ABSTRACT
In the autumn of 1936, the Francoist military trials of captured Popular Front supporters began to pick up steam and took centre stage in efforts to whip up domestic and international support by exploiting the violence that had sullied the reputation of the elected government. Importantly, the trials allowed Francoists to parade their political enemies to the world as ‘proven’ heinous criminals while fi lling their own supporters with a deep sense of virtue and purpose in fi ghting a war to the death against their opponents. More than this, they also offered the opportunity for the regime to rope in groups of its supporters in the task of eliminating or marginalising their mutual political enemies by denouncing and providing testimony against their own neighbours. In short, the trials played a pivotal role in making early Francoism by mobilising a signifi cant number of supporters around the elimination of political opponents.
