He could have been in the place of Caudillo Franco

36
He could have been in the place of Caudillo Franco

A dictatorship is almost always military, and even dictators without a military rank usually rely on the military. Spain, which survived by no means the only dictator, Francisco Franco, is no exception in this regard. But it could have become such if the leader of the military rebellion of 1936 was perhaps the most popular of the enemies of the republican government - Jose Antonio Primo de Rivera.

Dictator's son


He was young, perhaps even too young. For a revolutionary this would be an advantage, but for a counterrevolutionary and a dictatorial candidate it would hardly be. Jose Antonio was only 33 years old at the beginning of the officer's mutiny in Spain. Jose Antonio, most likely, did not know that everything in his homeland would eventually turn into a full-scale civil war.



Republicans rushed to shoot the leader of the legendary "Phalanx" in their own way just three months after the famous "Above all of Spain, cloudless sky" sounded on the radio. At this time, Madrid was already under siege, and the right had no doubts about the success of the military coup.

Jose Antonio was born in Jerez de la Frontera, home to one of the most famous wines in the world. He was from a family of Spanish grandees with centuries of ancestry and ancient traditions, and he himself bore the titles of Duke and Marquis. The family was so aristocratic that it could compete with the descendants of both the Habsburgs and the Bourbons in the struggle for the Spanish throne.

But much more important was the fact that the father of José Antonio was General Miguel Primo de Rivera and Orbaneja - the last dictator of Spain under the living King Alfonso XIII. The commander covered with glory, a direct descendant of ministers and governors, field marshals and viceroys came to power as a result of a military coup in 1923.


Miguel Primo de Rivera (pictured) became the main in the "military directory" created with the consent of the monarch, abolished the constitution and introduced the most severe censorship in Spain, which suffered from revolutions. For seven years he headed the government, and he achieved success not only in the war in the colonies on the African continent, but also in the economy, mainly thanks to cooperation with fascist Italy.

However, even such a stubborn Marxist as Leon Trotsky never tired of repeating that in itself "the Primo de Rivera regime was not a fascist dictatorship, for it did not rely on the reaction of the petty bourgeois masses."

The dictator de Rivera was considered by many to be too "soft" and, it seems, did not take into account that the monarchy in the Iberian Peninsula, both in Spain and in Portugal, which joined it, was not very popular by that time. More precisely, it is no longer too popular: kings and emperors reigned there, but almost did not rule.


General M. Primo de Rivera and King Alfonso XIII

Spanish Alfonso XIII, and with him General M. Primo de Rivera, was boldly bold by the revolutionary wave in the early 1930s. The king left Spain only a year after the 60-year-old dictator resigned. Alfonso XIII officially abdicated the throne only in 1941, but Franco, dying, handed over the vacant Spanish throne to his grandson, now disgraced Juan Carlos I.

And the mild dictator Miguel Primo de Rivera left for Paris in January of the same 1930 to die there just two months later. His 26-year-old son Jose Antonio had already decided to continue his father's work. He forgot about the disputes with him and, in addition to the law, went into politics, later becoming the founder of the "Spanish Phalanx" - a semblance of nationalist parties in Italy and Germany.

Caudillo without shoulder straps


Growing up without a mother, whom he lost at the age of five, Jose Antonio received an excellent, albeit home education. He knew English and French, and studied at the University of Madrid to become a lawyer at the age of 19. He became interested in politics while still a student, but in his own way.

The dictator's son became one of the organizers of the student union, which almost immediately opposed his father's policy in the field of higher education. Of leftist ideas, he liked syndicalism the most, and not necessarily in combination with anarchism. Jose Antonio did not become a real far-right even after he studied military affairs in educational institutions in Madrid and Barcelona and served in the army.

In the ninth dragoon regiment of Saint Jaime in the capital of Catalonia, he received the rank of second lieutenant, but the coup participants subsequently still considered him, a secular handsome man and a lawyer by education, too civilian. And this is not surprising, given the contradictions between Jose Antonio and his father and the fact that he created his own law firm and more than once defended supporters of various kinds of liberal ideas.

The latter, however, did not in the least prevent the brilliant aristocrat from becoming a member of the National Monarchist Union. The death of his father and the fall of the monarchy immediately forced him to act. The young politician adopted the views of the Italian Duce Benito Mussolini, then still almost socialist.


In the thirties, all of Spain lived under the republican tricolor

Jose Antonio, a regular visitor to secular salons and political clubs, passed the election sieve without any problems and became a member of the Cortes. De Rivera has not yet completely parted with left-wing and liberal ideas, but he has already smashed from the parliamentary tribune "atheists and anarchists, class Marxists and hypocritical Masons."

