His family moved to Spain after Puerto Rico became a possession of the United States by the Treaty of Paris of 1898, which ended the Spanish–American War.

Generals Jose Millan Astray and Francisco Franco, who founded the Spanish Foreign Legion, fought against the Riffians on land.

Goded at first supported the right-wing dictatorship of Miguel Primo de Rivera, which was established in 1923 with the consent of King Alfonso XIII.

When right-wing officers suspected of plotting against the government were reassigned, he was exiled to a remote and inconsecuential post on the Balearic Islands.

[6] When right-wing generals rebelled against the Popular Front government of the Second Republic in July 1936, Goded unsuccessfully led troops in the Catalan capital, Barcelona, after he had taken control of Mallorca and Ibiza.

[9] Goded's death not only decapitated the Nationalist revolt in Barcelona and greater Catalonia but also removed one of the key personal and political rivals to the movement's eventual leader, Francisco Franco.