The Truth About Franco - Spain's Forgotten Dictatorship Ep. 1 | Documentary

Francisco Franco absolute ruler over Spain was one of the most enigmatic dictators in European history even today the country still Bears the scars of his [Music] Reign but one of his soldiers in fact mocked him um when he gave an order and Franco promtly pulled out his pistol and shot him dead he seized power in a bloody Civil War and ruled the country with an iron hand for for 40 [Music] years he once said I'd have no problem killing half of Spain just to stop it becoming Marxist a despot not even his trusted followers could really see through a man with many faces Franco in private when he was with I say friends if one could call them that was an absolute blabber mouth you couldn't shut him up you know and of course once he was in power no one dared to shut him up in 1975 following Franco's death Spain was a divided country the legacy of a dictator full of enigmas but who exactly was this Francisco [Music] Franco [Music] [Music] in 1936 political unrest plunged the country into chaos and a great opportunity presented itself for a man whose career seemed to have run its course a long time ago General Franco instigated a coup which led to a bloody civil war with the help of Nazi Germany Franco's troops murdered their way to power Hitler's Air Force The Loft ofaa used Spain as training for his war of extermination when hostilities finally ceased Franco declared himself the new head of state no one dared contradict the new authoritarian leader apart that is from his dominant wife she would survive the [Music] despot for more than a century Spain had ruled the waves as the first superpower of the modern era but in 1898 in the war against the emerging United States the Spanish fleet was almost totally destroyed Spain Spain's Naval Supremacy was over the Empire crumbled as more and more colonies fought for independence a once so proud country of discoverers and conquerors slid into military and economic insignificance a humiliating decline for Spanish [Music] self-esteem it was a traumatic experience for Spanish Society for its Elites and above all for the establishment for the Armed Forces too especially the Navy El ferol on the Atlantic coast had once been an important military [Music] base it was here 7 years before the Spanish fleet was annihilated that Francisco Franco Bondi was born the second of two children in an office's family so as a child on the the dock side at Al ferol he would have seen the boats arrive he would have seen the the dead being taken off the boats he would have seen the wounded and the cripples coming up and this had a tremendous impact on the rest of his life the boy grew up in the everyday life of a Garrison town where members of the Navy were a natural part of the scene Franco lived in a small secluded m in this Garrison town on the Naval Base at ELO prior to the defeat in 1898 it was still possible for members of a naval family to believe that they belong to a great nation with a great Navy that was important in the world and after 1898 it was no longer possible to think that a shy boy Francisco was just an average pupil he had a strict Catholic upbringing but his father earned a reputation for being a man about town he had a very domineering mother and he also had a father who was not very present so I think it's reasonable to suppose that his his was not already a happy childhood Spain was faced with huge problems whereas other countries had long since placed their faith in industrial ation Spain was left lagging behind the modern [Music] era most of the Farmland belonged to big land owners the gap between rich and poor was growing ever [Music] wider inv a large proportion of the Spanish population lived on the land but under the miserable conditions of day laborers King Alfonso the 13th could not get a grip of the problems corruption flourished while strikes and revolts paralyzed the [Music] country in Catalonia and The Basque country in particular calls for Independence grew louder [Music] the decline of the Spanish Navy shattered Franco's career dream it now required very few recruits and took only the best Franco was turned down all that remained open to him was the Infantry in the form of the military academy in [Laughter] [Music] Toledo you know he was a child when he went to and he was in a way younger than his age you know he was Tiny uh I think he must have been very unhappy in the military [Music] academy when unrest broke out in Morocco Spain was even in danger of losing its last Colony the military was called on to restore [Music] order Franco joined the mission to Africa when ridiculed by his colleagues for his lack of height he was only 1 M 63 tall he reacted with demonstrative [Music] severity Franco's sister for instance once told how he had pressed a red hot needle down on his wrist his only comment was that burned flesh smells abominably for me somebody who does not know fear fear has got serious personality deficiencies so yes Franco probably didn't know fear the Morocco mission was characterized by Massive brutality prisoners on both sides were badly treated it was on the colonial Battlefield that Franco made his Mark at the age of 22 he became the youngest captain in the Spanish Army his Hallmark was rigid discipline one of the things I think that distinguished him at this time is precisely because he had virtually no interest in sex he didn't drink and so while a