The budding philosopher Ramiro Ledesma Ramos became a companion of Jose Antonio, and together they opposed the republican system in Spain. However, this has not yet made them allies of the true Spanish monarchists: the Carlists and Alphoncists. After all, Ramos and de Rivera criticized the power of capital, although not from the left, but from the right, and besides, they quickly put together a movement that could distract young Spaniards from the struggle for the return of the monarchy.

In 1933, José Antonio de Rivera announced the creation of the Spanish Phalanx, a nationalist party. The politician who was rapidly gaining political points came up with an original idea of ​​a national dictatorship, which should replace the democratic government in the country. The Falanga leaders sought, in their words, "to cope with liberal riot, to protect the people and establish social justice."

But even earlier, de Rivera and Ramos began publishing the newspaper El Fascio (Fascist). This edition was fully consistent with its name, and then no one doubted that "Phalanx" would never become left. From the pages of "Fascist" everyone who promoted the slogans and ideas of socialism was immediately declared an enemy of the nation.

For a while, Fascist was not taken seriously by anyone. Only the current republican government did not hesitate to respond. The newspaper was banned, the circulation was confiscated, and de Rivera was arrested. However, he was released very quickly, there is still democracy in the country, and he is a deputy, although not a leftist. Three years later, the Communists and Democrats will not repeat their mistake.

But in 1933, the left thought differently, especially since the rebellious son of the late dictator called on all Spaniards to serve not to numerous parties, but to a single Fatherland. If this fatherland is even still republican, then why not, because it was Spain that was recognized by de Rivera and Ramos as the highest value. It is characteristic that the economic program of the Phalanx was very openly directed not only against communism, but also against capitalism.

And then there was the strange alliance with right-wing syndicalists, who were inspired by the ideas of the Russian thinker Prince P.A.Kropotkin. However, it only led to the fact that they finally parted with other anarchists, and many immediately joined the ranks of the "Phalanx". It is interesting that "Phalanx" borrowed from the anarchists not only the ideas of workers' self-government, but also the colors: red and black.


But the phalangists criticized the power of capital, I repeat, not from the left, but from the right. They did not recognize capitalism because it rejects spiritual values, and separates private property from the interests of a private person. It is believed that Ledesma Ramos instilled in his friend a rejection of the traditional capitalist system, which deprived a person of individuality, detached from national traditions, family and faith.

The ideal of the two friends was a medieval knight-monk, but by no means Don Quixote. The capitalists got them literally for everything - for the fact that they turned people into a commodity, and people, as they say today, into something like biomass, which is supposed to only be produced and consumed.

Such views turn someone into communists, and others into rabid fascists. Jose Antonio de Rivera, most likely, simply did not have time to follow in the footsteps of his idol Mussolini and his German friend Hitler. However, the activists of the "Phalanx" created by Rivera copied their Italian and German colleagues in everything.

As part of the "Phalanx", paramilitary units were quickly created, which during the civil war, along with the Afrika Korps, became the backbone of the rebel armed forces. In the ancient manner, they were called maniples, flags, centuries and squadrons, equipped with symbols with a bow, arrows and an arch of three spears.

The phalangists called each other comrades, and the commanders - hierarchs. At the same time, they did not even try to hide that they were going to take power by force, so that the country would be governed by some corporate bodies under the control of such a party as Phalanx. Despite this kind of ideological cocktail, the highest officers of Spain soon recognized the Phalanx as a potential ally.

Already in 1934, the Phalangists launched a national-syndicalist offensive with the Junta. Its representatives generally had serious problems with ideas and ideologues, and they willingly stood under the red-black-red banner of a new ally.

In the same 1934, de Rivera wrote a famous letter to General Francisco Franco, guessing in that the future military leader. There was even an attempted coup, which was unsuccessful. The fact is that the strike and the uprising in Asturias were suppressed by troops led by General Franco, summoned from Africa by the republican government. Franco will oppose the republic in just two years.


Francisco Franco. First the savior, then the worst enemy of the republic

Not the first victim of the revolution


"Unity of the Fatherland". "Direct action". "Anti-Marxism". "Anti-parliamentarism". These slogans were soon easily recognized as their organizers of the future military revolt. The most inspiring, most likely, was the famous thesis of Ledesma Ramos about the corporate state, in which the social organism was viewed as a single trade union, and the nation as a friendly family.

The revolutionary, or, if you will, the counter-revolutionary situation in Spain had developed long before the direct action of the military. "Phalanx", using the old ties of the late dictator's son with the generals, set about preparing a coup. The leaders of the party in the summer of 1935 gathered at a kind of secret plenum, where they decided to begin preparations for the overthrow of the republic.

