franco the fascist was anti-communist, for conservative family values, and was supported by hitler and mussolini:During Franco's rule, trade unions and all political opponents across the political spectrum, from communist to liberal democrats
Nickname unavailable
franco the fascist was anti-communist, for conservative family values,
and was supported by hitler and mussolini:During Franco's rule, trade
unions and all political opponents across the political spectrum, from
communist and anarchist organizations to liberal democrats were
either suppressed or tightly controlled by all means, up to and
including violent police repression
Francisco Franco
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
For other uses see, Franco (disambiguation).
Francisco Franco Bahamonde (4 December 1892 in Ferrol – 20 November
1975 in Madrid), commonly known as Francisco Franco (Spanish
pronunciation: [fɾanˈθisko ˈfɾaŋko]) was a military general and
dictator of Spain from October 1936, and de facto regent of the
nominally restored Kingdom of Spain from 1947 until his death in 1975.
During his almost forty year reign, Franco's governance of Spain went
through various different phases. Although the most common ideological
features which were present throughout included a strong sense of
Spanish nationalism and protection of its territorial integrity,
Catholicism, anti-communism and traditional values.[1]
From a military family, Franco originally set out for a career in the
Spanish Navy—however this had reduced since Spain has lost much of its
empire so he became a solider instead. During the early period of his
career he fought in Morocco during the Rif War, rising to the position
of general. Afterwards he was stationed on the Spanish mainland and
saw service suppressing an anarchist led strike in 1934; defending the
stability of Alcalá-Zamora's conservative republican government.
Everything changed in 1936 with the election of the Popular Front, a
far left coalition of socialists, communists, anarchists and liberal
republicans. A period of severe instability ensued, with escalating
violence and distrust between supporters of each side. Anti-clerical
violence against the Church by leftist militants raised tensions.
After the assassination of José Calvo Sotelo, by a commando unit of
the Assault Guards—the military felt a communist dictatorship was
nearing. Franco and the military participated in a coup d'etat against
the Popular Front government.
The coup failed and devolved into the Spanish Civil War during which
he emerged as the leader of the Nationalists against the Popular Front
government. After winning the civil war with support from Benito
Mussolini's Italy and Adolf Hitler's Germany—while the Soviet Union
provided help to the Popular Party—he dissolved the Spanish
Parliament. He then established a right-wing authoritarian regime that
lasted until 1978, when a new constitution was drafted. During the
Second World War, Franco officially maintained a policy of non-
belligerency and later of neutrality. However, he agreed to allow the
many Spanish volunteers, known as the Blue Division to join the
Germany Army in the fight against Communism on the Eastern Front.
After the end of World War II, Franco maintained his control in Spain
through the implementation of repressive and authoritarian measures:
the systematic suppression of dissident views through censorship and
coercion,[2][3] the institutionalization of torture,[4] the
imprisonment of ideological enemies in concentration camps throughout
the country (such as Los Merinales in Seville, San Marcos in León,
Castuera in Extremadura, and Miranda de Ebro)[5], the implementation
of forced labor in prisons[6] and the use of the death penalty and
heavy prison sentences as deterrents for his ideological enemies[7].
During the Cold War, the United States established a diplomatic
alliance with Spain, due to Franco's strong anti-Communist policy.
American President Richard Nixon toasted Franco, [8] and, after
Franco's death, stated: "General Franco was a loyal friend and ally of
the United States[9]." After his death Spain gradually began its
transition to democracy. Today, pre-constitutional symbols from the
Franco regime (such as the national flag with the Imperial Eagle) are
banned by law in Spain.
Contents [hide]
[edit]
Early life
Francisco Franco was born on 4 December 1892, in El Ferrol, Galicia,
which is Spain's chief naval base in the north. The Franco family was
originally from Andalucia and are thought to have a degree of
aristocratic ancestry.[note 1] Since relocating to Galicia they were
strongly involved in the Spanish Navy and over two centuries produced
naval officers for six generations uninterupted, right down to
Franco's father Nicolás Franco y Salgado.
