Representations of the Spanish Civil War in early Francoist history textbooks

Textbooks are effective tools to understand the idiosyncrasies of certain historical time periods as they allow us to examine the ideologies, concepts and values of the social groups in power. Those textbooks which were in use in the areas occupied by the Fascist National troops under the insurgent General Francisco Franco’s command and in all of Spain after his victory permit us to draw conclusions about the characteristics of the Francoist ideology. The analysis of original material collected and classified by the Spanish research project of textbooks (manes), as well as the review of theoretical studies demonstrates that Francoist schoolbooks to a large extent reproduced contents proceeding from the monarchic period before the Second Republic. The representations of the Civil War in these textbooks condense the most important doctrinal principles of the Franco dictatorship and reveal the existing ideological differences between different tendencies represented in the regime. Furthermore, the analysis of these texts shows that the ideological indoctrination through schoolbooks was an essential element of the totalitarian efforts of the Franco regime