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Franco: A Biography Hardcover – November 9, 1994

by Paul Preston (Author)

182 ratings

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Traces the life of the controversial Spanish general and dictator, and takes a critical look at his impact on Spanish history

Print length

1024 pages
Language

English
Publisher

Basic Books
Publication date

November 9, 1994
Dimensions

6.75 x 2.5 x 9.75 inches
ISBN-10

0465025153
ISBN-13

978-0465025152
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Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Preston's definitive, gripping biography of Spanish dictator Francisco Franco, "the least known of the great dictators of the twentieth century," penetrates the wall of secrecy, propaganda and myths surrounding the fascist demagogue. A brutal tyrant who silenced his opponents with imprisonment, torture and executions and thereby paralyzed the masses with fear, Franco (1892-1975) hid behind a series of masks-desert hero commanding the Spanish Legion in Morocco; modern El Cid during the Civil War, defending the Catholic faith and restoring Spain's national greatness; benevolent patriarch. Moreover, Franco, a cunning politician of startlingly mediocre intellect, deeply believed in these personas, often denied he was a dictator, and ascribed domestic working-class and left-liberal opposition to the machinations of foreign Communist or Masonic elements. Professor of international history at the London School of Economics, Preston demolishes claims by admirers and apologists that the generalissimo skillfully held off Hitler to preserve Spain's neutrality; instead, he shows that Hitler's unwillingness to promise France's colonies to Spain led to a stalemate between the two dictators. By the late 1950s, Preston maintains, Franco was increasingly a figurehead who reluctantly acquiesced in Spain's technocratic turn to capitalism. Photos.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

Generalissimo Franco (1892-1975) ruled Spain with an iron hand for nearly 40 years. Now, almost two decades after his death, Preston (international history, London Sch. of Economics) has assembled a vast amount of material in this marvelously researched, abundantly detailed-and very readable-story of the dictator's life. Preston refrains from fanciful speculation, documenting his assertions with 131 pages of notes. Franco early on developed his vision of the army's central role in determining Spain's future and of his own unquestioned right of command. He was convinced of his messianic mission in saving Spain from "the reds"; his successes were largely a result of his cunning and a series of lucky breaks at critical moments throughout his career. Only with Franco's death did the merciless Nationalist victory of 1939 become, at long last, a true Spanish peace. Highly recommended for all readers.
Charles E. Perry, East Central Univ., Ada, Okla.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

The self-styled El Cid of the twentieth century, slayer of communists rather than Moors, still excites visceral reactions 60 years after he prevailed in the Spanish civil war. Even among detached historians, Franco earns few plaudits, perhaps for presiding over economic growth or ensuring an orderly succession after his death, but for little else. A historian like Preston, veteran writer of 10 previous books on Spain's convulsion of the 1930s, is the fitting biographer for Franco--even as he plainly dislikes the subject. Dutifully, he turns in a comprehensive, masterly portrait of the Caudillo's career and character. To Preston, beneath Franco's humorless, aloof persona he harbored abundant ambition and an atavistic pride in Spain's faded glory and lost empire, which he tentatively tried to rebuild during his dalliance with Hitler. Though it was Franco's Axis sympathies (which Preston fully documents, showing how late Franco realized the jig was up on his fascistic confreres) that kept him ostracized after the war, his record in the civil war is what will always draw interest. Preston therein exhumes all the issues and shears off the extravagant ideological positions taken by the Left and the Right to consider calmly Franco's rise and contribution to the war's appalling ruthlessness. Not a likable man but not purely evil either, Franco in all of his cunning complexity comes as close as is scholastically possible to being deciphered by this authoritative work. Gilbert Taylor