Franco's mother was María del Pilar Bahamonde y Pardo de Andrade and
his parents maried in 1890. The Bahamonde family was of local Galician
aristocratic stock, she was descended from VII Conde de Lemos and his
wife the third Condessa de Villalva, who were descended from
Portuguese royalty and thus from many other European kings.[10][11] He
had two brothers, Nicolás (Ferrol, 1891 - 1977), Spanish Navy Officer
and Diplomat married to María Isabel Pascual del Pobil y Ravello, and
Ramón, a pioneering Aviator, and two sisters María del Pilar (Ferrol,
1894 - Madrid, 1989) and María de la Paz (Ferrol, 1899 - Ferrol,
1900), with whom he spent much of his childhood.
[edit]
Military career
[edit]
Rif War, rise through the ranks
Francisco was to follow his father into the Navy but as a result of
the Spanish-American War the country had lost much of its navy as well
as most of its colonies. Not needing more officers, entry into the
Naval Academy was closed from 1906 to 1913. To his father's chagrin,
he decided to join the Spanish Army. In 1907, he entered the Infantry
Academy in Toledo, from which he graduated in 1910. He was
commissioned as a lieutenant. Two years later, he obtained a
commission to Morocco. Spanish efforts to physically occupy their new
African protectorate provoked the protracted Rif War (from 1909 to
1927) with native Moroccans. Tactics at the time resulted in heavy
losses among Spanish military officers, but also gave the chance of
earning promotion through merit. It was said that officers would get
either la caja o la faja (a coffin or a general's sash). Franco soon
gained a reputation as a good officer. He joined the newly formed
regulares, colonial native troops with Spanish officers, who acted as
shock troops.
In 1916, at the age of 23 and already a captain, he was badly wounded
in a skirmish at El Biutz and possibly lost a testicle.[12] His
survival marked him permanently in the eyes of the native troops as a
man of baraka (good luck). He was also recommended unsuccessfully for
Spain's highest honor for gallantry, the coveted Cruz Laureada de San
Fernando. Instead, he was promoted to major (comandante), becoming the
youngest field grade officer in the Spanish Army. From 1917 to 1920,
he was posted on the Spanish mainland. That last year, Lieutenant
Colonel José Millán Astray, a histrionic but charismatic officer,
founded the Spanish Foreign Legion, along similar lines to the French
Foreign Legion. Franco became the Legion's second-in-command and
returned to Africa. On 24 July 1921, the poorly commanded and
overextended Spanish Army suffered a crushing defeat at Annual at the
hands of the Rif tribes led by the Abd el-Krim brothers. The Legion
symbolically, if not materially, saved the Spanish enclave of Melilla
after a gruelling three-day forced march led by Franco. In 1923,
already a lieutenant colonel, he was made commander of the Legion.
The same year, he married María del Carmen Polo y Martínez-Valdès;
they had one child, a daughter, María del Carmen, born in 1926.[13] As
a special mark of honor, his best man (padrino) at the wedding was
King Alfonso XIII, a fact that would mark him during the Republic as a
monarchical officer. Promoted to colonel, Franco led the first wave of
troops ashore at Al Hoceima in 1925. This landing in the heartland of
Abd el-Krim's tribe, combined with the French invasion from the south,
spelled the beginning of the end for the short-lived Republic of the
Rif. Becoming the youngest general in Spain in 1926, Franco was
appointed in 1928 director of the newly created the General Military
Academy of Zaragoza, a new college for all Army cadets, replacing the
former separate institutions for young men seeking to become officers
in infantry, cavalry, artillery, and other branches of the army.
[edit]
During the Second Spanish Republic
With the fall of the monarchy in 1931, in keeping with his long-
standing apolitical record, Franco did not take any notable stand. But
the closing of the Academy, in June, by War Minister Manuel Azaña,
provoked his first clash with the Republic. Azaña found Franco's
farewell speech to the cadets[14] insulting. For six months, Franco
was without a post and under surveillance.
On 5 February 1932, he was given a command in La Coruña. Franco
avoided involvement in José Sanjurjo's attempted coup that year, and
even wrote a hostile letter to Sanjurjo expressing his anger over the
attempt. As a side result of Azaña's military reform, in January 1933,
Franco was relegated from the first to the 24th in the list of
Brigadiers; conversely, the same year (17 February), he was given the
military command of the Balearic Islands: a post above his rank.
