[masraum]

Originally Posted by Halm

Great question. I had to look it up. From a quick Google search:

The general and dictator Francisco Franco (1892-1975) ruled over Spain from 1939 until his death. He rose to power during the bloody Spanish Civil War when, with the help of Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy, his Nationalist forces overthrew the democratically elected Second Republic.

So not necessarily racial. Maybe just some way of dividing the people?

per wikipedia

The Spanish Civil War was a civil war in Spain fought from 1936 to 1939. Republicans loyal to the elected, left-leaning Second Spanish Republic, in alliance with anarchists, fought against a revolt by the Nationalists, an alliance of Falangists, monarchists, conservatives and Catholics, led by a military group among whom General Francisco Franco soon achieved a preponderant role. Due to the international political climate at the time, the war had many facets, and was variously viewed as class struggle, a war of religion, a struggle between dictatorship and republican democracy, between revolution and counterrevolution, between fascism and communism.

I don't know enough about Mussolini or Italy's history to know what was involved there.