By Me. Cláudio Fernandes
The Franquismo , as well as Salazarism in Portugal, was a form of fascism practiced in Spain that makes reference to the figure of General Francis Franco (1892-1975) , who was in power in that country from 1939 to 1975, when he died. Francoism is a term used to define both Francisco Franco's way of doing politics and his personality cult.
General Franco began to stand out as a public figure in Spain from the moment the Spanish Republic, which had been established in the early 1930s, began to be contested by conservative sectors and by the military linked to these sectors. The contestation was due to the main fact of being the eminently left-wing republic, controlled by the Popular Front.
In July 1936, Franco and other members of the army who were sympathizers of fascism, developed in Italy, and Nazism, developed in Germany, such as Gonzalo Queipo de Llano, Emilio Mola and José Sanjturjo, articulated a coup against the leftist government. As this government was supported by Stalin's USSR, and Franco and the other fascists were supported by Hitler, Mussoloni and Oliveira Salazar, from Portugal, a civil war was soon installed in Spain that would last until 1939.
In the midst of this war, in 1937, the Nazis who supported Franco bombed the city of Guernica with the aim of testing its military machinery that would be used in World War II. The victory of the Spanish fascist forces led by General Franco was consolidated in 1939, the year in which the second world conflict began. With the end of World War II in 1945, fascism became a discredited political model, however, Franco and other leaders, such as Salazar, continued to flaunt their authoritarian power. From the 1940s to the 1970s, the Franco government sought to engender, as was typically done in fascist regimes, a propaganda machine to praise the figure of the dictator. Associated with this propaganda machine, a manipulation of the historical memory of the Spanish nation was also gestated. Researcher Janete Abraão, in her essay “O Dois de Maio, the 'War of Independence and the Manipulated Memory during the Civil War and Francoism'”, highlighted the way Francoism used the memory of Spain's struggle against imperialism. Napoleonic century early 19th century in your favor:
“It is worth stating that the myth of the 'Indomitable Spain' of 1808, which opposes foreign domination, had enormous repercussions during the Franco regime (1939-1975). But it is necessary to take into account the fact that Francoism did nothing but capitalize, in its interest, the romantic nationalist, traditionalist and Catholic discourse of the late 19th century, with all its emotional charge. It was in this sense that Francoism related the Dois de Maio de 1808 to the 18 de Julho de 1936. In this way, Francoist historiography did not hesitate to affirm that the most important historical events for the 'Spanish homeland' were the 'War of Independence' (1808-1814) and the “War of Liberation” (1936-1939). ” (Abrão, Janete. “The 2nd of May, the 'War of Independence and the manipulated memory during the Civil War and Francoism'”. In:Abrão, Janete (org.) Spain:politics and culture . Porto Alegre:EDIPUCRS, 2010. p. 25)
In this way, Francoism sought to establish a particular image of Spanish history adjusted to its interest. This perspective was only reviewed and discussed after Franco's death and the process of redemocratization in Spain, which only took place after 1978.
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