Francisco Franco: Soldier, Commander, Dictator (review)

Professor Jensen has written an incisive and carefully researched biography of one of Spain's most controversial and enigmatic rulers, Francisco Franco. Given his expertise in military affairs, it is hardly surprising that the author has chosen to concentrate on the ways in which Franco's training and storied career in the army left their indelible imprints on his role as dictator of Spain between 1937 and 1975. Indeed, it is his emphasis on Franco's military background which distinguishes Jensen's work from the majority of biographies that have written about the caudillo. Though sympathetic to his subject, the author is no apologist for a man whose reputation as a national leader was deeply tarnished by the ruthlessness he often exhibited towards his fellow countrymen and women. As such, Jensen's biographical sketch of Franco is also a refreshing departure from the hagiographical treatments of him that have been written by the defenders of the Francoist tradition on the one side, and the exceedingly negative portraits of him that have been produced by his critics on the other.

Nonetheless, the picture of the Spanish leader that emerges from this study is hardly flattering. Possessing a personality that was unimaginative, inflexible, and morally inert, Franco was the kind of individual who could have easily slipped into obscurity. But, as Jensen reminds us, Franco owed much of his success in life, not to his exceptional skills as a thinker, soldier, and politician, but to sheer luck. His rise to military prominence as a young officer in Morocco is a case in point. There he distinguished himself on the battlefield simply by defying the slim odds of survival in the relentlessly grueling guerrilla warfare that had come to characterize Spanish colonial rule in that part of Africa. During one such skirmish, he was wounded so badly that no one expected him to survive. Yet Franco's seemingly miraculous recovery—which Moroccan troops attributed to his baraka or divine protection—launched his meteoric rise through the ranks. At age thirty-four he was promoted to brigadier general, and thereafter his role as a major military figure was secured.

The most innovative and historically significant feature of Jensen's study is his revisionist interpretation of Franco's career as a soldier and battlefield general. In contrast to most recent biographers, who have either ignored or have tended to dismiss Franco's skills in military affairs, Jensen insists that Franco was an able commander who made several notable contributions to the field of modern warfare. For Jensen, this is illustrated by the fact that, during the Spanish Civil War, Franco pursued a slow, gradual approach to defeating his enemies. When he combined this "war of attrition" strategy with the military planning lessons he had learned from his Moroccan campaigns—which involved cooperation both within and between the various fighting forces—Franco was able to achieve a level of operational efficiency for the Nationalists that gave them a clear-cut advantage over their opponents.

The parallels that the author draws between the Spanish Civil War and the Second World War add interest to the narrative. At the same time they help to underscore the revisionist points he wants to make in this section of the book. But despite the light this comparative exercise casts on Franco's performance as the head of the Nationalist forces, Jensen warns the reader that such analogies have their limitations. And, finally, while the author credits Franco for developing an effective wartime strategy, he does not exaggerate his role in leading the Nationalists to victory. No doubt this is because he recognizes that it would be necessary to adduce more direct and compelling evidence of Franco's military thinking before his reputed and well-documented shortcomings as a commander could be thoroughly reassessed.

The last third of the book surveys Franco's role as dictator and elder statesman. Refusing to relinquish the power he had accrued between 1937 and 1939...