Francisco Franco Bahamonde[e][f] (bornFrancisco Paulino Hermenegildo Teódulo Franco Bahamonde; 4 December 1892 – 20 November 1975) was a Spanish general and dictator who led theNationalist forces in overthrowing theSecond Spanish Republic during theSpanish Civil War and thereafter ruled over Spain from 1939 to 1975. This period in Spanish history, from the Nationalist victory to Franco's death, is commonly known asFrancoist Spain.
Thelegacy of Franco in Spanish history remains controversial, as the nature of his rulechanged over time. His reign was marked by both brutal repression, with tens of thousands killed, and economic prosperity, which greatly improved the quality of life in Spain. His style proved adaptable enough to allow social andeconomic reform, but still centred on highlycentralised government,authoritarianism,nationalism,national Catholicism,anti-freemasonry andanti-communism. The contemporaries regarded Franco as a fascist dictator; among scholars, there has been a long-lasting debate whether it is adequate to define Franco's regime as fascist. It has been described in broad definitions, from a traditionalmilitary dictatorship to a fascistized yet not fascist or a fully fascist regime.[23][24][25]
Early life
Francisco being held by his parents, on the day of his baptism on 17 December 1892
Francisco Franco Bahamonde was born on 4 December 1892 in the Calle Frutos Saavedra inFerrol, Galicia,[26] into a seafaring family.[27] He wasbaptised thirteen days later at the military church of San Francisco, with the baptismal name Francisco Paulino Hermenegildo Teódulo.[26]
After relocating toGalicia, the Franco family was involved in theSpanish Navy, and over the span of two centuries produced naval officers for six uninterrupted generations (including several admirals),[27] down to Franco's fatherNicolás Franco Salgado-Araújo [es] (22 November 1855 – 22 February 1942).[28]
His mother,María del Pilar Bahamonde y Pardo de Andrade [gl] (15 October 1865 – 28 February 1934), was from an upper-middle-classRoman Catholic family. Her father, Ladislao Bahamonde Ortega, was thecommissar of naval equipment at thePort of El Ferrol. Franco's parents married in 1890 in the Church of San Francisco in El Ferrol.[29] The young Franco spent much of his childhood with his two brothers,Nicolás andRamón, and his two sisters, María del Pilar and María de la Paz. His brother Nicolás was anavalofficer and diplomat who married María Isabel Pascual del Pobil.[30] Ramón was an internationally known aviator, a military man like his other two brothers, and aFreemason, originally with leftist political leanings. He was also the second sibling to die, killed in an air accident on a military mission in 1938.[31]
Franco's father was a naval officer who reached the rank of vice admiral (intendente general). When Franco was fourteen, his father moved to Madrid following a reassignment and ultimately abandoned his family, marrying another woman. While Franco did not suffer any great abuse by his father's hand, he never overcame his antipathy for his father and largely ignored him for the rest of his life. Years after becoming leader, under the pseudonym Jaime de Andrade, Franco wrote a brief novel calledRaza, whose protagonist is believed byStanley Payne to represent the idealised man Franco wished his father had been. Conversely, Franco strongly identified with his mother (who always wore widow's black once she realised her husband had abandoned her) and learned from her moderation, austerity, self-control, family solidarity and respect for Catholicism, though he would also inherit his father's harshness, coldness and implacability.[32]
Francisco would have followed his father into the Navy, but as a result of theSpanish–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 theSpanish Army. In 1907, he entered the Infantry Academy inToledo. At the age of fourteen, Franco was one of the youngest members of his class, with most boys being between sixteen and eighteen. He was short and was bullied for his small size. His grades were average; though his good memory meant he seldom struggled academically, his small stature was a hindrance in physical tests. He graduated in July 1910 as a second lieutenant, standing 251st out of 312 cadets in his class, though this might have had less to do with his grades than with his small size and young age. Stanley Payne observes that by the time civil war began, Franco had already become a major general and would soon be ageneralissimo, while none of his higher-ranking fellow cadets had managed to get beyond the rank of lieutenant-colonel.[33][34] Franco was promoted to the rank of first lieutenant in June 1912 at age 19.[35][36] Two years later, he obtained a commission to Morocco. Spanish efforts to occupy the new Africanprotectorate provoked theSecond Melillan campaign in 1909 against native Moroccans, the first of severalRiffian rebellions. Their tactics resulted in heavy losses among Spanishmilitary officers, and also provided an opportunity to earn promotion through merit on the battlefield. It was said that officers would receive eitherla caja o la faja (a coffin or a general's sash). Franco quickly gained a reputation as an effective officer.
Francisco and his brother Ramón inNorth Africa, 1925
In 1913, Franco transferred into the newly formedregulares: Moroccan colonial troops with Spanish officers, who acted as eliteshock troops.[37] In 1916, aged 23 with the rank of captain, Franco was shot in the abdomen by guerrilla gunfire during an assault on Moroccan positions atEl Biutz, in the hills near Ceuta; this was the only time he was wounded in ten years of fighting.[38] The wound was serious, and he was not expected to live. His recovery was seen by his Moroccan troops as a spiritual event – they believed Franco to be blessed withbaraka or protected by God. He was recommended for promotion to major and to receive Spain's highest honour for gallantry, the covetedCruz Laureada de San Fernando. Both proposals were denied, with the 23-year-old Franco's young age being given as the reason for denial. Franco appealed the decision to the king, who reversed it.[38] Franco also received theCross of Maria Cristina, First Class.[39]
With that he was promoted to major at the end of February 1917 at age 24. This made him the youngest major in the Spanish army. From 1917 to 1920, he served in Spain. In 1920, Lieutenant ColonelJosé Millán Astray, ahistrionic but charismatic officer, founded theSpanish Foreign Legion, along similar lines as theFrench Foreign Legion. Franco became the Legion's second-in-command and returned to Africa. In theRif War, the poorly commanded and overextended Spanish Army was defeated by theRepublic of the Rif under the leadership of theAbd el-Krim brothers, whocrushed a Spanish offensive on 24 July 1921, atAnnual. The Legion and supporting units relieved the Spanish city ofMelilla after a three-day forced march led by Franco. In 1923, now alieutenant colonel, he was made commander of the Legion.
On 22 October 1923, Franco marriedMaría del Carmen Polo y Martínez-Valdès (11 June 1900 – 6 February 1988).[40] Following his honeymoon Franco was summoned to Madrid to be presented toKing Alfonso XIII.[41] This and other occasions of royal attention would mark him during theRepublic as a monarchical officer.
Disappointed with the plans by Spain's Prime Minister, Lieutenant GeneralMiguel Primo de Rivera, for a strategic retreat from the interior to the African coastline, Colonel Franco wrote in the April 1924 issue ofRevista de Tropas Coloniales (Colonial Troops Magazine) that he would disobey orders of retreat given by a superior. As a result, Franco had a tense meeting with Primo de Rivera in July.
