Semantron 24 Summer 2024

Franco

others, was not taken in by the Fuero de los Espanoles , the Cold War was most helpful to Franco: it had helped Franco in gaining favour with the West by 1947. 43 Despite continuing to publish anti-Semitic propaganda within Spain under the pseud onym ‘Jakim Boor’, and giving refuge to Nazi officials, Franco made the West able to justify their alliance with him by pretending on multiple occasions that he had helped Jews to evade Nazi persecution. 44 Franco further ingratiated himself with the West by offering to send half a million troops to fight in Korea. 45 He appeased the West without losing much of his control of the Spanish people: freedom was not granted to the internal (as opposed to foreign) press until 1966, and then only partially, and the Fuero de los Espanoles remained symbolic and was not implemented practically, while Franco remained able to implement secret decrees until his death. 46 In 1950, the USA gave a loan to Spain, and the diplomatic boycott was lifted; five years later, Spain was accepted into the UN. 47 Franco continued to exploit the Cold War to shore up his position internationally and at home, in 1953 signing an agreement with the USA which put nuclear weapons dangerously close to Spanish cities, but which did not bind the USA to defend Spain; however, the agreement allowed Franco to pose to his people as a very influential and successful world leader. 48 Thus, it can be seen that while Franco was sometimes threatened by international pressure, he adapted his international image so that foreign powers did not seek to remove him from power. In conclusion, General Franco held a large degree of control over Spain during his rule: he held enormous legal power, and was able to neutralize opposition through repression, with the army, Civil Guard, and, for a long time, the clergy at his service; however, his control over government policy became increasingly limited. He had to balance different factions of his government, and to mould policies and propaganda to appease such factions, foreign opinion, and later popular opinion, to an increasing extent: this entailed sacrificing his own policy convictions – one example being his enthusiasm for autarky – and, consequently, one could argue, his personal control, although, in doing so, he retained his position as Caudillo and thus fulfilled his foremost aim. Franco was in control of Spain to the greatest extent in the first years of his tenure, and although his control of the populace and his influence on government policy declined, he retained legal control of Spain until his death.

Bibliography

Primary Sources

Bardaji, Alfred Fierro (1976) ‘Political Positions and Opposition in the Spanish Catholic Church’, Government and Opposition 11: 98-211 Garcia-Alvarez, (1975) ‘A Remnant of the 1930s: Franco’s Spain’, Current History 68 ( The Nations of West Europe ): 114-117, 135, 137 Girbau-León (1962) ‘General Franco’s Political Opponents’, The World Today 18: 335-340

43 Vinas 2016: 147; Preston 2020: 380-381. 44 Preston 1993: 598; Preston 2020: 342-343. 45 Ibid.: 393. 46 Lingelbach 1945a: 26; Garcia-Alvarez 1975: 116; Vinas 2016: 147-148. 47 Garcia-Alvarez 1975: 115. 48 Preston 2020: 399-400.

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