 Following the fall without resistance of Barcelona in January 1939, the recognition of the Francoist regime by France and the United Kingdom in February 1939, and internal conflict between Republican factions in Madrid in March 1939, Franco entered the capital and declared victory on 1 April 1939.Hundreds of thousands of Spaniards fled to refugee camps in southern France.Those associated with the losing Republicans who stayed were persecuted by the victorious Nationalists.