Excerpts from Books and Wikipedia
"Franco had joined the Spanish army in 1910 and two years later was posted to Morocco. He quickly made his name with the Army of Africa, who's professionalism owed much do his expertise and discipline. . . . The coup in Spain was rapidly becoming a civil war. It was this initial failure of the rebellion that paved the way for Franco's emergence as leader of the nationalists. It was he who presided over victory in the bloody civil war in May 1939. Indeed it was he who ruled as dictator of Spain for so long, until his death in 1975." [Furtado: 1001 Days]