Between 1956 and 1976, twelve States of Exception were imposed in Spain, eleven of which involved the Basque Country. Also, in the final years of Franco, when repressive measures were being reduced elsewhere, such measures were increased in the Basque Country, including two States of Exception in 1975. While this fact might be attributed to the increase in ETA violence during the last years of the dictatorship, the existence of ETA and the use of violence in their political activity stems from the intensity of repression the Basque country endured from the beginning of the dictatorship. During Franco's regime, citizens of the Basque Provinces underwent the longest periods of time in which human rights were disregarded. This fact goes a long way to explain why nationalism radicalised into violence in the Basque country and not elsewhere.
"Between 1939 and 1945 the Basque country was subjected to a regime of state terror with no parallel in its history." In this statement Conversi does not differentiate between the different Basque provinces, the majority of the population of Alava had supported Franco's forces and therefore did not suffer the same repressive measures as the Basque people in Guipuzcoa and Vizcaya. A majority of the Basques in the latter two provinces had supported the Republic and those who showed any sign of opposition were directly attacked by the Franco regime, through imprisonment, arrest, torture and exile. However, the methods used by the regime to promote national homogenisation had the opposite effect in the Basque country (and in Catalonia). The intensity of repression suffered by these Basques alienated them from the rest of Spain and awakened nationalist sentiments. Before Franco the nationalist movement had been limited to certain areas of society, namely the urban lower and middle classes that had experienced industrialisation. By attempting to impose a Spanish national identity, by outlawing their distinctive language and culture, Franco actually strengthened Basque national identity.