The Political Consolidation of the Nationalist Faction

The Birth of the Francoist State

The Political Evolution of the Nationalist Side

When the coup evolved into a protracted war, it became necessary to establish a political organization. The National Defense Junta (July 24, 1936), based in Burgos, was tasked with canceling Popular Front legislation and leading the systematic repression of those who supported the Republic. This board was headed by General Miguel Cabanellas, though controlled by Mola. Franco did not enter the Board until August.

On October 1, General Francisco Franco was proclaimed Generalissimo of the army and Head of State, uniting political and administrative power with military command. The first administrative decree established the Technical Board of the State, comprised of seven committees headquartered in Burgos, while central government decisions were centered at Franco's headquarters in Salamanca.

A new legal order began to emerge:

• Banning of trade unions.
• Abolition of political parties.
• Imposition of rigid press censorship.
• Dismissal of all Republican public officials.
• Restoration of the pre-1931 flag.
• Enactment of "counter-agrarian reform" decrees, returning land to original owners.

All these measures were accompanied by brutal repression, mass arrests, and summary executions.

The Unification of Nationalist Forces

The next step was the unification of groups and political parties that supported the military uprising: CEDA, Carlist monarchists, and Falangists. As the war promised to be long, Franco concentrated the Carlists (grouped in the Traditionalist Communion led by Manuel Fal Conde, who was ousted by Franco to Portugal) and the Spanish Falange de las JONS (whose leader, José Antonio Primo de Rivera, had been executed by Republicans) into a single entity. In December 1936, Franco proceeded to the militarization of armed volunteers from both parties.

In April 1937, the Decree of Unification was promulgated, merging the Falange and the Carlists into one political party: the Falange Española Tradicionalista y de las JONS (FET de las JONS), with Franco as the head of the single party. Carlists and Falangists who rejected the unification were severely punished with exile or imprisonment.

On July 1, Franco received formal support from the Church. Following the fall of Bilbao, 48 bishops issued the Collective Letter of the Spanish Episcopate, a document supporting the military uprising in defense of the faith against the "atheistic communism" of the Republic.