lot of his colleagues and Companions and comrades were coming to terms with the very harsh conditions with drink with gambling with prostitutes he didn't do any of that instead Franco spent nights studying maps and planning attacks on Rebel settlements and his approach became increasingly ruthless the africanist as they were as they were called the officers who who had had their main experience in Africa were ruthless their main job was to terrorize a a colonial population and this was um an attitude that they would later bring back to the Spanish Peninsula so that very much um affected Franco and of course it was where he made what passed for his friendships the famous story of course is that with his little pot belly and uh his rather squeaky voice um that one of his soldiers in fact mocked him um when he gave an order and Franco promptly pulled out his pistol and shot him dead I think that the war war in Morocco which was a completely ruthless war and a very Savage one um underlined the fact that Franco was a very cold-hearted killer after being seriously wounded on the battlefield Franco was sent back to Edo in Spain to recover there he was appointed head of the Spanish Foreign Legion it was in oo that he got to know kmen Polo a year later she became his wife Carmen was a strict Catholic and soon had major influence over her husband you know he was looking for an advantageous marriage she was from a rich family uh her family were outraged that she would uh hook up with with a soldier because the soldier's life in those days with these Battlefield promotions was very dangerous her father is alleged to say you know you can't you can't marry him it's worse than marrying a bull fighter in a diary published a little later the Africa veteran described his experiences he wrote of the Bold operations carried out by a Spanish Battalion and of its corageous leader but did Franco really have what it takes to be a great Commander Franco was certainly not a strategic genius he was very clever when it came to politics and when it came to uh in a mellan sense when it came to outmaneuvering any Rivals uh so nobody could challenge him uh but as a military thinker or strategist um he was useless Franco was the yurgen klopp of um of the military you know he's a he's a lucky manager and you to be good in football you got to be lucky you know in Spain social tensions were were growing the workers movement was gaining in power conflicts escalated into violence more and more [Music] often King Alonso and his government seemed paralyzed the Army involved itself in all major issues above all power was in the hands of the elites Rich industrialists big land owners and the church Catholicism was the state religion left-wing activists fought against the government and the church whenever political unrest swelled up priests were killed but why what did priests churches and monasteries have to do with political and military issues because of what was seen by the overwhelming majority of the Spanish population as a very close Alliance King Alfonso gave up and and agreed to let the army take control under the leadership of General Primo de Rivera he was fascinated by fascism which was sweeping over the whole of Europe from melini's Italy Primo de Rivera intended to lead the country out of crisis with the use of [Music] violence under the military dictatorship young Francisco Franco's Army Career took off he was the youngest major in the Spanish Army he was the youngest Colonel and above all he was the youngest General when he was made Brigadier General Franco was only 33 years old and it's also said that one of the reasons why Franco got quick promotion was that he was forever complaining he was writing to the ministry demanding to know why he hadn't been promoted he managed to establish a certain um connection with the King Alfonso I 13th now a General Franco was made head of the new military academy in Saragosa as a lecturer he mainly sought the services of officers who like him had fought in Morocco the training that people received from Franco well particularly from the guys he brought in to do the teaching was not about modern strategy or tactics or modern Weaponry it was about ideology it was about patriotism it was about instilling the ideals of the africanist through his new post Franco at last earned the public esteem he yearned for he was now a local celebrity and his wife Carmen poo was more than happy to bathe in his success [Music] that made him one of the top figures in the town that she loved all of that you know she loved hobnobbing with the Archbishop and the the mayor and the the local authorities they were the things that mattered the couple had a daughter come Ina rumor quickly spread that it was not Franco who was the father but his younger brother Ramon and that the child's natural mother was not kmen Polo but a prostitute we have the fact that she was never seen pregnant uh we have fairly clear again circumstantial evidence that Franco had very little EV very little interest in sex and this may well be to do with the very severe wound that he received in 1916 which was always referred ref to as a wound in the lower [Music] abdomen even the military was unable to get Spain's problems under control during the world economic crisis of 1930 Primo de Rivera resigned King Alfonso fled into Exile and Spain became a republic it was above all the poor who hoped for social progress the new government announced