New elections held in October 1933 resulted in a center-right
majority. In opposition to this government, a revolutionary movement
broke out 5 October 1934. This uprising was rapidly quelled in most of
the country, but gained a stronghold in Asturias, with the support of
the miners' unions. Franco, already general of a Division and aide to
the war minister, Diego Hidalgo, was put in command of the operations
directed to suppress the insurgency. The forces of the Army in Africa
were to carry the brunt of this, with General Eduardo López Ochoa as
commander in the field. After two weeks of heavy fighting (and a death
toll estimated between 1,200 and 2,000), the rebellion was suppressed.
The insurgency in Asturias sharpened the antagonism between Left and
Right. Franco and López Ochoa—who, prior to the campaign in Asturias,
was seen as a left-leaning officer—were marked by the left as enemies.
At the start of the Civil War, López Ochoa was assassinated. Some time
after these events, Franco was briefly commander-in-chief of the Army
of Africa (from 15 February onwards), and from 19 May 1935 on, Chief
of the General Staff.
[edit]
1936 general election
After the ruling centre-right coalition collapsed amid the Straperlo
corruption scandal, new elections were scheduled. Two wide coalitions
formed: the Popular Front on the left, ranging from Republican Union
Party to Communists, and the Frente Nacional on the right, ranging
from the center radicals to the conservative Carlists. On February 16,
1936, the left won by a narrow margin.[15] Growing political
bitterness surfaced again. The government and its supporters, the
Popular Front, had launched a campaign against the Opposition whom
they accused of plotting against the Republic. The Opposition parties,
on the other hand, had reacted with increasing vigour. The latter
claimed that the Popular Front had illegally obtained two hundred
seats in a Parliament of 473 members. After the loss of 200 seats, the
Opposition Parties claimed the government represented only a small
minority, adding claims that the Popular Front's parliamentary
majority was the result of large-scale electoral fraud, of Government-
sponsored mob terror and intimidation, of the arbitrary annulment of
all election certificates in many Right-wing constituencies, and of
the expulsion, the arrest, or even the assassination, of many legally
elected deputies of the Right. According to the Opposition, the real
enemies of the Republic were not on the Right but on the Left; Spain
was in imminent danger of falling under a Communist dictatorship, and
therefore by fighting the Popular Front they, the Opposition, were
merely doing their duty in defence of law and order and of the freedom
and the fundamental rights of the Spanish people.[16]
The days after the election were marked by near-chaotic circumstances.
Franco lobbied unsuccessfully to have a state of emergency declared,
with the stated purpose of quelling the disturbances and allowing an
orderly vote recount.[citation needed]
Instead, on 23 February, Franco was sent to the distant Canary Islands
to serve as the islands' military commander, a position in which he
had few troops under his command.
Meanwhile, a conspiracy led by Emilio Mola was taking shape. In June,
Franco was contacted and a secret meeting was held in Tenerife's La
Esperanza Forest to discuss a military coup. (A commemorative obelisk
commemorating this historic meeting can be found in a clearing at Las
Raíces.)
Outwardly, Franco maintained an ambiguous attitude almost up until
July. On June 23, 1936, he wrote to the head of the government,
Casares Quiroga, offering to quell the discontent in the army, but was
not answered. The other rebels were determined to go ahead, con
Paquito o sin Paquito (with Franco or without him), as it was put by
José Sanjurjo, the honorary leader of the military uprising. After
various postponements, July 18 was fixed as the date of the uprising.
The situation reached a point of no return and, as presented to Franco
by Mola, the coup was unavoidable and he had to choose a side. He
decided to join the rebels and was given the task of commanding the
Army of Africa. A privately owned DH 89 De Havilland Dragon Rapide,
was chartered in England July 11 to take Franco to Africa.
The assassination of the right-wing opposition leader José Calvo
Sotelo by government police troops, possibly acting on their own in
retaliation for the murder of José Castillo, precipitated the
uprising. On July 17, one day earlier than planned, the African Army
rebelled, detaining their commanders. On July 18, Franco published a
manifesto[17] and left for Africa, where he arrived the next day to
take command.
A week later, the rebels, who soon called themselves the Nationalists,
controlled only a third of Spain, and most navy units remained under
control of the Republican loyalist forces, which left Franco isolated.
The coup had failed, but the Spanish Civil War had begun.
