Editing Francisco Franco (section)

=== Rise to power ===
[[File:J mmue 202444 1 00001.jpg|thumb|Franco and other rebel commanders during the Civil War, {{circa|1936–1939}}]]
The designated leader of the uprising, General [[José Sanjurjo]], died on 20 July 1936 in a plane crash. In the nationalist zone, "political life ceased".{{sfn|Thomas|2013|p=258}} Initially, only military command mattered: this was divided into regional commands ([[Emilio Mola]] in the North, [[Gonzalo Queipo de Llano]] in [[Seville]] commanding [[Andalucia]], Franco with an independent command, and [[Miguel Cabanellas]] in [[Zaragoza]] commanding [[Aragon]]). The Spanish Army of Morocco was itself split into two columns, one commanded by General [[Juan Yagüe]] and the other commanded by Colonel [[José Enrique Varela|José Varela]].

From 24 July a coordinating ''[[Military junta|junta]]'', the [[National Defense Junta|National Defence Junta]], was established, based at [[Burgos]]. Nominally led by Cabanellas, as the most senior general, it initially included Mola, three other generals, and two colonels; Franco was later added in early August.{{sfn|Thomas|2013|p=282}} On 21 September it was decided that Franco was to be commander-in-chief (this unified command was opposed only by Cabanellas),{{sfn|Thomas|2013|p=421}} and, after some discussion, with no more than a lukewarm agreement from Queipo de Llano and from Mola, also head of government.{{sfn|Thomas|2013|pp=423–424}} He was, doubtlessly, helped to this primacy by the fact that, in late July, Hitler had decided that all of Germany's aid to the Nationalists would go to Franco.{{sfn|Thomas|2013|p=356}}

Mola had been somewhat discredited as the main planner of the attempted coup that had now degenerated into a civil war, and was strongly identified with the [[Carlism|Carlist]] monarchists and not at all with the [[Falange Española de las JONS|Falange]], a party with Fascist leanings and connections ("phalanx", a far-right Spanish political party founded by [[José Antonio Primo de Rivera]]), nor did he have good relations with Germany. Queipo de Llano and Cabanellas had both previously rebelled against the government of General [[Miguel Primo de Rivera]] and were therefore discredited in some nationalist circles, and Falangist leader José Antonio Primo de Rivera was in prison in [[Alicante]] (he would be executed a few months later). The desire to keep a place open for him prevented any other Falangist leader from emerging as a possible head of state. Franco's previous aloofness from politics meant that he had few active enemies in any of the factions that needed to be placated, and he had also cooperated in recent months with both Germany and Italy.{{sfn|Thomas|2013|pp=420–422}}

On 1 October 1936, in [[Burgos]], Franco was publicly proclaimed as ''[[Generalissimo|Generalísimo]]'' of the National army and ''Jefe del Estado'' ([[Head of State]]).{{sfn|Thomas|2013|p=424}} When Mola was killed in another air accident a year later on 2 June 1937 (which some believe was an assassination), no military leader was left from those who had organised the conspiracy against the Republic between 1933 and 1935.{{sfn|Thomas|2013|pp=689–690}}