*A 2025 BOOK OF THE YEAR FOR: Telegraph, Financial Times, i Paper*

'Making Francisco Franco’s long life and 38 years of dictatorship enjoyable reading is a daunting challenge ... Giles Tremlett nonetheless succeeds magnificently' PAUL PRESTON

'An excellent biography – compelling, authoritative, even entertaining – of this highly dislikable creature’ SIMON SEBAG MONTEFIORE, DAILY TELEGRAPH

'A magisterial, groundbreaking new portrait ... Sets a gold standard in Spanish Civil War history' ELIZABETH DRAYSON

From a scrawny, overlooked military graduate to the youngest general in Europe, Francisco Franco was known for his ambition, talent and calculated risk-taking. Yet his reputation remains a topic of fierce debate. Did he destroy Spain and stifle its democracy or rescue the nation from left-wing tumult? In this compelling biography, Giles Tremlett unravels the complex life and legacy of the enigmatic dictator who shaped twentieth-century Spanish history.

This book will delve into the complexities of Franco's character, exploring his volatile relationship with a domineering father, his traumatic experiences fighting in Morocco and the formation of his authoritarian ideology. The narrative follows Franco's ruthless leadership during the Civil War, his alignment with Hitler and Mussolini and the subsequent Cold War era that brought him international rehabilitation. Tremlett interrogates Franco's transformation of Spain through a lens that challenges the conventional view of him as a bumbling leader. Instead, he argues that Franco was a deliberate and pragmatic dictator who wielded terror to maintain an iron grip on power, and whose lasting (and most surprising) contribution was the period of peace that allowed Spain to challenge the absolutist spirit he embodied.

Nuanced and comprehensive, El Generalísimo offers a fresh perspective that reveals the intricate interplay of ambition and fearlessness of Francisco Franco; and examines his enduring legacy that continues to shape Spain's political and cultural landscape.

Making Francisco Franco’s long life and 38 years of dictatorship enjoyable reading is a daunting challenge. With supple and elegant prose, Giles Tremlett nonetheless succeeds magnificently -- Paul Preston, author of THE SPANISH CIVIL WAR and THE SPANISH HOLOCAUST
Mediocrities can rise to great power; just look at Vladimir Putin. But the classic example was Francisco Franco, who – as we learn from this excellent study of the generalísimo and the post-war Spain he forged – never saw an internal enemy he couldn’t crush in a style that was at once brutal and blundering * Telegraph, The Greatest Books of 2025 *
A magisterial, groundbreaking new portrait of Francisco Franco as unique among the European dictators of the twentieth century. Tremlett charts Franco’s personal and political evolution from brilliant soldier to ruthless tyrant with unerring clarity, riveting anecdotes and chilling details. Comprehensive and complex, this book lays bare the paradoxical and eye-opening story of a cold, ruthless man in thrall to an ambition and ideology that crippled his country for 36 years. El Generalísimo sets a gold standard in Spanish Civil War history -- Elizabeth Drayson, author of CRUCIBLE OF LIGHT
[In] this intriguing new biography… Tremlett has an intimate understanding of Spain’s recent history… [and] writes with great clarity about complex topics. Tremlett deserves praise for making him fascinating -- Gerard DeGroot * The Times *
Given the new world disorder, the resurgence of autocrats in so many places; the crisis and fragility of democracy… it’s good to have a new [biography of Franco]. In El Generalísimo, Giles Tremlett delivers an excellent biography – compelling, authoritative, even entertaining – of this highly dislikable creature -- Simon Sebag Montefiore * Daily Telegraph *
Giles Tremlett gives a rounded portrait of Francisco Franco, whose rise to power was extraordinary by any standards—from the youngest general in Europe since Napoleon, at the age of 33, to victor of the Spanish Civil War, and then dictator for 36 years. Tremlett’s vivid book makes judicious use of reports, memoirs, and newspapers of the time for an engaging and penetrating biography -- William Chislett, author of SPAIN: WHAT EVERYONE NEEDS TO KNOW
This new biography of Franco, marking the 50th anniversary of the Spanish dictator’s death, explains how an uncharismatic military officer, lacking ideology or even ideas, seized control of a western European democracy, outlived his fellow autocrats Hitler and Mussolini and ran the country with an iron fist for 36 years until he died from old age in a hospital bed * Financial Times, Best Books of 2025 *
Having taken inspiration from the likes of Hitler and Mussolini, Francisco Franco ruled Spain with a dictator’s iron fist from 1939 until 1975. Here, Tremlett traces the origin story of Europe’s youngest general, from difficult childhood to a violent and murderous dictatorship, to assess his lasting impact on Spain. Amid news reports that some younger Spaniards are now looking more sympathetically at his legacy, this reads as a cautionary tale * i Paper, 14 Best History Books of 2025 *
General Franco died on 20 November 1975, and with the 50th anniversary just passed, this biography – the first in years – of the man who ruled Spain with an iron fist for nearly four decades is timely, incisive and authoritative ... An up-to-date and highly accessible introduction to 20th-century Spanish history -- Jim Lawley * Spectator *

Giles Tremlett is a prize-winning biographer, narrative historian and journalist based in Madrid, Spain. He has lived in, and written extensively about, Spain almost continuously since graduating from Oxford University. He has been a Visiting Fellow of the Can~ada Blanch Centre at the London School of Economics, writes opinion and long-form reportage for the Guardian and is a former Madrid correspondent for the Economist.