Lieutenant Colonel Franco visited a fellowafricanista, GeneralGonzalo Queipo de Llano, on 21 September 1924 to propose that Queip de Llano organize a coup d'état against Primo.[42] In the end, Franco complied with General Primo's orders, taking part in theretreat of Spanish soldiers from Xaouen in late 1924, and thus earning a promotion to colonel.[43]
Franco led the first wave of troops ashore atAl Hoceima (Spanish:Alhucemas) 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-livedRepublic of the Rif. Franco was promoted to brigadier general on 3 February 1926, said to be the youngest general in Europe.[44] On 14 September 1926, Franco and Polo had a daughter,María del Carmen. Franco would have a close relationship with his daughter and was a proud parent, though his traditionalist attitudes and increasing responsibilities meant he left much of the child-rearing to his wife.[45] In 1928 Franco was appointed director of the newly created General Military Academy of Zaragoza, a new college for all Spanish armycadets, replacing the former separate institutions for young men seeking to become officers in infantry, cavalry, artillery, and other branches of the army. Franco was removed as Director of the Zaragoza Military Academy in 1931; when the Civil War began, the colonels, majors, and captains of the Spanish Army who had attended the academy when he was its director displayed unconditional loyalty to him asCaudillo.[46]
During the Second Spanish Republic
The municipal elections of 12 April 1931 were largely seen as a plebiscite on the monarchy.[47] The Republican-Socialist alliance failed to win the majority of the municipalities in Spain but had a landslide victory in all the large cities and in almost all the provincial capitals.[48] The monarchists and the army deserted Alfonso XIII and consequently the king decided to leave the country and go into exile, giving way to theSecond Spanish Republic. Although Franco believed that the majority of the Spanish people still supported the crown, and although he regretted the end of the monarchy, he did not object, nor did he challenge the legitimacy of the republic.[49] The closing of the academy in June by the provisional War MinisterManuel Azaña however was a major setback for Franco and provoked his first clash with theSpanish Republic. Azaña found Franco's farewell speech to the cadets insulting.[50] In his speech Franco stressed the Republic's need for discipline and respect.[51] Azaña entered an official reprimand into Franco's personnel file and for six months Franco was without a post and under surveillance.[50]
In December 1931, a new reformist, liberal, and democraticconstitution was declared. It included strong provisions enforcing a broadsecularisation of the Catholic country, which included the abolishing of Catholic schools and charities, which many moderate committed Catholics opposed.[52] At this point, once the constituent assembly had fulfilled its mandate of approving a new constitution, it should have arranged for regular parliamentary elections and adjourned, according to historianCarlton J. H. Hayes. Fearing the increasing popular opposition, the Radical and Socialist majority postponed the regular elections, thereby prolonging their stay in power for two more years. This way the republican government of Manuel Azaña initiated numerous reforms to what in their view would "modernize" the country.[53]
Franco was a subscriber to the journal ofAcción Española, a monarchist organisation, and a firm believer in a supposed Jewish-Masonic-Bolshevik conspiracy, orcontubernio (conspiracy). The conspiracy suggested that Jews, Freemasons, Communists, and other leftists alike sought the destruction of Christian Europe, with Spain being the principal target.[54]
Franco in 1930
On 5 February 1932, Franco was given a command inA Coruña. Franco avoided involvement inJosé Sanjurjo's attempted coup that year, and even wrote a hostile letter to Sanjurjo expressing his anger over the attempt. As a result ofAzaña's military reform, in January 1933 Franco was relegated from first to 24th in the list of brigadiers. The same year, on 17 February he was given the military command of theBalearic Islands. The post was above his rank, but Franco was still unhappy that he was stuck in a position he disliked. The prime minister wrote in his diary that it was probably more prudent to have Franco away from Madrid.[55][56]
In 1932, the Jesuits, who were in charge of many schools throughout the country, were banned and had all their property confiscated.[57] The army was further reduced, and landowners were expropriated. Home rule was granted to Catalonia, with a local parliament and a president of its own.[58] In June 1933Pope Pius XI issued the encyclicalDilectissima Nobis (Our Dearly Beloved), "On Oppression of the Church of Spain", in which he criticised the anti-clericalism of the Republican government.[57]
The elections held in October 1933 resulted in a centre-right majority. The political party with the most votes was the Confederación Español de Derechas Autónomas ("CEDA"), but presidentAlcalá-Zamora declined to invite the leader of the CEDA, Gil Robles, to form a government.[59] Instead, he invited theRadical Republican Party'sAlejandro Lerroux to do so. Despite receiving the most votes, CEDA was denied cabinet positions for nearly a year.[60] After a year of intense pressure, CEDA, the largest party in the congress, was finally successful in forcing the acceptance of three ministries. The entrance of CEDA in the government, despite being normal in a parliamentary democracy, was not well accepted by the left. The Socialists triggered an insurrection that they had been preparing for nine months. The leftist Republican parties did not directly join the insurrection, but their leadership issued statements that they were "breaking all relations" with the Republican government.[61] The CatalanBloc Obrer i Camperol (BOC) advocated the need to form a broad workers' front and took the lead in forming a new and more encompassingAlianza Obrera, which included the Catalan UGT and the Catalan sector of the PSOE, with the goal of defeating fascism and advancing the socialist revolution. TheAlianza Obrera declared a general strike "against fascism" in Catalonia in 1934.[62] ACatalan state was proclaimed by Catalan nationalist leaderLluis Companys, but it lasted just ten hours. Despite an attempt at a general stoppage inMadrid, other strikes did not endure. This left the strikingAsturian miners to fight alone.[63]
In several mining towns in Asturias, local unions gathered small arms and were determined to see the strike through. It began on the evening of 4 October, with the miners occupying several towns, attacking and seizing localCivil andAssault Guard barracks.[64] Thirty-four priests, six young seminarists with ages between 18 and 21, and several businessmen and civil guards were summarily executed by the revolutionaries inMieres andSama, 58 religious buildings including churches, convents and part of the university at Oviedo were burned and destroyed,[65] and over 100 priests were killed in the diocese.[66] Franco, already General of Division and aide to the war minister,Diego Hidalgo, was put in command of the operations directed to suppress the violent insurgency. Troops of the SpanishArmy of Africa carried this out, with GeneralEduardo 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.
Theinsurgency in Asturias in October 1934 sparked a new era of violent anti-Christian persecutions with the massacre of 34 priests, initiating the practice of atrocities against the clergy,[67] and 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)[68] emerged as officers prepared to use "troops against Spanish civilians as if they were a foreign enemy".[69] Franco described the rebellion to a journalist inOviedo as, "a frontier war and its fronts are socialism, communism and whatever attacks civilisation to replace it with barbarism." Though the colonial units sent to the north by the government at Franco's recommendation[65] consisted of theSpanish Foreign Legion and the MoroccanRegulares Indigenas,[70] the right-wing press portrayed the Asturian rebels as lackeys of a foreign Jewish-Bolshevik conspiracy.[71]
With this rebellion against legitimate established political authority, the socialists also repudiated the representative institutional system as the anarchists had done.[72] The Spanish historianSalvador de Madariaga, an Azaña supporter, and an exiled vocal opponent of Francisco Franco is the author of a sharp critical reflection against the participation of the left in the revolt: "The uprising of 1934 is unforgivable. The argument that Mr Gil Robles tried to destroy the Constitution to establish fascism was, at once, hypocritical and false. With the rebellion of 1934, the Spanish left lost even the shadow of moral authority to condemn the rebellion of 1936."[73]
At the start of the Civil War, López Ochoa was assassinated; his head was severed and paraded around the streets on a pole, with a card reading, 'This is the butcher of Asturias'.[74] Sometime 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 GeneralStaff.
At the end of 1935, President Alcalá-Zamora manipulated a petty-corruption issue into amajor scandal in parliament, and eliminatedAlejandro Lerroux, the head of the Radical Republican Party, from the premiership. Subsequently, Alcalá-Zamora vetoed the logical replacement, a majority centre-right coalition, led by the CEDA, which would reflect the composition of the parliament. He then arbitrarily appointed an interim prime minister and after a short period announced the dissolution of parliament and new elections.[75]
Two wide coalitions formed: thePopular Front on the left, ranging from theRepublican Union to thecommunists, and the Frente Nacional on the right, ranging from the centreradicals to the conservativeCarlists. On 16 February 1936 the elections ended in a virtual draw, but in the evening leftist mobs started to interfere in the balloting and in the registration of votes, distorting the results.[76][77]Stanley G. Payne claims that the process was blatant electoral fraud, with widespread violation of the laws and the constitution.[78][79] In line with Payne's point of view, in 2017 two Spanish scholars, Manuel Álvarez Tardío and Roberto Villa García published the result of a major research work in which they concluded that the 1936 elections were rigged,[80][81] a view disputed by Paul Preston,[82] and other scholars such as Iker Itoiz Ciáurriz, who denounces their conclusions as revisionist "classic Francoist anti-republican tropes".[83]
José Calvo Sotelo, who made anti-communism the focus of his parliamentary speeches, began spreading violent propaganda—advocating for a military coup d'état, formulating a catastrophist discourse of a dichotomous choice between "communism" or a markedly totalitarian "National" State, and setting the mood of the masses for a military rebellion. The diffusion of the myth about an alleged Communist coup d'état as well a pretended state of "social chaos" became pretexts for a coup. Franco himself along with GeneralEmilio Mola had stirred an anti-Communist campaign in Morocco.[85]
On 23 February, Franco was sent to theCanary Islands to serve as the islands' military commander, an appointment perceived by him as adestierro (banishment).[86] Meanwhile, aconspiracy led by General Mola was taking shape.
Interested in the parliamentary immunity granted by a seat at the Cortes, Franco intended to stand as candidate of the Right Bloc alongsideJosé Antonio Primo de Rivera for the by-election in theprovince of Cuenca programmed for 3 May 1936, after the results of the February 1936 election were annulled in the constituency. But Primo de Rivera refused to run alongside a military officer (Franco in particular) and Franco himself ultimately desisted on 26 April, one day before the decision of the election authority. By that time, PSOE politicianIndalecio Prieto had already deemed Franco as a "possible caudillo for a military uprising".[87]
Disenchantment with Azaña's rule continued to grow and was dramatically voiced byMiguel de Unamuno, a republican and one of Spain's most respected intellectuals, who in June 1936 told a reporter who published his statement in El Adelanto that President Manuel Azaña should "...debiera suicidarse como acto patriótico" ("commit suicide as a patriotic act").[88]
In June 1936, Franco was contacted, and a secret meeting was held withinLa Esperanza forest onTenerife to discuss starting a military coup.[89] An obelisk (which has subsequently been removed) commemorating this historic meeting was erected at the site in a clearing atLas Raíces in Tenerife.[90]
Outwardly, Franco maintained an ambiguous attitude until nearly July. On 23 June 1936, he wrote to the head of the government,Casares Quiroga, offering to quell the discontent in theSpanish Republican Army, but received no reply. The other rebels were determined to go aheadcon Paquito o sin Paquito (withPaquito or withoutPaquito;Paquito being a diminutive ofPaco, which in turn is short forFrancisco), as it was put byJosé 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 theArmy of Africa. A privately owned DH 89De Havilland Dragon Rapide, flown by two British pilots,Cecil Bebb andHugh Pollard,[91] was chartered in England on 11 July to take Franco to Africa.
