Does anyone know anything about Francisco Franco? Was he a good dictator or a bad one?

Question

Does anyone know anything about Francisco Franco? Was he a good dictator or a bad one?

Answer 1

Francisco Franco met Hitler and Mussolini. he was inspired in nationalist ideas from Hilter and the total centralism and unification of Spain aganist Sovietic Comunism.

For me, and all who loves freedom and democracy in Spain and the whole world, is the worst who ever happened to Spain. He killed and torture many politicians and civils that don´t agree with him. Economy was totally destroyed. Well, that was for the consequences of Civil War(between 1936-1939). My father and my grandma said me that after the war, they don´t have the enough money even to buy or change food(trueque). From Argentina, they bring used olive oil to cook. From Argentina!!

Only, in they last years at the government, the economy was growing.

For that reason in the 60´s, my grandpa decided to move to Venezuela. Few years later, they went back to Spain, and I was born there. When I was like 1 year, we went back to Venezuela.

Here´s a little of his life and dictatorship:

Francisco Paulino Hermenegildo Teódulo Franco y Bahamonde (pron. IPA : [fran'θisko 'franko]; December 4, 1892 – November 20 (or possibly November 19 [*]) 1975), abbreviated Francisco Franco y Bahamonde and sometimes known as Generalísimo Francisco Franco, was the regent and Head of State of Spain (in parts of the country from 1936 and in its entirety from 1939) until his death in 1975. During his rule he was known officially as "El Caudillo de la Ultima Cruzada y de la Hispanidad, El Caudillo de la Guerra de Liberacion contra el Comunismo y sus Complices"[citation needed]' (The Leader of Last Crusade and Hispanidad, The Leader of Freedom War against communism) and presided over the authoritarian government of the Spanish State following victory in the Spanish Civil War.

Franco was born in Ferrol, Galicia, Spain. His father Nicolas Franco Salgado-Araujo was a Navy accounting officer. His mother Pilar Bahamonde Pardo de Andrade also came from a family with naval tradition. He was sibling to Nicolás Franco Bahamonde, navy officer and diplomat; a sister, Pilar Franco Bahamonde, the latter a well-known socialite; and another brother, Ramón Franco, a pioneer aviator who was hated by many of Franco's supporters.

His hometown was officially known as El Ferrol del Caudillo from 1938 to 1982. During his youth he suffered at the hands of his agressive, alcoholic father, and it is argued by many that these experiences in his early years are what set him on the road to the murders and other atrocities he committed in later life.

At the fall of the monarchy in 1931, in keeping with his prior apolitical record, he did not take any remarkable attitude. But the closing of the Academy in June by then War Minister Manuel Azaña provoked the first clash: Azaña found Franco's farewell speech to the cadets [1] insulting, resulting in Franco being without a post for six months, and under surveillance.

On February 5, 1932 he was given a command in A Coruña. Franco avoided being involved in Jose Sanjurjo's attempted coup that year. As a side result of Azaña's military reform, in January 1933 Franco was relegated from the first to the 24th in the list of Brigadiers; conversely, the same year (February 17), he was given the military command of the Balearic Islands—a post above his grade.

Rise to power

The designated leader of the uprising, Gen. José Sanjurjo had died on July 20 in an air crash. The nationalist leaders managed to overcome this through regional commands: (Mola in the North, Queipo in Andalusia, Franco with an independent command and Cabanellas in Aragon), and a coordinating junta nominally led by the last, as the most senior general. On September 21, it was decided that Franco was to be commander-in-chief, and September 28, after some discussion, also head of government. On October 1, 1936 he was publicly proclaimed as Generalissimo of the Nationalist army and Jefe del Estado (Head of State).

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Military command

From that time until the end of the war, Franco personally guided military operations. After the failure to take Madrid in November 1936, Franco settled to a piecemeal approach to winning the war, rather than bold maneuvering. As with his decision to relieve the garrison at Toledo, this approach has been subject of some debate; some of his decisions, such as in June 1938 when he preferred to head for Valencia instead of Catalonia, remain particularly controversial.

His army was supported by troops from n**i Germany (the Condor Legion) and, above all, Fascist Italy (Corpo Truppe Volontarie), but the degree of influence of both powers on Franco's direction of war seems to have been very limited. António de Oliveira Salazar's Portugal also openly assisted the Nationalists from the start.

Political command

He managed to fuse the ideologically incompatible national-syndicalist Falange ("phalanx", a far-right Spanish political party with ideology similar to that of Mussolini's movement) and the Carlist monarchist parties under his rule.

From early 1937 every death sentence had to be signed (or acknowledged) by Franco.

The end of the war

On March 4, 1939 an uprising broke out within the Republican camp, claiming to forestall an intended Communist coup by prime minister Juan Negrín. Led by Colonel Segismundo Casado and Julián Besteiro, the rebels gained control over Madrid. They tried to negotiate a settlement with Franco, who refused anything but unconditional surrender. They gave way; Madrid was occupied on March 27, and the republic fell. The war officially ended on April 1, 1939.

