Francisco Franco

Francisco Franco was born on December 4, 1892 in Ferrol, a naval town in Galicia, Spain. He was the second of five children of a naval officer and a pious mother. He entered the Infantry Academy of Toledo in 1907 and graduated in 1910. He served in Morocco during the Rif War and rose through the ranks for his bravery and competence. He became the youngest general in Europe in 1926. He was appointed director of the General Military Academy of Zaragoza in 1928 and became a supporter of the dictatorship of Miguel Primo de Rivera. After the fall of Primo de Rivera in 1930 and the proclamation of the Second Spanish Republic in 1931, Franco remained loyal to the monarchy and opposed the republican reforms. He was transferred to remote posts and briefly considered retiring from the army. He was appointed chief of staff in 1935 by the conservative government of Alejandro Lerroux. In 1936, he joined a military coup against the Popular Front government that sparked the Spanish Civil War. He took command of the rebel forces in Morocco and led them to mainland Spain. He became the leader of the Nationalist faction that was supported by Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy. He fought against the Republican side that was backed by the Soviet Union and the International Brigades. He won the war in 1939 after a brutal campaign that caused hundreds of thousands of deaths and atrocities on both sides. He established a dictatorship that lasted until his death in 1975. He abolished democracy, banned political parties, censored the media, suppressed civil liberties, persecuted his enemies, and enforced a one-party state under his National Movement. He promoted a nationalist and Catholic ideology that glorified Spain's imperial past and rejected modernity and liberalism. He resisted pressure from Hitler to join World War II and maintained a policy of non-belligerence until 1943, when he switched to a pro-Allied stance. He faced international isolation and economic hardship after the war, but he received support from the United States during the Cold War as an anti-communist ally. He also faced internal opposition from various groups, such as communists, socialists, anarchists, liberals, democrats, regionalists, separatists, and students. He survived several assassination attempts and plots to overthrow him. He implemented some economic reforms that led to rapid growth and development in the 1950s and 1960s, known as the Spanish miracle. He also granted some concessions to the Catholic Church and some regional cultures. However, he refused to democratize his regime or grant autonomy to Catalonia and the Basque Country. He designated Prince Juan Carlos as his successor in 1969 and gave him the title of King of Spain in 1975. He died on November 20, 1975 in Madrid at the age of 82 from heart failure. He was buried in the Valley of the Fallen, a monumental complex built by his regime near Madrid. In 2019, his remains were exhumed and reburied in the Mingorrubio Cemetery in Madrid, following a decision by the democratic government of Pedro Sánchez. He is regarded as a hero by some and a tyrant by others. He remains a controversial and divisive figure in Spanish history and politics.