Search results
Results from the WOW.Com Content Network
During World War II, the Spanish State under Francisco Franco espoused neutrality as its official wartime policy. This neutrality wavered at times, and "strict neutrality" gave way to "non-belligerence" after the Fall of France in June 1940.
Spain assisted Italy and Germany, two Axis countries, during World War II under the dictatorial rule of General Francisco Franco. Franco sympathised with the fascist governments in Italy and Germany and gave them material and diplomatic support, despite Spain’s formal neutrality throughout the war.
Despite General Francisco Franco's fascistic tendencies and German aid in the Spanish Civil War, Spain did not participate in the Second World War. This occurred mostly due to Franco demanding too much in the way of German concessions. Nonetheless, Spain was sympathetic to the Axis and provided it with significant aid throughout the conflict.
The foreign policy of Spain under Franco during the Second World War has been the source of much historiographical controversy.
Before World War II began in Europe, Spain underwent an infamous civil war that split the country in two. The Nationalists, a mixture of fascists, monarchists, and conservatives, fought against the Republicans, a socialist coalition of far left groups, including communists and anarchists.
The nature of Spain’s neutrality in World War II turned in significant measure on Allied and Spanish perceptions of the danger of German invasion. While the Allies had feared a German invasion of Spain and even Portugal through 1942, by the beginning of 1943 these concerns had largely vanished, and
25,000 Jews passed through Spain to escape from Europe, while a few thousand remained in Spain under Spanish protection. ww2dbase Although Spanish politics was characterized by isolationism between 1943 and 1955, after that period Spain quickly emerged as an influential European nation again.
Once World War II broke out, Spain, like Italy, declared neutrality. As soon as Italy declared war on June 10, 1940, Spain declared non-belligerency, which meant, in practice, supporting the Axis countries. From June 1940, Spain bargained its entry in the war.
Franco’s sympathies in World War II lay with Germany and Italy, to whom he gave moral and material support. Nevertheless, Franco demanded France’s North African colonies in compensation for military cooperation against the Western Allies, on whom Spain was dependent for food and oil imports.
Spain's recovery, the immediate origins of the conflict were also profoundly disturbing to, the Spanish Nationalists. For three years, they had struggled to save Catholic Spain from Red Bolshevism. Now, in late August, 1939, none other than their German Anti-Comintern Pact partner had concluded an agreement with the