agricultural reforms in future the land was to belong to the farmers the close ties between church and state were to be severed and the military deprived of power one of the first things that the Republic had to deal with was the fact that it had an army that was bigger than it could afford Spain was a poor country and yet it had an army which had a hugely inflated officer core and a disproportionate amount of of the military budget went on salaries for officers and the consequence of that was that there was not enough money left for fuel for vehicles for modernization for often they couldn't do Maneuvers because there wasn't enough money for petrol uh soldiers often had to drill with wooden rifles the new political goal was for Spain to become a Democratic Society the beneficiaries of the old order were afraid of losing their power so too were Conservative Catholics like the Francos there was much at stake the division of state and church met with considerable opposition from the church the military felt it had been given a backseat through the military reforms all this was fermenting led by General sanjuro the Army launched an attempted coup but it failed openly visible in the Skies over Europe was the threatening symbol of German fascism and in secret numerous Nazi bases were established in the country Spain's fascists called themselves the FAL Espanola a name reflecting the ancient Greek battle order of the [Music] fanks its founder was the son of primero de Riva the head of state who had resigned it has learned from fascism what fascism has of the idea of unity Authority and substitution of the struggles among classes by the idea of cooperation the young Republic was a powder keg at the next elections conservative and Ultra right-wing parties emerged Victorious they wanted to abolish democracy again as a sign of resistance the Communists called for a general [Music] strike but in many places the call had virtually no effect only in the north in asuras did the miners steadfastly oppose the right-wing government General Franco was called on and he intended to make full use of the opportunity which presented itself I think that Franco's role in the asuras rising was definitely his first major public appearance in Spain I after that everybody knew his name to combat the miner's resolve the government sent in its special unit the Foreign Legion Franco's battle hardened africanist and effectively the minister of War says to Franco I hav a clue about how to deal with this sort of thing you're in charge obviously you can't be seen to be in charge but you devised how you want this to be dealt with pass me the documents and I'll sign them and so for a period of two to three weeks Franco has what you could call on the job training as a dictator Franco was convinced that the Revolt was being masterminded by the Bolsheviks in 20 days resistance in asuras was brutally crushed Franco then ordered reprisals against the local population there was no necessity if you like to make these take these reprisals um but the um the bitterness of the soldiers uh was so great uh that they basically thought we're in conquered country uh and this is the interesting thing about the army of Africa um they virtually saw Spain itself as a foreign [Music] country The Mercenaries went about their task with such savagery that Franco was soon known as The Butcher of asuras nearly 3,000 people were killed and 30,000 arrested many were tortured mutilated and executed the general had shown what it meant to oppose him so we can certainly say if not before by October 1934 Franco is thinking of himself as the savior of Spain as a result of the aorus rising Franco of course was almost most Enemy Number One as far as the left was concerned um but of course as far as the right was concerned uh he was seen as their potential savior even from that particular moment uh that is the reason why he was appointed chief of the general staff the most important position in the whole of the army and one of the things he does during that time is to start making preparations for a future Civil [Music] War [Music] Spain remained politically divided when new elections were held in 1936 surprisingly a left-wing Coalition the frti popular emerged Victorious could democracy survive conservatives and the military had long been hatching plans for another [Music] coup in this situation it was clear to the military that unless they took action they stood no chance in a democratic way of stopping a process which was eroding their old interests the conspirators were led by General emelo moha together with other generals he planned to seize power but only a few of the conspirators would live to see the new Spain one of the conspirators it seems purposely remained in the [Music] background Francisco Franco [Music] bahamonde the militarily equipped police force the Guardia civil stood loyally on the side of the Republic when rumors of the approaching coup began to circulate the government banished the generals to the provinces Franco was transferred to the Canary Islands and the one thing Franco knew was that you cannot run a coup against the Civil guard and he was actually very very lucky with the way things worked out not to be put in jail in Exile on tenner Reef the neutralized general made himself at home he learned English played golf and in secret continued to pull the strings for a [Music] coup the assassination of a right-wing politician in Madrid