A cloudless sky over all of Spain

The Spanish Civil War began 80 years ago

Today in the St. Petersburg Artillery Museum opens an exhibition dedicated to the 80th anniversary of the beginning civil war in Spain. Soviet historiography interpreted these events as a struggle against the forces of reaction and fascism, while German propaganda presented them as a "crusade against the red hordes." For both, it was a test of strength before the impending big war... And on both sides of the barricades there were Russian people ... We are talking about this with the elder research assistant Military Historical Museum of Artillery, engineering troops and signal troops, a candidate historical sciences Evgeny YURKEVICH .

- Actually, the greatest help Franco was given by Mussolini. The Italian Expeditionary Force numbered 150,000 soldiers. Plus weapons, aircraft, tanks, ammunition. Of course, Germany helped. Our ex-White Guards fought on the side of Franco. But few, only 73 people managed to get into the Francoist units, 34 of them died in battles. If the fighters of the international brigades went to Spain in echelons, then Franco's supporters made their way one by one or in small groups, risking their lives - Spanish border guards fired at illegal immigrants. Mostly Russians fought in the ranks of the Spanish monarchists. In the battalion of the Aragonese carlists "Donna Maria de Molina" there were even two generals - Nikolai Shinkarenko and Anatoly Fok. The latter shot himself in an unequal battle so as not to be captured by the Reds.

- Was the civil war in Spain, as before in Russia, provoked by the abdication of the monarch?

- The Spanish king just emigrated. Power in the country was seized by left-wing parties, and a series of government crises began - from 1931 to 1936 there were more than 20. The separation of church from state and school from church resulted in arson of monasteries, murder of priests, and desecration of holy relics. There was a massive rape of nuns, they were called "brides of the revolution." Local anarchists and radicals followed the example of the anti-clerical campaign in the USSR, but went even further. If our crayfish were opened for exposing purposes, then the Republicans were photographed hugging the relics of saints. Demonstration executions of nobles were practiced. If a monarchist officer was found, they killed him, his wife and even children, including babies.

- But the poet Federico Garcia Lorca was killed by the nationalists ...

- Yes, as usual in such cases, the terror was mutual, and the Francoists declared their terror as a response to the red, during which thousands of opponents of the republican regime were shot without trial.

- And how did the Francoists treat the soldiers of the international brigades?

- Sometimes they were taken prisoner, sometimes they were shot on the spot. Ernest Hemingway and many other famous volunteers who did not have military training... The Interbrigades performed well at first, but in November 1938 they were disbanded and sent home.

- “I left the hut, went to fight in order to give the land in Grenada to the peasants ...” Is that about them?

- This poem was written by Mikhail Svetlov in 1926. It was simply impossible to get from the "hut" to Spain, only specially selected people were sent there from the Soviet Union. All military and civilian specialists were warned that their families remained under the supervision of the NKVD. If you are taken prisoner, consider your family as hostages. Something similar happened with the Spanish children. None of these children who fled the civil war and ended up in Soviet Union, did not return to Spain at the end of hostilities. All were given passports and declared Soviet citizens. Those of them who survived and retained the desire to return received such an opportunity only in the 1980s.

- Franco in Soviet time called "the last fascist" ...

- In fact, it was the Italians under Mussolini who positioned themselves as fascists. In Spain there was the "Phalanx", in Romania - the "Iron Guard" ... These were movements for national unification that swept the whole of Europe.

German National Socialism was the ugliest and most inhuman movement of fascism with its theory of racial inferiority. This was not the case in Spain. Franco understood that Hitler was doomed, and did not allow Spain to be drawn into adventures. Although the so-called volunteer Blue Division, after the color of the shirts worn by the Spanish soldiers of the Wehrmacht, still went to the Eastern Front. The division was stationed near Novgorod, then near Leningrad, but in 1943 it was quietly removed from the front and sent to Spain. But not all returned home, there were 80 defectors. However, the Spanish Blue Division was also remembered for vandalism - the Francoists defiled Orthodox churches chopping icons.

