The Rise and Fall of Francisco Franco

Francisco Paulino Hermenegildo Teódulo Franco y Bahamonde, Salgado y Pardo de Andrade aka Francisco Franco was born on December 4^th, 1892 in El Ferrol Coruña, Spain. His father was a Navy paymaster and his mother was a royal descendant.

Franco wanted to follow in his father's footsteps and join the navy, but after the Spanish-American war the navy was downsized and as a result the Naval academy was closed for seven years. After his recovering from his bitter disappointment, he decided to join the Spanish Army: a decision that his father did not approve of. In 1907 he enrolled in the Infantry Academy. After being commissioned as a lieutenant after his graduation in 1910 he was ordered to go to Morocco. Due to the Spanish tactics of the time, many officers were killed; this led to a reward for bravery for Franco. Due to the heavy casualties it was said that officers would either get a coffin or a general's sash. By the end of the war he had gotten a good reputation as an officer.

At the age of twenty three, Franco was severely wounded during the battle at El Biutz. For his bravery he was rewarded with the rank of major at an unheard of age. At the age of twenty six, Franco was appointed second in command of the Spanish Foreign Legion by Lieutenant Colonel Millán Astray. Upon the arrival of the foreign legion soldiers Astray told them "you have lifted yourselves from among the dead - for don't forget that you were dead, that your lives were over. You have come here to live a new life for which you must pay with death. You have come here to die. Since you crossed the Straits, you have no mother, no girlfriend, no family; from today all that will be provided by the Legion. Death in combat is the greatest honour. You die only once. Death arrives without pain and is not so terrible as it seems. The most horrible thing is to live as a coward." With this as their introduction to the Legion, it is no wonder that they were encouraged by Astray and Franco to torture and kill their prisoners. One of the men who served in this Legion says "When it left a village, nothing remained but fires and the corpses of men, women and children."

At the age of twenty nine, Franco replaced Astray as the commander of the Spanish Foreign Legion and he made a reputation for himself as a good commander. Later that year he married Carmen Polo, a member of a wealthy family.

At the age of thirty one, Franco was made commander of the Spanish portion of a French-Spanish task force against the Moroccans. One year later, at the age of thirty two he was made a general. At the age of thirty four he was put in charge of a new Spanish military academy.

Franco supported the military dictatorship of Miguel Primo de Rivera but when Franco was thirty six Rivera was forced to resign after failing to turn around the Spanish economy. After his resignation Alfonso XIII agreed to hold elections but after the people voted to have a republic he was forced into exile.

The temporary government held an election in June 1931 and a moderate republican became prime minister. Later that year he was replaced by Manuel Azaña, a radical socialist. During this time Franco was transferred to a minor post due to the republican government's fear of him. When Franco was thirty nine he was given command of the Spanish Army in the Balearics.

One year after that, Franco's troops were used to stop a miners' strike. After that, he began to be seen as a threat by the left-wing government. When Franco was forty three, the far left formed a coalition to stop the national elections. Known as the Popular Front, this organization was able to win the election. After winning the election the Popular Front promptly upset the far right and transferred all military leaders to distant posts. Soon afterwards Franco began entertaining the idea of overthrowing the government with a group of men led by Emilio Mola. On May 10^th 1936 the conservative President was replaced by Manuel Azaña. After this ocurred the introduced many economic changes that caused the wealthy to leave the country leading to an economic crisis as well as strikes. Manuel Azaña tried to negotiate with the rebels but failed and then ordered arms to be distributed to left wing groups.

On July 19^th, 1936 revolt was declared by Mola. The revolt got off to a bad start but was militarily successful in a few areas. At the age of forty three the other generals involved in the revolt decided that Franco should be the supreme commander of the Nationalist forces. After becoming commander he began to remove his rivals for leadership through exile or death. With the help of Italian and German forces Franco began to conquer Spain. At the age of forty six Franco accepted the surrender of Madrid and became the military dictator of Spain.

Franco soon became known as a cruel military leader. Some estimates put the number of prisoners he killed through starvation, overwork, and executions at over 200,000. In 1944 Franco gave a lot of pardons and stopped much of his cruel punishments.

Although Franco had a treaty with Germany and Italy he declared Spain as a neutral country at the outbreak of World War II. Although Hitler tried to get Franco to change his mind Franco demanded control of Gibraltr, French Morocco, part of Algeria, and part of Africa. The biggest demand he made was that Germany compensate Spain for any losses they would experience from a British blockade of his country. Hitler knew he would not be able to fulfill these demands and gave up negotiating for the time. Although Franco didn't fully commit his country he did decide to offer intelligence, supplies, and a volunteer force to be used for the fighting of the Russians. After the invasion of D-day and the subsequent fall of France Hitler again tried to negotiate with Franco and get him to join the war effort. Hitler asked to allow his troops to travel through Spain and coordinate with an airborne assault on Gibraltr. Franco refused because he didn't believe Germany would win the war. He did ask for weapons so that Spain could attack Gibraltr. Later Hitler said "I would rather visit the dentist to have my teeth removed than have another meeting with Franco."

During World War II Franco was planning on invading Gibraltr with or without Germany's help until it learned that if it invaded Britain would invade the Canary islands. In 1943 Franco recalled the volunteer division he sent to aid Germany in the war because he was convinced they would lose. Franco also began to support the allies and go against the Axis.

In 1947 Franco was under pressure to restore the monarchy so he held a vote that established him as a lifetime regent. Immediately afterwards he began to educate Juan Carlos at the age of ten to prepare him for being a king.

Due to Franco's strong anti-communism, he was popular with the United States and Spain was accepted into the United Nations in 1950 despite all the inhumane things that Franco had done as the military dictator. In return for a membership in NATO, Franco agreed to allow four United States air force bases to be stationed in Spain. In 1953 the Vatican recognized Franco by allowing him to choose the bishop that would serve his country from a list of candidates picked by the Pope.

Franco only had two major goals during his dictatorship: convince Britain to give up Gibraltar and to maintain the Spanish colonies in Africa. He failed to achieve both goals before his death on November 20^th, 1975 at the age of eighty-two. After he died Juan Carlos became the King and within two years nothing of his dictatorship remained unchanged.

www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/2WWfranco.htm

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francisco_Franco