From Kirkus Reviews

A definitive but dull biography of the least known of Europe's 20th-century dictators. Preston (International History/London School of Economics) makes some significant changes in the generally received portrait of Franco that has come down to us. He portrays Franco as admired by his troops in Spanish Morocco, where he spent ten of his early military years, for his thoroughness and his insistence on always leading assaults personally. In the Spanish Civil War itself, however, he was prodigal with his soldiers' lives, as he deliberately waged a war of attrition designed to kill as many enemy soldiers as possible rather than to win quick victories. Preston believes that the ruthlessness and exemplary use of terror Franco learned in Africa dominated both his political and military conduct. His ferocity in getting rid of rivals was exceeded only by his executions of tens of thousands of Republican supporters during and after the war (he would sign sheaves of execution notices while in his car, without reading the details). Preston's most interesting new material derives from his analysis of Franco's relationship with Hitler and Mussolini. Admirers of Franco have seized on Churchill's praise of the Spaniard for not joining the Axis powers in 1940, despite the aid he had received from Germany and Italy during the Civil War. In truth, Preston shows, Franco was eager to get into the war, particularly when he thought that the Germans were winning, but only if he received economic aid. It was Hitler's reluctance or inability to pay Franco's price, rather than Franco's shrewdness, that scuttled negotiations. Although Preston omits some of the context in which Franco operated--notably the atrocities committed by the Republican forces opposing him--Franco emerges as an extraordinarily unlovable figure, cunning, with a hunger for adulation and an icy cruelty. Careful and thorough, if uninspired, and likely to remain the standard biography in English for some time to come. -- Copyright ©1994, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

About the Author

Paul Preston is Professor of International History at the London School of Economics.

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Basic Books; 1st Edition (November 9, 1994)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 1024 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0465025153
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0465025152
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 3.3 pounds
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6.75 x 2.5 x 9.75 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #639,857 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #1,828 in Presidents & Heads of State Biographies
- #2,202 in Biology (Books)

Customer Reviews:
182 ratings

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Customer reviews

4.4 out of 5

182 global ratings

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3 star		8%
2 star		3%
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Top reviews from the United States

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Robert Schnelle

Franco stars in "Being There"

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on November 29, 2013

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In the 1979 movie, "Being There," Peter Sellers plays "Chauncey Gardiner," a cipher who ends up as the frontrunner candidate for president of the United States totally by accident and without even his knowledge. Much of Paul Preston's biography of Franco reads like the sequel: "Being There: the Dictator."

The author's Franco spends most of the book raving about Freemasons and Jews, when he is not shooting birds by the thousand (page 675) or fishing for WHALES(?) (page 723). Things just happen all around him, without him evincing any talent, aptitude, or intelligence. The author concludes that numerous books written after Franco's death portray an "astonishing personal mediocrity which characterized `a sphinx without a secret.'" (page 783)

Let's consider some of the things that "happened" to Franco. He personally led bayonet charges in Morocco, becoming the darling and ideal of the Africanistas, the elite and battle hardened veterans of Spain. At Alhucemas (kind of a Spanish D-Day in Morocco) Franco countermanded an order to withdraw, ordered an assault, and successfully established a bridgehead. (page 48) He vindicated himself at a disciplinary hearing called to question his actions. Sounds like Chauncey Gardiner to me.

Franco became the youngest general in Spain, and in Europe (page 49), despite the fact that most promotions were by seniority. Were those who promoted him over all his peers ciphers, also?

Franco, of course, became the leader of the Nationalist uprising, fought and won the Spanish Civil War, kept his own Nationalist side reasonably united (one of the banes of the "Republicans"), held on to Spain and to power during the nightmare years of Hitler, weathered the post war years until the cold war realignment, and appointed those who helped facilitate explosive economic growth in the 1960s. Last and certainly not least, he educated and groomed the mild and enlightened prince he designated to replace him. Hmmm. I don't think the Chauncey Gardiner model is tenable. Do you?

(Someone is going to object: "Franco didn't want a democrat and moderate to replace him, but someone who would perpetuate his `fascist' regime." My retort: Are we to believe that Chauncey Franco thought he had picked Kim Jong-un and bequeathed to Spain Good King Wenceslas?)

The author must have printed every word Franco ever said in favour of Hitler, or against Jews. Maybe the author is not aware that no Jew was ever deported from Spain during the Shoah, or kidnapped and incarcerated in concentration camps, but I think not. The author knows this perfectly well, and chose in his book to hide it.

