00:00Democracy has a long tradition in Western Europe, with shining examples such as the
00:06early Netherlands, the numerous iterations of the French Republic, and of course, our
00:13dear Great Britain.
00:16Yes, one would be remiss to forget that some countries joined the party quite a bit later
00:21than others.
00:22In the case of our friend the Spanish, democracy didn't conclusively arrive until the late
00:281970s, and it took quite the effort to get there.
00:31But let's start at the beginning.
00:33Spain, like its northern neighbour France, had remained a monarchy for most of its existence.
00:38It wasn't until the end of the 19th century that Spain had its first run-in with democracy,
00:44and it went about as well as it did in France.
00:47It didn't last very long, and it was extremely violent.
00:51I have a baguette, and I'm not afraid to use it.
00:54The monarchy would survive another 50 years before falling prey to Spanish Democracy II,
01:00Electric Boogaloo, better known as the Second Spanish Republic.
01:05This second iteration was a very ambitious project.
01:08At a time when democracy was crumbling around Europe, here were a bunch of Spaniards instituting
01:14freedom of speech, women's suffrage, and, dare I say it, divorce.
01:19We won't be going into too much detail here, for this period of Spanish history deserves
01:24a video in its own right.
01:26But in a nutshell, there were a lot of people who were very unhappy with the new regime.
01:31On the one side you had radical socialists and anarchists demanding the abolition of money,
01:36and on the other you had staunch conservatives and fascists that really just wanted their
01:41church back.
01:42The fascists eventually started a civil war, and, spoiler alert, they won, in no small
01:48part thanks to Uncle Adolf and company.
01:51Now, the leader of this new Spain was Francisco Franco, one of the generals that had initiated
01:56the rebellion.
01:57His model for Spain was a 1930s classic.
02:01A single-party dictatorship, if you don't mind, with a closed economy and a habit of violently
02:06suppressing its opposition.
02:08You'd imagine such a state would have no place in post-World War II Western Europe.
02:13But Franco had incredible foresight, or luck, in picking his sides.
02:19He kept Spain neutral during the war and aligned with the US afterwards, on the basis of his
02:24fierce hatred for communism.
02:27Franco even signed an agreement with America in 1953, allowing Uncle Sam access to air bases,
02:34naval stations, and pipelines in exchange for the modest sum of three billion dollars.
02:39Thank you very much.
02:40Thus, despite his questionable methods, Franco's regime had tacit approval from the West.
02:47Nevertheless, Franco's powers were far from absolute.
02:50He had to contend with the numerous factions that had supported him during the Civil War.
02:56Arguably, the most powerful were the monarchists, and, well, Franco knew better than to bite the
03:01hand that fed him. So, in 1947, he nominally restored the monarchy.
03:07I say nominally because it came with quite a few caveats.
03:11For a start, the throne would remain empty as long as Franco lived, and he would have the power
03:18to decide who the future monarch would be.
03:21By that point, however, the previous King of Spain had already died, while his son and heir had been
03:27advocating for a liberal constitutional monarchy since 1945, and thus was considered unsuitable to rule.
03:35In the end, Franco and the late King's heir reached an agreement.
03:39His young son, Juan Carlos, who was just nine years old at the time, would be the future King.
03:47In exchange, Franco would educate him in the ways of Francoism, and would properly indoctrinate him
03:53to take up the reins of dictatorship. Juan Carlos went along with this and would eventually
04:01swear allegiance to Franco's party, the Falangists. When Franco died in 1975, everyone expected Juan
04:10Carlos to carry on his mentor's legacy. And yet, when he assumed Franco's dictatorial powers,
04:16he did a complete 180 and began instituting the constitutional monarchy his father had dreamed of.
04:22He appointed a liberal prime minister, who legalized other political parties and began
04:27dismantling the dictatorship's institutions. As it turned out, Juan Carlos had been in contact with
04:34none other than Henry Kissinger, the U.S. Secretary of State, with the unmatched talent of sticking his
04:41hand in virtually every jar imaginable. Kissinger had assured the young King that as long as the
04:47existing U.S. military bases remained intact, the U.S. would support the King's efforts to democratize.
04:54This support definitely came in handy, for before long, Juan Carlos had to deal with Francoist terrorists
05:00bombing police stations and Basque separatists abducting politicians. In 1981, the Francoists in the
05:08military even attempted a coup, bringing 2,000 soldiers and 50 tanks onto the streets of Madrid and Valencia.
05:16But, luckily, they had no support in the rest of the country, and so it all fizzled out. In the
05:22end,
05:23Juan Carlos succeeded in bringing democracy to Spain, even though he very well could have retained absolute
05:30power. Good on you, Juan. Well, I hope you enjoyed our brief but nuanced retelling of Spain's odd
05:37transition to democracy. Unlike Juan Carlos, we here at SideQuest are quite interested in absolute power,
05:46so much so that we're accepting any and all support for our cause over on Patreon. Of course, you can
05:52also
05:52support us by simply liking and sharing this video. Trust me when I say every view counts. Anyhow, remember to
06:01come back here in a couple of weeks for the next phalangistically autocratic episode of SideQuest.
06:10Now, where are my nachos? I need it! I need my nachos! Sure now! I've offended everybody. The entire world
06:19speak Spanish. What have I done?
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