Spain's Francisco Franco's Dictatorship and oppression on Barcelona's workers

Introduction

Francisco Franco y Bahamonde (1892-1975) was a Spanish army officer, the youngest general in Europe, when he joined a group of officers in rebellion against the short-lived Second Republic in 1936. During the course of the ensuing Spanish Civil War (1936-39) he rose to pre-eminence among the senior officers of the nationalist army, and was made head both of the army and of the provisional government. His success in these roles, and also his ability to unify the disparate elements, made him the supreme power in Spain once the nationalists had won the Civil War. He ruled Spain as an absolute dictator, as head of state, as prime minister (until 1973), as head of the only legal political party and as supreme commander of the armed forces until his death (Jakin, 152).

Franco returned to Spain to command a brigade in Bacrelona. There he made contacts in the highest military and governmental circles. By 1926 support for Primo de Rivera's regime was dwindling. On the right, the dictator had been discredited by his moderation; meanwhile republican sentiment was on the rise among liberals and leftists. Franco steered clear of military plotting against the dictator though, and in 1928 his loyalty earned him command of the new Academia General Militar (General Military Academy, AGM) in Zaragoza. The AGM drew on a French model—in fact, in the planning stages Franco traveled to Saint-Cyr to consult its commandant, Marshal Philippe Pétain—and was meant to enhance esprit de corps by providing a common two-year curriculum for all army cadets before they began specialized training. Under Franco, the AGM earned an excellent reputation. Cadets were drilled in stern military values, while the commandant developed ties to the men who would be his line officers in the civil war.

Franco regime in Spain

Neutral during World War I, Spain became a workers' republic in 1931 after King Alphonso XIII had been forced by anti-monarchists to leave the country. Its new constitution disestablished the Catholic Church and secularized the schools. However, in 1936 the army, led by Francisco Franco Bahamonde, mutinied, and its revolt soon developed into a civil war which was fiercely fought for three years and cost the lives of nearly a million people. With the aid of fascist Italy and Nazi Germany, Franco's forces finally seized Madrid in March 1939, and Franco was installed as head of State.

Nominally neutral during World War II, Spain maintained close ties with Italy and Germany and remained a totalitarian State after the war concluded. For this and other reasons, its admission to the United Nations was delayed until 1955 (Robert, 70).

Before he died of a heart attack in November 1975, Franco designated Prince Juan Carlos Alfonso Victor Maria de Bourbon as his successor. Sworn in as king, Juan Carlos quickly ended Spain's fascist institutions and presided over free elections in June 1977. Autonomy was granted to Catalonia and the Basque country in 1980, but the Basque campaign for independence has not ended. Nor has ...