The government learned of their plans, and Primo de Rivera was arrested in March 1936. When the military rebelled, he was in the prison of the city of Alicante, corresponded with his comrades-in-arms and hoped for an early release. It was decided to try him as one of the main organizers of the conspiracy against the legally elected government. By this time, Franco had managed to lead the rebellious government, proclaimed in Burgos on October 1.

Among the many tragic events that took place on the eve of the mutiny, the arrest of the leader of the "Phalanx" is considered one of those that led to the civil war. Jose Antonio de Rivera was repeatedly tried to free, and for this they even attracted German ships stationed in the roadstead in the port of Alicante. They tried to exchange them, for example, for the relatives of General Miakha, one of the few who remained loyal to the republic.

When the army of nationalists was already at the walls of the Spanish capital, in the People's Court of Spain, Jose Antonio Primo de Rivera, on November 17, 1936, hastily pronounced the death sentence. This was considered a response to the white terror that the rebels unleashed. They called it just a response to the terror of the Reds.

The leader of "Phalanx", a professional lawyer, refused a defense lawyer with the words: "You will shoot him." The verdict was carried out just three days later, which was not reported by newspapers or radio on both sides of the front. The republican government clearly did not want to turn de Rivera into a martyr, but Francisco Franco, remembering 1934 well, too.

Even after the death of his younger and more talented rival in the struggle for power, the caudillo was openly jealous of his popularity. A peculiar cult of Primo de Rivera began to form after the victory of the Francoists in the civil war. A national holiday is dedicated to him in Spain, and the monument in his homeland is invariably decorated with flowers today.
  • Alexey Podymov
  • peoples.ru, i2.wp.com, img.desmotivations.es, img.discogs.com
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  1. +10
    22 August 2020 05: 34
    the famous "Cloudless sky over all Spain" sounded on the radio
    Didn't sound. Beautiful, but a legend.
    Glorious Warlord
    News to me. In Spain at that time, were there military leaders covered with glory? On the fields of what battles they were covered with glory, I wonder?
    In general, thanks to the author for a good biographical sketch. hi
    1. +11
      22 August 2020 06: 24
      Quote: Dalny V
      Beautiful, but a legend.

      Beautiful, I agree .. It seems like Ehrenburg came up with it, but I could be wrong .. And what do the Spaniards think about all this? Here is how the beginning of the rebellion is described in one of the monographs:

      “General Mola has finally set the final date for the putsch. Everything was supposed to start in Morocco on July 18 at five o'clock in the morning. Garrisons in Spain itself were to join the coup on 19 July. Generals Mola from the north, Goded from the north-west and Franco from the south will launch an attack on the capital. Sanjurjo will fly out of Portugal by plane to take over the high command in Burgos.
      The uprising began in Melilla. On the morning of July 17, the garrison officers involved in the conspiracy gathered at headquarters to discuss the latest details on the eve of the scheduled date. Colonel Segi, responsible for the putsch in eastern Morocco, told the associates the exact time of the speech - five in the morning the next day. But in the ranks of the conspirators was a traitor. Lieutenant Zaro with a unit of soldiers surrounded the headquarters and invited the officers to surrender, but they were able to get through to one of the neighboring military units, also adjacent to the conspiracy. After the arrival of a large number of armed soldiers, the lieutenant's subordinates were forced to surrender. The rebellious officers declared martial law, occupied all official buildings in Melilla, and began to arrest representatives of the legal authorities. All who resisted the arrest were shot without trial.
      The uprising in Melilla began almost a day ahead of schedule, but quickly reached Tetouan, where by nightfall only the residence of the chief commissioner and the airport remained the last points of resistance to the rebels. In Ceuta, by 11 at night, General Juan Yague captured the city without firing a single shot. In Larache, the last important city in Spanish Morocco on the Atlantic coast, the uprising took place on July 18 at two in the morning, and already at dawn the city was in the hands of the rebels.
      At this time, General Franco was traveling by sea from the Canary Islands and arrived in Spanish Morocco only at dawn on July 19.


      As you can see, no heavenly passwords, everything is much more prosaic.
      1. +3
        22 August 2020 10: 56
        the truth is difficult here ... it is written by those who survived adhering to the current point of view and political situation ... taking into account the opinion of the winners)) ... and with their money
        1. +4
          22 August 2020 12: 08
          Quote: silberwolf88
          the truth is difficult here ... it is written by those who survived adhering to the current point of view and the political situation ... taking into account the opinion of the winners))

          History is written by the victors ... and therefore there is no place for the vanquished ...
          And more:
          ... rebellion cannot end in luck
          Otherwise, his name is different!
          1. +2
            22 August 2020 14: 25
            Quote: Mountain Shooter
            History is written by the victors ... and therefore there is no place for the vanquished ...

