Nationalist Spain

The half of Spain that won the civil war, and the state it built for the next thirty-six years. The rebellion of July 1936 against the elected Republic failed as a coup and succeeded as a war: it secured the conservative rural north and the African army, which Franco flew to the mainland in German transport aircraft in the first major airlift in history. Franco emerged as sole leader by October 1936 partly through the deaths of rivals and partly by taking his time. His side was held together by force where the Republic's was not, and he merged the Falange with the Carlists into a single party by decree. Foreign help was decisive: German and Italian aircraft, tanks and troops on one side, Soviet aid and volunteer brigades on the other, and non-intervention by Britain and France that hurt the Republic more. Guernica was destroyed by German bombers in 1937 and painted by Picasso. Repression behind the lines was systematic and continued after victory, with tens of thousands executed and mass graves still being opened today. Franco kept Spain out of the Second World War while sending a volunteer division to Russia. The regime was isolated after 1945 and rehabilitated by the Cold War. Spain joined the United Nations in 1955. Franco died in 1975 and the monarchy restored democracy. His remains were moved from the Valley of the Fallen in 2019. The Nationalist zone ran from 1936 to 1939 and became the Spanish State until 1975. Burgos served as its wartime seat and Madrid the capital after 1939. The civil war killed around half a million people. Franco held power for 36 years.

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