Mottos of Francoist Spain

Falangist ideology was easily incorporated in the creation of mottos as it is believed to demonstrate a certain reluctance towards political agendas, and to favour empiricism, taking action, and the simplification of ideas.

As well as achieving military victory, the Rebel, or Nationalist, faction successfully used propaganda to link the term "national" with the concept of Spain itself.

[2] Those within the regime did not all blindly support such simplifications as demonstrated in España como problema by the Falangist intellectual, Pedro Laín Entralgo.

[3] Una, Grande y Libre (English: One, Great and Free[4] or United, Great and Free[5]) was the Francoist tripartite motto which expressed the nationalist concept of Spain as: The motto was created by jonsist student Juan Aparicio López (he also created the motto Por la Patria, el Pan y la Justicia; "for the Homeland, for Bread and for Justice" and was also behind the adoption of the Yoke and the Arrows as symbol of the JONS as well as the red-black flag),[6] and was later adopted by Falange Española de las JONS along other JONS' symbols.

[7] Una, Grande y Libre was often used at the end of speeches; The leader would exclaim three times ¡España!, and the public would successively respond to each of these shouts with ¡Una!, ¡Grande!, and finally ¡Libre!.

The motto was spread by the Franco's confidant, founder of the Spanish Legion, José Millán Astray, who profoundly admired the Caudillo.

[11] Other tripartite mottos include "Liberté, égalité, fraternite" (liberty, equality, fraternity), created during the French Revolution; "Dios, Patria y Libertad" (God, Motherland and Freedom), used in the Dominican Republic; and "Dios, patria, rey" (God, Motherland, King) which dates back to Carlism, a traditionalist, right-wing Spanish ideology.

In addition to mottos, examples of other tripartite classifications are the Falange's categories of "natural units of political life" ("Family, town council, trade union").

Furthermore, in the philosophy of absolute idealism, the dialectical method of Hegelian theory (thesis, antithesis, synthesis) is also composed of three parts.

[16] These mottos were used above all in Catalonia in order to discourage the use of Catalan after the region was taken over by Franco's army in the final stage of the Civil War (Barcelona was taken on 26 January 1939), and were also used in the postwar period.

[17] The quote was printed in newspapers and employed by the anti-Soviet movement which created the Blue Division, formed by volunteers and incorporated into the German army.

These volunteers were believed not to affect or compromise Spain's official position of neutrality (although Franco favoured the Axis powers).

After the defeat of Germany, international pressure on the Francoist regime caused the country to become isolated; this point was employed periodically in efforts to sway public opinion within Spain.

"[22] As discussed in an opinion piece by Anton Reixa,[23] During Franco's dictatorship there were those who responded to the above Francoist mottos with parodies such as 'There's only one Spain (because if there were another, we'd all be there.)'

People also opposed the regime in more subtle ways such as by chanting the last part of the motto Una, Grande y Libre louder than the others, emphasizing the word "Free".

This form of protest is illustrated in the film Las trece rosas (2007), which focuses on a group of girls awaiting a death sentence in the Ventas Prison in Madrid in 1939.

This can be interpreted as a response both to the chants of 'Franco, Franco' as well as a criticism of Francoist slogans like "No house without a fireplace nor a Spaniard without bread", a motto which was printed on the packages of bread which were used to 'bombard' the Republican rearguard in the final stages of the Civil War in order to showcase the superiority and alleged benevolence of the rebel faction, as well as the hunger which prevailed in the Republican zones.

Todo pasa, vna sola cosa te sera contada y es tv obra bien hecha.

Francoist Spain's coat of arms incorporates the mottos " Una Grande Libre " and Plus Ultra . It consists of the traditional Spanish escutcheon (the arms of Castile, León, Aragon, Navarre and Granada), as well as other heraldic icons such as the Pillars of Hercules . It includes elements adopted from the Catholic Monarchs such as the Eagle of Saint John and the yoke and arrows . See also: Symbols of Francoism .
The Monument of Eugenio D'Ors in Madrid includes descriptions of parts of his work, many of which are references points of Francoist mottos.
Medal commemorating the Nationalist victory of the Civil War, imprinted with the slogan Arriba España .
The Gibraltar-Spain border , known in Spanish as the 'iron-wrought gate of Gibraltar', was closed by the Francoist regime to exert pressure on the British Government in the hope that negotiations regarding the territory would begin. It was not reopened until the 1980s by Felipe González's government.