Im very interested in the topic, if anyone knows any good readings on the subject or could formulate a somewhat general answer I would be very thankful indeed!
hi! Not discouraging other responses here, but you may want to check out several previous posts on this topic.
What is Fascism? - a massive post featuring /u/depanneur and /u/domini_canes among many others
Was Franco's Spain considered Fascist by most historians? - more from /u/domini_canes , also /u/talleyrayand
How was Spain able to remain independently fascist until the 1970s? - comments on the question of fascism by /u/k1990 and /u/AxisXYZ
Why has fascism in Italy been more present than in for example Spain or Portugal, countries with a similar history of fascism? - /u/domini_canes
thread "What exactly drew people to fascism?" in Panel AMA - The Spanish Civil War - featuring /u/tobbinator and /u/domini_canes
thread "Would you actually consider Franco a fascist or more of a conservative authoritarian?" in Panel AMA - The Spanish Civil War - featuring /u/domini_canes
Is it correct to call the nationalist forces in the spanish civil war fascists? Why or why not? - featuring /u/vonalder and /u/domini_canes
Did Italian and Spanish fascism have an occult undercurrent like nazism did? - featuring /u/AdmiralFunk and /u/JDHoare
These posts have been archived, so if you have follow-up questions on any of these, just ask them here. Notify the relevant user by mentioning their username.
A number of my answers on the subject have been linked by the very helpful /u/Seakrocksandtrees. If you have any questions, feel free to ask. You also asked for reading on the subject, and I would point you to just about anything by Stanley Payne. He is the English-language author on Spanish fascism. Just look at his book list on Wikipedia...probably a third of his books cover at least part of your inquiry. You could go with another of the big authors on the Spanish Civil War (Beevor, Thomas, Preston) and get some answers as well. Payne and Preston both have biographies of Franco as well. My focus has been on Catholicism during the war so my knowledge of Franco is tangential, but I would start with Payne if you wanted to read about Spanish fascism.