[edit]
From the Spanish Civil War to World War II
Main articles: Spanish Civil War and Spain in World War II
The Spanish Civil War began in July 1936 and officially ended with
Franco's victory in April 1939, leaving 190,000[18] to 500,000[19]
dead. Despite the Non-Intervention Agreement of August 1936, the war
was marked by foreign intervention on behalf of both sides, leading to
international repercussions. The nationalist side was supported by
Fascist Italy, which sent the Corpo Truppe Volontarie and later Nazi
Germany, which assisted with the Condor Legion infamous for their
bombing of Guernica in April 1937. Britain and France strictly adhered
to the arms embargo, provoking dissensions within the French Popular
Front coalition led by Léon Blum, but the Republican side was
nonetheless supported by volunteers fighting in the International
Brigades and the Soviet Union. (See for example Ken Loach's Land and
Freedom.)
Because Hitler and Stalin used the war as a testing ground for modern
warfare, some historians, such as Ernst Nolte, have considered the
Spanish Civil War, along with the Second World War, part of a
"European Civil War" lasting from 1936 to 1945 and characterized
mainly as a Left/Right ideological conflict. However, this
interpretation has not found acceptance among most historians, who
consider the Second World War and the Spanish Civil War two distinct
conflicts. Among other things, they point to the political
heterogeneity on both sides (See Spanish Civil War: Other Factions in
the War) and criticize a monolithic interpretation which overlooks the
local nuances of Spanish history.
[edit]
The first months
Despite Franco having no money, while the state treasury was in Madrid
with the government, there was an organized economic lobby in London
looking after his financial needs with Lisbon as their operational
base. Eventually, he was to receive important help from his economic
and diplomatic boosters abroad.
Following the 18 July 1936, pronunciamento, Franco assumed the
leadership of the 30,000 soldiers of the Spanish Army of Africa. The
first days of the insurgency were marked with a serious need to secure
control over the Spanish Moroccan Protectorate. On one side, Franco
managed to win the support of the natives and their (nominal)
authorities, and, on the other, to ensure his control over the army.
This led to the summary execution of some 200 senior officers loyal to
the Republic (one of them his own first cousin). Also his loyal
bodyguard was shot by a man known as Manuel Blanco. [20] Franco's
first problem was how to move his troops to the Iberian Peninsula,
since most units of the Navy had remained in control of the Republic
and were blocking the Strait of Gibraltar. He requested help from
Mussolini, who responded with an unconditional offer of arms and
planes; Wilhelm Canaris, the head of the Abwehr military intelligence,
persuaded Hitler, as well, to support the Nationalists. From July 20
onward he was able, with a small group of 22 mainly German Junkers Ju
52 airplanes, to initiate an air bridge to Seville, where his troops
helped to ensure the rebel control of the city. Through
representatives, Franco started to negotiate with the United Kingdom,
Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy for more military support, and above
all for more airplanes. Negotiations were successful with the last two
on July 25, and airplanes began to arrive in Tetouan on August 2. On
August 5, Franco was able to break the blockade with the newly arrived
air support, successfully deploying a ship convoy with some 2,000
soldiers.
In early August, the situation in western Andalusia was stable enough
to allow him to organize a column (some 15,000 men at its height),
under the command of then Lieutenant-Colonel Juan Yagüe, which would
march through Extremadura towards Madrid. On August 11, Mérida was
taken, and on August 15 Badajoz, thus joining both nationalist-
controlled areas. Additionally, Mussolini ordered a voluntary army,
the Corpo Truppe Volontarie (CTV) of some 12,000 Italians of fully
motorized units to Seville and Hitler added to them a professional
squadron from the Luftwaffe (2JG/88) with about 24 planes. All these
planes had the Nationalist Spanish insignia painted on them, but were
flown by Italian and German troops. The backbone of Franco's aviation
in those days were the Italian SM.79 and SM.81 bombers, the biplane
Fiat CR.32 fighter and the German Junkers Ju 52 cargo-bomber and the
Heinkel He 51 biplane fighter.
On 21 September, with the head of the column at the town of Maqueda
(some 80 km away from Madrid), Franco ordered a detour to free the
besieged garrison at the Alcázar of Toledo, which was achieved
September 27. This controversial decision gave the Popular Front time
to strengthen its defenses in Madrid and hold the city that year but
was an important morale and propaganda success.
