
Franco with his wife in the church of Santa Maria
Francisco Franco, fully Named Francisco Paulino Hermenegildo Teódulo Franco Salgado y Bahamonde Pardo, (* December 4th, 1892 in Ferrol, Galicia) is the Generalissimo, Regent, head of government, in short: "Caudillo" of Spain. Since 1939, he can reign the whole country as a dictator; since this time, he also uses the "Caudillo" Title.
Under his leadership, conservative, monarchist, and fascist Military leaders fought against the democratically elected (February 1936) republican government of Spain, with support of the fascist Kingdom of Italy and national-socialist German Reich.
During 1913-17, 1920-23, and 1925-27, he fought in Spanish Morocco against the Berbs. Since, 1926 he was a General.
In the shortlived Second Spanish Republic (1931-36), Franco had Sympathies for the diverse rightist Groups, but hesitated to fully join their conspiracy or their failed Putsch of 1932, which other rightist leaders like José Sanjurjo and José Antonio Primo de Rivera disliked.
In power[]
When the civil war broke out, he was Sanjurjo's second man, but became the leader quite soon, when Sanjurjo died on July 20th in 1936, and Primo de Rivera on November 20th in 1936 - suspiciously fast. The Putsch leaders Manuel Goded, Emilio Mola, and Miguel Cabanellas died during the civil war as well. With the Help of Nazi Germany and Italy, he won the civil war against the popular front government, which had had support from the Soviet Union and the International Brigades. On March 28th in 1939, Madrid fell, also because of the Help of Franco's Sympathisers inside the city, the infamous "Fifth Column".
On April 7th in 1939, Franco announced Spain joining the Anti-Comintern pact, and the day after, Spain leaving the League of Nations. After the Abwehr head Wilhelm Canaris visited him, Franco agreed that German submarines would be allowed to use Spanish Harbors as well. However, he didn't like it when Adolf Nazi made his Non-aggression pact with Stalin.
Since the German victories over the Netherlands, Belgium, and France in May 1940, many in Spain pressure him to join World War II as well. But as the people around him say, Franco organizes the papers on his desk in two stacks: That which is unimportant now, and that which will be unimportant if you wait long enough. At the very least, he declared Spain for "nonbelligerent" on June 9th, 1940 and had his ambassador in Berlin present a memorandum in which Franco declared he was "ready under certain conditions to enter the war on the side of Germany and Italy".
Private life[]
On October 22nd of 1923, he married Carmen Polo y Martínez-Valdés. One of the witnesses was King Alfonso XIII. On September 14th in 1926, his only daughter Maria del Carmen was born.
He made his brother-in-law Ramón Serrano Súñer a Minister.