            Let me remind you that now in Spain the socialists are in power, who are finishing the war with Franco, tearing up his grave.

            Actually, this is the main thing they do.
    2. +1
      22 August 2020 15: 42
      the famous "Cloudless sky over all Spain" sounded on the radio
      Didn't sound. Beautiful, but a legend.

      "It's raining in Santiago" - also a legend?
      1. VIP
        +2
        22 August 2020 17: 57
        If we assume that Agusto Pinochet and Allende are literary characters, then they are literary fiction.
    3. +2
      22 August 2020 17: 40
      On the fields of what battles they were covered with glory, I wonder?


      For example, in the war with the Riefens 1925-1927?
  2. +3
    22 August 2020 05: 48
    He was one of the authors of the words of the Phalangists' anthem "Face the Sun".
    I will stand with the sun in a red shirt,
    What did you embroider me yesterday.
    We are entering the battle dangerous.
    It's time for us to say goodbye.

    I will join the ranks with my comrades nearby.
    And under the sun and under the stars.
    Everyone will sacrifice their destiny
    Ready for battle.

    If they say, my voice is silent,
    I have done my duty.
    Let's return the victory banners
    On the march, one and all.

    I will carry five roses held together
    My bouquet.
    Spring will smile at us again
    Heaven, sea and earth laugh.
    Forward to victory, it's not in vain
    Dawn breaks over Spain!


    It is still popular in the Spanish right-wing circles.
  3. +2
    22 August 2020 05: 54
    Jose Antonio, most likely, did not know that everything in his homeland would eventually turn into a full-scale civil war.
    1. +2
      22 August 2020 17: 26
      As the author guessed, after all, Primo de Rivera was shot almost immediately
  4. +1
    22 August 2020 06: 00
    Sometimes I think, what if the communists had won in Spain. Most likely nothing good shone for us. The Germans would have overcome Spain with one pendal. And we would get a couple of hundred thousand soldiers who are striving to conquer our land. Of course, there were their volunteers, about 50 thousand.
    1. -1
      22 August 2020 08: 46
      I agree. After the surrender of France, the natural way to develop success for Germany and Italy would have been a blow to Spain through the Pyrenees, reinforced by the landing of troops on the coast. And then there would be nothing to save the Republicans and no one to save. Stalin would not even risk a non-aggression pact to save the Spaniards. And if he took a chance and managed to send a bunch of "volunteers", they still would not have achieved anything. But Spain, under the leadership of a puppet government from the remnants of the Phalangists (IMHO, in Spain it would be it, and not a direct occupation) would become a loyal ally of the Reich in gratitude, and not only one Blue Division would act against us on the front from Spain, but a full-fledged field army, or even more than one.
      And even the beginning of the Second World War, we would not have delayed.
      1. 0
        22 August 2020 09: 57
        And further. The Germans would then have captured Gibraltar by rail. And the Britons in North Africa would be in big trouble due to the deteriorating supply. And the Axis fleet would dominate the Mediterranean.
        1. 0
          23 August 2020 16: 11
          If you have read Churchill's memoirs, then the participation of Italy on the side of the Axis is a flaw of Britain, and Mussolini himself hesitated a lot. So, we will not be alternative - but the WWII scheme could be different in some scenarios. However, the British would never have surrendered Egypt, and neither would Malta - therefore, the Axis fleets could not see their own ears: they could walk, but they could not own it!
          1. +1
            23 August 2020 16: 51
            Retaining Malta after the loss of Gibraltar would have been much more difficult for the Britons. Not the fact that it would have been possible.
            1. 0
              23 August 2020 17: 25
              Considering some factors and the fact that a part of Spain across the strait is accepted. And that Gibraltar gulkin's nose ... So, the Big Fleet operated only bases in the eastern part of the sea - and what would you do in the place of Britain? We must accept life as it is. However, the Britons even had doubts about the defense of the metropolis itself in 1940 ..
        2. +1
          23 August 2020 17: 13
          Toys in an alternative history, it is always assumed, subjectively, the beginning, far from the most developed Yugoslavia, gave a serious rebuff to the Nazis in the early 40s. Why don't you assume that a few hundred thousand hardened fighters would be a serious problem for the Brown, although this seems to be contrary to your beliefs.
          1. -1
            23 August 2020 17: 24
            These several hundred thousand seasoned fighters would have found no less of the same seasoned opponents within the country. Franco would have coped with partisan war on his own. After all, who stopped the Republicans from starting the guerrilla after the end of the civil war?
            PS: Although, in the event of a guerrilla war, sending a full-blooded army to the Eastern Front would be too luxurious for Franco. He avoided wars outside his country with all his might.
      2. +1
        22 August 2020 17: 35
        Sergei Mikhailovich, why then did Franko not send a field army to the eastern front? Or tell him he's not a phalangist
        1. +2
          22 August 2020 17: 51
          It was Franco who won the civil war in Spain. The role of the Germans and Italians was significant, but not decisive. And if the Republicans won the civil war, it was his allies from the Axis that would bring Franco to power (if he could survive). It would be almost unrealistic to deny Hitler allied support with military force and the right to pass and deploy troops. He would have received a rather big debt, which must be worked out not only with raw materials. He would not be allowed to sit as neutral.
    2. 0
      22 August 2020 10: 57
      Well, the Blue Division was already noted in the war against the USSR
      1. 0
        22 August 2020 17: 55
        Quote: silberwolf88
        Well, the Blue Division was already noted in the war against the USSR