provided the initial spark in the capital violence erupted the generals believed that their time had come the coup began on July the 17th in Spanish Mor Rocco Franco led the rebels in the Canary Islands and wanted to join forces with the African istas as quickly as [Music] possible only the military commander of the Canary Islands General ammad o balmes could prevent Franco from doing this but he had been killed the day before in an alleged hunting accident he was murdered on Franco's orders and Franco also Ed the subsequent cover up a myth to prevent the truth from ever coming to light that says a lot about Franco because it Reveals His character he Treads carefully looks ahead is cunning and he has no Scruples [Music] whatsoever the next day Franco flew to Morocco his aim was to occupy southern Spain with the africanas general M's troops Advanced from the north the elected government realized the gravity of the situation and issued a call to Arms off Gibralter warships loyal to the Republic blocked The Straits for the time being at least Franco's africanist Army was prevented from Landing in Spain yet his troops in particular were of great importance to the coup of all the various generals with all their various jobs Franco is the one who is in charge of the one part of the Spanish armed forces that actually [Music] works but Franco had had a plan and good contacts with the Nazis in Germany Frank's first Contact came before uh the Civil War particularly with Admiral canaris the head of the ab uh who he' met on numerous occasions uh canaris used to travel frequently to Spain uh he was very much of a a hispanophile and uh he certainly was keeping contact and realized that Franko was obviously the rising power within the Spanish Army and must of [Music] [Music] s [Music] [Applause] for as an Ardent admirer of the composer every summer Hitler attended the Vagner Festival in [Applause] byro Franco asked two German business friends from Morocco for help he wanted Johannes beart and Adolf langenheim to make contact with Hitler the two members of the National Socialist Party traveled especially to byro and handed Hitler a personal letter from Franco it's suddenly true that it was shall we say a good moment uh for them to have gone to see Hitler at byro because of course Hitler was very emotional U During the period of the Vagner season um at byro and of course it was typical that uh guring immediately wanted to call the operation uh zba forya um purely because of the the Final [Music] Act Hitler acted immediately he sent transport aircraft to Morocco and six fighter planes as an [Music] escort without that airbridge the coup would have collapsed so Germany must bear much of the responsibility for the Civil War ever erupting the rebels were supposed to be led by General sanjuro who had been banished to Portugal but he was killed when his plane crashed on its way to Spain as a result Franco took over command of all troops in the south in the north General paa continued to advance Franco was tasked with taking [Music] Madrid but surprisingly he changed the plan and sent most of his army to Toledo the city was firmly in Republican hands The Siege cost Franco several weeks but in the end he was able to take the alkazar the historic Fortress and that was vital in the world of the Nationalist because the alkazar was seen almost as a symbol of uh Republican survival and of bravery and sacrifice so that was the vital moment for him to prepare his leadership bid to have total control of the Nationalist movement his Toledo Triumph made Franco popular and he used that popularity for propaganda for his own ends Franco appealed if you like to the Nationalist um audience uh the beatas the very religious women the middle class those who are terrified of of Communism socialism uh because they thought that he was the most ruthless and definitely the most determined of all the generals and that is almost certainly true Hitler and musolini had long since realized how useful another fascist state in Europe could be but money and weapons would only be provided on one [Applause] condition the Germans and the Italians did not want to negotiate with various commanders on the battlefield field they wanted just one contact person and that was Franco Franco the rebels made Franco their General liimo the commanderin-chief of the army thank to the thousand of souls who followed our movement in the F of civilization thank to all those country who pass through or some trouble and are now offering to their sympathy and they moral support and than to all those who hear this world to estain all over the [Music] world country religion family this is our a and [Music] strength the Civil War was now [Music] raging throughout the country Franco's nationalist Rebels were openly supported by the old upper class after the coup the big land owners the bankers the entrepreneurs and the church all regained their old positions [Music] on the side of the Republic a left-wing Alliance of socialists Communists and anarchists stood United against big money socialist groups urged workers to take control of their places of work factories were occupied and their owners locked up or even shot profits from labor were no longer to end up so solely in the pockets of the [Music] rich agricultural workers also revolted and fought for the collectivization of Farmland the unrest in Barcelona alone cost 400 lives and often the fronts were blurred the battles