Editing History of Spain (section)

== Francoist Spain (1939–1975) ==
{{Main|Francoist Spain}}
[[File:Visita de Francisco Franco a la localidad de Tolosa (15 de 21) - Fondo Car-Kutxa Fototeka.jpg|thumb|Franco visiting [[Tolosa, Gipuzkoa|Tolosa]] in 1948]]
The Francoist regime resulted in the deaths and arrests of hundreds of thousands of people who were either supporters of the previous Second Republic of Spain or potential threats to Franco's state. They were executed, sent to prisons or [[concentration camps]]. According to Gabriel Jackson, the number of victims of the White Terror (executions and hunger or illness in prisons) between 1939 and 1943 was 200,000.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Jackson|first=Gabriel|url={{google books|plainurl=y|id=MpKXyAEACAAJ}}|title=The Spanish Republic and the Civil War, 1931–1939|date=1965|publisher=Princeton University Press|isbn=978-0-691-00757-1|page=539}}</ref> Child abduction was also a wide-scale practice. The [[lost children of Francoism]] may reach 300,000.<ref name="bbc111018">{{cite news|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-15335899|title=Spain's stolen babies and the families who lived a lie|first=Katya|last=Adler|publisher=[[BBC News]]|date=18 October 2011}}</ref><ref name="guard110127">{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2011/jan/27/spain-alleged-stolen-babies-network|title=Victims of Spanish 'stolen babies network' call for investigation|first=Giles|last=Tremlett|work=[[The Guardian]]|date=27 January 2011}}</ref>

During [[Francisco Franco|Franco]]'s rule, Spain was officially [[Spain in World War II|neutral in World War II]] and remained largely economically and culturally isolated from the outside world. Under a military dictatorship, Spain saw its political parties banned, except for the official party (Falange). Labour unions were banned and all political activity using violence or intimidation to achieve its goals was forbidden.
[[File:Generaal Franco (rechts) en Prins Juan Carlos, Bestanddeelnr 254-9762.jpg|thumb|right|[[Francisco Franco]] and his appointed successor Prince [[Juan Carlos I of Spain|Juan Carlos de Borbón]].]]
Under Franco, Spain actively sought the return of [[Gibraltar]] by the United Kingdom, and gained some support for its cause at the [[United Nations]]. During the 1960s, Spain began imposing restrictions on Gibraltar, culminating in the closure of the border in 1969. It was not fully reopened until 1985.

Spanish rule in [[Morocco]] ended in 1967. Though militarily victorious in the 1957–58 [[Ifni War|Moroccan invasion of Spanish West Africa]], Spain gradually relinquished its remaining African colonies. Spanish Guinea was granted independence as [[Equatorial Guinea]] in 1968, while the Moroccan enclave of [[Ifni]] had been ceded to Morocco in 1969.  Two cities in Africa, [[Ceuta]] and [[Melilla]], remain under Spanish rule and sovereignty.

The latter years of Franco's rule saw some economic and political liberalization (the [[Spanish miracle]]), including the birth of a tourism industry. Spain began to catch up economically with its European neighbors.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Payne|first=Stanley G.|url=http://worldcat.org/oclc/262432271|title=Franco and Hitler : Spain, Germany, and World War II|date=2009|publisher=Yale University Press|isbn=978-0-300-15122-0|oclc=262432271}}</ref>

Franco ruled until his death on 20 November 1975, when control was given to [[Juan Carlos I of Spain|King Juan Carlos]].<ref>{{Cite book|first=Jean|last=Grugel|url=http://worldcat.org/oclc/850535104|title=Franco's Spain|date=2002|publisher=Arnold|isbn=0-340-56169-6|oclc=850535104}}</ref> In the last few months before Franco's death, the Spanish state was paralyzed. This was capitalized upon by King [[Hassan II of Morocco]], who ordered the '[[Green March]]' into [[Western Sahara]], Spain's last colonial possession.