The coup underway was precipitated by the assassination of the right-wing opposition leader Calvo Sotelo in retaliation for the murder of assault guardJosé Castillo, which had been committed by a group headed by acivil guard and composed ofassault guards and members of the socialist militias.[92] On 17 July, one day earlier than planned, the Army of Africa rebelled, detaining their commanders. On 18 July, Franco published a manifesto[93] and left for Africa, where he arrived the next day to take command.
A week later the rebels, who soon called themselves theNationalists, controlled a third of Spain; most naval units remained under control of theRepublicanloyalist forces, which left Franco isolated. The coup had failed in the attempt to bring a swift victory, but theSpanish Civil War had begun.
From the Spanish Civil War to World War II
Franco rose to power during the Spanish Civil War, which began in July 1936 and officially ended with the victory of his Nationalist forces in April 1939. Although it is impossible to calculate precise statistics concerning the Spanish Civil War and its aftermath, Payne writes that if civilian fatalities above the norm are added to the total number of deaths for victims of violence, the number of deaths attributable to the civil war would reach approximately 344,000.[94] During the war,rape,torture, andsummary executions committed by soldiers under Franco's command were used as a means of retaliation and to repress political dissent.[95]
Twenty-six Republicans executed by Francoists at the beginning of the Spanish Civil War, buried in a mass grave atEstépar
Following thepronunciamiento of 18 July 1936, Franco assumed the leadership of the 30,000 soldiers of theSpanish Army of Africa.[99] The first days of the insurgency were marked by an imperative need to secure control over theSpanish Moroccan Protectorate. On one side, Franco had to win the support of the native Moroccan population and their (nominal) authorities, and, on the other, he 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. Franco's first problem was how to move his troops to theIberian Peninsula, since most units of the Navy had remained in control of the Republic and were blocking theStrait of Gibraltar. He requested help fromBenito Mussolini, who responded with an offer of arms and planes.[100] In GermanyWilhelm Canaris, the head of theAbwehr military intelligence service, persuaded Hitler to support the Nationalists;[101] Hitler sent 20Ju 52 transport aircraft and sixHeinkel biplane fighters, on the condition that they were not to be used in hostilities unless the Republicans attacked first.[102] Mussolini sent 12Savoia-Marchetti SM.81 transport/bombers, and a few fighter aircraft. From 20 July onward Franco was able, with this small squadron of aircraft, to initiate anair bridge that carried 1,500 soldiers of the Army of Africa toSeville, where these troops helped to ensure rebel control of the city.[103] He successfully negotiated with Germany, and Italy for more military support, and above all for more aircraft. On 25 July aircraft began to arrive inTetouan and on 5 August Franco was able to break the blockade, successfully deploying a convoy of fishing boats and merchant ships carrying some 3,000 soldiers; between 29 July and 15 August about 15,000 more men were moved.[103]
On 26 July, just eight days after the revolt had started, foreign allies of the Republican government convened an international communist conference at Prague to arrange plans to help the Popular Front forces in Spain. Communist parties throughout the world quickly launched a full scale propaganda campaign in support of the Popular Front. TheCommunist International (Comintern) immediately reinforced its activity, sending to Spain its Secretary-General, the BulgarianGeorgi Dimitrov, and the ItalianPalmiro Togliatti, chief of theCommunist Party of Italy.[104][105] From August onward, aid from the Soviet Union began; by February 1937 two ships per day arrived at Spain's Mediterranean ports carrying munitions, rifles, machine guns, hand grenades, artillery, and trucks. With the cargo came Soviet agents, technicians, instructors and propagandists.[106]
In early August, the situation in westernAndalucia was stable enough to allow Franco to organise a column (some 15,000 men at its height), under the command of then Lieutenant-ColonelJuan Yagüe, which would march throughExtremadura towards Madrid. On 11 AugustMérida was taken, and on 15 AugustBadajoz, thus joining both Nationalist-controlled areas. Additionally, Mussolini ordered a voluntary army, theCorpo Truppe Volontarie (CTV) of fully motorised units (some 12,000 Italians), to Seville, and Hitler added to them a professional squadron from theLuftwaffe (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 air force in those days was the ItalianSM.79 andSM.81 bombers, the biplane FiatCR.32 fighter and the GermanJunkers Ju 52 cargo-bomber and theHeinkel He 51 biplane fighter.[108]
On 21 September, with the head of the column at the town ofMaqueda (some 80 km away from Madrid), Franco ordered a detour to free thebesieged garrison at the Alcázar ofToledo, which was achieved on 27 September.[109] This controversial decision gave thePopular Front time to strengthen its defences in Madrid and hold the city that year,[110] but with Soviet support.[111] Kennan writes that once Stalin had decided to assist the Spanish Republicans, the operation was put in place with remarkable speed and energy. The first load of arms and tanks arrived as early as 26 September and was secretly unloaded at night. Advisers accompanied the armaments. Soviet officers were in effective charge of military operations on the Madrid front. Kennan believes that this operation was originally conducted in good faith with no other purpose than saving the Republic.[112]
Hitler's policy for Spain was shrewd and pragmatic.[113] The minutes of a conference with his foreign minister and army chiefs at theReich Chancellery in Berlin on 10 November 1937 summarised his views on foreign policy regarding the Spanish Civil War: "On the other hand, a 100 percent victory for Franco was not desirable either, from the German point of view; rather were we interested in a continuance of the war and in the keeping up of the tension in the Mediterranean."[114][115] Hitler distrusted Franco; according to the comments he made at the conference he wanted the war to continue, but he did not want Franco to achieve total victory. He felt that with Franco in undisputed control of Spain, the possibility of Italy intervening further or of its continuing to occupy the Balearic Islands would be prevented.[116]
By February 1937 the Soviet Union's military help started to taper off, to be replaced by limited economic aid.
Rise to power
Franco and other rebel commanders during the Civil War,c. 1936–1939
The designated leader of the uprising, GeneralJosé Sanjurjo, died on 20 July 1936 in a plane crash. In the Nationalist zone, "political life ceased".[117] Initially, only military command mattered: this was divided into regional commands (Emilio Mola in the North,Gonzalo Queipo de Llano inSeville commandingAndalucia, Franco with an independent command, andMiguel Cabanellas inZaragoza commandingAragon). The Spanish Army of Morocco was itself split into two columns, one commanded by GeneralJuan Yagüe and the other commanded by ColonelJosé Varela.
From 24 July a coordinatingjunta, theNational Defence Junta, was established, based atBurgos. Nominally led by Cabanellas, as the most senior general, it initially included Mola, three other generals, and two colonels; Franco was later added in early August.[118] On 21 September it was decided that Franco was to be commander-in-chief (this unified command was opposed only by Cabanellas),[119] and, after some discussion, with no more than a lukewarm agreement from Queipo de Llano and from Mola, also head of government.[120] 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.[121]
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 theCarlist monarchists and not at all with theFalange, a party with Fascist leanings and connections ("phalanx", a far-right Spanish political party founded byJosé Antonio Primo de Rivera), nor did he have good relations with Germany. Queipo de Llano and Cabanellas had both previously rebelled against the government of GeneralMiguel Primo de Rivera and were therefore discredited in some nationalist circles, and Falangist leader José Antonio Primo de Rivera was in prison inAlicante (he would be executed a few months later). 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 he had also cooperated in recent months with both Germany and Italy.[122]
On 1 October 1936, inBurgos, Franco was publicly proclaimed asGeneralísimo of the National army andJefe del Estado (Head of State).[123] When Mola was killed in another air accident a year later on 2 June 1937 (which some believe was an assassination), no military leader was left from those who had organised the conspiracy against the Republic between 1933 and 1935.[124]
Military command
Franco personally guided military operations from this time until the end of the war. Franco himself was not a strategic genius, but he was very effective at organisation, administration, logistics and diplomacy.[125] After thefailed assault on Madrid in November 1936, Franco settled on a piecemeal approach to winning the war, rather than bold manoeuvring. As with his decision torelieve the garrison at Toledo, this approach has been subject of some debate:[126] some of his decisions, such as in June 1938 when he preferred to advance towardsValencia instead ofCatalonia,[127] remain particularly controversial from a military strategic viewpoint.[128] Valencia, Castellon and Alicante saw the last Republican troops defeated by Franco.
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, despitenot always being effective, were present in most of the large operations in large numbers. Germany sent insignificant numbers of combat personnel to Spain, but aided the Nationalists with technical instructors and modern matériel;[129] including some 200 tanks and 600 aircraft[130] which helped the Nationalist air force dominate the skies for most of the war.[131]
Franco's direction of the German and Italian forces was limited, particularly in the direction of theCondor Legion, but he was by default their supreme commander, and they declined to interfere in the politics of the Nationalist zone.[132] 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.[133]
The Nationalist victory could be accounted for by various factors:[134] the Popular Front government had reckless policies in the weeks prior to the war, where it ignored potential dangers and alienated the opposition, encouraging more people to join the rebellion, while the rebels had superior military cohesion, with Franco providing the necessary leadership to consolidate power and unify the various rightist factions.[135] His foreign diplomacy secured military aid from Italy and Germany and, by some accounts, helped keep Britain and France out of the war.[125]
The rebels made effective use of a smaller navy, acquiring the most powerful ships in the Spanish fleet and maintaining a functional officer corps, while Republican sailors had assassinated a large number of their naval officers who sided with the rebels in 1936, as at Cartagena,[136] and El Ferrol.[137] The Nationalists used their ships aggressively to pursue the opposition, in contrast to the largely passive naval strategy of the Republicans.
