A cruel militaristic dictator is emerged when a broken Spain becomes a republic. 1931 king Alfonso XIII resigns and goes into exile. However the country is unable to maintain any political stability. A temporary administration is replaced first by a republican left government in October 1931 then a conservative government in November 1933 and finally by the Popular Front, a coalition of socialists and left republicans, in February 1936. Spanish conservatives become concerned that the Popular Front will turn the country into a communist state. The right-wing National Bloc openly appeals to the military to save Spain. The military acts in July 1936 sparked the Spanish Civil War and spawned national pride. .
Francisco Franco born on Dec. 4, 1892, he entered the Infantry Academy at Toledo in 1907 and became a second lieutenant in 1910. In 1912 he volunteered for the Moroccan war and quickly distinguished himself as a courageous and intelligent officer. He was personally sober, quiet, and serious, qualities that gained him much respect but few friends. In 1923 he became commander of the Spanish Foreign Legion. In 1926 after a victory in Morocco he became Spain's youngest general, and two years later he was named director of the General Military Academy in Saragossa. From 1931 to 1935, Franco stayed out of the many military conspiracies against the new Spanish Republic. He gained the admiration of conservatives and the hatred of the left by his repression of a miners' revolt in Asturias in 1934. In 1935 a conservative government appointed him chief of the general staff. In 1936 the Popular Front government exiled him by making him military commander of the Canary Islands, but there he joined the growing military and conservative conspiracy. On July 18, 1936, when the Nationalist rebellion broke out, Franco flew to Morocco, where he took over the Spanish base. During the summer and fall of 1936 his forces invaded southern Spain and advanced on Madrid.