- During and after the war, Franco found shelter for Jews, pilots of the anti-Hitler coalition and fugitive Nazis. A strange set ...

- Franco was a pragmatist. For example, he sheltered the famous saboteur Otto Skorzeny, because he began to create special services. But not every SS man could achieve shelter in Spain. Franco was and remains a monarchist, an ardent opponent of left-wing radical doctrines. Let me remind you that Alphonse XIII in 1947 issued a law stating that Spain is a monarchy, temporarily without a king. In the 1960s, Juan Carlos was declared regent, who became the Spanish king in 1976. Franco deliberately prepared Spain for the return of the king. And he handed over to the monarch a strong country that had become stronger economically after ten extra years international isolation. After the war, no one traded with her, the Spaniards did not travel abroad, no one came to them. The country has learned to rely on internal resources. And then Franco very carefully introduced Spain to the number of the largest European powers and handed over power. A unique case in world history.

- When did the national reconciliation happen?

- And it happened in stages. First, Franco announced amnesty to criminals, then to those who committed war crimes during the civil war. In 1976 (this is already the merit of Juan Carlos), a full amnesty was announced to all Republicans. Everyone who wanted to returned to the country - including Dolores Ibarruri, the leader of the Spanish communists. All interested persons received Spanish citizenship. Since the mid-90s, Republicans and Francoists have been considered veterans of the Civil War, receive the same pensions, and have the right to wear their awards. And in 1996, the king granted citizenship to all foreigners who fought ...

Spain,

"Over all of Spain clear sky... "(Spanish: Sobre toda Espana el cielo esta despejado) - this code phrase, transmitted on July 18, 1936 by the radio station in Ceuta (in those years, Spanish Morocco), was the signal for the beginning of a coup d'état in Spain under the leadership of General of the Spanish Army Francisco Franco.

The Spanish events were met with controversy in Europe and America. Majority developed countries proclaimed a policy of non-interference in Spanish affairs, Italy and Germany supported the rebels, the USSR sided with the republican government. Italy sent regular troops with a total strength of about 100 thousand people to help the putschists, Germany - the Condor legion. The Soviet Union helped the Republicans with arms supplies and volunteers.

For 3 years of the war, the USSR supplied the Spanish Republic, cut off by the policy of non-interference from the sources of acquiring weapons, 648 combat aircraft, 362 tanks, 120 armored vehicles, 1186 guns, more than 20 thousand machine guns and other weapons. At the same time, in the course of deliveries, 96 Soviet ships were detained by the Nazis, and 3 of them were sunk.

About 3 thousand Soviet military advisers fought in Spain: tankmen, pilots, artillerymen, technicians, sailors, NKVD workers. Officially, they were considered volunteers - the Soviet government thereby demonstrated that it did not allow direct intervention in the Spanish conflict - but in fact they were sent by the People's Commissariat of Defense.

Soviet specialists rendered great assistance to the Spanish Republic, forming the backbone of the air force and armored forces. In Spain, pilots P.V. Rychagov, A.K. Serov, M.M. Polivanov, S.I. Gritsevets, tankmen S.M. Krivoshein, V.M. Novikov, D.G. Pavlov and others. Y.K. Berzin, G.M. Stern, P.I. Batov, R. Ya. Malinovsky, A.I. Rodimtsev: The highest form of solidarity has become international brigades, formed from volunteers from 54 countries of the world. Moreover, the Soviet Union could not stand aside. The country, which survived a revolution, civil war and intervention, was one of the first to come to the aid of the heroic Spanish people. The USSR provided Spain with great all-round assistance, defending the interests of the Spanish people in the League of Nations, sending food, medicine, and different kinds weapons. At the Fuencorral municipal cemetery near Madrid, the names of the dead Soviet citizens who fought on the side of the Republic are engraved on an obelisk. Eternal memory to them!

The memorial is crowned with an inscription in Russian and Spanish: "In memory of Soviet volunteers, 1936-1939" ("A la memoria de los voluntarios soviéticos, 1936-1939"). The names of 182 dead volunteers are carved on the side of the monument, but this list is not only incomplete, but also inaccurate.