[edit]
Rise to power
The designated leader of the uprising, Gen. José Sanjurjo died on July
20 1936 in an air crash. Therefore, in the nationalist zone,
"Political life ceased."[21] Initially, only military command
mattered; this was divided into regional commands (Emilio Mola in the
North, Gonzalo Queipo de Llano in Seville commanding Andalusia, Franco
with an independent command and Miguel Cabanellas in Zaragoza
commanding Aragon). The Spanish Army of Morocco itself was split into
two columns, one commanded by General Juan Yagüe and the other
commanded by Colonel José Varela.
From 24 July, a coordinating junta was established, based at Burgos.
Nominally led by Cabanellas, as the most senior general,[22] it
initially included Mola, three other generals, and two colonels;
Franco was added in early August.[23] On September 21, it was decided
that Franco was to be commander-in-chief (this unified command was
opposed only by Cabanellas),[24] and, after some discussion, with no
more than a lukewarm agreement from Queipo de Llano and from Mola,
also head of government.[25] He was doubtless 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.[26]
Mola considered Franco as unfit and not part of the initial rebel
group.[citation needed] But Mola himself had been somewhat discredited
as the main planner of the attempted coup that had now degenerated
into a civil war, and was strongly identified with the Carlists
monarchists and not at all with the Falange, a party with Fascist
leanings and connections, nor did he have good relations with Germans;
Queipo de Llano and Cabanellas had both previously rebelled against
the dictatorship of Miguel Primo de Rivera and were therefore
discredited in some nationalist circles; and Falangist leader José
Antonio Primo de Rivera was in prison in Madrid (he would be executed
a few months later) and the desire to keep a place open for him
prevented any other falangist leader from emerging as a possible head
of state. Franco's previous aloofness from politics meant that he had
few active enemies in any of the factions that needed to be placated,
and had cooperated in recent months with both Germany and Italy.[27]
On 1 October 1936, in Burgos, Franco was publicly proclaimed as
Generalísimo of the National army and Jefe del Estado (Head of State).
[28] Mola was furious and Cabanellas intervened to calm the spirits
down.[citation needed] When Mola was killed in another air accident a
year later (which some believe was an assassination) (June 2, 1937),
no military leader was left from those who organized the conspiracy
against the Republic between 1933 and 1935.[29]
[edit]
Military command
From that time until the end of the war, Franco personally guided
military operations. After the failed assault on Madrid in November
1936, Franco settled to a piecemeal approach to winning the war,
rather than bold maneuvering. As with his decision to relieve the
garrison at Toledo, this approach has been subject of some debate;
some of his decisions, such as, in June 1938, when he preferred to
head for Valencia instead of Catalonia, remain particularly
controversial from a military viewpoint. It was however, in Valencia,
Castellon and Alicante where the last troops were defeated by Franco
Franco's army was supported by Nazi Germany in the form of the Condor
Legion, infamous for the bombing of Guernica on April 26, 1937. These
German forces also provided maintenance personnel and trainers, and
some Germans and Italians served over the entire war period in Spain.
Principal assistance was received from Fascist Italy (Corpo Truppe
Volontarie), but the degree of influence of both powers on Franco's
direction of the war seems to have been very limited. Nevertheless,
the Italian troops, despite not being always effective, were present
in most of the large operations in big numbers, while the CTV helped
the Nationalist airforce dominate the skies for most of the war.
António de Oliveira Salazar's Portugal also openly assisted the
Nationalists from the start, contributing some 20,000 troops.
It is said that Franco's direction of the Nazi and Fascist forces was
limited, particularly in the direction of the Condor Legion, however,
he was officially, by default, their supreme commander and they rarely
made decisions on their own. For reasons of prestige, it was decided
to continue assisting Franco until the end of the war, and Italian and
German troops paraded on the day of the final victory in Madrid.[30]
[edit]
Political command
In April 1937, Franco managed to fuse the ideologically incompatible
national-syndicalist Falange ("phalanx", a far-right Spanish political
party founded by José Antonio Primo de Rivera) and the Carlist
monarchist parties under a single-party under his rule, dubbed Falange
Española Tradicionalista y de las Juntas de Ofensiva Nacional-
Sindicalista (FET y de las JONS), which became the only legal party in
1939. The Falangists' hymn, Cara al Sol, became the semi-national
anthem of Franco's not yet established regime.
