Franco Bahamonde, Francisco

Franco Bahamonde, Francisco (b. 4 Dec. 1892, d. 20 Nov. 1975). Spanish dictator 1939–75 Born in El Ferrol (Galicia) into a naval family, he graduated from the Toledo Military Academy in 1910. Quickly establishing a reputation for courage and leadership, he was put in charge of the elite Spanish Legion in 1920 and, after taking part in the defeat of Abd al-Krim, was promoted to become Spain's youngest general. He became commandant of the Saragossa Military Academy in 1928, though it was closed by the new republican leaders in 1931, who disliked his monarchist tendencies. After the victory of the centre-right parties in October 1933, he returned to favour and was made Commander-in-Chief in 1934, and Chief of the General Staff in 1935. After the victory of the Popular Front, he was ‘relegated’ to the Canary Islands. In 1936, he became the leader of a nationalist military insurrection that spread from Morocco to the Spanish mainland. During the Spanish Civil War, he set forth to strengthen his powers through obtaining mass support of a popular movement, the Falange.

A committed opponent of democracy, socialism, and liberalism, he instituted an authoritarian, corporatist regime after his victory on 1 September 1939, always carefully balancing the interests of important groups, notably the landowning elites, the military, and parts of the bourgeoisie.

Unlike Mussolini, Franco refused to enter World War II on Hitler's side, mainly because the latter did not offer adequate concessions in return. This enabled him to survive after World War II, though to overcome international ostracism he had to abandon Fascism. He relied increasingly on the Roman Catholic Church, e.g. through his appointment of ministers from Opus Dei, to maintain a traditionalist and patriarchal society in the countryside. At the same time, this goal of maintaining a traditionalist society was effectively undermined by his reluctant pursuit of economic liberalism after 1959, caused by the country's near-bankruptcy. Always maintaining that his authoritarian regime merely continued a tradition of Spanish monarchical rule dating from the fifteenth century, he groomed the young pretender to the Spanish throne, Juan Carlos, to succeed him. Weakened for some time by Parkinson's disease, he died after a heart attack, and was indeed succeeded by Juan Carlos; his dictatorial regime, however, crumbled, defeated not least by the materialism and secularism that had resulted from his own policies.