Monument Soviet pilots killed in Spain near Toledo

"...He left the hut, went to fight in order to give the land in Grenada to the peasants ..."

Soviet volunteer tankers in Spain

Soviet volunteer pilots at the I-15 aircraft.

Tankmen of the international brigade.

Soviet pilots in Spain.

Volunteers of the international brigades.

Soviet volunteer pilots who fought for the just cause of the Spanish people. From left to right: B. Smirnov, A. Serov, M. Yakushin. 1938 g.

Soviet volunteer fighter pilots at the airfield at Alcala de Henares

Tank T-26 from the international brigades in Spain.

Soviet tank crews at the graves of their comrades who died during the Spanish Civil War.

Soviet tank crews in Spain

"Above all of Spain, a cloudless sky ...". According to legend, this very phrase, broadcast on the radio 80 years ago, on July 17, 1936, became the signal for the start of the rebellion against the Spanish Republic. What preceded these events?

In the popular book of the late 1920s, Understanding Spain, Clayton Cooper cites old fairy tale about how Jupiter decided to descend from Olympus and explore the countries. The servant shows Jupiter France, England - and God admires their progress. When the servant reached Spain, Jupiter interrupted him: “No need. I myself see that it has not changed at all since the moment I created it. " A caustic, but extremely accurate description of the economy and customs of old Spain - until the moment when a whole series of revolutionary events begins to shake the country.

Land of contrasts

The vicissitudes of geography and history meant that by the late 1920s Spain was still a collection of loosely connected provinces, divided by rugged mountain ranges and turbulent rivers, between cold Galicia in the northwest and tropical Andalusia in the south. There one could see "palm forests without crossing the desert and sugar plantations - without slavery."

The population of the country reached 24 million people. Moreover, its density ranged from 15 people to square kilometer in Soria and Huesca up to 224-234 people in Barcelona and Vizcaya, and on average was five times less than the English.

Regions of Spain

From a quarter to a third of the total population belonged to national minorities.

"The indigenous population of Catalonia, the Basque provinces, the Aragonese, Galician and Andalusians seem to belong to almost different races",

It was written in the report of the British Consulate in 1923. More than a fifth of all citizens lived in Catalonia - national area in the northeast, stubbornly fighting for autonomy. In addition, Catalonia gave almost a third of all state taxes in the country. The Basque Country produced about 40% iron ore and more than half of the iron and steel were smelted - which, coupled with the opinion that the rights of the Basques were being infringed by Madrid, also sowed the seeds of discord.

Immense wealth and incredible poverty went hand in hand. Almost half of Spaniards over the age of six could not read. The level of industry was approximately at the level of the then Poland - with a predominance of textile. Spain was distinguished by an excellent (even according to the assessment of Soviet experts who were not inclined to compliments) network of iron and highways... However, the roads were not aimed at communication between regions, but at servicing exports and imports - which will soon play a role in the civil war more than once. At the same time, in most rural areas, peasants plowed with a wooden plow, the harvest was harvested with a sickle, and the grain was threshed with oxen or mules on the current - although 30-40 harvesters were imported into the country a year. A hundred kilometers from the largest hydroelectric power station in Europe, one could find huts not only without electric lighting, but even without a chimney and a normal window - not a hole in the wall, and with a clay floor.

In the notorious Las Hurdes neighborhood, a dozen farm laborers were given three pounds of bread (plus salt, vinegar, and olive oil) to make gazpacho stew for the day. Those who were looking for acorns for food in private forests could have been shot. A loader in Zaragoza, working 10-12 hours, received 75 sentimos a day - at the price of a box of matches at 5 senimos, and a kilogram of bread at 50.

Frame from documentary Luis Buñuel “Las Urdes. Land without bread "
http://otrolunes.com/

The fall of the empire

V late XIX century, despite examples of amazing heroism, Spain has lost almost all of its colonial possessions. However, the neutrality of Spain in the First World War led to a revival of trade, a 4-fold increase in gold reserves and other benefits.

