General Franco was the dictator of Spain from 1039 to 1975 and was a military general who led the nationalist forces in overthrowing the Second Spanish Republic during the Spanish Civil War. He was appointed generalissimo and head of state in 1936 and consolidated all nationalist parties into the Movimiento Nacional. During the civil war, Franco’s dictatorship used forced labour, concentration camps, and executions, leading to the deaths of between 100,000 and 200,000 people and creating long-lasting cultural and economic impacts on southern Spain.
Franco used terror in the form of assassination, imprisonment, and the torture of the defenceless civilian population. After three years of the civil war, Franco’s fascist party had its grip on southern Spain and had crippled towns and villages. The rebels moved through Southern Spain, taking Algeciras, La Línea, and San Roque. The military insurrectionists had a systematic plan to eliminate their political opponents. It involved the killing and imprisoning of everyone from every village and every town who were suspected of having collaborated with the popular front, the left-wing coalition, which in this region had received more than 80% of votes in February 1936. In the Campo de Gibraltar, there was fierce oppression, and in the first few months around 1000 were shot in Gibraltar, around 300 in Algeciras, and approximately the same number in La Línea. No trace was left of their bodies—the victims had to dig their own graves and were shot in the back of the head by a firing squad. These actions display the harrowing immediate impact of Franco’s rule in southern Spain. This resulted in thousands fleeing from Gibraltar; many went on to Almería, Valencia, Cataluña, and France.
During the world war, 30,000 people worked as slaves and were used as captive labour to build roads, fortifications, artillery batteries, electricity stations, fuel pumps, tunnels, and hospitals near Gibraltar to fight the Allies who occupied the area. Franco simultaneously inflicted punishment on those who went against him and furthered his military plans without spending money. Thousands suffered from malnutrition and illness. In this way, the impact of Franco’s immediate actions during the Civil War and World War II was extremely significant.
Many of Franco’s actions still have lasting effects on Spain today. After the Spanish Civil War, the economy was in ruins—the conflict destroyed infrastructure and a lack of investment. At the same time, Franco pursued an economic policy of self-sufficiency, meaning Spain was isolated from the global economy. He tried to minimise Spain’s reliance on other countries for trade, which led to widespread poverty among the Spanish population during the 1940s and 1950s. In addition, his ideas and policies heavily favoured landowners and the elite, creating large disparities of wealth among the population.
Franco’s actions were very impactful throughout the 80 years after the war ended in southern Spain. He shaped the political and economic landscape of modern-day Spain, and his actions can still be felt socially and culturally in southern Spanish towns and villages. The long-term impacts are very significant; these impacts are directly caused by the immediate actions of Franco. The sheer number of deaths and amount of suffering cannot be forgotten—the slaves who were controlled by Franco built roads in southern California we still use today. This represents the legacy of the work carried out by men who were punished for the single crime of defending democracy, justice, and freedom.