Not only did the Nationalists receive more foreign aid to sustain their war effort, but there is evidence that they made more efficient use of such aid.[138] They augmented their forces with arms captured from the Republicans,[139] and successfully integrated over half of Republican prisoners of war into the Nationalist army.[140] The rebels were able to build a larger air force and make more effective use of their air force, particularly in supporting ground operations and bombing; and generally enjoyed air superiority from mid-1937 onwards; thisair power contributed greatly to the Nationalist victory.[141]
The Republicans were subject to disunity and infighting,[142] and were hampered by the destructive consequences of the revolution in the Republican zone: mobilisation was impeded, the Republican image was harmed abroad in democracies, and the campaign against religion aroused overwhelming and unwavering Catholic support for the Nationalists.[143]
Political command
Francoist demonstration in Salamanca (1937) with the paraders carrying banners with the portrait of Franco and the populace giving theRoman salute
On 19 April 1937, Franco andRamón Serrano Súñer, the brother-in-law of Franco's wife Carmen Polo who became Franco's advisor on Falangist party matters, with the acquiescence of Generals Mola and Quiepo de Llano,forcibly merged the ideologically distinct national-syndicalistFalange and theCarlist monarchist parties intoone party under his rule, dubbedFalange Española Tradicionalista y de las Juntas de Ofensiva Nacional-Sindicalista (FET y de las JONS),[144] which became the only legal party in the Nationalist zone.[145] Serrano Súñer and a group of his followers dominated the FET JONS, and strove to increase the party's power. Serrano Súñer tried to move the party in a more fascist direction by appointing his acolytes to important positions, and the party became the leading political organisation in Francoist Spain. The FET JONS failed to establish a fascist party regime, however, and was relegated to subordinate status. Franco placed the CarlistManuel Fal Condé under house arrest and imprisoned hundreds of old Falangists, the so-called "old shirts" (camisas viejas), including the party leaderManuel Hedilla,[146] to help 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 Republican 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".[147][148] As the new head of the Falange, Franco presented himself as the direct successor to its founderJose Antonio Primo de Rivera and justified his actions as completing his work. Falangism and its party linked Franco with fascism, permitting Franco to be recognized as a fascist leader.[10]
Unlike some other fascist movements, the Falangists had developed an official program in 1934, the "Twenty-Seven Points".[149] In 1937, Franco assumed as the tentative doctrine of his regime 26 out of the original 27 points.[150] Franco made himselfjefe nacional (National Chief) of the new FET (Falange Española Tradicionalista; Traditionalist Spanish Phalanx) with a secretary, Political Junta and National Council to be named subsequently by himself. Five days later on 24 April theraised-arm salute of the Falange was made the official salute of the Nationalist regime.[151] Also in 1937 theMarcha Real ("Royal March") was restored by decree as the national anthem in the Nationalist zone. It was opposed by the Falangists, who associated it with the monarchy and boycotted it when it was played, often singing their own anthem,Cara al Sol (Facing the Sun) instead.[152] By 1939 the fascist style prevailed, with ritual rallying calls of "Franco, Franco, Franco."[153]
End of the Civil War
By early 1939 only Madrid (seeHistory of Madrid) and a few other areas remained under control of the government forces. On 27 FebruaryChamberlain's Britain andDaladier's France officially recognised the Franco regime. 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 vowed to never take it up again unless Spain itself was threatened with invasion.
Although Germany had recognised the Franco Government, Franco's policy towards Germany was extremely cautious until spectacular German victories at the beginning of the Second World War. An early indication that Franco was going to keep his distance from Germany soon proved true. A rumoured state visit by Franco to Germany did not take place and a further rumour of a visit by Goering to Spain, after he had enjoyed a cruise in the Western Mediterranean, again did not materialise. Instead Goering had to return to Berlin.[154]
During the Civil War and in the aftermath, a period known as theWhite Terror took place. This saw mass executions of Republican and other Nationalist enemies, standing in contrast to the wartimeRed Terror. Historical analysis and investigations estimate the number of executions by the Franco regime during this time to be between 100,000 and 200,000 dead.
Stanley G. Payne says the total number of all kinds ofexecutions in the Republican zone added up to about 56,000, and that those in the Nationalist zone probably amounted to at least 70,000, with an additional 28,000 executions after the war ended.[11][155] Recent searches conducted with parallel excavations of mass graves in Spain by theAssociation for the Recovery of Historical Memory (Asociación para la Recuperación de la Memoria Histórica), (ARMH) estimate that more than 35,000 people killed by the Nationalist side are still missing in mass graves.[156]
Julián Casanova Ruiz, who was nominated in 2008 to join the panel of experts in the first judicial investigation, conducted by judgeBaltasar Garzón, of Francoist crimes,[157] as well as historiansJosep Fontana andHugh Thomas, estimate deaths in the White Terror to be around 150,000 in total.[12][158][13] According toPaul Preston, while "130,199" remains "the currently most reliable" figure of civilian executions took place in the Francoist area during the war, "it is unlikely" that it was less than 150,000,[19][note 1] with 50,000 victims in the Republican area, in addition to approximately 20,000 Republicans executed by the Franco regime after the end of the war.[160] According toHelen Graham, the Spanish working classes became to the Francoist project what the Jews were to the GermanVolksgemeinschaft.[161]
According toGabriel Jackson andAntony Beevor, the number of victims of the "White Terror" (executions and hunger or illness in prisons) between 1939 and 1943 was 200,000.[133] Beevor "reckons Franco's ensuing 'white terror' claimed 200,000 lives. The 'red terror' had already killed 38,000."[162] 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) inNationalist Spain."[163] According to Michael Richards, "as many as 200,000" people were executed by Francoists after the war.[16]
Franco arriving in San Sebastián in 1939, escorted by theMoorish Guard
Despite the end of the war, Spanishguerrillas exiled in France, and known as the "Maquis", continued to resist Franco in thePyrenees, carrying out sabotage and robberies against the Francoist regime. Several exiled Republicans also fought in theFrench resistance against theGerman occupation inVichy France duringWorld War II. In 1944, a group of republican veterans from the French resistanceinvaded the Val d'Aran in northwestCatalonia but were quickly defeated. The activities of the Maquis continued well into the 1950s.
The end of the war led tohundreds of thousands of exiles, mostly to France, but also to Mexico, Chile, Cuba, and the United States.[164] On the other side of thePyrenees,refugees were confined ininternment camps inFrance, such asCamp Gurs orCamp Vernet, where 12,000 Republicans were housed in squalid conditions (mostly soldiers from theDurruti Division[165]). The 17,000 refugees housed in Gurs were divided into four categories:Brigadists, pilots,Gudaris and ordinary "Spaniards". TheGudaris (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 French government, in agreement with the Francoist government, to return to Spain. The great majority did so and were turned over to the Francoist authorities inIrún. From there they were transferred to theMiranda de Ebroconcentration camp for "purification" according to theLaw of Political Responsibilities.
After the proclamation byMarshalPhilippe Pétain of theVichy France regime, the refugees became political prisoners, and theFrench police attempted to round up those who had been liberated from the camp. Along with other "undesirables", they were sent to theDrancy internment camp before being deported to Nazi Germany. 5,000 Spaniards thus died inMauthausen concentration camp.[166] The Chilean poetPablo Neruda, who had been named by the Chilean PresidentPedro 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, theWinnipeg.[167]
In September 1939, World War II began. Franco had received important support fromAdolf Hitler andBenito Mussolini during the Spanish Civil War, and he had signed theAnti-Comintern Pact. He made pro-Axis speeches,[168] while offering various kinds of support to Italy and Germany. His spokesman Antonio Tovar commented at a Paris conference entitled 'Bolshevism versus Europe' that "Spain aligned itself definitively on the side of...National Socialist Germany and Fascist Italy."[169] However, Franco was reluctant to enter the war due to Spain recovering from its recent civil war and instead pursued a policy of "non-belligerence".
On 23 October 1940, Hitler and Francomet in Hendaye, France to discuss the possibility of Spain's entry on the side of theAxis. Franco's demands, including large supplies of food and fuel, as well as Spanish control ofGibraltar andFrench North Africa, proved too much for Hitler. At the time Hitler did not want to risk damaging his relations with the newVichy French government.[170] (An oft-cited remark attributed to Hitler is that the German leader said that he would rather have some of his own teeth pulled out than to have to personally deal further with Franco).[171]
Some historians argue that Franco made demands he knew Hitler would not accede to, in order to stay out of the war. Other historians argue that Franco, as the leader of a destroyed and bankrupt country in chaos following a brutal three-year civil war, simply had little to offer the Axis and that the Spanish armed forces were not ready for a major war. It has also been suggested that Franco decided not to join the war after the resources he requested from Hitler in October 1940 were not forthcoming.[172]
Franco allowed Spanish soldiers to volunteer to fight in the German Army against theSoviet Union (theBlue Division) but forbade Spaniards to fight in the West against the democracies. Franco's common ground with Hitler was particularly weakened by Hitler's attempts tomanipulate Christianity, which went against Franco's fervent commitment to defending Catholicism. Contributing to the disagreement was an ongoing dispute over German mining rights in Spain.
