Leira Castiñeira, F.J. (2020): "Politics as a Continuation of the War by Other Means”. Violence as the Main Drive of the Birth of the Franco State. Rearguard and Battle Front, 1936—1939", en Istoriya, nº 11. DOI. 10.18254/S207987840010123-4

This article intends to expose how the foundations of the Franco dictatorship were erected: through war, violence and repression. The failed coup d'etat resulted in a civil war that lasted three long years. The formation of a participatory and diverse civil society was severely torn apart by the emergence of two opposing military sides. The victory of the rebels was used by Franco as the basis of their legitimacy, their fallen in justification to continue carrying out murders in the name of what they called “true Spain” and its combatants in an idealized image of the new Regime. The war marked Franco in such a way that much of its political measures arose from that period. Therefore, it is essential to study what happened in those years, both in the front and in the rear, to understand the political nature of Franco.