Francisco Franco (redirected from Caudillo de España)

Franco, Francisco 

(Francisco Franco y Bahamonde). Born Dec. 4, 1892, in El Ferrol; died Nov. 20, 1975, in Madrid. Dictator of Spain.

Franco graduated from the Infantry Academy in Toledo. He fought in the Spanish colonial wars in Africa. In 1936, Franco led a military fascist revolt against the Spanish republic, with the help and later the open intervention of fascist Germany and Italy. In 1939, after the fall of the republic, he was declared the supreme leader (caudillo) of the Spanish state by a military junta. Franco simultaneously was the leader of the Spanish Falange party, premier (a post he relinquished in 1973), and commander in chief of the armed forces. In 1947 he passed a law on the succession to the throne, in accordance with which Spain “in conformity with tradition” was declared a kingdom, but the restoration of royal power was delayed until Franco’s departure from political life. In accordance with a decree on July 22, 1969, Prince Juan Carlos was proclaimed the next king of Spain.