According to some scholars, after theFall of France in June 1940, Spain did adopt a pro-Axis stance (for example, German and Italian ships and U-boats were allowed to use Spanish naval facilities) before returning to a more neutral position in late 1943 when the tide of the war had turned decisively against the Axis Powers, and Italy had changed sides. Franco was initially keen to join the war before the UK could be defeated.[173]
In the winter of 1940 and 1941, Franco toyed with the idea of a "Latin Bloc" formed by Spain, Portugal, Vichy France, the Vatican and Italy, without much consequence.[174] Franco had cautiously decided to enter the war on the Axis side in June 1940, and to prepare his people for war, an anti-British and anti-French campaign was launched in the Spanish media that demandedFrench Morocco,Cameroon andGibraltar.[175] On 19 June 1940, Franco pressed along a message to Hitler saying he wanted to enter the war, but Hitler was annoyed at Franco's demand for the French colony of Cameroon, which had been German before World War I, and which Hitler was planning on taking back forPlan Z.[176] Franco seriously considered blocking allied access to the Mediterranean Sea by invading British-heldGibraltar, but he abandoned the idea after learning that the plan would have likely failed due to Gibraltar being too heavily defended. In addition, declaring war on the UK and its allies would no doubt give them an opportunity to capture both theCanary Islands andSpanish Morocco, as well as possibly launch an invasion of mainland Spain itself.[177][178] Franco was aware that his air force would be quickly defeated if going into action against theRoyal Air Force, and theRoyal Navy would easily be able to destroy Spain's small navy andblockade the entire Spanish coast to prevent imports of crucial materials such as oil. Spain depended on oil imports from the United States, which were almost certain to be cut off if Spain formally joined the Axis. Franco and Serrano Suñer held a meeting with Mussolini and Ciano inBordighera, Italy on 12 February 1941.[179] However, an affected Mussolini did not appear to be interested in Franco's help due to the defeats his forces had suffered in North Africa and the Balkans, and he even told Franco that he wished he could find any way to leave the war. When theinvasion of the Soviet Union began on 22 June 1941, Franco's foreign ministerRamón Serrano Suñer immediately suggested the formation of a unit of military volunteers to join the invasion.[180] Volunteer Spanish troops (theDivisión Azul, or "Blue Division") fought on theEastern Front under German command from 1941 to 1944. 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.
Franco was initially disliked by Cuban PresidentFulgencio Batista, who, during World War II, suggested a joint U.S.-Latin American declaration of war on Spain to overthrow Franco's regime.[181] Hitler may not have really wanted Spain to join the war, as he needed neutral harbours to import materials from countries in Latin America and elsewhere. He felt Spain would be a burden as it would be dependent on Germany for help. By 1941, Vichy French forces were proving their effectiveness in North Africa, reducing the need for Spanish help, and Hitler was wary about opening up a new front on the western coast of Europe as he struggled to reinforce the Italians in Greece and Yugoslavia. Franco signed a revisedAnti-Comintern Pact on 25 November 1941. Spain continued to be able to obtain valuable German goods, including military equipment, as part of payment for Spanish raw materials,[182] and tradedwolfram with Germany until August 1944 when the Germans withdrew from the Spanish frontier.[172]
Spanish neutrality during World War II was publicly acknowledged by leading Allied statesmen.[183] In November 1942, US President Roosevelt wrote to General Franco: "...your nation and mine are friends in the best sense of the word."[184] In May 1944, Winston Churchill stated in the House of Commons: "In the dark days of the war the attitude of the Spanish Government in not giving our enemies passage through Spain was extremely helpful to us.... I must say that I shall always consider that a service was rendered...by Spain, not only to the United Kingdom and to the British Empire and Commonwealth, but to the cause of the United Nations."[185] According to the personal recollection of US Ambassador to Spain Carlton Hayes, similar gratitude was also expressed by the Provisional French Government at Algiers in 1943. Franco placed no obstacles to Britain's construction of a large air base extending from Gibraltar into Spanish territorial waters and welcomed the Anglo-American landings in North Africa. Spain did not intern any of the 1,200 American airmen who were forced to land in the country, but "gave them refuge and permitted them to leave."[186]
After the war, the Spanish government tried to destroy all evidence of its cooperation with the Axis.
On 14 June 1940, Spanish forces in Morocco occupiedTangier (a city underinternational control) and did not leave until the war's end in 1945.
After the war, Franco allowed many former Nazis, such asOtto Skorzeny andLéon Degrelle, and other fascists, to seek political asylum in Spain.[187]
Franco had a controversial association with Jews before and during World War II. He madeantisemitic remarks in a speech in May 1939, and made similar remarks on at least six occasions during World War II.[188] Franco believed in the existence of a "Jewish-Masonic-Bolshevik conspiracy",[189] and he deliberately framed the Spanish Civil War as a conflict against Jews and Bolsheviks.[190] In 2010, documents were discovered showing that on 13 May 1941, Franco ordered his provincial governors to compile a list of Jews while he negotiated an alliance with the Axis powers.[191] Franco suppliedReichsführer-SS Heinrich Himmler, architect of the Nazis'Final Solution, with a list of 6,000 Jews in Spain.[191]
Contrarily, according toAnti-Semitism: A Historical Encyclopedia of Prejudice and Persecution (2005):
Throughout the war, Franco rescued many Jews. ... Just how many Jews were saved by Franco's government during World War II is a matter of historical controversy. Franco has been credited with saving anywhere from approximately 30,000 to 60,000 Jews; most reliable estimates suggest 45,000 is a likely figure.[192]
Preston writes that, in the post-war years, "a myth was carefully constructed to claim that Franco's regime had saved many Jews from extermination" as a means to deflect foreign criticism away from allegations of active collaboration with the Nazi regime.[193] As early as 1943, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs concluded that the Allies were likely to win the war.José Félix de Lequerica y Erquiza became Foreign Minister in 1944 and soon developed an "obsession" with the importance of the "Jewish card" in relations with the former Allied powers.[194]
Spain provided visas for thousands of French Jews to transit Spain en route to Portugal to escape the Nazis. Spanish diplomats protected about 4,000 Jews living in Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, and Austria. At least some 20,000 to 30,000 Jews were allowed to pass through Spain in the first half of the War. Jews who were not allowed to enter Spain, however, were sent to the Miranda de Ebro concentration camp or deported toFrance. In January 1943, after the German embassy in Spain told the Spanish government that it had two months to remove its Jewish citizens from Western Europe, Spain severely limited visas, and only 800 Jews were allowed to enter the country. After the war, Franco exaggerated his contributions to saving Jews in order to improve Spain's image in the world and end its international isolation.[192][195][page needed][196][197]
After the war, Franco did notrecognise Israeli statehood, and maintained strong relations with theArab world. Israel expressed disinterest in establishing relations, although there were some informal economic ties between the two countries in the later years of Franco's governance.[198] In the aftermath of theSix-Day War in 1967, Franco's Spain was able to utilise its positive relationship with Egyptian PresidentGamal Abdel Nasser and the Arab world (due to not having recognised the Israeli state) to allow 800Egyptian Jews, many of Sephardic ancestry, safe passage out ofEgypt on Spanish passports.[199] This was undertaken through Francoist Spain's Ambassador to Egypt,Ángel Sagaz Zubelzu, on the understanding that emigrant Jews would not immediately emigrate toIsrael and that they would not publicly use the case as political propaganda against Nasser's Egypt.[199] On 16 December 1968, the Spanish government formally revoked the 1492Edict of Expulsion against Spain's Jewish population.[200][201]
Franco personally and many in the government openly stated that they believed there was an international conspiracy of Freemasons and Communists against Spain, sometimes including Jews or "Judeo-Masonry" as part of this.[202] While under the leadership of Francisco Franco, the Spanish government explicitly endorsed theCatholic Church as the religion of the nation state and did not endorse liberal ideas such asreligious pluralism orseparation of Church and State found in theRepublican Constitution of 1931. Following the Second World War, the government enacted the "Spanish Bill of Rights" (Fuero de los Españoles), which extended the right to private worship of non-Catholic religions, including Judaism, though it did not permit the erection of religious buildings for this practice and did not allow non-Catholic public ceremonies.[203] With the pivot of Spain's foreign policy towards theUnited States during theCold War, the situation changed with the 1967 Law on Religious Freedom, which granted full public religious rights to non-Catholics.[204] The overthrow of Catholicism as the explicit state religion of Spain and the establishment of state-sponsored religious pluralism would be realised in Spain in 1978, with the newConstitution of Spain, three years after Franco's death.
Franco was recognised as the Spanish head of state by the United Kingdom, France, and Argentina in February 1939.[205][206] Already proclaimedGeneralísimo of the Nationalists andJefe del Estado (Head of State) in October 1936,[123] he thereafter assumed the official title of "Su Excelencia el Jefe de Estado" ("His Excellency the Head of State"). 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 LastCrusade 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").
