Spain

** __Spain__ **  Prior to World War I, Spain was a politically unstable country under the rule of King Alfonso XIII.There were strikes, riots, and assassinations across the country. After the war, conditions in Spain only grew worse. A military dictatorship was put into place after a successful revolt, and soon thereafter the king abdicated his throne. Spain became a republic, much to the dismay of the rebel Falange party. Intent on putting the military back in power, the Nationalists led army uprisings in Spanish Morocco, the Bealric and Canary Islands, and in Spain. The Spanish Civil War that resulted from the uprisings lasted for the next three years. The Spanish civil war took place in the midst of the Great Depression; President Roosevelt of the United States imposed the Spanish Embargo Act in 1936, putting an embargo on selling arms to countries in civil war. Approximately half a million people died during the war, fighting for either the Nationalist or Loyalist party, while another half a million people died of starvation and disease. The horrors of the war can be seen through the work of artist Pablo Picasso During the civil war, Francisco Franco emerged as the leader of the Falange party. He later became the dictator and turned Spain into a Fascist country. Franco modeled his government after the fascist government of Benito Mussolini in Italy and the government of Adolf Hitler in Germany. Franco had unlimited power; he used terror and censorship to suppress all personal freedoms and abolished almost all civil rights.