It occurs to me: why didn't the author explore why Franco said so many awful things about Jews, and protected every Jew he had the power to protect, whether in Spain, France, or Eastern Europe? Read The Destruction of the European Jews (the 3 volume masterpiece): why are Franco's diplomats, along with Sweden's, always the ones protesting, publishing, decrying the persecution and murder of Jews? It doesn't take a genius to imagine Franco ordering this in August 1944, but he ordered these things, he alone was responsible for them (he was a dictator, remember?), from the first day of the war, when it was "obvious" to everyone that Hitler was going to win. A serious biographer might try to explain this mystery. I do not, I admit, understand it myself. We sure won't get such sensitive, such intelligent, such innovative and ground breaking biography from the hack who wrote this "Franco."

There are good things in the book. Franco's military career in Morocco is pivotal and covered well. The author admits that Franco loved his family and was loyal to them.

The best thing to do is read the "epilogue" (page779 to 787) first. If you can stomach this 9 page paean of hatred to Franco, you may be able to get something out of the book. If you think this "epilogue" really is an epilogue, you'll love the book.

14 people found this helpful

Ronnie Gonzalez

The Defininitive Book on Franco

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on May 18, 2014

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If you really want to understand a crucial and telling piece of world history that has been kept largely a secret due to a largely secretive maniac, Paul Preston's FRANCO: A BIOGRAPHY is the book to read.

On one level, it can definitely be argued that "karma's a bitch" and that, because of that, Spain perhaps was due to get back a little of what they'd put so much of Latin America through for so long, and so God created Francisco Franco as a fair and just punishment for the people of Spain.

On another level, however, it could also be argued -- and I think much more convincingly argued -- that any culture is dominated and thus actually ruled by its most powerful militarized elements against which most of the people have no say if they disagree. In essence, societies and empires are captives of "their" militaries and those who strategize for them, and most likely Spain has never been any different, even through its most sado-masochistic peak as THE global empire.

The problem is that many Spanish most likely wanted no part of the Inquisition, the takeover of the New World, or any of the brutalities perpetrated by the Spanish Empire down through the ages. Yet the sadistic element in Spain, as in every other country, typically remains in control down through time. And so, when it came time for Spain to meet its final defeat in the Spanish-American War at the hands of Teddy Roosevelt, those same sadistic elements in control of Spain, having no more outside whipping boys against which to continue the tradition of indulging their penchant for wanton domination and cruelty, they turned first against Morocco to their south in the Rif Wars, and then against their own internal human infrastructure, in terms of what is so sanitizingly called "The Spanish Civil War", but which, upon the revelations of recent years, should be most accurately called The Spanish Holocaust. And at the center of all that, with the help of pro-fascist, pro-Nazi American-Germanist elements like the Bush family, the Rockefeller family and so on, was the general Francisco Franco.

4 people found this helpful

Good book but way too long

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on September 27, 2021

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This biography is extremely detailed. Thankfully it is easy to read and very interesting, but I am skipping entire pages, it's just too much.

One person found this helpful

Must read to understand Spain and the Spaniards

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on April 21, 2003

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This is a classic and describes a period of Spain's history that has formed post-Franco culture to an important level. Paul Preston has written a very detailed book about this period, well researched and documented; it also reads well and even though most of the readers will know how the story ends (this is what defines 'history')it maintains the tension even when re-reading after some time. The most recent book (I believe only written in Spanish so far) about Don Juan Carlos (king of Spain) is equally impressive. To both books, however, there is one thing I missed: the deeper psychological background to the key players. Why did they do what they did? Why was Franco able to 'hang on' for so long, how was Juan Carlos able to live under one regime and then change to a democracy (doing what I would call a 'Gorbachov': growing up in the system, getting powerful in the system and then defeating the same system). I am looking forward to have those aspects covered by Mr Preston one day.

14 people found this helpful

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on February 19, 2022

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Good info on El Caudillo

Franco. Biography

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on June 4, 2013

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Interesting book from the respected author. Easy to read for non-speaking English. Gives you more insight into Franco's life. Recommend for the people who are interested in history

One person found this helpful

Robert Welikson

... uncle and reported to me that it was the best biography of Franco he had every read

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on February 6, 2015

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I purchased this book for my uncle and he reported to me that it was the best biography of Franco he had ever read. My uncle is an avid Hispanophile and student of Franco's life so this was high praise indeed.