between hostile groups were never ending I think all of the Gen eneral expected the Civil War the war would last a couple of weeks Franco I think was one of the few who thought that it would last longer now that's not to say he thought it would last three years but but he was more cautious than the others for some time now the most diverse groups had also been fighting alongside Franco thousands took up arms monarchists who wanted to see King Alfonso back on the throne carlists who wanted a borbon as Regent and the fan Espanola who glorified fascism Franco reallyi ignored the Fang um at up until the outbreak of the Civil War one must remember that even in the elections of February 1936 the Fang uh achieved no less no more than about a th000 votes per province in Spain um its strength funny enough came after the start of the Civil War when Jose Antonio Primo de Rivera was already in prison he had been already been arrested by the Republican government Franco saw that the armed fascists could be very useful to him in April he declared the fan to be the official state party and placed himself at its [Applause] head as they marched on Madrid the rebels destroyed everything in their path even if it was of no military importance he once said I'd have no problem killing half of Spain just to stop it becoming Marxist he really said that thousands of corpses paved Franco's way to power I mean even the Germans were shocked and the Italians were shocked uh at time by the cruelty he show there's one point where he says to the Italian Ambassador melini's Ambassador I have to conquer Spain Square cimer by square cimer because I have to control the people who live on the land when Hitler talks of a thousand yard high for Franco that's short-term thinking every potential opponent was arrested or disappeared under mysterious [Music] circumstances Frederico Garcia Lorca one of Spain's most famous poets also fell victim to the systematic cleansing his body was simply buried by the [Music] roadside loa's murder and that of thousands of other civilians was seen far beyond Spain's borders as a symbol of the barbarity of the Civil War the world was shocked as it learned more and more about the [Music] Carnage it was also a war of pictures the major news agencies sent their best repor to [Music] Spain like photographer Robert kapper his picture of the falling Soldier became an icon of the 20th [Music] century a German correspondent also reported from Spain heret famam reported on the Civil War for several newspapers he had fled from the Nazi dictatorship initially to Norway and had only recently changed his name he now called himself villy Brandt the Spanish Civil War had an extraordinary emotional appeal right across the world so from that point of view um it seemed to symbolize the great Clash of a whole generation Nazi Germany and Italy had already officially re recognized Franco as Spain's head of government even though his forces had still not taken [Music] Madrid and the Republicans were being reinforced by the international brigades volunteers from all over the world many had communist leanings and few had ever held a weapon before their motivation was to stop the advance of fascism in Europe Spain was on its way to becoming a new fascist Spanish was everybody's fight and that became apparent very very quickly the ranks of the leftwing fighters included prominent intellectuals like writers Ernest Hemingway and George Orwell and eminent documentary filmmaker yoris eens from the Netherlands in Spain eens spent months filming in the theaters of War his documentary became an international indictment of fascism events provided a different perspective from that of frankist [Music] propaganda he showed the sheer horror of the Civil War his documentary from the perspective of the Spanish people is still regarded as a masterpiece and what position did the other countries in Europe take with regards to events in [Music] Spain in London a non-intervention committee was set up as members even Germany and Italy claimed to be neutral yet they had long been playing a role in Spain Hitler's most important contribution to the victory of the frankist was now coming from the air [Music] Fran [Music] the Condor Legion was a special unit of the German Air Force Under the command of volam f Roven its existence was officially denied right up to 1939 yet the Germans had already provided crucial assistance with Franco airbridge at the start of the coup it basically has the top technology available and it makes a big difference he has the covert help of London which prevents the Republic arming itself and he has a lot of help from musolini there's 880,000 Italian troops he could have won the war very quickly but Franco persisted with his tactic of gaining control of the country meter by [Applause] meter comments were made by musolini and volen who were tearing their hair out at this unnecessarily slow and exhausting approach by Franco Franco doesn't know how to wage war Franco is no military strategist he's incapable of fighting a war or did the general isimo know exactly what he was doing [Music] Franco had already taken the South and stabilized his front outside Madrid now he Advanced into Northern Spain in April 1937 his troops set their sights on The Basque town of gika gika had been a holy place for the Bas and a symbol of their independence ever since the 14th century a bridge in the center of town was seen as being of strategic