What's your opinion on Francisco Franco?

Jedi   Sat Apr 24, 2010 11:34 pm GMT
What is your opinion on Francisco Franco? Was he a hero or a bloody dictator?
There you go....   Sun Apr 25, 2010 7:09 pm GMT
Looks like nobody gives a fuck about Franco.
I survived Poughquag   Sun Apr 25, 2010 7:12 pm GMT
I guess he's one of the most famous people in the history of Spain.
Knows   Sun Apr 25, 2010 7:37 pm GMT
Franco posts on our forum.
schwa   Tue Apr 27, 2010 5:41 pm GMT
Who was he?
PARISIEN   Tue Apr 27, 2010 7:34 pm GMT
He was a brutal dictator but he gave his country a political stability Spain hadn't enjoyed for over two hundred years.

Spain was still third world in the 50's but reached a decent level of development in the 70's under Franco's leading.

Of course I know, he ordered a number of commies to be executed, but should we complain ?
bubbus   Wed Apr 28, 2010 3:08 am GMT
<<He was a brutal dictator >>

How brutal was he, compared to Stalin, Hitler, Mao, Pol Pot, Ghengis Khan, etc.
Sean Hannity is my bitch   Wed Apr 28, 2010 3:34 am GMT
Compared to all these monsters, Franco was an altar boy. Compared to the people that might have taken his place, had the Soviet backed Commies triumphed in the Spanish Civil War, he was definitely the lesser of two evils.
Not that I think Spain (or any country) should be faced with these two hideous choices.
Doug   Wed Apr 28, 2010 4:34 am GMT
Yes, Franco did help to modernize his country overall I guess. Although his actions of repression against the Basque community are inexcusable, he was probably among the tamer of the fascist dictators that surfaced in Europe between the wars, like Hitler in Germany, Mussolini in Italy, Antonescu in Romania, and Szalasi in Hungary, but at the same time, his regime lasted the longest by far, along with Salazar of Portugal if you count him. At least he didn't get involved in the war and the Jewish community wasn't targeted, and in the retrospect, anti-Communism wasn't such a bad thing. The Civil War was bad enough without WW2 in Spain. He's still a pretty controversial figure though.
Gernald   Wed Apr 28, 2010 5:41 am GMT
Just a typical spic military guy. They're a dime a dozen.
+++   Wed Apr 28, 2010 7:40 pm GMT
"Compared to all these monsters, Franco was an altar boy.
Compared to the people that might have taken his place, had the Soviet backed Commies triumphed in the Spanish Civil War, he was definitely the lesser of two evils."

That makes sense.

At any rate, compared to all countless Hispanic dictators, he was a lot wiser and farsighted.
Penetra   Wed Apr 28, 2010 7:58 pm GMT
Don't forget Pinochet, he was lovely too.
Artem   Wed Apr 28, 2010 8:23 pm GMT
I wish we'd had Franco instead of Stalin.
Glenn Beck is my bitch   Thu Apr 29, 2010 2:34 am GMT
<< Don't forget Pinochet, he was lovely too. >>

Pinochet was no angel, he was one of the most brutal of Latin American dictators, but we can only imagine what what would happen if Allende managed to turn Chile into a soviet satellite. One can legitimately think that the Allende would ride the presidential seat into his deathbed, or very close, just like Pinochet.
And just like Allende's best buddy "El Comandante" Fidel Castro, a far more brutal dictator, who came to power more than a decade after Pinochet's coup and relinquished power, if at all, way more than a decade after Pinochet left. I suppose you don't think Fidel is lovely.
Francette   Thu Apr 29, 2010 10:44 am GMT
Allende would do what Hugo Chavez has done in Venezuela, nothing more, nothing less. At least Allende had more refined manners than Chavez the zambo.