In 1892 a man who would become the associate of Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini was born into the town of El Ferrol. The child's name was Francisco Paulino Hermenegildo Teódulo Franco Bahamonde, who later became known as Francisco Franco. This small Iberian town in which he was born was located on the northwestern coastline. The man's birth was the beginning of a new era for Spain, both prosperous and also disasterous.
Franco's father was employed in the naval forces, and was often away on duty, leaving the burden of raising Franco, and his three siblings to his wife. Though he had wished to follow in his father's foot steps and join the navy, young Franco could no do so due to cut backs in naval funding. He instead ended up enrolling in the Academy of the Alcázar of Toledo. There he stayed, learning not only the basic skills needed to be an officer but also studying war tactics from noted theorists such as Karl Von Clausewitz.
Francisco Franco
Francisco Franco and Dwight D. Eisenhower in Madri...
Sépulture de Francisco Franco, Valle de los Caido...Franco Graduated in 1910.
During Franco's childhood Spain experienced a rapid fall from prestige on the world stage. The decline was due, in large part, to Spain's humiliating defeat in the Spanish-American War at the hands of the Americans. As a result of the war Spain lost most of its colonial holdings. In 1912 a part of Morocco was one of the small holdings Spain still had, and due to increased activity of other European nations in Africa, additional military forces were deployed to Morocco. Amongst the soldiers sent was Franco.
Franco was rising fast, and soon became known as the invincible fighter. By 1917 Franco had earned the rank of major after many successful battles and his many acts of bravery. He soon was restationed in Asturias where met his future wife...