On paper, Franco had more power than any Spanish leader before or since. For the first four years after taking Madrid, he ruled almost exclusively by decree. The "Law of the Head of State," passed in August 1939, "permanently confided" all governing power to Franco; he was not required to even consult the cabinet for most legislation or decrees.[207] According to Payne, Franco possessed far more day-to-day power than Hitler or Stalin possessed at the respective heights of their power. He noted that while Hitler and Stalin maintained rubber-stamp parliaments, this was not the case in Spain in the early years after the war – a situation that nominally made Franco's regime "the most purely arbitrary in the world".[208]
This changed in 1942, when Franco convened a parliament known as theCortes Españolas. It was elected in accordance with corporatist principles, and had little real power. Notably, it had no control over government spending, and the government was not responsible to it; ministers were appointed and dismissed by Franco alone.
With the end of World War II, Spain suffered from the consequences of its isolation from the international economy. Spain was excluded from theMarshall Plan,[209] unlike other neutral countries in Europe. This situation ended in part when, in the light ofCold War tensions and of Spain's strategic location, the United States of America entered into a trade and military alliance with Franco. This historic alliance commenced with the visit of US PresidentDwight Eisenhower to Spain in 1953, which resulted in thePact of Madrid. Spain was then admitted to theUnited Nations in 1955.[210] American military facilities in Spain built since then includeNaval Station Rota,Morón Air Base, andTorrejón Air Base.[211]
On 26 July 1947, Franco proclaimed Spain a monarchy, but did not designate a monarch. This gesture was largely done to appease the monarchists in theMovimiento Nacional (Carlists andAlfonsoists). Franco left the throne vacant, proclaiming himself as ade factoregent for life. At the same time, Franco appropriated many of the privileges of a king. He wore the uniform of acaptain general (a rank traditionally reserved for the king) and resided inEl Pardo Palace. In addition he began walking under acanopy, and his portrait appeared on mostSpanish 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 with former French PresidentCharles de Gaulle at his Pardo residence near Madrid, 1970
Franco initially sought support from various groups. His administration marginalised fascist ideologues in favour oftechnocrats, many of whom were linked withOpus Dei, who promoted economic modernisation.[212]
Franco's regime exhibited certain elements of fascism, characterized as trappings,[213][214][215][216] or as essential similarities with fascist regimes in culture, politics and social sphere.[24] TheOxford Living Dictionary and Oxford'sA Dictionary of Philosophy present Franco's regime as an example offascism.[217][218]Stanley Payne argued that very few scholars consider Franco to be a "core fascist";[219]Paul Preston, while agreeing that Franco's personal beliefs were "deeply conservative" rather than fascist, also said that "the only absolutely indisputable fascist leader is Mussolini" and that "Franco wasn't a fascist... he was something much worse."[220] He defines his regime as a Spanish variant of fascism.[221]Richard Griffiths argues that such distinction between Franco's conservatism and fascism would not be understood by Franco himself or his contemporaries.[222] According to such historians as Preston,[221]Julián Casanova,[223][page needed][25] andFerran Gallego,[24] the Nationalists from conservatives to fascists acted as a unified movement, underwent fascisation and radicalization in the course of the war and shared a common ideological culture which led to them establishing, according to these historians, fascism in Spain. The politics of the rebel army headed by Franco, according to Preston, became "undistinguishable" from fascism during the war.[221] Franco himself during the war used the radical fascist ideology of Falangism in construction of his regime, taking the Falange as the base for his party FET-JONS and presenting himself as the direct successor toJose Antonio Primo de Rivera, the founder of the Falange who gained a posthumous personality cult in Francoist Spain of a martyr and the embodiment of the "New Spain". Franco presented himself as completing the work that the young Jose Antonio had begun, becoming recognized as a fascist leader.[10]
Franco's regime has been described in broad definitions: as a fascist regime, as a personalist dictatorship with fascist elements, or as a traditional military dictatorship.[25] It has also been variously presented as a "fascistized dictatorship",[224] or a "semi-fascist regime"[225] which underwent a phase which may be characterized as totalitarian or quasi-totalitarian and fascist or quasi-fascist.[226][227] Francisco Cobo Romero writes that, besides neutering left-wing advances by using an essentially antiliberal brand of ultranationalism, "in its attempt to emulate Fascism, Francoism resorted to the sacralization and mystification of the motherland, raising it into an object of cult, and coating it with a liturgic divinization of its leader".[228] Preston writes that the regime was fascist not only by its culture and aesthetics and politics, but also by its social functions, which included the defense of capitalism and its "fostering" in a revolutionary crisis that needed to be resolved through suppression and dismantling workers' movements and a democratic parliamentary system.[221]
All in all, some authors have pointed at a purported artificialness and failure of FET JONS in order to de-emphasise the Fascist weight within the regime whereas others have embedded those perceived features of "weak party" within the frame of a particular model of "Spanish Fascism".[229] However, new research material has been argued to underpin the "Fascist subject", both on the basis of the existence of a pervasive and fully differentiated Fascist falangist political culture, and on the importance of the Civil War forFalangism, which served as an area of experience, of violence, of memory, as well as for the generation of a culture of victory.[229] Under the perspective of a comparative of European fascisms, Javier Rodrigo considers the Francoist regime to be paradigmatic for three reasons: for being the only authoritarian European regime with totalitarian aspirations, for being the regime that deployed the most political violence in times of rhetorical peace, and for being the regime deploying the most effective "memoricidal" apparatus.[230] Preston points out that the characteristics used to point out the non-Fascist nature of Francoism were exhibited by Fascist Italy: the heterogenous nature of the FET JONS could be paralleled by the fusion of radical Italian Fascists with other right-wing groups after 1922, and similarly, Fascist regime, which was a 'compromise' of radical fascism and conservatism, displayed 'pluralism', including the partnership of the party and the army instead of full subjugation of the latter to the first.[221][231]
According to Preston's estimates, Franco's forces killed about 420,000 Spaniards in the theatre of war, through extrajudicial killings during the Civil War, and in state executions immediately following its end in 1939.[232] The first decade of Franco's rule following its end saw continued repression and the killing of an undetermined number of political opponents. In 1941 the prison population of Spain was 233,000, mostly political prisoners.[233] According to Antony Beevor, recent research in more than half of Spain's provinces indicates at least 35,000 official executions in the country after the war, suggesting that the generally accepted figure of 35,000 official executions is low. Accounting for unofficial and random killings, and those who died during the war from execution, suicide, starvation and disease in prison, the total number is probably closer to 200,000.[234]
Franco's Spanish nationalism promoted a unitary national identity by repressing Spain's cultural diversity.Bullfighting andflamenco[236] 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 Andalucian tradition, was considered part of a larger, national identity. All cultural activities were subject to censorship, and many, such as theSardana, the national dance ofCatalonia, were plainly forbidden (often in an erratic manner). This cultural policy was relaxed over time, most notably during the late 1960s and early 1970s.
Franco also usedlanguage politics in an attempt to establish national homogeneity. He promoted the use ofCastilian Spanish and suppressed other languages such asCatalan,Galician, andBasque. 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 documents 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 they reached bookshops and stages, although they never received official status.
Most country towns and rural areas were patrolled by pairs ofGuardia Civil, a military police force for civilians, which functioned as Franco's chief means of social control. Larger cities and capitals were mostly under the jurisdiction of thePolicia Armada, or thegrises ("greys", due to the colour of their uniforms) as they were called.
Student revolts at universities in the late 1960s and early 1970s were violently repressed by the heavily armedPolicía Armada (Armed Police), and plain-clothes police were present at lectures in Spanish universities.[237] The enforcement by public authorities of traditionalCatholic values was a stated intent of the regime, mainly by using a law (theLey de Vagos y Maleantes, Vagrancy Act) enacted byAzaña.[238] The remaining nomads of Spain (Gitanos andMercheros likeEl Lute) were especially affected. Through this law, homosexuality and prostitution were made criminal offences in 1954.[239]
Spain attempted to retain control of its colonies throughout Franco's rule. During theAlgerian War (1954–62), Madrid became the base of theOrganisation armée secrète (OAS), a right-wing French Army group which sought to preserveFrench Algeria. Despite this, Franco was forced to make some concessions. When Morocco became independent from France in 1956, he surrendered the territories of theSpanish protectorate to the new-born state, retaining only a few cities (thePlazas de soberanía). The year after,Mohammed V invadedSpanish Sahara during theIfni War (known as the "Forgotten War" in Spain). Only in 1975, with theGreen March, did Morocco take control of all of the former Spanish territories in the Sahara.
The Civil War ravaged the Spanish economy.[242] 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 ofautarky, cutting off almost all international trade. The policy had devastating effects, and the economy stagnated. Only black marketeers could enjoy an evident affluence.
