Born in
1892, in
Galicia, he ascended through the ranks of the
Spanish army to become a
general in the the spainish army by the time he was 34 years old. He was part of a
right wing coup in
1936 that led to the
Spanish Civil War, during which he secured his position as leader of the Nationalists. Through a close relationship with
Adolf Hitler and
Benito Mussolini, he won the Civil War and set up a
totalitarian dictatorship, that would last until his death in
1975. It wouldn't have lasted, most likely, if he hadn't done three smart things in his life time: (A) staying the
heck out of
World War II, (B) taking a strong anti-communist stance during the
Cold War, and (C) announcing that the
monarchy would be reestablished after his death.
As horrible,
repressive 20th century military dictators go, Franco wasn't all that bad. While he wasn't the type that you would want to celebrate, as he was known to kill
intellectuals, he didn't kill near as many as
Mao or
Stalin.