Francisco+Franco

__Francisco Franco__  Francisco Paulino Hermenegildo Teodulo Franco y Bahamonde Salguado Pardo was the youngest general in the Spanish army. He quickly rose in the ranks and became Chief of General Staff. He would eventually become the dictator of Spain.

Franco was exiled to the Canary Islands in February of 1936 when the left wing Popular front won the election because he was viewed as a threat to the government.

Exiling Franco did little to stop him, however. From the Canary Islands, Franco was able to organize a Nationalist conspiracy, which led to the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War. On July 17, 1936, garrisons across Spain revolted, and Franco's Nationalists took Spanish Morocco, the Balearic Islands, and northern Spain. A large number of garrisons of Spanish Foreign Legion troops were airlifted to mainland Spain along with Franco. Franco and the troops marched to Madrid, which they besieged.

On September 29, 1936, the Nationalists set up their own government at Burgos with Franco in charge. The next year, Franco became head of the National Falange Party. Franco and the Nationalists then proceeded to wear down the Loyalists. An estimated 50,000 were executed, murdered, or assassinated. The Repulican government fled on March 5, 1939; the Nationalists took control of Madrid on March28, 1939.

Franco became dictator of Spain. He outlawed all parties except for the Nationalist party and imprisoned and executed thousands of Loyalists. Franco modeled his government after Benito Mussolini's fascist government of Italy and Adolf Hitler's Germany. During his reign, Franco dissolved the //Cortes//, or the Spanish Parliament, imprisoned those who spoke out against him, and used terror and censorship to suppress all freedoms. Official titles that Franco held: -Jefe del Estado (Chief of State) -Generalisimo de los Ejercitos Espanoles (Highest General of Spanish Armed Forces) -El Caudillo (The Leader)

Franco said he was to answer "only to God and history."