«Aftermath, we are at war»: Long war as Franco’s dictatorship state building process (1936-1948)

Abstract

The understanding of the process initiated after the coup d’état of July 1936 as a «Civil War» responds to a convention resulting from some narrative molds. Against this, several historiographical works cast doubt on the traditional narrative frameworks about the war. Such as, among others, the one that defends that Spanish Civil War should be understood as part of a «European Civil War», the other one that shows the existence of an «irregular civil war» in the decade of 1940’s and also those that show the existence of unified strong logics between war and repression. The historical process developed between 1936 and 1948 must be characterized as a long war, bearing in mind that the war was the propitious framework for a continuous repression with tints of politicide. Finally, this article also will propose the understanding of war / repression as a «technology», taking into account different devices typical of this political process.