Early Life
Mola was born in Placetas, Cuba - at that time a Spanish province - where his father, an army officer, was stationed. He enrolled in the Infantry Academy of Toledo in 1907. He served in Spain's colonial war in Morocco where he received the Medalla Militar Individual, and became an authority on military affairs. By 1927 he was a Brigadier-general.
Mola was made Director General of Security in 1930. This was a political post and his conservative anti-democratic views made him unpopular with opposition liberal and socialist politicians. When the left-wing Popular Front government was elected in February 1936 Mola was made military governor of Pamplona in Navarre, which the government regarded as a backwater. But the area was a center of Carlist activity and Mola himself secretly collaborated with the movement.
Read more about this topic: Emilio Mola
Famous quotes containing the words early and/or life:
“It was common practice for me to take my children with me whenever I went shopping, out for a walk in a white neighborhood, or just felt like going about in a white world. The reason was simple enough: if a black man is alone or with other black men, he is a threat to whites. But if he is with children, then he is harmless, adorable.”
—Gerald Early (20th century)
“Those who first introduced compulsory education into American life knew exactly why children should go to school and learn to read: to save their souls.... Consistent with this goal, the first book written and printed for children in America was titled Spiritual Milk for Boston Babes in either England, drawn from the Breasts of both Testaments for their Souls’ Nourishment.”
—Dorothy H. Cohen (20th century)