When the republic lost the war:

Franco instituted a dictatorship in which all the reforms of the Spanish republic were removed. In fact despite his promise to not hurt the ex-republicans no such promise he kept. Mass arrests,killings,and a massive refugee wave later began and lasted for some years (some were even turned in to the Nazis were only freed with the liberation of Mauthausen in 1945) . Because of diplomatic help; many republicans after fleeing to France, went to Mexico. There they set up a government in exile that lasted till 1978 when the king of Spain returned.

But what is a government in exile?

It is a group of exiled politicians who claim they are the legitimate rulers of a country. Some of them like Western Sahara,Taiwan,and Tibet prove to be serious and newsworthy. While others are mostly viewed as unimportant, a joke, or worse.

Whether they are serious or not depends on if they are recognized as a legitimate group And “ The other main test is clout. If a government in exile has guerrillas fighting for it, or controls at least a bit of territory back home, or carries a lot of weight in the affairs of a numerous and vocal diaspora, it matters much more than an outfit that meets only to issue press releases and appoint new members.” Not to mention what they actually do depends on the group.A few do fighting and lobbying to many just making clubs and doing nothing. (The economist) As thus to help you understand better I have included pictures from the article:

So many of the exiles acted as if they were in Spain since they funded their own clubs,social groups,the government in exile,and protested against Franco. A few even came back to Spain unsuccessfully to attack it. (They and the government was in France). However over time the exiles just wanted a democratic Spain even if it was not a republic. But fortunately the movement didn’t die till then because Mexico and a few communist countries did recognize it. Till 1979 when they disbanded the government and gave their official documents to Spain.

As for the Basques and Catalonians since Franco made those languages illegal and prohibited them from having their autonomous government; they set up a government in exile which was at first leagued with the republic but later separated from them. And in Franco’s Spain, repression and terrorism became rather quite constant.

As for those two; they later returned to Spain when the King came back and closed their exile governments. But the Spanish Government later had to crack down on violent and strong activists. (A very controversial subject- we in the online school will not support ANY political sides as an organization but tell the truth,the whole truth,and nothing but the truth).

As for Franco’s rule the economy boomed despite an initial slump and international sanctions. However many human rights abuses occurred in Franco’s regime. Everyone had to be of a certain religion to work in the government,peaceful dissent was not tolerated,and many who refused to join the military were jailed. (I even knew people from that time who had to practice their religion in small groups,were challenged to renounce their faith,and who even went to Spain and helped them out during that time.)

Later after Spain losing the very last of their colonies during the Franco era; in 1979 king Juan Carlos (who was chosen by Franco to succeed after his death) brought many for the reforms back while still keeping the integral part of constitutional monarchy in the Spanish government. So now that is how Spain is today. And the political parties have reconciled with each other. Though debates about honoring Nationalists still remain today.

(This is Spains modern day flag)

So the Lesson in this is simple:

”From pig to man and man to pig and you couldn’t tell the difference”

(George Orwell-Animal Farm)

THE END