Table of Contents

• List of Illustrations 
• Preface
• 1 The Making of a Spanish Officer (1892–1913)
• 2 The Youngest General in Europe (1913–1926)
• 3 Director of the General Military Academy (1926–1931) 
• 4 From Ostracism to Chief of Staff (1931–1936)
• 5 The Destruction of Republican Democracy (1936)  
• 6 Franco Becomes Generalissimo (1936) 
• 7 Forging a Dictatorship (1936–1939)
• 8 Winning the Civil War (1936–1939)
• 9 Franco and the Nationalist Repression (1936–1945)
• 10 From Civil War to World War (1939–1940) 
• 11 The Great Temptation (1940–1941) 
• 12 Surviving World War II (1941–1945)
• 13 Franco at Bay (1945–1953)
• 14 Franco at His Zenith (1953–1959)
• 15 Franco at Home 
• 16 Development Dictator (1959–1964) 
• 17 Facing the Future (1964–1969)  
• 18 Franco and the Modernization of Spain  
• 19 Twilight Years (1969–1974)  
• 20 The Death of Franco (1974–1975)
• Conclusion: Franco in the Perspective of History
• Notes  
• Index

About the Author

Stanley G. Payne is the Hilldale–Jaume Vicens Vives Professor of History Emeritus at the University of Wisconsin–Madison and the author of many books, including A History of Fascism, 1914–1945; The Franco Regime, 1936–1975; and Spain: A Unique History. Jesús Palacios is a noted historian, investigative journalist, and adjunct professor at the University of Madrid.

Reviews

An intimate portrait of Franco the man, provoking a lively and necessary debate about the nature of the dictator's regime.""- Julius Ruiz, author of Franco's Justice

""This compelling biography of Francisco Franco situates the Caudillo in his Spanish and global context. It covers every aspect of Franco's life- from birth to death, from the political to the personal- displaying a judicious and critical understanding of this very controversial figure.""- Michael Seidman, author of The Victorious Counterrevolution: The Nationalist Effort in the Spanish Civil War

""During and after his life, Francisco Franco garnered more than fifty studies of his life, but Franco: A Personal and Political Biography is quite simply one of the best. At last we are presented with a genuinely objective, balanced, above all dispassionate biography, written by two vastly experienced and distinguished scholars. The book's cool and measured conclusions- always lucidly presented- reflect almost uncannily the meticulously pragmatic approach of the subject himself to the numberless military and political issues his career confronted. From being a twentieth-century pariah of world politics, Franco has now come into his own in terms of serious academic attention.""- Robert Stradling, author of Your Children Will Be Next: Bombing and Propaganda in the Spanish Civil War


""Francisco Franco is the only major twentieth-century dictator to die peacefully in his bed- after almost four decades in power. His regime was brutal, despicable, and in many respects ineffectual, yet it did not join the Axis powers in World War II and was a transitional type between traditional military dictatorships and more recent totalitarian regimes. This book, impeccably based on the available sources and displaying sober judgment, could well be the definitive work on the subject.""- Walter Laqueur, author of Fascism: Past, Present, Future

""A very thorough and readable biography that masterfully combines research on Franco's life and regime with new and unique sources including Franco's private papers and interviews with Franco's only daughter. It will appeal to a broad readership including anyone interested in the history of twentieth-century Spain, the Spanish civil war, and the Franco regime.""- Joan Maria Thomàs, University Rovira-Virgili, Spain