[Oxymoron]

If I am not mistaken, Germany had a large role to play in Francos victory in Spain. Why didnt Franco join the war, at least take Gibraltar? Why didnt the Germans pressure Spain to join the war? What was the state of the Spanish military at the time?

[Rojik of the Arctic]

Would you have picked a fight with the British or French after a 3 year civil war? Franco was pretty smart to stay out of the whole deal. I can't really speak on the state of the Spanish armed forces without researching them properly but I think it would be reasonable to assume that the armored and air components where either obsolete, destroyed or non-existent, which would explain why Franco made heavy demands on Hitler as a condition of Spanish entry into the war. Demands that the Germans had no chance of meeting.

[Coisdealbhach]

Franco actually wanted to join the Axis war, and on the day WWII began he made a speech claiming fascism would soon triumph. The many apologists of Spanish fascism have tried to airbrush that out of history.

Franco's requests from Germany were mad- a huge amount of equipment and gear. He basically wanted the Germans to completely arm them. He also requested a bunch of African territory as payment. I think Hitler wasn't too keen.

Ultimately a Spanish volunteer unit known as the Blue Division did go, and took part in German actions in the USSR. You can see a photo of it in Beevor's book The Battle for Spain.

[Smilin' Dave]

Franco's requests from Germany were mad- a huge amount of equipment and gear. He basically wanted the Germans to completely arm them.

In fairness, Franco's army wasn't in good shape after the Spanish Civil War (never mind the state of the country and its population), so rearmament prior to going to fight against Britain isn't entirely crazy.

[Coisdealbhach]

Yeah, it wasn't in good shape going into the Civil War, let alone coming out of it.

It was a mad request because they had just spent all their country's wealth paying the Germans to bomb the shit out of them.

[MacDK]

It probably even worked out to Germany's advantage that Spain didn't join the war. Taking Gibraltar would of course have hampered British opportunities in the Mediterranean, but on the other hand the allies would probably have opened up a front in Spain forcing the Germans to devote forces to help out the Spanish military, which I don't see as being a match for the allies alone. They were even weaker than the Italians, which the allies did not seem to have very noticeable trouble with.

[Potemkin]

Franco wasn't a total idiot. The ruinous Spanish Civil War had only ended in 1939, just in time for the Big One, and Spain was in no condition to fight anyone, or even to defend its own territory. Franco worked out what he would need to hold off the British and the French, asked Hitler for it, and was turned down. So that was that.

[albionfagan]

Franco used Hitler for expediency, he wasn't interested in some fascist alliance. He didn't want war with Britain and France, after all they had effectively acquiesced to his assumption of power by declaring themselves neutral when the legitimate Republican government was overthrown.

[Thunderhawk]

Were the Republican rebels/partisans crushed by 1939, or just well supressed?

[Potemkin]

The repressions continued into the 1940s and 1950s, in particular of the Basque nationalists, so they were only well suppressed rather than totally crushed by 1939. Franco was undoubtedly wise to stay out of WWII. Mussolini, of course, was not so wise.

[Nattering Nabob]

Franco used Hitler for expediency, he wasn't interested in some fascist alliance. He didn't want war with Britain and France, after all they had effectively acquiesced to his assumption of power by declaring themselves neutral when the legitimate Republican government was overthrown.

This is the correct answer.

Franco stalled and made excuses and did everything possible to stay out of the war.

Franco wanted no part of Hitler's war.

It drove Hitler to distraction and Hitler finally gave up trying to persuade Franco to join the effort in any meaningful way.

[Thunderhawk]

If Franco had voined the Axis early on (soon after France surrenders) and sent part of the Spanish military to help the Germans, would there have been a real threat of an internal revolt? Would the revolt have been small (like the Maquis) or substantial (like the Yugoslavs)?
Was there potential for the old civil war to be fired up again and become seriously problematic if the Allies supplied arms and training?


It seems to me that Spain and Franco had everything to loose and nothing to gain except Gibralter, and thats assuming the Germans wouldnt just claim it for themselves.

[Potemkin]

It seems to me that Spain and Franco had everything to loose and nothing to gain except Gibralter, and thats assuming the Germans wouldnt just claim it for themselves.

This.

At best, Spain would have ended up as a client state of Nazi Germany. Why risk involvement in a World War just to obtain the same outcome which they could obtain by remaining neutral? Besides which, the nation was internally divided and weakened by the ruinous civil war which had only just ended. Mussolini at least had the excuse that there were opportunistic gains to be made by joing the Axis when he did; Spain didn't even have those on offer. Franco wasn't a total fucking idiot.

[Fasces]

Franco hated Hitler, and was much saddened to see Mussolini so willingly sell the Italians to the Germans. This man was a nationalist before a fascist (after all, the alliance with the Falangists was more out of convenience and necessity than personal beliefs), and would die before selling Spain to Hitler.

Furthermore, Hitler had just started up a war with Russia, a war that his own high command was stupid before destroying Britain, and Franco certainly knew as well. He knew Hitler would lose this war, and had no intention of going down with the ship, so to speak.

His foreign policy adviser agreed with him, and Franco's meetings with Hitler were designed to make Hitler wary of Franco. Franco asked for much more armaments than he knew Germany would be willing to provide, and in this way managed to remain neutral. A smart idea, as he survived Hitler by 30 years.