War Veterans and Fascism during the Franco Dictatorship in Spain (1936-1959)

Abstract

This article argues that analysis and contextualization of the history of the Francoist veterans of the Spanish Civil War (1936–39) leads to an understanding of Franco’s dictatorship as a fascist regime typical of the late 1930s and early 1940s. It reveals the congruence of the regime with the phenomenon of neo-fascism during the Cold War era. Drawing on a large range of archival and published sources, this article examines the history of the main Francoist veterans’ organization, the Delegación Nacional de Excombatientes (DNE) of the Falange Española Tradicionalista y de las JONS (FET-JONS), between 1939 and 1959. The evolution of the Francoist veterans’ organizational structures and politi..