But soon, in 1921, the Spaniards suffered a humiliating defeat at Anval by the Moroccan highlanders Abd el-Kerim. After such unheard-of defeats, the patience of the people snapped, and on September 13, 1923, General Primo de Rivera bloodlessly became the new dictator, and then purged the bureaucracy, dissolved the parties and Cortes meetings. Since then, there has been no government in Spain in the understanding accepted by the United States and Europe - everything was ruled by de Rivera and the National Council subordinate to him, without the Senate and the Chamber of Deputies. With the help of the French, the Spanish army still managed to win the exhausting war in Morocco. The military has gained impressive political weight. In 1931, with a total army strength of 105,000, there was one general for every 538 soldiers, and one officer for every six privates.

Import duties were lifted literally to the skies, which was beneficial to agricultural and mining Spain. The money raised was used to build roads and power plants. But, according to foreigners, Madrid has become the most expensive capital in Europe. And then the world crisis struck ... The number of strikes from 1929 to 1933 increased 15 times. Civil guards (the civil guard - a paramilitary police force subordinate to the Spanish Ministry of the Interior) killed the strikers, in response anarchists detonated bombs, leftists burned down churches. By 1935, Spain had hardly recovered from its economic depression.

General Primo de Rivera
Bundesarchiv

On January 28, 1930, Primo de Rivera, convinced that even the military did not trust him, resigned. On April 14, 1931, the monarchists, although gaining the majority of votes as a whole, lost the elections - in largest cities the Republicans won. A democratic republic was proclaimed.

The situation was aggravated by the fact that there were only about fifteen state parties in Spain alone, and there were also a dozen regional ones. And they all fought for influence. CEDA (Spanish Confederation of Autonomous Right Organizations), headed by Jose Maria Gil Robles, head of the Popular Action Party, emerged in February-March 1933 and represented the interests of landowners, officers and part of the peasants. The Spanish Renaissance Party sympathized with the monarchists, as did the Traditionalist Party. The Spanish phalanxes were led by Jose Antonio Primo de Rivera, the son of the former dictator. The Republican Radical Party was led by publicist Alexander Lerus.

The Socialist Workers' Party in the republican government until 1933 was represented by the ministers of labor - Largo Caballero, public education- Fernando de Los Rios and public works- Indalecio Prieto. Caballero was also the head of the UHT (General Workers' Union) - the strongest trade union. The National Confederation of Labor (CNT) united anarchist trade unions. The rapidly growing Communist Party had about 20,000 members by October 1934, and about 85,000 in 1936.

On August 2, 1931, a referendum in Catalonia proclaimed it an autonomous state. In January 1932, the new government of the republic banned the Jesuit Order. And in August, General Jose Sanjurjo, hero of the war in Morocco and commander of the Civil Guard, raised a mutiny in Seville, which failed, and the general himself was arrested. Many officers, including the hero of the landing at Aljusemas Francisco Franco, chose to wait. In 1934, Sanjurjo was exiled to Portugal - but he never stopped waiting for an opportunity for revenge.

It must be said that the traditions of political struggle in Spain have been honed by all interested parties for many years. In Barcelona alone, from 1917 to 1923, there were about a thousand political murders and executions. In the biography of almost any politician, you can find the lines "released from prison, elected deputy."

Revolt in Asturias
http://oviedo.for91days.com/

In October 1934, the unification of Lerus and Gil Robles led to an uprising on the left. The miners of Asturias fought especially stubbornly. Although the uprising was suppressed, the left gained more and more influence, so their arrested leaders had to replace the death penalty with imprisonment.

Socialists and communists united for a common victory. In December 1935, they were joined by the Left Republican Party of Manuel Asagni (the recent winner of the Sanjurjo insurgency, literally just released from prison), the Republican Union and the National Republican Party. In January 1936, the above, as well as the anarchists, nationalists of Catalonia and the Basque Country, signed an agreement on the creation of the Popular Bloc - the future Popular Front.

