Franco

UPDATED SECOND EDITION

Published to coincide with the 50th anniversary of Franco’s death and the end of one of the longest fascist dictatorships in Europe. 

Growing up in the wake of the Spanish military’s shattering defeat at the hands of the United States in 1898 over Cuba and having survived a bullet to the stomach while serving his country in Morocco, it is perhaps no wonder that Francisco Franco’s fame and notoriety was eventually guaranteed by his ruthless pursuit of victory for the Nationalists in the Spanish Civil War. Franco played a major role on the world stage until his death in 1975. Variously courted by the liberal democracies of Britain and France, the fascist alliance of Hitler and Mussolini and then by the anti-communist administrations in Washington, the memory of his successful policies, leading to rapid growth during a time of economic depression, are tempered by his government’s extreme repression of political opponents and perpetration of mass violence during the White Terror.

In Franco, Michael Streeter explores the Generalissimo’s legacy as the subject of a cult of personality in one of Europe’s longest-lasting modern dictatorships and considers his genesis, his successes, and the terrible cost at which they came.

Michael Streeter is a writer and journalist. He has written for most British national newspapers and was editor of the Daily Express website. His books include The Mediterranean: Cradle of European Culture. He lives and works in France.