The Fascist Dictator Who Saved Europe From Fascism — Market Mad House

Francisco Franco was one of the most brutal fascist dictators of all time, yet he probably saved Europe from fascism. In addition, Franco helped ensure Allied victory in World War II.

Strangely, Adolph Hitler and Benito Mussolini set the stage for their eventual defeat by helping Franco win the Spanish Civil War. To explain, Franco became leader of a military coup against Spain’s democratic Republic because he could get military aid from Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy.

The coup failed triggering the Spanish Civil War, and Franco became the Generalissimo or dictator of the Nationalist or fascist government. During the Civil War Spain’s fascists, or Falange. and monarchists fought the socialists, Communists, anarchists and others who supported the Republic. In 1937, the Falange became the official political movement of the nationalists and Franco’s government.

How Hitler and Mussolini beat themselves in Spain

Interestingly, many people outside Spain saw the Civil War as a battle for the soul of Western Civilization. Consequently leftists; like George Orwell and Ernest Hemingway, backed the Republic while conservatives sympathized with Franco.