state. Franco's previous aloofness from politics meant that he had few active enemies in any of the factions that needed to be placated, and also he had cooperated in recent months with both Germany and Italy.[41]

From 24 July a coordinating junta was established, based at Burgos. Nominally led by Cabanellas, as the most senior general,[36] it initially included Mola, three other generals, and two colonels; Franco was later added in early August.[37] On 21 September it was decided that Franco was to be commander-in-chief (this unified command was opposed only by Cabanellas),[38] and, after some discussion, with no more than a lukewarm agreement from Queipo de Llano and from Mola, also head of government.[39] He was, doubtlessly, helped to this primacy by the fact that, in late July, Hitler had decided that all of Germany's aid to the nationalists would go to Franco.[40]

The designated leader of the uprising, Gen. José Sanjurjo, died on 20 July 1936 in an airplane crash. Therefore, in the nationalist zone, "Political life ceased."[35] Initially, only military command mattered; this was divided into regional commands (Emilio Mola in the North, Gonzalo Queipo de Llano in Seville commanding Andalusia, Franco with an independent command and Miguel Cabanellas in Zaragoza commanding Aragon). The Spanish Army of Morocco itself was split into two columns, one commanded by General Juan Yagüe and the other commanded by Colonel José Varela.

Rise to power

On 21 September, with the head of the column at the town of Maqueda (some 80 km away from Madrid), Franco ordered a detour to free the besieged garrison at the Alcázar of Toledo, which was achieved on 27 September. This controversial decision gave the Popular Front time to strengthen its defences in Madrid and hold the city that year, but the holding of Alcázar was an important morale and propaganda success for the Nationalists.

In early August, the situation in western Juan Yagüe, which would march through Extremadura towards Madrid. On 11 August Mérida was taken, and on 15 August Badajoz, thus joining both nationalist-controlled areas. Additionally, Mussolini ordered a voluntary army, the Corpo Truppe Volontarie (CTV) of some 12,000 Italians of fully motorized units to Seville and Hitler added to them a professional squadron from the Luftwaffe (2JG/88) with about 24 planes. All these planes had the Nationalist Spanish insignia painted on them, but were flown by Italian and German nationals. The backbone of Franco's aviation in those days were the Italian SM.79 and SM.81 bombers, the biplane Fiat CR.32 fighter and the German Junkers Ju 52 cargo-bomber and the Heinkel He 51 biplane fighter.

Following the 18 July 1936 pronunciamiento, Franco assumed the leadership of the 30,000 soldiers of the Spanish Army of Africa. The first days of the insurgency were marked with a serious need to secure control over the Spanish Moroccan Protectorate. On one side, Franco had to win the support of the natives and their (nominal) authorities, and, on the other, had to ensure his control over the army. His method was the summary execution of some 200 senior officers loyal to the Republic (one of them his own cousin). His loyal bodyguard was shot by Manuel Blanco.[34] Franco's first problem was how to move his troops to the Iberian Peninsula, since most units of the Navy had remained in control of the Republic and were blocking the Strait of Gibraltar. He requested help from Benito Mussolini, who responded with an unconditional offer of arms and planes; in Germany Wilhelm Canaris, the head of the Abwehr military intelligence, persuaded Hitler to also support the Nationalists. From 20 July onward Franco was able, with a small group of 22 mainly German Junkers Ju 52 airplanes, to initiate an air bridge to Seville, where his troops helped to ensure the rebel control of the city. Through representatives, he started to negotiate with the United Kingdom, Germany, and Italy for more military support, and above all for more airplanes. Negotiations were successful with the last two on 25 July and airplanes began to arrive in Tetouan on 2 August. On 5 August Franco was able to break the blockade with the newly arrived air support, successfully deploying a ship convoy with some 2,000 soldiers.

The first months

Because Adolf Hitler and Joseph Stalin used the war as a testing ground for modern warfare, some historians, such as Ernst Nolte, have considered the Spanish Civil War, along with World War II, part of a European Civil War lasting from 1936 to 1945 and characterized mainly as a left-wing politics/right-wing politics ideological conflict. However, this interpretation has not found acceptance among most historians, who consider the Spanish Civil War and Second World War to be two distinct conflicts. Among other things, they point to the political heterogeneity on both sides (See Spanish Civil War: other factions) and criticize a monolithic interpretation which overlooks the local nuances of Spanish history.

The Spanish Civil War began in July 1936 and officially ended with Franco's victory in April 1939, leaving 190,000[32] to 500,000[33] dead. Despite the Non-Intervention Agreement of August 1936, the war was marked by foreign intervention on behalf of both sides, leading to international repercussions. The nationalist side was supported by Fascist Italy, which sent the Corpo Truppe Volontarie, and later by Nazi Germany, which assisted with the Condor Legion. They were opposed by the Soviet Union and communist, socialists and anarchists within Spain. The United Kingdom and France strictly adhered to the arms embargo, provoking dissensions within the French Popular Front coalition led by Léon Blum, but the Republican side was nonetheless supported by the Soviet Union and volunteers fighting in the International Brigades (see for example Ken Loach's Land and Freedom).

