FRANCISCO FRANCO Francisco Franco was born on December 04 ,

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FRANCISCO FRANCO Francisco Franco was born on December 04 , 1892 at 12:30 A.M. in the Calle ( street) Frutos Saaverda 108, known by the locals as Calle Maria.

He was christened Francisco Paulino Hermeneglida Teodulo on December 17th in the nearby parish church of San Francisco .His father Nicolas Franco Salgado- Araujo was the equivalent of an army general in the Spanish Navy. Francisco's father eventually left his family to live as a bachelor. The second of five children Francisco was know to be introverted as a child but was also very well-behaved and was much more mature than other boys his age .

At the age of twelve he entered the Naval Preparatory School and in July at the age of fourteen passed the entrance exams for the Infantry Military Academy in Toledo on August 29th . He completed his studies at the Academy in June of 1910.

He began his career in the Spanish Military after graduation and threw all his passion into army life. Franco reached the rank of major in 1917 and played a role in strike-breaking in the Asturian coal fields and in 1920 Lieutenant Colonel Millan Astry appointed him second in command of the Spanish Foreign Legion. Then in 1923 Franco replaced Millan Astry as commander of the Spanish Foreign Legion and over the next few years gainded a reputation as a brilliant strategist and administrator. In 1923 Franco married Carmen Polo a member of a wealthy merchant family. In 1926 Franco was appointed Europe's youngest general . Two years later he was appointed commander of Spain's new Military academy at Saragossa. When the popular front came to power(Feb.1936), he was made military governor of the Canary Islands. In July ,1936, Franco joined the military uprising that precipitated the Spanish Civil War. By the end of September ,1936,the nine other generals involved with uprising came to the conclusion that Franco should become commander of the Nationalist Army. He was also appointed chief of state.

On April 1937 , Franco forced the unification of the of the Falange Espanola and the Carlists with other pmall right-wing parties to form the Falange Espanola Tradicionalista. Franco then had himself appointed as leader of the new organization. Imitating the tatics of Adolf Hilter in Nazi Germany , giant posters of Franco and the dead Jose Antonio were displayed along with the slogan, " One state! One country! One chief! Franco! Franco ! Franco !", all over Spain.

Franco developed a reputation as a cruel and vindictive military leader . It is estimated that 200,000 political prisoners died as a result of starvation ,overwork, and executions.

Francisco announced in 1969 that on his death he would be replaced by Juan Carles the grandson of Spain's last ruling king . Francisco Franco died on November 20th 1975 and within two years of his death almost every vestige of his dictatorship had disappeared.