Francisco Franco: Dictator of Spain
Francisco Franco was a Spanish military leader and politician who ruled Spain as a dictator from 1939 until his death in 1975. He led a Nationalist rebellion against the democratically-elected government during the Spanish Civil War and implemented a regime characterized by authoritarianism, repression, and censorship. His legacy remains controversial in Spain today. The Daily Dose provides microlearning history documentaries like this one delivered to your inbox daily: https://dailydosedocumentary.com We strive for accuracy and unbiased fairness, but if you spot something that doesn’t look right please submit a correction suggestion here: https://forms.gle/UtRUTvgMK3HZsyDJA Learn more: https://dailydosedocumentary.com/franco/ Subscribe for daily emails: https://subscribe.dailydosenow.com/ Become a Patron: / dailydosenow Follow us on social media: Twitter: / thedailydose18 Facebook: / thedailydosenow Click to subscribe on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/DailyDoseDo... #documentary #history #biography Today's Daily Dose short biography film covers the life of Spanish dictator Francisco Franco. The filmmaker has included the original voice over script to further assist your understanding: Today on The Daily Dose, Franco. Born in 1892 northwestern Spain, by 1925, future dictator Francisco Franco had become the youngest general in all of Europe at just 33 years of age. A little more than a decade later, on July 18th, 1936, as nationalism swept through Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy, Franco and other military leaders took control of the western half of Spain in a coup d’etat, later known as the Spanish Civil War of 1936 to 1939, personally securing arms and other aid from both Hitler and Mussolini. Within months, Franco was named commander-in-chief of the rebel Spanish Army as well as leader of the Nationalist government, unifying his support base by securing backing from the Catholic Church, at the same time combining the monarchist and fascist political parties under his command. While many Republic leaders fled the country during the Spanish Civil War, as Franco’s troops stormed the northern regions of Spain, under Franco’s orders, his men imprisoned and executed tens of thousands of opposition Republicans, while his soldiers in the town of Badajoz simply machine-gunned hundreds if not thousands of Republicans without the benefit of a trial, later defeating the Republicans with help from the Soviet Union, Germany and Italy before taking control of the Republican strongholds of Barcelona and Madrid in early 1939. Building up a vast secret police force to spy on Spanish citizens, under Franco’s harsh rule, Catholicism became the only tolerated religion in the country, at the same time banning labor unions and both the Catalan and Basque languages from use outside the home. Although sympathetic with the Axis powers, Franco kept Spain out of the Second World War, other than sending 50,000 volunteer soldiers to fight alongside German troops at the Soviet front, while opening Spanish ports to German U-boats in-between their missions to sink Allied ships supporting the African Theaters of war. Cut off from western aid after the end of World War Two, in 1953, Franco allowed the United States to build three air and naval bases on Spanish soil, which in turn revitalized the Spanish economy through infusions of U.S. aid and rising tourism. In his later years, Franco relaxed his fiercesome hold over Spanish politics and civil rights, ushering in free-market reforms, while ending draconian police controls, press censorship and freedom of speech. After his death on November 20th, 1975, Spain embraced a democratic system of governance that continues to this day, making the harsh years of Francisco Franco, a time of nervous obedience for the citizens of Spain. And there you have it, Franco, today on The Daily Dose.
