Historiography on Carlism during the Francoist era

During 40 years of post-Francoist Spain there have been some 200 works published on Carlist history during the Franco regime (1939 to 1975; the Civil War period is not discussed here); there are some 100 authors who have contributed.

The number of major studies – books or unpublished PhD works - stands at around 50, the rest are articles in specialized reviews (pieces in popular newspapers or periodicals are not acknowledged here).

[1] A student unfamiliar with the subject should probably start with a large chapter dedicated to post-Civil War Carlism in general historical synthesis by Canal (2000):[2] comprehensive and non-partisan, it provides a good overview.

Works recommended only to students familiar with the subject and armed with appropriate criticism are writings on late Carlism by Clemente (1977[12] and 2003[13]), chapters in the general overview of Pérez-Nievas (1999)[14] and last essays in the volume of Miralles Climent (2004).

[16] The very recent work of an experienced Navarrese statesman Allí Aranguren (2021) is specifically calibrated as discussion on relations between Carlism and Francoism, with focus on the 1939-1955 period.

[78] The so-called early Francoism was treated in major work of Miralles Climent (2018),[79] while later years of the regime were discussed by the same author in another large book, published in 2023.

[80] Apart from studies on Navarre listed earlier there are two books which focus on the Civil War, the period not covered here, and contain minor passages related to the following years, namely the works of Peñas (1996)[81] and Peñalba (2013),[82] 2022.

The one written by García Riol (2015)[91] is largely repetitive though also highly focused, non-partisan, based on newly available documents and pursuing a handful of interesting concepts.

[103] A number of works, though generally studying Francoism and extreme-Right groupings in the early 1970s, offer some insight into the Carlist realm as well, especially the books of de la Cierva (1978,[104] 1981[105] and 1987[106]), Rodríguez (1994[107] and 1997[108]) and the articles by Gallego (2008)[109] and Casals (2009).

In terms of key threads followed there are clearly two which attract most attention: Carlist position towards the Francoist regime and internal conflicts within Carlism, sometimes both merged as having been closely interrelated.

The works approaching the topic are a collection of 3 essays by Martorell and Miralles (2009),[115] a brief study of Calero Delso (2003),[116] an analysis of the 1942 crisis by Thomas (2016),[117] of the 1956 deadlock by Zaratiegui and Garcia (2017)[118] and a synthetic overview by Alli Aranguren (2021).

Blinkhorn (1991),[120] Vázquez de Prada, Caspistegui (1991[121] and 1995[122]) and MacClancy (1998),[123] tend to view the change sympathetically, while Bartyzel (2011)[124] builds a case-study, striving to present a unique European phenomen of a large and historically grounded political movement turned into its own ruinous negation.

[158] Structural framework is at the foreground in very few works which study specific dedicated Carlist organizations; the one which attracted most attention is GAC, discussed in books by Onrubia (2001)[159] and Clemente (2016)[160] and articles by MacClancy (1989)[161] and Porro (1999).

[162] MOT earned a minor piece by Cubero (2014)[163] and a major volume - composed mostly of documents, with rather brief analytics - by Miralles (2007),[164] which discusses also AET; the latter is separately treated by Vazquez de Prada (1998)[165] and Juncosa (2002),[166] while FARC was addressed by Onrubia (1999, 2003).

[169] Unfortunately, there is no socio-economic approach to history of Carlism during Francoism, though incursions into the area may be found in the article of García Riol (2016)[170] and the paper of Miralles Climent (2000).

[171] Two works are documentary compilations and might serve as printed sources; the key one massive series by Santa Cruz[172] and another is a book edited by Clemente (1994).

[174] Perhaps the one to start with is a bibliography prepared by Rubio and Talavera (2012),[175] which does not cover works published beyond Spain and those after 2012; moreover, the authors do not quote ISBN numbers and overlooked some of the titles listed here.