Deep Dive: Francisco Franco




Francisco Franco

    On December 4th, 1892 (in Ferrol, Spain), Francisco Franco was born to a careless Spanish Naval Corp father and a conservative Roman Catholic mother. After attending a Catholic private school until he was 12, Franco hoped to follow in his father's footsteps by entering the Naval Academy but instead joined the Army at the age of 14 after being denied admission. 

    Franco soon began volunteering for active duty in Spanish Morocco for colonial campaigns, and during his time there, developed a reputation for being efficient, honest, and professional (deviating from his father's reckless tendencies). He was soon promoted to the rank of lieutenant, and his effective measures to discipline his troops earned him the rank of captain in 1915, making him the youngest captain in the Spanish Army. As captain, Franco led many successful campaigns against Moroccan revels and brought the revolt to an end, making him a national hero. By the age of 33, Franco became the youngest general in all of Europe, as well as the director of Spain’s General Military Academy in 1928.

    The 1930 elections following the fall of the monarchy led to a Republican victory. Soon after, the new government passed sweeping measures that reduced the power and influence of the military, church, and more. While Franco accepted the new regime, as an Authoritarian Rightest, Franco spoke out against the reforms and actions taken by the government. As a result, the General Military Academy was dissolved, and Franco was reassigned to an obscure military post. Once conservative forces regained control of the government, Franco once again rose in power by becoming the chief of the Spanish Army’s general staff, where he further implemented measures to tighten discipline and increase efficiency. 

    In 1936, a new set of elections resulted in a republican government and a large increase in anarchy, prompting Franco to appeal to the government for a declaration of a state of emergency. The government, however, turned down Franco’s request and reassigned him to a small role in the Canary Islands. While Franco initially refused to join the military conspiracy that began mounting against the republican government, he had a change of heart after radical monarchist José Calvo Sotelo was shot. Franco soon developed a deeply conservative vision of Spain, with plans to decimate the Spanish left. In July 1936, Franco released the manifesto for military rebellion, launching an uprising against the government. 

    Initially, Franco was assigned to simply fly to morocco (where he gained control of the Spanish army within 24 hours) and transport troops to the mainland. In order to do so, Franco enlisted the support of German and Italian transport vehicles, forming strong connections and personal bonds with Germany and Italy (which would later show in World War II). Franco’s success in transporting a large fraction of the nationalist insurgency troops, along with the success of his march towards Madrid, secured a large base of his support. After securing the backing of the catholic church and in preparation of an assault against Madrid to gain control of Spain, the rebel nationalist government selected Franco as commander in chief, where he would decisively unite various political parties and focus attention against the government.

    No matter your character’s stance or loyalties in this conflict, understanding Francisco Franco’s history will help you serve as a better delegate in committee. His actions have shaped and will likely continue to shape your cabinet’s decisions, and understanding Franco’s history, personalities, and mannerisms will help you understand his plans for this war. This, in turn, will be helpful in directing your own creative plans through or around Franco into execution. Gaining a deeper insight into Franco will help you as delegates understand his motivations and his future goals, all of which will help you better prepare for the future of committee. 


Works Cited

“Francisco Franco.” Encyclopædia Britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., https://www.britannica.com/biography/Francisco-Franco.

“Francisco Franco.” PBS, Public Broadcasting Service, https://www.pbs.org/tpt/dictators-playbook/episodes/francisco-franco/.

History.com Editors. “Francisco Franco.” History.com, A&E Television Networks, 9 Nov. 2009, https://www.history.com/topics/world-war-ii/francisco-franco.



 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Head Chair Introduction: Alex Plewinski

Image
 Hey delegates, welcome to the BMUN LXX JCC Blog! My name is Alex Plewinski and I'm going to be your head chair for our joint crisis committee on the Spanish Civil War. I'm super excited to see what you guys do with this interesting, complex, and chaotic topic in committee this year. A little about me: I'm from Miami, Florida and this is my second year in BMUN and in Berkeley. I'm really loving California so far, particularly for the great weather, geography, and people. I'm studying mechanical engineering, which has been something I've been interested since my freshman year of highschool. My interest in engineering hasn't prevented me from also pursuing my interest in global affairs and politics. I started MUN as a way to keep myself learning and thinking about these kinds of important topics and I quickly fell in love with it.  This will be my first time as a head chair of a committee and I hope that you all enjoy the topic and committee, the vice chairs a
Read more

Procedure Guides, Flow of Committee, and Expectations of Crisis

 Hello again delegates! As conference approaches, I'd like to discuss a little bit our committees procedure and our expectations for how committee will flow and how you will engage with it. Procedure  Our committee(s) will use standard BMUN crisis procedure. From our collective experience as chairs, we believe that this procedure is the best method to promote thoughtful debate while also enabling the dynamic nature of crisis committees. This procedure also lends itself to our committees in that delegates will be representing members of a sort of cabinet or alliance that must discuss and debate on what  collective actions to take as a united front while also getting regular updates to the situation of Spain.  For those of you not familiar with BMUN or any crisis procedure, I'll give a brief overview here. Crisis committees at BMUN use similar procedures to General Assembly committees with some key differences. We will facilitate discussion in committee with moderated and unmoder
Read more

Vice Chair Introduction: Riley Thompson

Image
Hi there! My name is Riley Thompson. I’m a second year here at Cal studying Political Science, Rhetoric, and Public Policy. This is my first year in Model UN and I’m very excited to learn alongside you all! In addition to BMUN, I work with a research group here on campus focused on youth advocacy, and I am a lead staff member for the California Youth and Government program. This will also be my first year staffing for Bearstage, the theater group here on campus. Aside from all that, most of my free time is spent playing Dungeons and Dragons with my friends!
Read more