Francisco Franco

1. Francisco Franco December 4th, 1892 – November 20th, 1975

2. Introducción • Leader of Spain from 1936 to the time of his death in 1975 • From 1947 to 1975 he was de facto regent of Spain • Led a very successful military and reached the rank of General, youngest to reach that rank at that point • During his rule, he was known for his traditional values and strong beliefs in nationalism • He was anti-communist • He was allied with Hitler at one point, but then later switched allies to the United States • Family came from a traditional naval service • At age 23 Franco was already a captain in the military and had been wounded pretty bad. He got the name man of “baraka”, good luck, for surviving. • Had good schooling but enrolled in the military the first chance he got to. • Married María del Carmen Polo y Martínez-Valdès, and had one daughter, María del Carmen, born in 1926 • He had two brothers and two sisters

3. Spain occupies approx. 85% of the Iberian Peninsula Geografía Extreme temperature changes, “9 months of winter, and 3 months of hell”. It gets overwhelmingly hot. Generally low rainfall other than in the north • Main rivers of Spain ~ Duero (Douro), Miño, Tajo (Tagus), Guadiana The Guadalquivir River and The Ebro River • North-bay of Biscay and France, south-Med. Sea and Atlantic ocean, east-Med. Sea, west-Portugal and Atlantic Ocean • The Pyrenees are Spain’s principal mountain range and the highest peak is Pico de Aneto

4. Francisco Franco • At the time of Franco’s reign, the political environment was somewhat chaotic. Almost every event seemed to result in a war or happen during a war. Franco was a dictator and would not stand for communism. After the collapse of the monarchy in 1931, the political spectrum in Spain was constantly shifting. In 1947, Franco once again declared Spain as a monarchy but never appointed a monarch. • Franco was a nationalist, one with great aspirations and strong sense of militant dictatorship. • Franco’s contribution is not all that great. Although there were periods of time where he brought Spain into economic and political stability, he also induced a lot of suffering on the people of Spain. He had no ideologies of how to run a government so he used his military skills, and perhaps over used them. In Spain right now, all statues and monuments of Franco’s regime have been removed. He was a controversial leader and the controversy has taken a turn for the worse in Spain. The government now is thinking of going to extreme measures to make sure that anyone who is still “loyal” to Franco, will face the consequences. • Even though he was best known for being a ruthless and relentless militant dictator, I decided to do the project on Francisco Franco because he was an interesting and tortured man. I love politics and Franco just happened to be a perfect example of politics gone wrong. He made an impact on Spain and therefore I believe that he is worth doing a project about.

5. Hechos • Francisco Franco died from heart problems • He let the Nazi’s bomb the city of Guernica to test bombing methods • Francisco Franco was a fascist, but was allied with the U.S.A during WW2 at one point • He was a Roman Catholic • He was the 68th President of the Government of Spain • He was born in Ferrol, Galicia, Spain • The movie You’ve Got Mail has made a comical reference to Francisco Franco • The Spanish Civil War was won due to Franco’s incredible military talents • Became a general at the age of 32. • He was 5’4” tall • His favourite movie was Nobleza baturra (Uncouth Nobility)

6. Bibliografía http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francisco_Franco www.m-w.com http://wiki.answers.com/Q/How_did_Francisco_Franco_die http://www.funtrivia.com/en/Geography/Spain-3861.html http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0290542/bio