        Yes, somehow unconvincing. Franco put it together according to the principle: "Take it, sorry, that I don't like it" from the criminals in prison. And they fought, rather, for themselves, and not for the Germans.
  5. +2
    22 August 2020 06: 48
    the rebellious son of the late dictator called on all Spaniards to serve not to numerous parties, but to a single Fatherland.
    Here's a national idea for you feel
  6. +3
    22 August 2020 07: 24
    The young politician adopted the views of the Italian Duce Benito Mussolini, then still almost socialist.
    .... You can't almost be pregnant
    1. +7
      22 August 2020 09: 03
      Until 1917, Mussolini was a very ardent socialist.
      1. 0
        22 August 2020 19: 29
        Until 1917, Mussolini was a very ardent socialist.

        In 1908, 25-year-old Mussolini was close with I. Armand, in Longjumeau, where Inessa carried out subversive activities among the workers. Benito caught fire with revolutionary ideas and. maybe he would become a revolutionary internationalist. But life judged differently.
        Did Mussolini know Lenin? No one will give an exact answer to this question. One thing is certain. Both Lenin and Mussolini maintained close friendly relations with the Italian socialist Nicola Bombacci, who in 1921 created the Italian communist party. the party from which he was expelled in 1927. Executed together with Mussolini by partisans in 1945 for collaboration with the fascist regime.
      2. 0
        23 August 2020 16: 13
        Yes, yes, I drank beer and played cards with Lenin!
  7. 0
    22 August 2020 10: 53
    good material, albeit rather fluent ... but for the format of the message it is the most dungy (whoever has aroused interest will get the details themselves)
  8. Fat
    +2
    22 August 2020 12: 50
    Well, threefold thanks to Alexei for the cool report. Good, just great words were found. De Rivera.
    1. Fat
      +1
      22 August 2020 12: 56
      from the executioner's camarilla, handsome de Rivera. I think it's not in vain that the Republicans multiplied it to zero.
  9. 0
    22 August 2020 13: 23
    His dictator dad and Spanish-born French actor Jean Reno are very similar in appearance.)
  10. 0
    22 August 2020 17: 15
    "even such a stubborn Marxist Lev Trotsky" is actually very dubious, not to say much, Trotsky's authority. What a Marxist he is, if he fought the first state of workers and peasants!
  11. +1
    22 August 2020 17: 48
    "first a rescuer, and then the worst enemy of the republic" in Asturias he is a republican, and a year later he changed his face like the current "democrats".
  12. VIP
    +1
    22 August 2020 18: 04
    Quote: Astra wild
    Sergei Mikhailovich, why then did Franko not send a field army to the eastern front? Or tell him he's not a phalangist

    Franco turns out to be an ungrateful cattle: Hitler helped him, and he healed a "field army"
  13. 0
    22 August 2020 21: 58
    Quote: Sergey Karasev
    Quote: silberwolf88
    Well, the Blue Division was already noted in the war against the USSR

    Yes, somehow unconvincing. Franco put it together according to the principle: "Take it, sorry, that I don't like it" from the criminals in prison. And they fought, rather, for themselves, and not for the Germans.

    It depends on how you look at it. The Blue Division fought, in comparison with many "allies", quite staunchly, several of this unit were exterminated, and it was replenished again, in my opinion, as a result, it was renewed from 3 to 4 times. And convinced anti-communist volunteers fought in it.

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