On March 28, the Nationalists entered Madrid, where large crowds welcomed them as liberators. The Nationalist advance across eastern Spain to the Mediterranean coast also met no opposition, with Jaen, Cuenca, Albacete, and Sagunto being taken without incident. As a result of the Nationalist advance, some 50,000 Republican supporters fled to the ports of Valencia, Alicante, Cartagena, and Gandia in the hope of escaping abroad. Fewer than 5,000 of these Republicans made it out of Spain. By April 1, the Nationalists had captured the eastern coast, and thus controlled all of Spain. The war was over. About 500,000 persons lost their lives in the war; this figure includes total combat-related deaths of soldiers and civilians, and non-combat fatalities from various causes including summary executions, starvation, and diseases.
(Taken from Spanish Civil War – Wars of the 20th Century – Volume 3)
Aftermath Following the war, General Franco established a right-wing, anti-communist dictatorial government centered on the Falange Party. Socialists, communists, and anarchists, were outlawed, as were free-party politics. Political enemies were killed or jailed; perhaps as many as 200,000 lost their lives in prison or through executions. The political autonomies of Basque and Catalonia were voided. These regions’ culture, language, and identity were suppressed, and a single Spanish national identity was enforced.
After World War II ended, Spain became politically and economically isolated from most of the international community because of General Franco’s affiliation with the defeated fascist regimes of Germany and Italy. Then with increasing tensions in the Cold War between the United States and Soviet Union, the U.S. government became drawn to Spain’s staunchly anti-communist stance and strategic location at the western end of the Mediterranean Sea.
In September 1953, Spain and the United States entered into a defense agreement known as the Pact of Madrid, where the U.S. government infused large amounts of military assistance to Spain’s defense. As a result, Spain’s diplomatic isolation ended, and the country was admitted to the United Nations in 1955.
Its economy devastated by the civil war, Spain experienced phenomenal economic growth during the period from 1959 to 1974 (known as the “Spanish Miracle”) when the government passed reforms that opened up the financial and investment sectors. Spain’s totalitarian regime ended with General Franco’s death in 1975; thereafter, the country transitioned to a democratic parliamentary monarchy which it is today.