In the elections on February 18, 1936, the Popular Front won 268 seats in parliament out of 473. The new government of Asanya (in total - four times the prime minister) announced an amnesty, and land reform went faster. But the peasants in the localities, without waiting for favors from the government, began to seize the vacant land themselves. Entrepreneurs stopped factories - workers took over and restarted them. Desperate heads were killing leaders from the opposite camp. The purges of the army began, many suspicious generals were sent out to remote provinces - for example, General Maul was sent to Navarre on the border with France, Franco - on Canary Islands... Which, in the end, only played into their hands.

Conspiracy participants: from left to right Generals Sanjurjo, Franco, Mola, Manuel Goded Llopis, Gonzalo Capeo de Llano and Colonel Juan Yagüe http://www.alternatehistory.com/

In response, on July 17 at 17 o'clock, a mutiny began, which was joined by the overwhelming majority of officers (10,000 versus 1,000) and a significant part (50,000 versus 22,000) infantrymen. The aviation, navy and civil guard, in general, remained loyal to the republic. In Morocco, "blazed" on July 16.

Each city stood on its own - depending on who managed to take power. In Madrid, Barcelona, Toledo, workers, having received weapons, defeated or surrounded the rebels. Another unexpected blow the rebels received from ... their own leader, General Sanjurho. In an effort to return to Spain as quickly as possible, he boarded an overloaded plane - and crashed. Franco will become the sole leader of the rebels only on September 30th.

None of the participants in the events had yet suspected that there were almost three years of a long bloody war ahead ...

Sources and Literature:

Cooper, Clayton Sedgwick. Understanding Spain. New York, Frederick A. Stokes company, 1928.
Richardson Paul. Late Dinner: Discovering the Food of Spain. Scribner Book Company, 2007.
Varga E. Spain in the Revolution. Socekgiz, 1936.
Thomas Hugh. Spanish Civil War. 1931-1939 - M .: Tsentrpoligraf, 2003.
Federico J. Notes of a Spanish youth. - M .: "Young Guard", 1939.
Shubin A.V. The Great Spanish Revolution. M., 2011.
Ehrenburg I. G. Spanish reports 1931-1939 / Compiled by Popov V. V. and Frezinsky B. Ya. - Moscow: APN Publishing House, 1986.

Caudillo Franco saved the country as best he could

On July 18, 1936, 75 years ago, Spain took a step away from communism. Francisco Franco differed from all dictators in one essential feature - the absence of many-sidedness, or rather, many-sided baseness. The interests of Spain were dearer to him than the diversified fashion shows. They lifted him above the void amid vanity and ordinariness. However, he did not escape the grim failures of terror. Rivers of blood were shed by him in the name of a cloudless sky over Spain. Francisco Franco was definitely not like other rulers who had never fought, who had military ranks ...

... Franco was a true military officer. As part of the foreign legion, he went through the war in northern Morocco, where Spain fought with the Riff Republic. In 1925 he received the rank of colonel, in 1926 he became the youngest general not only in Spain but also in Europe, in 1927 - the head of the Higher Military Academy of the General Staff in Zaragoza, where he proved himself to be a mature, educated and professional trained leader.

Clouds over Spain. In 1931, changes were ripe in Spain. The Republicans won the municipal elections, and the radio announced the creation of the Provisional Government. However, General Franco made it clear that he would not support the new government, and categorically forbade the cadets to leave the walls of the academy so that none of them would join the people. Clouds immediately thickened over his head. The head of the new government, Manuel Azaña, ordered the closure of the academy, and a few days later he sent the general himself away - as a division commander in Zaragoza. Franco followed the order.

Franco knew how to steer

However, six months later, another decline followed. The situation in Spain was alarming, a conspiracy was brewing, and Franco was ordered to go to provincial A Coruña as the commander of an infantry brigade ... Of course, the service in the province did not satisfy the young and ambitious general: he had life in front of him, and he was held in A Coruña. But in times of change, life is also changeable.

Fate smiled at Franco. He met the Minister of War, Ignacio Hidalgo, whom he managed to impress. The minister noticed him, and when a political strike broke out in the Asturian miners on October 5, 1934, which grew into an uprising, Franco was remembered, called up and appointed head of the center for suppressing the uprising.

