In 1942, membership in the FET y de las JONS Party (The party union of Falangist and Carlist factions) peaked at nearly 1 million active party members. (932,000 approx.)
At the same time, tensions between the two intra-group factions reached a boiling point with the Begona Incident.
The Begoña Bombing was an attack in the Basilica of Begoña in the Bilbao neighbourhood in Begoña on August 16, 1942, during the first period of the Franco regime (1936–1959), in which a hand grenade, thrown by the Falangist Juan José Domínguez Muñoz, caused seventy minor injuries. The act was interpreted as a failed attempt on the life of Carlist General José Enrique Varela, the Minister of War.
Francisco Franco used the incident at Begoña to unseat the Falangists from power, including his brother-in-law Ramón Serrano Suñer, Foreign Minister, Valentín Galarza Morante, Minister of the Interior, and General José Enrique Varela, Minister of Defense.He also removed Head of the Falangist militia, José Luna Meléndez, despite having declared his loyalty to Generalísimo. His replacement was Manuel Mora Figueroa.
So what if a different course of action took place? Say Juan's grenade ends up killing a number of major Carlists, and a harsher Franco-crackdown prompts the Falange to move against him.
How successful could this be?
And if it is, what would a Falange-led government look like post 1942?
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