The military career of Francisco Franco Bahamonde began on 29 August 1907, when he took the oath as a cadet at the Spanish Toledo Infantry Academy. On 13 July 1910 he graduated from Infantry Academy and was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the Spanish Army, in the same promotion as Juan Yagüe, Emilio Esteban Infantes, Camilo Alonso Vega, José Asensio, Lisardo Doval Bravo and Eduardo Sáenz de Buruaga. He rose through the ranks over the next twenty years and became one of the most important Spanish commissioned officers of the Rif War. On 31 January 1926 Franco, aged 33, became the youngest general in all of Europe. In January 1928 he was then chosen to direct the newly formed General Military Academy in Zaragoza. From 19 May 1935 to 23 February 1936, Franco was elevated to Chief of Army Staff before the 1936 election moved the leftist Popular Front into power, relegating him to the Canary Islands as Commander of the Archipelago Force. After initial reluctance, he joined the July 1936 military coup which, after failing to take Spain, sparked the Spanish Civil War.
During the war, he commandeered Spain's colonial army in Africa and after the death of much of the rebel leadership became his faction's only leader. On 1 October 1936, in Burgos, Franco was appointed Generalissimo and Head of State. He consolidated all nationalist parties into the FET y de las JONS (creating a one-party state). Three years later the Nationalists declared victory and thereafter ruled over Spain from 1939 until his death in 1975 assuming the title Caudillo.