Franco and Decolonization, 1936–1986

<jats:title>Abstract</jats:title> <jats:p>Chapter Eight recounts Gibraltar’s history from the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War in 1936 until Spain’s entry into the European Economic Community in 1986. Though the British authorities in Gibraltar remained officially neutral throughout the Spanish Civil War, their actions favored Franco’s right-wing rebellion. Within Gibraltar, many business leaders and conservative Catholics sided with Franco, while many others sympathized with the Spanish Republic. Franco protested British sovereignty over Gibraltar soon after his victory in the civil war, but Spain was impoverished, militarily weak, and remained officially neutral during World War II. After the war, the founders of the United Nations barred Franco’s Spain from joining. Franco responded to his ostracization by posing as a champion of decolonization, despite his intention to hold on to Spain’s protectorate in Morocco. After Spain was admitted to the UN in 1949, Franco invoked UN resolutions on decolonization to renew his protests against British rule in Gibraltar. As the debate over decolonization intensified, Gibraltar’s elected local government acquired greater power and autonomy. In a referendum in 1967, Gibraltarians voted almost unanimously in favor of British sovereignty. Spain’s blockade of the territory from 1969 through 1982 reinforced local opposition to any compromise. After Franco’s death in 1975, Spain petitioned to join the European Economic Community. Britain, a member of the EEC, had a veto over Spain’s membership and insisted that Spain put its claim to Gibraltar aside. After Spain joined the EEC, its border with Gibraltar functioned like other borders within the increasingly integrated European Community.</jats:p>