Francoist Spain

Francoist Spanish flag, which includes its distinguishing St. John Eagle.

The Spanish State (Spanish: Estado Español) was the formal name given to Spain from 1939 to 1978 by the government of Francisco Franco.

History

Spanish coat of arms. The motto on top says in Spanish "A great free..." followed by the national Coat of arms of Spain. The Francoist version incorporates the St. John Eagle, symbol of the Catholic Monarchs: Ferdinand and Isabella. The columns at left and right represent the Pillars of Hercules with a motto in Latin that says "further beyond".

When the Spanish Civil War broke out in 1936, the Nationalist forces immediately began using the form the Spanish State rather than the Second Spanish Republic or the Spanish Monarchy, out of deference to the differing political sensibilities of the members of the Nationalist coalition, which included the national revolutionary Falangists, sympathetic to similar movements in Europe, as well as traditionalist Carlists, Alphonists monarchists and other conservatives. However the Republican regime, largely under communist and masonic command, continued to occupy part of the country until 1939, when it was finally reconquered by the Nationalists of General Franco.

World War II

Franco’s sympathies in World War II lay with Germany and Italy, to whom he gave moral and material support. Nevertheless, Franco demanded France’s North African colonies in compensation for military cooperation against the Western Allies, on whom Spain was dependent for food and oil imports. Hitler refused. When in 1943 it appeared that the Allies would win the war, Franco reaffirmed Spain’s nominal neutrality without gaining their benevolence. The declared hostility of the great powers after 1945 and the diplomatic sanctions imposed by the United Nations (UN), from which Spain was excluded, gave Franco’s opposition in Spain and in exile new life.

Monarchy

The Spanish State was declared a monarchy in 1947, but no king was designated; the Head of State, Francisco Franco, reserved for himself the right to name the person to be king, and deliberately delayed the selection due to political considerations. The selection finally came in 1969, with the designation of Juan Carlos de Borbón as Franco's official successor (this selection was an unpleasant surprise for many interested parties, as Juan Carlos was the rightful heir for neither the Carlists nor the Alphonists).

Decline

With the death of Franco and the destruction of the Spanish State, the reign ceased to exist, being thoroughly reconstituted as the Kingdom of Spain, a liberal democratic parliamentary monarchy, where the head of state reigns, but does not rule.

See also

• Francisco Franco
• Grand Imperial Order of the Red Arrows