Listen, Franco was a prick, but the Allies weren’t going to swarm across his open border. And before you mention the Blue division, 20k Spaniards were a small price to pay to a guy like Franco (who, I have noted was a prick). He had zero good choices.
koontzim on
According to British diplomats in Spain, the latter remained neutral mainly due to the efforts of Portuguese ambassador to Spain. What a nice guy who wants the allies to win because of their ideology right? No he just really liked the Anglo Portuguese alliance, and pushed to prosecute the Portuguese diplomat who saved Jews by faking passports
TheHistoryMaster2520 on
Hilariously Spain may have inadvertently contributed to the downfall of the Axis by being the setting of Operation Mincemeat, a deception operation by the British that convinced Hitler and Mussolini to prioritize defending Sardinia, Corsica, and Greece, instead of the actual intended target of Sicily
I’ve always wondered this. Could Hitler have been some sort of Franco of the North? Very anti communist and dictatorial and antisemitic, but not really aggressive towards other European neighbours.
What would that look like?
Leviton655 on
Not so much. Franco was much closer to Mussolini’s Italy (especially his first years when the Falange had more influence) than to the Nazis (whom he only used to win his war), who were hardly Catholic. On the other hand, Franco’s Spain almost declared war on Japan after the Manila massacres of 1945, where many Spaniards died, also with the intention of improving its standing with the Allies. And it probably would have, but they didn’t foresee that nuclear weapons would end the war prematurely
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Listen, Franco was a prick, but the Allies weren’t going to swarm across his open border. And before you mention the Blue division, 20k Spaniards were a small price to pay to a guy like Franco (who, I have noted was a prick). He had zero good choices.
According to British diplomats in Spain, the latter remained neutral mainly due to the efforts of Portuguese ambassador to Spain. What a nice guy who wants the allies to win because of their ideology right? No he just really liked the Anglo Portuguese alliance, and pushed to prosecute the Portuguese diplomat who saved Jews by faking passports
Hilariously Spain may have inadvertently contributed to the downfall of the Axis by being the setting of Operation Mincemeat, a deception operation by the British that convinced Hitler and Mussolini to prioritize defending Sardinia, Corsica, and Greece, instead of the actual intended target of Sicily
Spain did send [volunteers](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue_Division) to the Eastern front
I’ve always wondered this. Could Hitler have been some sort of Franco of the North? Very anti communist and dictatorial and antisemitic, but not really aggressive towards other European neighbours.
What would that look like?
Not so much. Franco was much closer to Mussolini’s Italy (especially his first years when the Falange had more influence) than to the Nazis (whom he only used to win his war), who were hardly Catholic. On the other hand, Franco’s Spain almost declared war on Japan after the Manila massacres of 1945, where many Spaniards died, also with the intention of improving its standing with the Allies. And it probably would have, but they didn’t foresee that nuclear weapons would end the war prematurely
Now do the opposite with Portugal