Claudio Hernández Burgos’s research while affiliated with University of Granada and other places

This article explores the role of war experience in the construction of Franco’s dictatorship by analyzing the attitudes and behavior of the victors and the regime’s grassroots during the Spanish Civil War and the postwar period. It aims in particular at examining the way in which the war –both on the frontline and at the rearguard– affected many individuals who eventually became the strongest supporters of a culture based on military victory. With a view to that, and departing from a local perspective, it explores the different ways (rewards system, engagement in the regime institutions, collaboration in enemy repression, and establishment of an everlasting victors’ memory) in which both dictatorship and social exclusion of the vanquished were firmly laid down. | El presente artículo examina el papel de la experiencia de guerra en la conformación de la dictadura franquista a través del análisis de las actitudes y comportamientos de los vencedores y apoyos sociales del régimen durante la propia Guerra Civil y la posguerra. En concreto, se trata de examinar el modo en que la contienda –ya fuera en el frente o en la retaguardia– influyó a un amplio conjunto de individuos que acabaron por convertirse en los mayores defensores de una cultura cimentada sobre la victoria armada. Para ello, partiendo desde una perspectiva centrada en el plano local, se exploran las diferentes vías (sistema de recompensas, participación en las instituciones del régimen, colaboración en la persecución del enemigo o perpetuación de la memoria de los vencedores) a través de las cuales contribuyeron a la consolidación de la dictadura, al tiempo que propiciaron la exclusión social de los perdedores de la guerra.

Mucho antes de que los historiadores hablaran de “brutalización” o de “desmovilización cultural”, por mencionar sólo dos nociones muy empleadas internacionalmente en los últimos años, ya los contemporáneos eran conscientes del impacto de la guerra en la psicología humana, y de los efectos de las experiencias bélicas en lo que podemos seguir denominando “mentalidades” (mentalités), por desempolvar la vieja categoría de la escuela de Annales en el amplio marco de historia cultural. En la historiografía española, los últimos diez años han presenciado un vivo interés por las perspectivas culturales sobre la historia de la guerra y las posguerras, que se han aplicado en mayor o menor medida al estudio de la Guerra Civil española y otras experiencias bélicas de nuestra contemporaneidad. Esta ha sido una oleada historiográfica relativamente tardía y no particularmente prolija en publicaciones, en comparación con lo investigado y publicado en otros países e idiomas. De hecho, el estudio de las “mentalidades en guerra” en la España contemporánea, al que este dossier indirectamente pretende dar un empujón a través de la observación de casos históricos europeos que invitan a la reflexión comparativa y transnacional, creemos que tiene todavía un largo camino por recorrer.

Although heavily studied, researchers have barely examined the social and cultural aspects of the Spanish Civil War. The aim of this article is to contribute to the sociocultural history of the war by reintroducing the cultural elements into the analysis. By taking them together with social and political factors, it provides a more complex outlook on the conflict. To reach these goals, this study examines the experience of those who were on the front line and those who remained in the rearguard. The first part explores soldiers' conditions on the front line and their connection with the rearguard. The second section analyses the role played by cultural elements among combatants and civilians. Finally, special attention is paid to the influence of violence on the soldiers' and civilians' experience of war.

As with other non-democratic regimes, the study of social attitudes has become one of the main themes used to explain the birth, consolidation and durability of the Franco dictatorship. The aim of this article is to demonstrate how the outlook adopted by ordinary Spaniards favoured the consolidation of the Franco regime during the post-war period. It does this by highlighting the importance of examining popular opinion at the local level, where state agents and members of society came into daily contact. By analysing social attitudes towards hunger and poverty, guerrilla activities and Spain’s diplomatic isolation, the article reveals a measure of tepid support for the regime. Together with the punishment of the defeated and the collaboration of regime supporters, the unenthusiastic but accepting opinions held by the majority of Spanish people were crucial to underpinning the regime ‘from below’. To these groups, the survival of dictatorship seemed to be the only solution that would avoid political confrontation and would allow people to live a ‘peaceful’ existence.

Everyday Local Dynamics of Repression under Franco (1936-1950) Although repression is a central topic of research on Franco’s dictatorship, some grey areas still remain unexamined. The everyday functioning of repression is one such grey area. This article seeks to analyse the quotidian dynamics of repression by adopting a local and bottom-up perspective. Through the use of both primary and secondary sources as well as oral accounts, this article describes the different channels, mechanisms and spaces through which violence was expressed. It also highlights the numerous agents involved in this process. Ultimately, this article paints a more complex picture of repression and provides a wider but also more dynamic interpretation of the phenomenon.

This article traces the ways in which the early Franco regime, understood to encapsulate the years 1936–1951, dealt with what was understood to be one of the hangovers of the previous republican regime: “vice” and “immorality” in society. The study departs from a local and micro historical viewed that analyses the discourse on vice and the attendant program of purification by focusing on two districts of the city of Granada, a locality that fell swiftly to the Nationalist forces in July 1936. It understands the regime's concerns about vice as part of the formula embarked upon for the re-nationalization of Spain and its re-Christianization. By taking a view from the locality, this study contributes to the local/national axis of interpretation and debates in respect of the treatment of issues such as prostitution, immorality, and anti-clericalism, and makes a contribution to analysis of the workings of the regime at the level of everyday life. It also assesses the different strategies employed to limit vice and to purify decadent or oppositional quarters of the city, reflecting on both local and national competition and conflicts between two sets of ideas, National Catholicism and the politics of the Falange, vying for hegemony in the New State. As such, a contribution is made to further critiquing monolithic and top-down understandings of the operations of the Franco regime.

The aim of this article is to analyze social attitudes in dictatorships, examining the mechanisms used to gather social support and the complex relationship between state and society. To this end, this essay presents a theoretical and methodological proposal for analyzing individual and collective attitudes under non-democratic regimes. The first section synthesizes the main problems in examining social attitudes and points out some aspects that should be considered. The second part consists of a historiographical review of studies of social attitudes in different European dictatorships. Finally, the article focuses on the Franco regime, empirically demonstrating the need to adopt a flexible, complex, “bottom-up” approach to analyze the attitudes of “ordinary people”.

The aim of this article is to analyze social attitudes in dictatorships, examining the mechanisms used to gather social support and the complex relationship between state and society. To this end, this essay presents a theoretical and methodological proposal for analyzing individual and collective attitudes under non-democratic regimes. The first section synthesizes the main problems in examining social attitudes and points out some aspects that should be considered. The second part consists of a historiographical review of studies of social attitudes in different European dictatorships. Finally, the article focuses on the Franco regime, empirically demonstrating the need to adopt a flexible, complex, "bottom-up" approach to analyze the attitudes of "ordinary people".