| The Desfile de la Victoria de Madrid de 1939 (“1939 Madrid Victory Parade”) was held in Madrid over a month after the victory of the Nationalists in the Spanish Civil War (1936 – 1939). It was the 1st of a yearly series, named Día de la Victoria (“Victory Day”), held on every April 1 until 1976, the year after Fascist Dictator Francisco Franco (December 4, 1892 – November 20, 1975) died. The parade was commanded by General Andrés Saliquet (March 21, 1877 – June 23, 1959), Commander of the Madrid Military Region, and was presided by Franco. Both of them are present in this view. More than 120,000 men and 1,000 vehicles took part in the parade, including small contingents of the German Condor Legion, the Italian Corpo Truppe Volontarie (“Volunteer Troop Corps”) and the Portuguese Viriatos (Nationalist volunteers named after the Lusitanian leader Viriathus). The forces went along Paseo de la Castellana, the main Madrid avenue, and took 4 hours for the full contingent to march past. Around 400,000 people attended the event. The environment was spectacularly fitted out with countless patriotic, triumphal and Franco’s cult of personality slogans. | |
| Image Filename | wwii1745.jpg |
| Image Size | 905.80 KB |
| Image Dimensions | 2326 x 3000 |
| Photographer | |
| Photographer Title | |
| Caption Author | Written or Adapted by Jason McDonald |
| Date Photographed | May 19, 1939 |
| Location | |
| City | Madrid |
| State or Province | Madrid |
| Country | Spain |
| Archive | University of Kansas Library |
| Record Number | |
| Status | Caption ©2026 MFA Productions LLC Please Do Not Duplicate or Distribute Without Permission; Image in the Public Domain |
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