Franco in Reus, 1940

From the Spanish Civil War to World War II

A week later the rebels, who soon called themselves the Nationalists, controlled a third of Spain; however most naval units remained under control of the Republican loyalist forces, which left Franco isolated. The coup had failed in the attempt to bring a swift victory, but the Spanish Civil War had begun.

The assassination of the right-wing opposition leader José Calvo Sotelo by government police troops, possibly acting on their own in retaliation for the murder of José Castillo, precipitated the uprising.[30] On 17 July one day earlier than planned, the African Army rebelled, detaining their commanders. On 18 July, Franco published a manifesto[31] and left for Africa, where he arrived the next day to take command.

Outwardly Franco maintained an ambiguous attitude almost until July. On 23 June 1936 he wrote to the head of the government, Casares Quiroga, offering to quell the discontent in the Spanish Republican Army, but received no reply. The other rebels were determined to go ahead con Paquito o sin Paquito (with Paquito or without Paquito; Paquito being a diminutive of Paco, which in turn is short for Francisco), as it was put by José Sanjurjo, the honorary leader of the military uprising. After various postponements, 18 July was fixed as the date of the uprising. The situation reached a point of no return and, as presented to Franco by Mola, the coup was unavoidable and he had to choose a side. He decided to join the rebels and was given the task of commanding the Army of Africa. A privately owned DH 89 De Havilland Dragon Rapide, flown by two British MI6 agents, Cecil Bebb and Hugh Pollard,[29] was chartered in England 11 July to take Franco to Africa.

On February 23 Franco was sent to the distant Canary Islands to serve as the islands' military commander, an appointment perceived by him as a destierro (banishment).[26] Meanwhile, a conspiracy led by Emilio Mola was taking shape. In June, Franco was contacted and a secret meeting was held within the forest of La Esperanza on Tenerife to discuss starting a military coup.[27] (An obelisk commemorating this historic meeting was erected at the site in a clearing at Las Raíces.[28])


After the ruling centre-right coalition collapsed amid the Straperlo corruption scandal, new elections were scheduled. Two wide coalitions formed: the Popular Front on the left, ranging from Republican Union Party to Communists, and the Frente Nacional on the right, ranging from the center radicals to the conservative Carlists. On 16 February 1936, the left won by a narrow margin.[24] Growing political bitterness surfaced again. The government and its supporters, the Popular Front, had launched a campaign against the Opposition whom they accused of plotting against the Republic. According to the right-wing opposition, the real enemies of the Republic were not on the Right but on the Left; Spain was in imminent danger of falling under a "Communist dictatorship", and therefore by fighting the democratically elected Popular Front they, the opposition, were merely doing their duty in defence of law and order and of the freedom and the fundamental rights of the Spanish people.[25]

General election of 1936

The insurgency in Asturias (see Asturian miners' strike of 1934) sharpened the antagonism between Left and Right. Franco and López Ochoa (who, prior to the campaign in Asturias, had been seen as a left-leaning officer)[20] emerged as officers prepared to use 'troops against Spanish civilians as if they were a foreign enemy'.[21] Franco described the rebellion to a journalist in Oviedo as, 'a frontier war and its fronts are socialism, communism and whatever attacks civilization in order to replace it with barbarism.' Though the colonial units sent to the north by the government at Franco's recommendation [22] consisted of the Spanish Foreign Legion and the Moroccan Regulares Indigenas, the right wing press portrayed the Asturian rebels in xenophobic terms as lackeys of a foreign Jewish-Bolshevik conspiracy.[23] At the start of the Civil War, López Ochoa was assassinated. Some time after these events, Franco was briefly commander-in-chief of the Army of Africa (from 15 February onwards), and from 19 May 1935 on, Chief of the General Staff.

New elections held in October 1933 resulted in a center-right majority. In opposition to this government, a revolutionary communist/anarchist movement broke out on October 5, 1934. This uprising was rapidly quelled in most of the country, but gained a stronghold in Asturias, with the support of the miners' unions. Franco, already General of Division and aide to the war minister, Diego Hidalgo, was put in command of the operations directed to suppress the insurgency. Troops of the Spanish Army of Africa carried this out, with General Eduardo López Ochoa as commander in the field. After two weeks of heavy fighting (and a death toll estimated between 1,200 and 2,000), the rebellion was suppressed.

On February 5, 1932 he was given a command in A Coruña. Franco avoided involvement in José Sanjurjo's attempted coup that year, and even wrote a hostile letter to Sanjurjo expressing his anger over the attempt. As a side result of Azaña's military reform, in January 1933, Franco was relegated from the first to the 24th in the list of Brigadiers; conversely, the same year (17 February), he was given the military command of the Balearic Islands: a post above his rank.


