Comparing Napoleon And Francisco Franco Of The Spanish Civil War

Although the revolutions that occurred in France and Spain were in different time periods and sought to change their country in different ways, there are many parallels in the ideologies and histories of these revolutionary leaders. Looking at this, one might ask how the backgrounds and styles of the leaders affected the outcome of each revolution? Napoleon Bonaparte of the French Revolution (hereafter Napoleon) and Francisco Franco of the Spanish Civil War (hereafter Franco) came from similar backgrounds with a heavy influence on education and military training. Both men fought with a primary motivation of forming a military dictatorship under their rule. One notable area that where they differed is in their leadership: Franco led through

fear and intimidation whereas Napoleon led by gaining the respect of his people.
Francisco Franco and Napoleon Bonaparte both came from middle-class backgrounds and went on to establish themselves in military school. Franco was born in “El Ferrol, a small naval base in northwestern Spain,” in Galicia. It is said that the “stereotypical Galician man… is melancholic, soft-spoken, and prudent.” Because of this, many Spaniards argue that Franco’s background in Galicia played a huge role in the type of leader he later became. His father, Nicolás Franco, held a “high-level administrative position” in the Galician region that Franco grew up in. Franco came from a “family with a tradition of staff service in the Spanish Navy,” so his family, along with many other “Spanish families with strong naval ties,” strongly felt the decline of the Spanish Empire in the 1890s. Similarly, Napoleon came from a family that was not wealthy but was part of his homeland’s nobility; he “started his life in a big house, but with very little money.” Both of these men grew up in a family that was not necessary poor, but also was not rich. These instances of middle-class backgrounds immensely shaped their military careers because---- ***find more information on Napoleon’s background***
Franco wanted to follow his father and grandfather’s naval legacy by joining his country’s navy.

Unfortunately, due to the academy’s temporary closure from 1906 to 1914, Franco instead enrolled into the Infantry Academy in Toledo. It is said that while he was there, Franco was “more serious and disciplined” than the other boys his age, “[keeping] mostly to himself.” There, he and his fellow cadets had strong nationalist values drilled into them. He graduated three years later and was commissioned as a lieutenant. Likewise, Napoleon first attended the Military Academy of Brienne and later transferred to the Royal Military Academy in Paris. He excelled in these schools, “[finishing] what normally took three [years]” in a single year. Although the “standard of teaching was poor” at Brienne, Napoleon exceeded in French, mathematics, geography, and history. These famous leaders both went to military academies to follow the path of their male relatives. As noted above, both men were very serious and self-controlled in their path towards a military profession. Both did fairly well in their training and went on to have high positions in the military of their country. These instances of ordinary backgrounds and strict military training caused Napoleon and Franco to go on to be important historical figures in military history.-------redo for just military

training
Both Napoleon and Franco had primary motivations of creating a military dictatorship that they ruled.

They sought to return their country to its original glory by appealing to the lower classes. Franco was a right-wing monarchist that feared the thought of a republic in Spain. As a right-wing fascist, he valued “tradition,…equity, survival of the fittest, and… economic freedom” Franco, along with most other Spanish conservatives, viewed the Popular Front political party as Communist party that wanted to turn Spain into a Marxist state. He wanted to preserve the “core values of Spanish society,” ‘save’ Spain from the horrors brought upon by democracy, and keep what he deemed the ‘anti-Spain’ forces out. Franco’s nationalist and conservative ideas gave the Spanish citizens an overwhelming sense of cultural unity. As mentioned in a speech, Franco sought to unite his people by rallying a call for action to defend country. Correspondingly, Napoleon tended to the wants of the people by establishing “popular sovereignty, trial by jury, equality before the law, a citizen army, freedom of religion” and many other needs. He was driven to establish France as a formidable empire in the world by expanding his country. Napoleon wanted to install cultural unity in the people of France; he thought that education “must impart the same knowledge and the same principles to all individuals in the same society.” He wanted the whole country to be on an equal footing when it came to the law. Both

Franco and Napoleon wanted to become dictators by creating cultural unity and by appealing to the needs of the lower-class. These men both had ambitions of “saving” their country from what they considered to be a horrible and poisonous style of government that had taken over.
One critical area that the two famous military leaders differed in is in the way that they chose to lead their country. Franco led oppressively and Napoleon led with a passion for his country. Franco sought to control people through tyrannical measures that negatively impacted their liberties. Franco was an incredibly brutal leader; he “began a reign of terror aimed at the physical liquidation of all his potential enemies, [including] concentration camps” and mass executions. Franco wanted to get rid of all Republicans and Communists that were left in Spain after the war. His government caused “harsh repression by military tribunals, political purges, and economic hardship,” as well as exhaustion from overworking, starvation, and many executions. Once he was in charge, Franco began to ‘restore’ Spanish policies and laws to what they were before the republic came into control: “he outlawed divorce; he prevented women from voting, getting a job, or opening a bank account without approval of their husbands; and declared that he could make or unmake any law without the legislature’s approval;… Children of Republicans were forced into monasteries or convents; those whose parents had died fighting the Nationalists were re-baptized with different names.” Franco wanted to re-establish Spain as a monarchy, with all of the “real power… exclusively in the hands of [himself].” He was a very secretive, cold-hearted, and cautious leader, known for his “icy-ruthlessness;” he is even sometimes compared to Stalin and Hitler, two very aggressive military and political rulers. Franco sought to gain the respect and loyalty of his people through fear and intimidation. He forced the obedience of his people in his quest to rid Spain from the ‘anti-Spain’ forces.
On the other hand, Napoleon focused on improving his country for the good of the people. He gained their support by “[fixing] many of the nation’s problems” and bringing stability to a country that was left in shambles. These reforms included “[abolishing] aristocratic privileges, [establishing] state education, and [reorganizing] the administrative and legal systems.” He believed in promotion based on merit and thought that a man