Francisco Franco

A picture of Francisco Franco (www.spainexchange.com)

Normally, dictatorships are not good for a country but in the case of Francisco Franco and Spain, this was not necessarily the case. Under Franco many good things happened to Spain later in his dictatorship. Before Franco became dictator of Spain, Spain was ruled by Monarchs and a republic. In 1936, there was a Spanish civil war and the military took control of the country. In 1926, he had become the youngest general of Europe. After the military took control of the country many generals died and he was the principle leader. In 1939, he declared himself the sole ruler of Spain.

Military picture of Francisco Franco (twitter.com)

Franco believed in order and discipline, he trusted in those things for the good of the country. Economically, Spain was stable during his reign. At first he disliked the democracy because democracy sank Spain in the early twentieth century after the civil war in Spain that lasted three years. Spain was left very weak and a lot of people died. Franco learned from this and in the Second World War, Spain did not participate. It was neutral. Francisco Franco just sent some volunteer troops to this war, just to give a small help to the countries who needed it. After the war the United States began to support Spain. At first development was slow, then it improved. Before his death Franco realized a different plan for Spain. He reinstated the monarchy and the beginning of democracy. These decisions made Spain what it is today: a wonderful and friendly country. Even though he started as a dictator in very bad times, he was able to see what was best for Spain and his people and made Spain better in the end. He died in Madrid at 20 of November of 1975 at the age of 82 years old.