The disgraced Franco knew Asturias well and chose a winning tactic for the punitive operation. It was necessary to justify the minister's expectation so as not to return to the hateful La Coruna. The fate of the rebels was in the hands of the general. Francisco believed medieval legend... In it, the Roman fortuneteller augur said that the time will come, the caudillo will appear and save Spain. That was how the general felt like a caudillo. He needed to "save" Spain and not forget about himself. But the task turned out to be difficult. He wanted to be irreconcilable, but he turned out to be cruel, he wanted to suppress dissent, and he suppressed lives. At all costs, he had to justify the minister's expectations. And he justified it at the cost of huge sacrifices. The promotion finally followed - he became chief of the General Staff.

But the clouds did not dissipate over his head. The situation was precarious, the political situation in Spain was too precarious. The Popular Front won the elections in February 1936, Franco tried to convince the minister to introduce martial law, he was refused, moreover, he was considered a "dangerous" general. Franco was assigned to the Canary Islands.

Under the guise of counterintelligence. After all, Franco was not an ordinary general. The entire Canary garrison was under his influence: at a meeting in the forest near Santa Cruz, Franco announced officers about his decision to become the head of the counter-revolutionary uprising in Spain, and he was supported. The secret officers' meeting was attended by an employee of the German "Abwehr" - a sales clerk, a certain Niemann. Where did this accident come from? The mystery was explained later - Franco had close ties with the head of the intelligence and counterintelligence department of Germany, Admiral Wilhelm Franz Canaris. A trusted officer from Franco went to Canaris in Berlin, accompanied by Niemann, and soon returned with Germany's consent to support Franco as the head of the counter-revolution in Spain.

Franco knew how to negotiate with everyone, including Mussolini

By August, the rebel army on German planes under the cover of German ships was transferred to the Iberian Peninsula, the group under the command of Franco began a march to Madrid, the northern group moved to Caceres, where it was planned to connect both armies. A "great civil war" began in Spain.

In July 1936, a group of rebel generals created the Junta of National Defense and in September issued a decree transferring supreme power to Franco in the country and conferring on him the rank of Generalissimo. V war time this meant that he became the head of government.

Germany did not provide aid to the Francoists free of charge. Hermann Goering organized in Spain industrial organizations to prepare for the export of Spanish industrial raw materials as compensation. Spain turned into a reconnaissance base for Germany, the Reich fleet was repaired and supplied in the ports of Spain. And yet Franco's maneuvers achieved their goal: Spain remained a neutral state and did not conflict with Germany ...

Caudillo. Until 1939, Franco remained the head of state (caudillo) and the leader of the national movement (phalanx). All power was in his hands. He had the right to issue decrees having the force of law, to appoint ministers, governors and generals. In 1938, the resistance of the Republicans was broken, and despite the fact that the Francoists did not succeed in taking Madrid, after the Battle of Catalonia, won by force German weapons, Franco declared the civil war over. The success of his actions in Spain contributed to his popularity in the highest political circles. Even before the end of the civil war, the Francoist government recognized the countries of the fascist axis. This gave the caudillo confidence and allowed him to act extremely cruel in Spain itself. Repressions and terror, perpetrated on the orders of Franco, could not soften even the requests of the highest Catholic clergy, even the Pope himself. Republican institutions were destroyed: the constitution, the Cortes (parliament), the government - all political parties and trade unions were dispersed. For two decades, articles with bloody details of the Francoist reality did not leave the pages of the world press. Franco was depicted in cartoons with a huge ax in his hands, from the sharp blade of which drops of blood dripped. His intransigence turned into cruelty.

