Francoist Spain

After the Second World War, Francisco Franco continued to rule Spain through an authoritarian system created by the Nationalist victory in the Spanish Civil War. Political opponents faced imprisonment, execution, exile and professional exclusion, while censorship, the Catholic Church and state institutions reinforced conservative social control.

Although Spain was initially isolated, Cold War alliances and agreements with the United States helped restore its international position. Tourism and economic development transformed parts of the country from the late 1950s, but public modernisation coexisted with police repression, restricted political organisation and official silence about the Civil War and its aftermath.

Franco remained head of state until his death in 1975.