This new political formation appeased the pro-Nazi Falangists while
tempering them with the anti-German Carlists. Franco's brother-in-law
Ramón Serrano Súñer, who was his main political advisor, was able to
turn the various parties under Franco against each other to absorb a
series of political confrontations against Franco himself. At a
certain moment he even expelled the original leading members of both
the Carlists (Manuel Fal Conde) and the Falangists (Manuel Hedilla) to
secure Franco's political future. Franco also appeased the Carlists by
exploiting the Republicans' anti-clericalism in his propaganda, in
particular concerning the "Martyrs of the war". While the loyalist
forces presented the war as a struggle to defend the Republic against
Fascism, Franco depicted himself as the defender of "Christian Europe"
against "atheist Communism."
From early 1937, every death sentence had to be signed (or
acknowledged) by Franco. From the beginning of the revolt, all the
Junta generals ordered massive public and summary executions to spread
fear and reduce resistance among the civilians.
[edit]
The end of the Civil War
Before the fall of Catalonia in February 1939, the Prime Minister of
Spain Juan Negrín unsuccessfully proposed, in the meeting of the
Cortes in Figueres, capitulation with the sole condition of respecting
the lives of the vanquished. Negrín was ultimately deposed by Colonel
Segismundo Casado, later joined by José Miaja.
Thereafter, only Madrid (see History of Madrid) and a few other areas
remained under control of the government forces. On February 27,
Chamberlain and Daladier's governments recognized the Franco regime,
before the official end of the war. The PCE attempted a mutiny in
Madrid with the aim of re-establishing Negrín's leadership, but José
Miaja retained control. Finally, on March 28, 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 April 1, 1939, when the last of the
Republican forces surrendered. On this very date, Franco placed his
sword upon the altar in a church and in a vow, promised that he would
never again take up his sword unless Spain itself was threatened with
invasion.
At least 50,000 people were executed during the civil war.[19][31][32]
Franco's victory was followed by thousands of summary executions (from
15,000 to 25,000 people [33]) and imprisonments, while many were put
to forced labour, building railways, drying out swamps, digging canals
(La Corchuela, the Canal of the Bajo Guadalquivir), construction of
the Valle de los Caídos monument, etc. The 1940 shooting of the
president of the Catalan government, Lluís Companys, was one of the
most notable cases of this early suppression of opponents and
dissenters.
Although leftists suffered from an important death-toll, the Spanish
intelligentsia, atheists and military and government figures who had
remained loyal to the Madrid government during the war were also
targeted for oppression.
In his recent, updated history of the Spanish Civil War, Antony Beevor
"reckons Franco's ensuing 'white terror' claimed 200,000 lives. The
'red terror' had already killed 38,000."[34] Julius Ruiz concludes
that "although the figures remain disputed, a minimum of 37,843
executions were carried out in the Republican zone with a maximum of
150,000 executions (including 50,000 after the war) in Nationalist
Spain."[35] In Checas de Madrid, César Vidal comes to a nationwide
total of 110,965 victims of Republican violence; 11,705 people being
killed in Madrid alone.[36]
Despite the official end of the war, guerrilla resistance to Franco
(known as "the maquis") was widespread in many mountainous regions,
and continued well into the 1950s. In 1944, a group of republican
veterans, which also fought in the French resistance against the
Nazis, invaded the Val d'Aran in northwest Catalonia, but they were
quickly defeated.
The end of the war led to hundreds of thousands of exilees, mostly to
France (but also Mexico, Chile, Cuba, the USA and so on.).[37] On the
other side of the Pyrenees, refugees were confined in internment camps
of the French Third Republic, such as Camp Gurs or Camp Vernet, where
12,000 Republicans were housed in squalid conditions (mostly soldiers
from the Durruti Division [38]). The 17,000 refugees housed in Gurs
were divided into four categories (Brigadists, pilots, Gudaris and
ordinary 'Spaniards'). The Gudaris (Basques) and the pilots easily
found local backers and jobs, and were allowed to quit the camp, but
the farmers and ordinary people, who could not find relations in
France, were encouraged by the Third Republic, in agreement with the
Francoist government, to return to Spain. The great majority did so
and were turned over to the Francoist authorities in Irún. From there
they were transferred to the Miranda de Ebro camp for "purification"
according to the Law of Political Responsibilities.
