Essay On Mexico Franco

Francisco Franco was born on December 4, 1892, in a little town off Spain’s northwestern edge. His father and grandfather were both came from sea based military backgrounds and at the age of 14 Franco enrolled in a secondary naval school with the intention of following his father and grandfather. In 1907 Franco began school at the Infantry Academy in Toledo as a result of the Spanish government suspending applicants into the secondary naval school. In the Infantry Academy Franco struggled and graduated in three years with below average grades.
After being posted in El Ferrol for a brief time he volunteered to fight in Spanish controlled morocco against and insurgency. In 1912 Franco arrived in Morocco and stayed there mostly until 1926. In that time he survived a gunshot wound to the stomach and received multiple awards and promotions. Then he took time off to marry Carmen Polo, they had one daughter together.
At the age of 33 Franco became the youngest General in Europe and then he was chosen to lead a brand new military unit in Zaragoza. In 1934 Franco deployed troops to Asturias in northern Spain to suppress a leftist’s revolt that left about 4,000 dead and tens of thousands
imprisoned. All around street violence, political killings and disorder continued, and soon after Franco’s General Military Academy was shut down. Then in 1935 Franco rose to the army chief of staff, but in 1936 he was voted out and a leftist took over power. In 1939 Franco rose to power and became the dictator of Spain until his death in 1975. He rose to power during the Spanish Civil war.
Although Franco envisioned Spanish grandeur restored after the civil war, he was really just the leader of an exhausted country, that was still internally divided, and still in pain from the long and exhausting war.
The government's stability was even more precarious when the outbreak of World War II just 5 months later. Franco declared Spanish to be neutral during WWII; he changed his mind after the fall of France in 1940. He then approached German leader Adolf Hitler, with the intentions of making a deal. Franco said to Hitler that Spain would enter the war in the German side as long as Germany would provide extensive military and economic assistance to Spain. After their meeting it was said that Hitler said he would rather have teeth pulled then have another meeting like
that.
Ultimately Franco did not have a huge impact in WWII but had a very big impact on Spain and how Spain was viewed for a while after WWII, leading to Spain being ostracized from the newly formed United Nations. After 1947 there was not a very big opposition to Franco. As Franco aged the laws he made became more relaxed. After Franco died Juan Carlos took over control and despite Franco’s best interest’s his authoritarian institutions, and Carlos encouraged the renewal of political parties and eventually Spain became democratic and made great economic recovery