General Franco

Dan Snow's History Hit

History Hit

History

4.7 • 12.9K Ratings

🗓️ 9 January 2023

⏱️ 29 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

From 1939 to 1975, Generalissimo Francisco Franco ruled Spain as a nationalist dictator. For many, he was Spain incarnate, a tenacious leader and warrior in the same vein as El Cid. Under his guidance, the regime was able to navigate 36 years of political turmoil and conflict, vanquishing Communism, surviving the Second World War and bringing about economic prosperity. For others, this idealised portrait stands in stark contrast to the reality of his rule, which was instead defined by incompetence, violence and self-interest. So who exactly was Francisco Franco, and why is he such a divisive figure? Sir Paul Preston, the acclaimed historian and biographer of General Franco, joins Dan to untangle the complex and conflicted legacy of Spain's most famous 20th-century leader.

Produced by James Hickmann and edited by Dougal Patmore.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	I have unwelcome to Dan's notes history here. Now we talked about Italy and how Malone
0:06.2	is from a far-right party, which has a more nuanced view, potentially even a positive
0:11.2	view of Italy's fascist past. Well, the same is true in Spain, to a certain extent,
0:18.0	as a new far-right party, energized by Spain's nationalist heritage, in particular, of course,
0:25.4	the career of General Franco. He ruled Spain from the 1930s to the 1970s. He was certainly
0:33.8	a nationalist who described at the time as a fascist, who was a close ally of Mussolini
0:38.2	and Hitler, with whose help he seized control of Spain. Then he did not join them on the
0:45.1	fascist side in the Second World War and as a result, saved his skin and his regime. In
0:51.2	Spain, there is a lively debate about Franco, his legacy. Was he a great national figure,
0:57.3	a savior even? Or was he a brutal authoritarian war criminal? Every time we talk about Spain
1:03.3	in this pod, we turn to Sir Paul Preston, who's a professor in the Department of International
1:06.8	History at LSE, Lund School of Economics. He is the greatest historian of contemporary
1:12.6	Spain. And he has written a biography of Generalissimo Franco in the 1990s and he's more recently
1:19.3	written a history of Spain, a People Betrayed, which you can hear my interview with him about
1:23.9	that on the podcast I should probably use a bit for you to go back through the back catalog.
1:28.2	At a time when new generations are flirting with far-right critiques of globalization,
1:36.3	internationalism, of democracy, it feels like an important time to go back and check out
1:41.7	what happened the last time people got this urge. Spoiler alert, wasn't great. Enjoy.
1:49.8	The Tommy Stomp, Trapped on, Eroshep, Garb, Gage, the King.
1:54.5	No Black Quake Unit until there is First and Black Unit. Never to go to war with one another
2:00.2	in a game. And look off and the subtle has cleared the tower.
2:08.4	Paul, thank you very much for coming back on the podcast. My pleasure. Very good to see
	...

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