2 people found this helpful

Amazon Customer

Franco was a deviate - a horrible person which the US during the Eisenhower Administration supported

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on December 7, 2016

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Only one conclusion from the book: Franco was a deviate - a horrible person which the US during the Eisenhower Administration supported.

2 people found this helpful

Top reviews from other countries

Rudibeans

Very detailed and concise

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on December 1, 2021

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It is important to have ready up on the Civil War prior to reading this book. The level of detail and the onslaught of names as a result of the level of detail will mean it is hard work to take all into account. However, the book does give an excellent insight to how Franco emerged from a country loyalist to paramount dictator, as clearly (from the book) this was not his original goal. He saw himself, quite ironically, as the country's saviour, even if it meant liquidating half his countryfolk.

docread

Great achievement but an abridged version may be more readable

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on July 5, 2015

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An extensive detailed biography of the longest surviving European dictator .
It is cram-full of political and diplomatic details that can be exhausting for the casual reader but rewarding for the patient committed reader. I feel that a shortened version could have a wider readership through editing particularly the long wartime narrative with the General's constant prevarications about joining the Axis forces and the crafty opportunism he displayed by playing one side against the other. I am not so sure that every reader would want to know the outcome of every single meeting he had with the Western ambassadors or the German and Italian dignitaries, let alone every exchange he had with his various foreign affairs ministers and acolytes. Sure it can be riveting in a perverse way but I would have preferred for instance more information about the nature of the " Carlist" movement and the origins and doctrine of the Falangists. An insight into the post civil war living conditions of the Spanish population would have been interesting or the fate of the incarcerated Republican prisoners.This is a matter of personal taste and doesn't detract in anyway from the magnificent achievement of the author , a monument to his meticulous scholarship.

6 people found this helpful

markb

Comprehensive biography.

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on July 18, 2015

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This biography is particularly strong on diplomatic history. Readers interested in the broader social context might well need to consult other sources.
Preston provides an intricately detailed analysis of each stage of Franco's life from childhood to senescence. He offers a careful assessment of the Caudillo's military strategy during the Spanish Civil War, which relied on the pitiless destruction of all resistance across the nation before giving consideration to ending the conflict. Whilst he was in power, Franco saw himself as ruling for the winning side, rather than on behalf of all Spaniards. He saw reconciliation as weakness and was responsible for the ruthless repression of all potential opposition after his victory. Though Franco kept Spain out of WW2, Preston concludes his inclination was consistently to sympathise with the fascist axis.
This authoritative and well-referenced work ultimately portrays Franco as a vindictive mediocrity of limited intellect with no real vision for his country other than to cling on to power. It is a must read for anyone interested in the history and evolution of modern Spain.

6 people found this helpful

Kindle Customer

Diplomatic Detail disappoints.

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on April 6, 2016

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If you want pages and pages of detail about what seems like each and every decision made through the three years of the Civil war then this is the book for you. I became so bogged down in wearisome details, names etc that I just skipped to the end of some of these chapters. It is a hugely impressive work but failed on a number of levels for me. The authors very obvious view lurks constantly throughout the narrative. Franco is presented as evil, callous, politically manipulative, personally as cold as ice. From start to finish. And that's it. There is little, if any, time spent on how this regime actually affected everyday life for the people of the country-except as victims. Excellent work for historical and diplomatic detail but left the actual character and motivation of the man a mystery to me.

7 people found this helpful

Victor Sanchez

Not a serious history book

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on February 4, 2021

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Not a history book, history should be based on facts alone to allow the reader to judge by himself, as usual Preston fails to keep his personal opinions to himself,

The book is full of the author's own opinions and does nothing but criticise both Franco and Spain whilst praising the United Kingdom and the USA every time half a chance arises

There are a couple of contradictions and a couple of mis-translations when quoting spanish phrases or words

2 people found this helpful

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