ABSTRACT

General Franco’s connections with fascism in the later 1930s and 1940s will be explored later. However, that he was already convinced of the benefits of Spanish imperialism and of a centralist, hierarchical Spain inseparable from his own destiny is clear from earlier landmarks in his career. In 1923 he became Commander of the Spanish Legion and, having featured prominently in the humbling of the Moroccan Riffs, was promoted to Brigadier General in 1926. A year later, Miguel Primo de Rivera appointed Franco Commandant of the elite Zaragoza Military Academy. By 1934 a full general, and having masterminded the suppression of the Asturias Revolt, Franco was again promoted: to Commander-in-Chief of Spain’s supreme fighting force, the Army of Africa; then, in 1935, to Chief of the General Staff. In this capacity he was to work with José María Gil Robles, CEDA Minister of War and admirer of Nazi propaganda techniques.