Fernando Primo de Rivera y Orbaneja Fernando Primo de Rivera y Orbaneja Fernando Primo de Rivera y Orbaneja (Jerez de la Frontera (Cádiz) 30 July 1879 - Mount Arruit, Morocco, 5 August 1921) was a Spanish soldier, brother of the dictator Miguel Primo de Rivera y Orbaneja and uncle of Falange’s founder José Antonio Primo de Rivera. He entered the Cavalry School in Valladolid in 1898, excelling at both riding and fencing. He completed his training in the French Cavalry School in Saumur. In 1909 he married María Cobo de Guzmán. After various postings on the peninsula and being promoted to Captain, he was ordered to
Miguel Primo de Rivera that the parliament had been brushed aside. As he travelled through Spain, his emotional speeches left no doubt that he was a Spanish patriot. He proposed to keep the dictatorship in place long enough to sweep away the mess created by the politicians. In the meantime, he would use the state to modernize the economy and alleviate the problems of the working class. Primo de Rivera began by appointing a supreme Directory of eight military men, with himself as president. He then decreed martial law and fired civilian politicians in the provinces, replacing them with middle-ranking officers. When members of