Canaris's agent is more cunning than Hitler. In 1939, the Second World War but Franco had no intention of drawing Spain into it. On September 4, he made a radio announcement urging the Spaniards to "maintain strict neutrality." And on October 25, 1940, Franco was the first and last time met with Adolf Hitler. Their conversation looked somewhat strange; they had not spoken to Hitler for a long time. Caudillo refused to let German troops pass through Spain to capture Gibraltar. Franco argued his refusal as follows: the Fuhrer's plan infringes upon the national dignity of the Spaniards - Gibraltar should be taken only by their forces. He recalled the fate of Napoleonic troops in Spain - there are still many republicans in the country, and they will certainly start guerrilla warfare against the Germans. Franco knew Spain better. The Fuhrer heeded his arguments, but was dissatisfied with the caudillo. He stated that he would have preferred to pull out three or four teeth, if only not to face something like this again. This was Hitler's first diplomatic defeat inflicted on him by his own protege and ally.

But the Spanish "blue division" on the Soviet-German front caudillo still had to be sent. Although, no doubt, he had no desire to please Hitler or take advantage of his victories. Rather, hostility to communism played a role here. Convinced that the Spaniards were suffering huge losses, Franco withdrew the division ...

A state of limited dictatorship. In Spain, Franco remained an indisputable authority, and perhaps that is why he could not escape the fate of the majority of dictators. As a disciplinarian, he was not abhorred by the unbridled praise that filled the newspapers. He, like Mussolini and Hitler, was compared with Charles V the Wise, Caesar, Napoleon, Alexander the Great; what are they capable of turbid water servility and hidden self-interest. And the freedom advocate's prisons were full of political prisoners. Franco himself once talked with American ambassador and in between times he admitted that yes, there are about 26 thousand of them (political prisoners). But according to American data, this figure was higher, it reached 225 thousand. Yankees have always been better at counting in other people's prisons ...

And who could argue with him like that?

Yet it was important what the dictator thought of the Spaniards. He followed the path from an "absolute" dictatorship to a representative monarchy. In July 1945, the Cortes approved the Charter of the Spaniards. The charter guaranteed the inviolability of the person, home, privacy of correspondence, arrests could be made only on a legal basis. The freedom of association was declared if they "pursue permitted goals" and "do not encroach on the basic principles of the state." The Franco regime has even been called a "state of limited democracy" that unites all political parties and groups. In October 1945, the "Law on the People's Referendum" was adopted, which provided for direct consultations with the nation.

Both documents did not restrict the caudillo's authority, but “ uncrowned king Franco did not lay claim to the throne in Spain - in a country where monarchical traditions were strong. He even emphasized this in February 1946, saying that he sees the future of the country in the monarchy. And in July, in support of this, a new "Law on Inheritance of the Post of Head of State" was adopted, according to which the head of state was the Caudillo of Spain and Crusade, Generalissimo of the Armed Forces Francisco Franco Baamonde. The term of office of the caudillo was unlimited. But the restriction of the dictator's power, albeit somewhat ostentatious, he nevertheless introduced at that time. Together with him, the state was now headed by the Council of the Kingdom of 17 people and the Council of the Regency of 3 people; President of the Cortes, bishop and captain-general. The regents prepared the heir for accession to the throne.

Present and future of Spain. Who was the heir? In 1948, it was agreed with the son of the last Spanish king, don Juan de Bourbon, that the son of the latter, Juan Carlos, would come to Spain. In January 1955, the 17-year-old prince arrived in Madrid. Caudillo looked closely at the candidate for a long time, but was pleased and, in July 1959, having assembled an extraordinary session of the Cortes, proclaimed the prince heir to the Spanish throne. Until his death, Franco remained a mentor to Juan Carlos, taught the prince to find contact with the people, know their needs and try to solve them.

Caudillo loved to communicate with artists. And they are with him

In the 60s and 70s, Spain was no longer recognizable. New Deal the strengthening of the economy led the country to a real economic boom. From a backward agrarian country, it turned into a flourishing industrial one. Investments poured in, tourism got on its feet. Planning measures, centralization of management and subsidies from the state budget have done their good job. Free were introduced medical service, the social insurance system, the 13th and 14th salaries were paid for Christmas and the anniversary of the performance of the Francoists. The state began planning the construction of apartments for the population. Sociological surveys all as one said that the Spaniards highly appreciated the role of the state in improving their well-being.

