Francisco Franco

Franco's system brought military authority, the National Movement and conservative Catholic support into a coalition under his leadership. The Falange was incorporated into a broader organisation rather than allowed to govern independently. Military and special jurisdictions, including the tribunal for repression of Freemasonry and Communism, turned political exclusion into files, trials and sentences. The regime's changing alliances help explain its longevity; the documentary machinery of repression shows the human consequences of that endurance.