And prior to Spain (recall their civil war resulted in the rule of Franco for decades) ... the demise of the Weimar Republic and what that led to ...
In respect to the demise of the Weimar Republic, it is my belief that its failure and Hitler’s subsequent ascendency to the chancellorship was due to what unfairly happened to Germany as a result of WWI. The beginning of the War was such a convoluted mess that meaningful blame was impossible to assign.
Germany was seriously abused by the asinine reparations assessed which bankrupted and starved its economy and its people.
Now, as far as Franco’s rule is concerned after the defeat of the communists and the Russian commissars who attempted to run Spain from Madrid and through a puppet government, it is my belief that Spain was a hell of a lot better off under the generalissimo.
Perhaps the only way America can crawl out from under the weight of this dead regime is through the efforts of a strongman who is, like Franco, a benevolent despot.