During the 1940s, some guerrilla resistance to Franco was to be found in isolated rural areas such as the Val d'Aran in Catalonia

Spain was bitterly divided and economically ruined as a result of the civil war.

After the war a very harsh repression began, with hundreds of thousands of summary executions, an unknown number of political prisoners and thousands of people in exile, largely in France and Latin America. The 1940 shooting of the president of the Catalan government, Lluís Companys, was one of the most notable cases of this early repression, while the major groups targeted were real and suspected leftists, ranging from the moderate, democratic left to Communists and Anarchists, the Spanish intelligentsia, atheists and military and government figures that had remained loyal to the Madrid government during the war. The bloodshed in Spain did not end with the cessation of hostilities, many political prisoners suffered execution by the firing squad, under the accusation of treason.

In September 1939, World War II broke out in Europe, and although Adolf Hitler met Franco in Hendaye, France (October 23, 1940), to discuss Spanish entry on the side of the Axis, Franco's demands (food, military equipment, Gibraltar, French North Africa, etc.) proved too much and no agreement was reached. Contributing to the disagreement was an ongoing dispute over German mining rights in Spain. Some historians argue that Franco made demands that he knew Hitler would not accede to in order to stay out of the war. Other historians argue that he simply had nothing to offer the Germans. After the collapse of France in June 1940, Spain adopted a pro-Axis non-belligerency stance (for example, he offered Spanish naval facilities to German ships) until returning to complete neutrality in 1943 when the tide of the war had turned decisively against Germany. Some volunteer Spanish troops (the División Azul, or "Blue Division")—not given official state sanction by Franco—went to fight on the Eastern Front under German command. During the war Franco's Spain also proved to be an escape way for several thousands European Jews fleeing deportation from occupied France to concentration camps. Spanish diplomats extended their protection to Sephardi Jews.

In 1947 Franco proclaimed Spain a monarchy, but did not designate a monarch. This gesture was largely done to appease monarchist factions within the Movimiento. Although a self-proclaimed monarchist himself, Franco had no particular desire for a king. As such, he left the throne vacant, with himself as de facto regent. He wore the uniform of a captain general (a rank traditionally reserved for the King), resided in the Pardo Palace, appropriated the kingly privilege of walking beneath a canopy, and his portrait appeared on most Spanish coins. Indeed, although his formal titles were Jefe del Estado (Chief of State) and Generalísimo de los Ejércitos Españoles (Highest General of the Spanish Armed Forces), he was referred to as por la gracia de Dios, Caudillo de España y de la Cruzada, or "by the grace of God, the Leader of Spain and of the Crusade" ("by the grace of God" is a technical, legal phrase which indicates sovereign dignity in absolute monarchies, and is only used by monarchs).

During his rule non-government trade unions and all political opponents across the political spectrum, from communist and anarchist organizations to liberal democrats and Catalan or Basque nationalists, were suppressed. The only legal "trade union" was the government-run Sindicato Vertical.

In order to build a uniform Spanish nation, the public usage of languages other than Spanish (especially Catalan, Galician and Basque languages) was strongly repressed. Language politics in Francoist Spain stated that all government, notarial, legal and commercial documents were drawn up exclusively in Spanish and any written in other languages were deemed null and void. The usage of other than Spanish languages was banned on road and shop signs, advertising and in general all exterior images of the country.

All cultural activities were subject to censorship, and many were plainly forbidden on various, many times spurious, grounds (political or moral). This cultural policy relaxed with time, most notably after 1960.

The enforcement by public authorities of strict Catholic social mores was a stated intent of the regime, mainly by using a law (the Ley de Vagos y Maleantes, Vagancy Act) enacted by Azaña [8]. The remaining nomads of Spain (Gitanos and Mercheros like El Lute) were especially affected.

In 1954, homosexuality and prostitution were, through this law, made criminal offenses. [9]. Its application was inconsistent.

In every town there was a constant presence of Guardia Civil, a military police force, who patrolled in pairs with submachine guns, and functioned as his chief means of control. He was constantly obsessed with a Masonic conspiracy. In popular imagination, he is often remembered as in the black and white images of No-Do newsreels, inaugurating a reservoir, hence his nickname Paco Ranas (Paco—a familiar form of Francisco—"the Frog"), or catching huge fish from the Azor yacht during his holidays.

Famous quote: "Our regime is based on bayonets and blood, not on hypocritical elections."

Answer 2

The man was good friends with Benito Mussolini and Adolf Hitler, enough said.

The only reason why he survived longer than his buddies has to do with the fact that he was smart enough to *not* try his hand at world conquest.

Answer 3

Well, he and Hitler were buddies.  It depends what you mean by 'good dictator'.