Abstract
On 17 July 1936 a military coup against the leftist Popular Front government in Spain began with a military uprising in Spanish Morocco, marking the start of the lethal three-year Spanish Civil War. Unforeseen setbacks to the military leaders’ plans in July and August 1936 radically altered the strategic situation, and gave Major General Francisco Franco a unique opportunity. This essay seeks to understand how he used that opportunity, rising from being merely another general supporting the uprising in July to the position of commander-in-chief of the Nationalist army and head of government less than three months later.
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Cite this article
Néstor Cerdá, “Political Ascent and Military Commander: General Franco in the Early Months of the Spanish Civil War, July–October 1936,” The Journal of Military History 75, no. 4 (October 2011): 1125–1157.