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At Hitler's request, Franco also met privately with Italian leader Benito Mussolini in Bordighera, Italy on 12 February 1941. [13] Hitler hoped that Mussolini could persuade Franco to enter the war. However, Mussolini was not interested in Franco's help after the series of defeats his forces had recently suffered in North Africa and the Balkans.
The Spanish conflict lasted three years and was a smaller-scale prelude to the world war which broke out in 1939. Nazi support for General Franco was motivated by several factors, including as a distraction from Hitler's central European strategy, and the creation of a Spanish state friendly to Germany to threaten France. It further provided an ...
Hitler did not wish to disturb his relations with the Vichy French regime. The only concrete result was the signing of a secret agreement under which Franco was committed to entering the war at a date of his own choosing, and Hitler gave only vague guarantees that Spain would receive "territories in Africa".
He was actively supported by Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy during the Civil War and Franco sympathised with many aspects of Nazism, especially its anti-communism. There was a small community of Jews in Spain and a larger one in Spanish Morocco ; however, the practical restrictions imposed in the aftermath of the Civil War made it increasingly ...
[108] [109] Hitler distrusted Franco; according to the comments he made at the conference he wanted the war to continue, but he did not want Franco to achieve total victory. He felt that with Franco in undisputed control of Spain, the possibility of Italy intervening further or of its continuing to occupy the Balearic Islands would be prevented.
Franco answered negatively to another request from Hitler to join the war that was received on 6 February citing the precarious state of Spain's economy and army. German Foreign Minister Joachim von Ribbentrop told Hitler that in his opinion, "Franco has no intention of ever joining the war". In February 1941, the OKW advised the naval high ...
Spanish dictator General Francisco Franco contemplated joining the war on the German side. The Spanish Falangists made numerous border claims. Franco claimed French Basque departments, Catalan-speaking Roussillon, Cerdagne and Andorra. [69] Spain also wanted to reclaim Gibraltar from the United Kingdom because of the symbolic and strategic value.
The proposal of a Franco-British Union to shore up support for Paul Reynaud's government following the fall of Paris split support. With many pro-Armistice ministers in the cabinet, such as the Deputy Prime Minister Philippe Pétain , and the commander-in-chief of the French Army General Weygand, Reynaud resigned on 16 June.