Welcome to this week’s History Thread! Today we’ll discuss controlling history, a topic both broad and specific. The presentation of history remains extremely contentious – witness the recent flap in Dearborn over Henry Ford – and there are numerous issues that anyone, from distorted messaging, political manipulation, controlled textbooks and outright censorship.

Today’s picture: eighty years ago today, Francisco Franco became the President of Spain during the waning days of that country’s brutal civil war. Franco had commanded Spanish troops in North Africa and led what began as a largely military movement against the leftist Republican government, only to spiral into a bloody war which ravaged Spain and became a precursor to WWII as Germany, Italy and the Soviet Union sent supplies and troops to aid their preferred side. Franco’s victory led to the establishment of a brutal right wing regime (not technically fascist, by most definitions, though considering his alliance with fascism, perhaps an arcane distinction) that killed tens of thousands and lasted into the 1970s.