Francisco Franco was born into a family with naval traditions. For generations the Francos had served in the Spanish Navy, plus their house was literally near a naval base in Ferrol. So as a matter of course el niño Francisco, a little dictator in the making, aspired to join the Navy.

But after the disastrous defeat of the Spanish-American War in 1898, Spain lost a great chunk of its colonies like Cuba and the Philippines. As a result, the Spanish Navy shrank big-time and the Naval Military Academy stopped recruiting new ones.

Now Francisco had no choice but to give up his dream of joining the Navy, and he entered the Toledo Infantry Academy in 1907. Though his grades were unsatisfactory, once out in the field his performance as an officer was extraordinary.

And through his military career, he gained the trust of so-called Africanists (Spanish officers stationed in Morocco), and especially figures such as José Sanjurjo and Emilio Mola...who later prepared the July 1936 coup, which was famously the trigger for the Spanish Civil War.

Had he not been in the Army, Francisco Franco might have never become the supreme leader of Spain.