Abstract

Portuguese and Spanish life in the twentieth century was in great part dominated by the experience of dictatorship, which began to take hold in the 1920s and then lasted, with the interregnum of the Second Republic in Spain, until the mid 1970s. Much has been written about the origins, nature, and consequences of the Salazar and Franco regimes, which undeniably shared a number of characteristics, but which also differed in a number of key areas. Some of these differences were born out of the personality, background, and world view of the two dictators; others reflected the economic, social, and cultural realities of Portugal and Spain. One issue brought all these factors together: Empire.