1963Spanish peseta coin with an image of Franco and lettering reading: "Francisco Franco, Leader of Spain, by the grace of God"
On the brink of bankruptcy, a combination of pressure from the United States and theIMF managed to convince the regime to adopt a free market economy. Many of the old guard in charge of the economy were replaced by technocrats (technocrata), despite some initial opposition from Franco. The regime took its first faltering steps toward abandoning its pretensions of self-sufficiency and towards a transformation of Spain's economic system. Pre-Civil War industrial production levels were regained in the early 1950s, though agricultural output remained below prewar levels until 1958. The years from 1951 to 1956 were marked by substantial economic progress, but the reforms of the period were only sporadically implemented, and they were not well coordinated. From the mid-1950s there was a slow but steady acceleration in economic activity, but the relative lack of growth (compared to the rest of Western Europe) eventually forced the Franco regime to allow the introduction of liberal economic policies in the late 1950s. During the pre-stabilization years of 1957–1959, Spanish economic planners implemented partial measures such as moderate anti-inflationary adjustments and incremental moves to integrate Spain into the global economy, but external developments and a worsening domestic economic crisis forced them to adopt more sweeping changes. A reorganisation of the Council of Ministers in early 1957 had brought a group of younger men, most of whom were educated in economics and had experience, to the key ministries. The process of integrating the country into the world economy was further facilitated by the reforms of the 1959 Stabilization and Liberalization Plan.[243][244]
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".
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.
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 manufacturerSEAT, truck builderPegaso, 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 behindJapan. 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 industrialised economy.
In the late 1960s, the ageing Franco decided to name a monarch to succeed his regency, but the simmering tensions between theCarlists and theAlfonsoists continued. In 1969, Franco formally nominated as his heir-apparent PrinceJuan Carlos de Borbón, whose family sent him to Spain at age 10 to be educated there during Franco's reign,[245] with the new title ofPrince of Spain, suggested byLaureano López Rodó to avoid a confrontation with Juan Carlos's father,Juan de Borbón, the Count of Barcelona.[246] This designation came as a surprise to the Carlist pretender to the throne,Prince Xavier of Bourbon-Parma, as well as to Don Juan.[247]
As his final years progressed, tensions within the various factions of theMovimiento would consume Spanish political life, as varying groups jockeyed for position in an effort to win control of the country's future.
After a prolonged illness in his final years, Franco died on 20 November 1975 at the age of 82, according to a statement from the government, on the 39th anniversary of the death ofJosé Antonio Primo de Rivera, the founder of theFalange. HistorianRicardo de la Cierva claimed, however, that he had been told around 6 pm on 19 November that Franco had already died.[250]
As soon as news of Franco's death was made public, the government declared thirty days of official national mourning. On 22 November, Juan Carlos was officially proclaimedKing of Spain. There was a public viewing of Franco's body at the chapel in the Royal Palace; a requiem mass and a military parade were held on 23 November, the day of his burial.[251] The mass was attended, among others, by Chilean leaderAugusto Pinochet and the First Lady of the Philippines,Imelda Marcos.[252][253] Major European governments, who condemned Franco's regime, declined to send high-level representatives to his funeral.[254]
Franco's body was interred near the grave of Primo de Rivera at theValley of the Fallen (Valle de los Caídos), a colossal memorial built from forced labour bypolitical prisoners, ostensibly to honour the casualties of both sides of the Spanish Civil War.[251] He was the only person interred in the Valley who did not die during the civil war.[255][256] As thecortège with Franco's body arrived, some 75,000 rightists wearing theblue shirts of theFalangists greeted it with rebel songs from the civil war andfascist salutes.[257]
Following Franco's funeral, his widow, Carmen Polo, supervised the moving of crates of jewellery, antiques, artworks, and Franco's papers to the family's various estates in Spain or to safe havens in foreign countries. The family remained extremely rich after his death. Polo had a room in her apartment in which the walls were lined from floor to ceiling with forty columns of twenty drawers, some containing tiaras, necklaces, earrings, garlands, brooches and cameos. Others contained gold, silver, diamonds, emeralds, rubies, topazes, and pearls, but the most valuable jewels were kept in bank vaults.[258]
Exhumation
In 2019 Franco's body was removed from the monument of Santa Cruz delValley of the Fallen, where it had lain since his funeral in 1975.
On 24 August 2018, theGovernment of Prime MinisterPedro Sánchez approved legal amendments to theHistorical Memory Law stating that only those who died during theCivil War would be buried at the Valle de los Caídos, resulting in plans to exhume Franco's remains for reburial elsewhere. Deputy Prime MinisterCarmen Calvo Poyato stated that having Franco buried at the monument "shows a lack of respect ... for the victims buried there". The government gave Franco's family a 15-day deadline to decide Franco's final resting place, or else a "dignified place" would be chosen by the government.[260]
On 13 September 2018, theCongress of Deputies voted 176–2, with 165 abstentions, to approve the government's plan to remove Franco's body from the monument.[261]
Franco's family opposed the exhumation and attempted to prevent it by making appeals to theOmbudsman's Office. The family expressed its wish that Franco's remains be reinterred with full military honours at theAlmudena Cathedral in the centre ofMadrid, the burial place he had requested before his death.[262] The demand was rejected by the Spanish Government, which issued another 15-day deadline to choose another site.[263] Because the family refused to choose another location, the Spanish Government ultimately chose to rebury Franco at theMingorrubio Cemetery inEl Pardo, where his wife Carmen Polo and a number of Francoist officials, most notably prime ministersLuis Carrero Blanco andCarlos Arias Navarro, are buried.[264] His body was to be exhumed from the Valle de los Caídos on 10 June 2019, but the Supreme Court of Spain ruled that the exhumation would be delayed until the family had exhausted all possible appeals.[265]
On 24 September 2019, the Supreme Court ruled that the exhumation could proceed, and the Sánchez government announced that it would move Franco's remains to the Mingorrubio cemetery as soon as possible.[266] On 24 October 2019 his remains were moved to his wife's mausoleum which is located in the Mingorrubio Cemetery, and buried in a private ceremony.[267] Though barred by the Spanish government from being draped in the Spanish flag, Francisco Franco's grandson, also named Francisco Franco, draped his coffin in the Nationalist flag.[268] According to a poll by the Spanish newspaper,El Mundo, 43% of Spanish people approved of the exhumation while 32.5% opposed it. Opinions on the exhumation were divided by party line, with the Socialist party strongly in favour of the exhumation as well as the removal of his statue there. There seems to be no consensus on whether the statue should simply be moved or completely destroyed.[269]
In Spain and abroad, the legacy of Franco remains controversial. The longevity of Franco's rule (39 years in the Nationalist Zone and 36 years in all of Spain), his suppression of political opposition, and his government's effective propaganda sustained through the years have made a detached evaluation difficult. For almost 40 years, Spaniards, and particularly children at school, were told thatDivine Providence had sent Franco to save Spain from chaos, atheism, and poverty.[270] Historian Stanley Payne described Franco as being the most significant figure to dominate Spain sinceKing Felipe II,[271] while Michael Seidman argued that Franco was the most successful counter-revolutionary leader of the 20th century.[272]
A highly controversial figure within Spain, Franco is seen as a divisive leader. Supporters credit him for keeping Spain neutral and uninvaded during theSecond World War. They emphasise his strong anti-communist and nationalist views, economic policies, and opposition to socialism as major factors in Spain's post-war economic success and later international integration.[273] For Spain's neutrality during the war he was praised byWinston Churchill,Charles de Gaulle andFranklin D. Roosevelt.[183][184] He was also supported byKonrad Adenauer and many American Catholics, but was later strongly opposed by theTruman administration.[274]
The American conservative commentatorWilliam F. Buckley, Jr was an admirer of Franco, and praised him effusively in his magazine,National Review, where the staff were also ardent admirers of the leader. In 1957, Buckley called him "an authentic national hero",[275] who "above others", had the qualities needed to wrest Spain from "the hands of the visionaries, ideologues, Marxists and nihilists".[276]
Conversely, critics on theleft have denounced him as a tyrant responsible for thousands of deaths in years-long political repression and have called him complicit in atrocities committed by Axis forces during the Second World War due to his support of the Axis governments.
When he died in November 1975, the major parties of the left and the right in Spain agreed to follow thePact of Forgetting. To secure the transition to democracy, they agreed not to have investigations or prosecutions dealing with the civil war or Franco. The agreement effectively lapsed after 2000, the year theAssociation for the Recovery of Historical Memory (Asociación para la Recuperación de la Memoria Histórica (ARMH)) was founded and the public debate started.[277] In 2006, a poll indicated that almost two-thirds of Spaniards favoured a "fresh investigation into the war".[278]
A statue of Franco in Santander which was removed in 2008
Franco served as a role model for severalanti-communist leaders in South America.Augusto Pinochet is known to have admired Franco.[279] Similarly, as recently as 2006, Franco supporters in Spain have honoured Pinochet.[280] Even in 2024, the American bookUnhumans lauded Franco as a hero.[281]
In 2006, theBBC reported thatMaciej Giertych, anMEP of the clerical-nationalistLeague of Polish Families, had expressed admiration for Franco, stating that the Spanishleader "guaranteed the maintenance of traditional values in Europe".[282]
Spaniards who suffered under Franco's rule have sought to remove memorials of his regime. Most government buildings and streets that were named after Franco during his rule have been 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 began the removal of all statues, street names and memorials associated with the regime, with the last statue reportedly being removed in 2008 in the city of Santander.[283] Churches that retain plaques commemorating Franco and thevictims of his Republican opponents may lose state aid.[284] Since 1978, the national anthem of Spain, theMarcha Real, does not include lyrics introduced by Franco. Attempts to give the national anthem new lyrics have failed due to lack of consensus.
