Spain: An Equation with Difficult Solutions

Abstract

Contemporary relations between the military and society in Spain can be traced back to the civil war period. Following 3 years of cruel, fratricidal combat, the victory of the insurgent troops led to the Spanish republic being converted into a totalitarian regime headed by Franco. The dictatorship of Franco was not a military dictatorship, but rather the dictatorship of a military man who built up a triangular structure of power at the apex of which he felt protected and from which he controlled society from all angles: the army, the church and the single fascist party FET-JONS.¹ Throughout almost 40 years of a totalitarian regime, millions of Spanish men spent a period of their lives as conscripts in military service under the orders of a fascist military and under the influence of an oppressive political power. The death of the dictator, in 1975, marked the start of the transition to democracy that represented a break with the stigmas of the past and, for the first time in Spanish history, ushered in a period of peaceful coexistence for the entire population. In the military domain, the reforms initiated by General Gutiérrez Mellado – the first Vice-President of the Government of Adolfo Suárez – are worthy of mention. It was through these that efforts were made to modernise the Armed Forces (hereafter AF) in Spain by distancing them from political power, transforming them into a military force administered to serve political structures, and reducing their size to a more coherent one in relation to the needs and threats of a democratic state surrounded by its partners in the same economic community. However, among the military, a small but still powerful nucleus existed, whose rejection of democracy and whose nostalgia for the Franco dictatorship led to a failed attempt at a coup d’état in 1981.

Citation

Martínez, R. and Díaz, A.M. (2005), "Spain: An Equation with Difficult Solutions", Caforio, G. and Kümmel, G. (Ed.) Military Missions and their Implications Reconsidered: The Aftermath of September 11th (Contributions to Conflict Management, Peace Economics and Development, Vol. 2), Emerald Group Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 213-247. https://doi.org/10.1016/S1572-8323(05)02013-8