After the proclamation by Marshal Philippe Pétain of the Vichy France
regime, the refugees became political prisoners, and the French police
attempted to round-up those who had been liberated from the camp.
Along with other "undesirables", they were sent to the Drancy
internment camp before being deported to Nazi Germany. 5,000 Spaniards
thus died in Mauthausen concentration camp [39]. The Chilean poet
Pablo Neruda, who had been named by the Chilean President Pedro
Aguirre Cerda special consul for immigration in Paris, was given
responsibility for what he called "the noblest mission I have ever
undertaken": shipping more than 2,000 Spanish refugees, who had been
housed by the French in squalid camps, to Chile on an old cargo ship,
the Winnipeg.
[edit]
World War II
In September 1939, World War II broke out in Europe, and although
Hitler met Franco once in Hendaye, France (October 23, 1940), to
discuss Spanish entry on the side of the Axis, Franco's demands (food,
military equipment, Gibraltar, French North Africa, Portugal, etc.)
proved too much and no agreement was reached. (An oft-cited remark
attributed to Hitler is that the German leader would rather have some
teeth extracted than to have to deal further with Franco.) Franco's
tactics received important support from Adolf Hitler and Benito
Mussolini during the civil war. He remained emphatically neutral in
the Second World War, but nonetheless offered various kinds of support
to Italy and Germany. He allowed Spanish soldiers to volunteer to
fight in the German Army against the USSR (the Blue Division), but
forbade Spaniards to fight in the West against the democracies.
Franco's common ground with Hitler was particularly weakened by
Hitler's propagation of a pseudo-pagan mysticism and his attempts to
manipulate Christianity, which went against Franco's deep commitment
to defending Christianity and Catholicism.[citation needed]
Contributing to the disagreement was an ongoing dispute over German
mining rights in Spain. Some historians argue that Franco made demands
that he knew Hitler would not accede to in order to stay out of the
war. Other historians argue that he, as leader of a destroyed country
in chaos, simply had nothing to offer the Germans and their military.
Yet, after the collapse of France in June 1940, Spain did adopt a pro-
Axis non-belligerency stance (for example, he offered Spanish naval
facilities to German ships) until returning to complete neutrality in
1943 when the tide of the war had turned decisively against Germany
and its allies. Some volunteer Spanish troops (the División Azul, or
"Blue Division")—not given official state sanction by Franco—went to
fight on the Eastern Front under German command from 1941–1943. Some
historians have argued that not all of the Blue Division were true
volunteers and that Franco expended relatively small but significant
resources to aid the Axis powers' battle against the Soviet Union.
During the entire war, especially after 1942, the Spanish borders were
more or less kept open for Jewish refugees from Vichy France and Nazi-
occupied territories in Europe. Franco's diplomats extended their
diplomatic protection over Sephardic Jews in Hungary, Slovakia and the
Balkans. Spain was a safe haven for all Jewish refugees and
antisemitism was not official policy under the Franco regime.
On June 14, 1940, the Spanish forces in Morocco occupied Tangier (a
city under the rule of the League of Nations) and did not leave it
until 1945.
[edit]
Spain under Franco
Main article: Spain under Franco
Franco was recognized as the Spanish head of state by Britain and
France in February 1939, two months before the war officially ended.
Already proclaimed Generalísimo of the Nationalists and Jefe del
Estado (Head of State) in October 1936 [28], he thereafter assumed the
official title of "Su Excelencia el Jefe de Estado" ("His Excellency
the Head of State"). However, he was also referred to in state and
official documents as "Caudillo de España" ("the Leader of Spain"),
and sometimes called "el Caudillo de la Última Cruzada y de la
Hispanidad" ("the Leader of the Last Crusade and of the Hispanic
World") 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").
In 1947, Franco proclaimed Spain a monarchy, but did not designate a
monarch. This gesture was largely done to appease the Movimiento
Nacional (Carlists and Alfonsists). Although a self-proclaimed
monarchist himself, Franco had no particular desire for a King yet,
and as such, he left the throne vacant, with himself as de facto
Regent. He wore the uniform of a Captain General (a rank traditionally
reserved for the King) and resided in the El Pardo Palace. In
addition, he appropriated the royal privilege of walking beneath a
canopy, and his portrait appeared on most Spanish coins and postage
stamps. He also added "by the grace of God," a phrase usually part of
the styles of monarchs, to his style.