importance to the Republicans allegedly when Franco called for the German bombers the bridge was to be the sole Target the Condor Legion dropped some 30 tons of bombs on the town killing around 300 of its citizens [Music] Luis yondo was 14 years old at the time of the bombing raid he lost relatives and friends his brother was traumatized for life when the first bombs fell Lewis had just enough time to find safety the shelters weren't even finished there was no light no ventilation I could scarcely breathe we sat on the floor the day before I'd been given some new trousers my mother warned me not to get them [Music] dirty after 15 minutes someone said it's over but as soon as we left the shelter the bells started ringing again the first planes have bombed the bridge we thought and now other aircraft are coming to bomb the town incredibly in the end the bridge remained intact whereas the entire town was in Flames 80% of the buildings had been [Music] destroyed [Music] every Monday a popular Farmers Market was held in Gan and that is precisely when it all happened that is why they chose the Monday for their bombing raid they knew there would be more people [Music] there and it's quite clear I mean if you look at the tag book of of dict ofen he makes it absolutely clear what what it was all about it was an act of Terror Fen wrote gernika a town of 5,000 inhabitants literally raised to the ground the start of the Blaze and the collapse of several buildings was very interesting to observe the negligible fire brigade presence brought from San Sebastian was powerless there was a perfidious purpose behind the seemingly indiscriminate bombing for the German air force to practice is under real conditions for Hitler's forthcoming War much of what happened in the Basque country was repeated later in Poland for Hitler gika was nothing more than training for the Second World War I didn't think that Ren had any idea of the symbolic importance of gika to the Bas and all the rest of it uh as far as he was concerned I think that it was just basically an exercise in aerial Terror German aircraft also bombed churches to test the impact on solid Stone buildings but the German Pilots had little sympathy for Franco and his movement there was an atheistic aspect to national socialism and many Germans were not happy that the government was fighting for clerics and big land owners over a beer or a glass of wine in the evening its alleged people would comment actually we're fighting for the wrong [Music] side in reaction to the bombing Picasso painted gika shown at the 1937 World Fair in Paris the work became world famous as a symbol of the suffering of the Spanish people [Music] Gua is the first total Destruction of um an unprotected town in the history of warfare Franco had outlived all his Rivals the founder of the fascist movement Primo de Riva was executed by the Republicans many of the former co-conspirators had fallen into enemy hands and been [Music] killed only General Moher could still have contested his claim to power in Spain but he died in an air crash in 1937 the cause of the accident has never been [Music] [Music] established the province of Aragon in the north was one of the few regions still held by the Republicans resistance was strongest in belit Franco deployed all his military forces there they attacked the town for 2 weeks finally belit was destroyed and Aragon fell Franco now held virtually the whole of Spain his Triumph seemed almost certain but it was not until July 1938 that the decisive battle took place on the IU a river in Southwest [Music] Catalonia Franco himself took part in the battle one of the longest and most brutal of the entire war in the end it is said the river ran red with blood Greeks and chent B an the decisive factor in the war was undoubtedly the total air superiority of the Frank istas thanks to the intervention of the Condor Legion so it is no exaggeration to say that without German and Italian but primarily German intervention Franco would probably not have triumphed in the Civil War what was still missing were the cities for months Franco laid Siege to Madrid and Barcelona cut off from the outside world their citizens starved and for weeks on end the two cities were bombed nearly every [Music] day the next day Franco arrived his troops marched into Barcelona I can still remember it quite clearly we could see them coming from a distance we could still have open fire but it would have been pointless the Republicans had already [Applause] [Music] left the cost half a million dead through Warfare and Terror but how could so much suffering and death be compatible with the Christian faith of Franco and his strictly Catholic wife we have anecdotes to the effect that when people who knew her interceded with her asking her to to talk to Franco to stop someone being executed or so on that she would say you know Paco's far too busy to be interrupted with something like this that that she did nothing as far as we know to to soften or to to limit his his ruthlessness after 3 years of Civil War the small boy from elol was ruler of Spain Franco had achieved his his goal but his reign of terror was only just [Music] [Music] beginning what

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Keywords: franco, francisco franco, spain, spain dictator franco, dictatorship

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Length: 52min 55sec (3175 seconds)

Published: Fri Dec 01 2023