In 1939 Franco officially became the head of state of Spain and has ruled Spain for more than 30 years. Franco died in 1975, and two years later his fascist party, the Spanish Phalangist Party, was outlawed and fascism was eradicated in Spain.
During World War II, although Franco was the leader of fascism, he did not join the Axis powers dominated by Hitler, Mussolini and others, but declared that Spain would remain neutral and stand alone in the war. In this respect, Franco was a great credit to Spain, which spared it from a major war and survived the post-war economic and political collapse. Therefore, I often feel that history has no laws, but is full of accidents and uncertainties, history is the history of people, sometimes between people's thoughts, between a decision, the direction of history is different. Imagine if Franco had had a hot head and joined Hitler and Mussolini, who shared the same values, the history of Spain would have changed. At that time, Franco ruled Spain, whether to join or not was his personal thought, he was completely decisive.
Since Franco did not join the Axis powers, he was still able to rule Spain dictatorially after World War II, and fascism still lived well in Spain. After World War II, Spain's economy increased dramatically, and tourism and industry grew rapidly, making it the fastest growing country in Europe at that time. Everything in the country was thriving and developing for the better, and there seemed to be no reason for people to oppose Franco's rule. He's doing a good job, so let him keep doing it.
Internationally, Franco was also extremely opposed to socialism, so relations with Western democracies tended to be gentle, making Spain's international situation very good. In the eyes of Western democratic societies, the dictator Franco is still barely acceptable compared to **ism.
But Franco's authoritarian nature has never changed. The implementation of a policy of cultural unification, the vigorous suppression of the development of local culture, the prohibition of dialect speaking, especially the suppression of Catalans is very serious. Politically, a one-party dictatorship was adopted, prohibiting any party other than the "Spanish Phalange". Those who oppose it and dissidents are arrested and even executed at every turn, creating tens of thousands of unjust prisons.
Many wonder why Franco, in his later years, designated the open-minded Juan Carlos I as his heir. Generally speaking, dictators will pass on their positions to people with similar ideas to ensure the continuation of their ideology and ideological policies. But Franco didn't.
Juan Carlos I was born and raised during Franco's reign, but was educated in democratic ideas and humanism from an early age, which were obviously disliked by dictators, but Franco did not interfere, which is strange. It was all too easy for Franco to "direct" the ideology and values of Juan Carlos I, and he only needed to arrange for a teacher he was satisfied with to teach Juan Carlos I, to become the kind of person he wanted.
Some argue that this is because Franco was an emotional dictator who was promoted by Alfonso XIII (grandfather of Juan Carlos I) in his youth, so that he eventually had to return power to the benefactor's descendants, even if the ideologies of the two were completely different. If this statement is true, then Franco's gravity overwhelms his ideology, which is really not easy, and the dictator can do what he does, and the world can't find a few. From that point of view, I would at least give him a Resbain! Even if you want to be a dictator, you must also be a dictator like Franco, which is the last precipice.
After Franco's death, Juan Carlos I came to power with immediate democratic reforms, and in 1977 a national general election was held. Juan Carlos I became a fictitious monarch like the Queen of England, with power in the hands of Parliament. Juan Carlos I could have monopolized power, like Franco, but he didn't choose that path, what an amazing man!
After his death, Franco was buried in the Valley of the Martyrs (commemorating martyrs who died in the Spanish Civil War). Since Spanish democracy, there have been many opponents, who believe that the dictator Franco is not worthy of being buried in such a sacred place as the Valley of the Martyrs. However, there are many Spaniards who support Franco, and some far-right elements often go to the Valley of the Martyrs to make pilgrimages to Franco, shouting the slogan "Franco is immortal".
In 2019, Spain's supreme court ruled that Franco's body should be removed from the Valley of the Martyrs and moved to Pardo Cemetery in the northern suburbs of Delhi. A generation of dictators has finally gone where he should go, which is probably the spaniard's verdict on him.