Spain began to flourish, but the creator of this miracle had already left the scene. On October 1, 1975, he appeared in front of his fans for the last time, on the 14th he was struck by a heart attack. Juan Carlos, whom Franco summoned to bed, heard the mentor try to speak about the unity of Spain. The prince, who ascended the throne under the name of Juan Carlos II, fulfilled the will of the caudillo. The Spanish king adopted a new constitution that made the country a parliamentary monarchy. Franco's reliance on the traditional values of his people has borne fruit.

He left great

A month after his death, on November 21, 1975, the caudillo's will was broadcast on the radio, read to him during his lifetime: “May everyone forgive me, as I myself from the bottom of my heart forgive everyone who call themselves my enemies, although I did not see them in them. ", - he said…

P.S. The last remaining statue of Francisco Franco Baamonde in the Spanish capital was recently dismantled in Madrid. It is about the 7-meter equestrian statue of the dictator, which was sculpted by the sculptor Jose Kapus in 1956. The copper sculpture stood on the central avenue of the city of Castellana. Opponents of the Franco monument, who regard it as a “symbol of fascism,” contrary to democracy and the spirit of the Spanish constitution, have for many years insisted that the dictator on horseback be removed from the eyes of Madrid residents and guests of the capital. With whatever epithets he was awarded during his long and stormy life! Tyrant, executioner, fascist, obscurantist, inquisitor in Torquemada's worn cloak and religious fanatic, enemy of everything new and progressive.

During the rule of the country by the Spanish dictator, hundreds of thousands of Spaniards became victims of repression. Spanish anti-fascists and fighters of the International Brigades were executed by the Francoists without trial or investigation. By order of Franco, mass executions were carried out in the country, opponents of the regime were sent to concentration camps.

Such Franco was removed ...

The decision to remove the monument to the dictator was taken by the Spanish socialist government and was implemented without delay. The equestrian statue has been sent to a warehouse on the outskirts of Madrid and will be stored there along with other symbols of the Francoist dictatorship ...

Alexander PROSANDEEV

"Above all of Spain, a cloudless sky ..."(Spanish: Sobre toda Espana el cielo esta despejado) - this code phrase, transmitted on July 18, 1936 by the radio station in Ceuta (in those years, Spanish Morocco), was the signal for the beginning of a coup d'état in Spain under the leadership of General of the Spanish Army Francisco Franco.

The Spanish events were met with controversy in Europe and America. Most developed countries proclaimed a policy of non-interference in Spanish affairs, Italy and Germany supported the rebels, the USSR sided with the republican government. Italy sent regular troops with a total strength of about 100 thousand people to help the putschists, Germany - the Condor legion. The Soviet Union helped the Republicans with arms supplies and volunteers.

Soviet specialists rendered great assistance to the Spanish Republic, forming the backbone of the air force and armored forces. In Spain, pilots P.V. Rychagov, A.K. Serov, M.M. Polivanov, S.I. Gritsevets, tankmen S.M. Krivoshein, V.M. Novikov, D.G. Pavlov and others. Y.K. Berzin, G.M. Stern, P.I. Batov, R. Ya. Malinovsky, A.I. Rodimtsev: The highest form of solidarity has become international brigades, formed from volunteers from 54 countries of the world. Moreover, the Soviet Union could not stand aside. The country, which survived a revolution, civil war and intervention, was one of the first to come to the aid of the heroic Spanish people. The USSR provided Spain with great all-round assistance, defending the interests of the Spanish people in the League of Nations, sending food, medicine, and various types of weapons. At the Fuencorral municipal cemetery near Madrid, the names of the dead Soviet citizens who fought on the side of the Republic are engraved on an obelisk. Eternal memory to them!

The memorial is crowned with an inscription in Russian and Spanish: "To the memory of Soviet volunteers, 1936-1939" ("A la memoria de los voluntarios soviéticos, 1936-1939"). The names of 182 dead volunteers are carved on the side of the monument, but this list is not only incomplete, but also inaccurate.

Monument to Soviet pilots who died in Spain near Toledo