Franco initially sought support from various groups. He initially
garnered support from the fascist elements of the Falange, but
distanced himself from fascist ideology after the defeat of the Axis
in World War II. Franco's administration marginalized fascist
ideologues in favor of technocrats, many of whom were linked with Opus
Dei, who promoted the economic modernization under Franco[40].
Although Franco and Spain under his rule adopted some trappings of
fascism, he, and Spain under his rule, are not generally considered to
be fascist; among the distinctions, fascism entails a revolutionary
aim to transform society, where Franco and Franco's Spain did not seek
to do so, and, to the contrary, although authoritarian, were
conservative and traditional.[41][42][43][44][45] Stanley Payne, the
preeminent conservative scholar on fascism and Spain notes: "scarcely
any of the serious historians and analysts of Franco consider the
generalissimo to be a core fascist". [44][46] The consistent points in
Franco's long rule included above all authoritarianism, nationalism,
the defense of Catholicism and the family, anti-Freemasonry, and anti-
Communism.
The aftermath of the Civil War was socially bleak: many of those who
had supported the Republic fled into exile. Spain lost thousands of
doctors, nurses, teachers, lawyers, judges, professors, businessmen,
artists,etc. Many of those who had to stay lost their jobs or lost
their rank. Sometimes those jobs were given to unskilled and even
untrained personnel. This deprived the country of many of its
brightest minds, and also of a very capable workforce.[citation
needed]. However, this was done to keep Spain's citizens consistent
with the ideals sought by the Nationalists and Franco.
With the end of World War II, Spain suffered from the economic
consequences of its isolation from the international community. This
situation ended in part when, due to Spain's strategic location in
light of Cold War tensions, the United States entered into a trade and
military alliance with Spain. This historic alliance commenced with
United States President Eisenhower's visit in 1953 which resulted in
the Pact of Madrid. Spain was then admitted to the United Nations in
1955.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
dave
>
> franco the fascist was anti-communist, for conservative family values,
> and was supported by hitler and mussolini:During Franco's rule, trade
> unions and all political opponents across the political spectrum, from
> communist and anarchist organizations to liberal democrats were
> either suppressed or tightly controlled by all means, up to and
> including violent police repression
>
> Francisco Franco
> From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
>
> For other uses see, Franco (disambiguation).
>
> Francisco Franco Bahamonde (4 December 1892 in Ferrol – 20 November
> 1975 in Madrid), commonly known as Francisco Franco (Spanish
> pronunciation: [fɾanˈθisko ˈfɾaŋko]) was a military general and
> dictator of Spain from October 1936, and de facto regent of the
> nominally restored Kingdom of Spain from 1947 until his death in 1975.
This just in...
...Generalissimo Francisco Franco is still dead.
~ RHF
the 1930s and Hitler [NAZIS]; while Denying the Realities
of 21st Century Liberal-Fascist Methods and Techniques
being used by the Obama-Regime© in 2009
http://groups.google.com/group/rec.radio.shortwave/msg/3bf07862b515b478
http://groups.google.com/group/rec.radio.shortwave/msg/2330b5f886da925a
.
Obama-Bots© Deny the Realty of "Liberal-Fascism"
in the 21st Century and Mouthing Obama-Ganda©
about Hitler and the NAZIs in the 1930s
http://groups.google.com/group/rec.radio.shortwave/msg/d4ef7b6993934317
.
About - Liberal-Fascism -by- Jonah Goldberg
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liberal_Fascism
.
Prez Obama "Socialism" Poster is BHO 'The Joker' ?
-or- Blood Sucking {Tax and Spend} Zombie ?
http://groups.google.com/group/rec.radio.shortwave/msg/6f4930eddf362bab
http://groups.google.com/group/rec.radio.shortwave/msg/9db7afdeaf7f10c0
.
Prez Obama [Zombie] Posters To Go Viral !
http://groups.google.com/group/rec.radio.shortwave/msg/3e950cb86f43e0d7
.
.
Obama-Ganda© posted by the Obama-Bot© "Nickname unavailable"
-was- franco the fascist was anti-communist, for conservative family
values, and was supported by hitler and mussolini:During Franco's
rule, trade unions and all political opponents across the political
>
> read more »