On 11 February 2004,Luis Yáñez-Barnuevo and others presented a motion for the "Need for international condemnation of the Franco regime" to the Parliamentary Assembly of theCouncil of Europe.[285] In March 2006, the Permanent Commission of the Parliamentary Assembly 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.[286] The resolution was at the initiative ofLeo Brincat and of the historianLuis María de Puig and was the first international official condemnation of the repression enacted by Franco's regime. The resolution also urged that historians (professional and amateur) be given access to the various archives of the Francoist regime, including those of the privateFrancisco Franco National Foundation (FNFF) which, along with other Francoist archives, remain inaccessible to the public as of 2006. The FNFF received various archives fromEl Pardo Palace and is alleged to have sold some of them to private individuals.[287] Furthermore, the resolution urged the Spanish authorities to set up an undergroundexhibit in theValle de los Caidos monument to explain the "terrible" conditions in which it was built. Finally, it proposed the construction of monuments to commemorate Franco's victims in Madrid and other important cities.[286]
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 2004 and is directed by thesocial-democratic deputy Prime MinisterMaría Teresa Fernández de la Vega.[286]
Sign inSanta Cruz de Tenerife for a street bearing Franco's name which was renamed in 2008 Rambla de Santa Cruz
Official endeavours to preserve the historical memory of Spanish life under the Franco regime include exhibitions like the one held at the Museu d'Història de Catalunya (Museum of Catalan History) in 2003–2004, titled "Les presons de Franco". This exposition depicted the experiences of prisoners in Franco's prison system and described other aspects of the penal system such as women's prisons, trials, the jailers, and prisoners' families.[291] The Museum no longer maintains its online version of the exhibition.
The accumulated wealth of Franco's family (including much real estate inherited from Franco, such as thePazo de Meirás, theCanto del Pico inTorrelodones and theCasa Cornide [es] inA Coruña) and its provenance have also become matters of public discussion. Estimates of the family's wealth have ranged from 350 million to 600 million euros.[287] While Franco was dying, theFrancoist Cortes voted a largepublic pension for his wifeCarmen Polo, which the later democratic governments kept paying. At the time of her death in 1988, Carmen Polo was receiving a pension of over 12.5 millionpesetas (four million more than the salary ofFelipe González, then head of the government).[287]
Raza orEspíritu de una Raza (Spirit of a Race) (1941), based on a script byJaime de Andrade (Franco himself), is the semi-autobiographical story of a military officer played byAlfredo Mayo.
The first-season episodeCómo se reescribe el tiempo of the Spanish television seriesEl Ministerio del Tiempo (2015) sets events around Franco's October 1940 meeting with Adolf Hitler at Hendaye. Franco is portrayed by actor Pep Mirás.
At the end of the movieLa reina de España (The Queen of Spain), Franco, played byCarlos Areces, is spat on in the face by the fictional Macarena Granada (Penélope Cruz), a Spanish Hollywood star who has returned to Spain to film a movie during Franco's reign.
Music
French singer-songwriter and anarchistLéo Ferré wrote "Franco la muerte", a song he recorded for his 1964 albumFerré 64. In this highly confrontational song, he directly shouts at the Franco and lavishes him with contempt. Ferré refused to sing in Spain until Franco was dead.
Literature
Franco is a character in CJ Sansom's bookWinter in Madrid
...Y al tercer año resucitó (...And On the Third Year He Rose Again) (1980) describes what would happen if Franco rose from the dead.
Franco is the centrepiece of the satirical workEl general Franquisimo o La muerte civil de un militar moribundo (The Great General Franco, or the Civil Death of a Dying Soldier) by Andalucian political cartoonist and journalistAndrés Vázquez de Sola.[293]
Franco features in several novels byCaroline Angus Baker, includingVengeance in the Valencian Water, visiting the aftermath of the 1957 Valencia floods, andDeath in the Valencian Dust, about the final executions handed down before his death in 1975.
^The more than 150,000 executions for political reasons was ten times the number of those in Nazi Germany and 1,000 times the number in Fascist Italy. Reig Tapia points out that Franco signed more decrees of execution than any other previous head of state in Spain.[159]
^The post of Prime Minister was attached to that of Head of State until the 1967Organic Law of the State, with the separation coming into force with Franco's resignation as Prime Minister on 9 June 1973.[6]
^abcQuiroga, Alejandro (12 July 2012).Right-Wing Spain in the Civil War Era Soldiers of God and Apostles of the Fatherland, 1914-45. Bloomsbury. p. 91, 137.ISBN9781441114792.
^Radosh, Ronald; Habeck, Mary R.; Sevostʹi͡anov, G. N., eds. (2001)."Historical Background".Spain Betrayed: The Soviet Union in the Spanish Civil War. Yale University Press. p. 29.ISBN978-0-300-08981-3.
^Golson, Eric (15 June 2011).The Economics of Neutrality: Spain, Sweden and Switzerland in the Second World War (phd). London School of Economics and Political Science. p. 145.This chapter demonstrates that, although nominal trade increased consistently from 1939 to 1943, Germany suffered from increasingly poor terms of trade after 1939, as Spain paid less for its German imports and charged more for its exports. As part of Germany's payment for Spanish resources, Spain was able to exact particularly valuable goods from Germany, including military equipment needed for the German war effort.
^Green, David (6 December 2015)."This Day in Jewish History 1968: Spain Revokes the Expulsion of the Jews".Haaretz.Although technically the Inquisition had been dismantled with the passage into law of Spain's constitution of 1869, which abolished religious discrimination, it was not until this 1968 legislation that the regime under Francisco Franco explicitly invited Jews to come and openly practice their faith in Spain.
^Calvo-Gonzalez, O. (2006). "Neither a Carrot nor a Stick: American Foreign Aid and Economic Policymaking in Spain during the 1950s".Diplomatic History.30 (3): 409.doi:10.1111/j.1467-7709.2006.00561.x.
^abcdePreston, Paul (2005) [1990]. "Resisting modernity: fascism and the military in twentieth century Spain".The Politics of Revenge: Fascism and the Military in Twentieth-Century Spain. Routledge.ISBN0415120004.
^Kornetis, Kostis (2019)."Comparing the Transitions". In Cavallaro, Maria Elena; Kornetis, Kostis (eds.).Rethinking Democratisation in Spain, Greece and Portugal. Springer. p. 72.ISBN978-3-030-11108-3.
^Martin Blinkhorn (2014).Fascism and the Right in Europe 1919-1945.In the case of the Franco regime, and bearing in mind the fluidity of the Italian Fascist regime itself, it is probably reasonable to suggest that the 1940s represented a 'fascist phase' that then gave way to something more conventionally authoritarian.
Hernández, Carlos Gregorio Hernández (2015)."Spain in the Interwar Period". In Martínez, José Luis Orella; Mizerska-Wrotkowska, Małgorzata (eds.).Poland and Spain in the Interwar and Postwar Period. Schedas.ISBN978-84-944180-7-5.
Martin, Benjamin (1990)."3. The Economy"(PDF). In Solsten, Eric; Meditz, Sandra W.; Keefe, Eugene K. (eds.).Spain: A Country Study. Federal Research Division, Library of Congress.ISBN978-0-16-028550-9.Archived(PDF) from the original on 19 November 2020.
Moreno-Luzón, Javier; Seixas, Xosé M. Núñez (2017)."The Flag and the Anthem". In Moreno-Luzón, Javier; Seixas, Xosé M. Núñez (eds.).Metaphors of Spain: Representations of Spanish National Identity in the Twentieth Century. Berghahn Books. pp. 47–48.ISBN978-1-78533-467-2.
Preston, Paul (2010)."The Theorists of Extermination". In Farrán, Carlos Jerez; Amago, Samuel (eds.).Unearthing Franco's Legacy: Mass Graves and the Recovery of Historical Memory in Spain. University of Notre Dame Press.ISBN978-0-268-03268-5.
Ruiz, Julius (January 2007). "Defending the Republic: The García Atadell Brigade in Madrid, 1936".Journal of Contemporary History.42 (1): 97.doi:10.1177/0022009407071625.S2CID159559553.
Cerdá, Néstor. (October 2011) "Political Ascent and Military Commander: General Franco in the Early Months of the Spanish Civil War, July–October 1936".Journal of Military History.75 (4) pp. 1125–1157.
Franco, Pilar. (1980). Nosotros, Los Franco. La Familia Franco y toda la España contemporánea por un testigo de excepción: la hermana del Caudillo. Espejo de España, Editorial Planeta. 268 Páginas.ISBN84-320-6431-9
Lines, Lisa. (2017) "Francisco Franco as Warrior: Is It Time for a Reassessment of His Military Leadership?"Journal of Military History81 (2) pp. 513–534.
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