imagine if he joined the Axis :twisted:
Axis will then win the war ,maybe he with your man’s go in north africa and conquer france ,and germans all soldiers will send on east front ,italy have very strong allied in africa and together they crash british well this is mu opinion . :lol: :lol: :lol:
Franco was an archreactionary, who wanted to get Spain back into the 18th century society, where everybody had his place (aristocrat landowner, church, peasant). He used the Spanish fascist movement, the Falange for his own ends, but same as his co-coupists and the Carlist royalists, dumped and emasculated them later. His military power base was always the Spanish foreign legion and the North-African Colonial troops, who obeyed him without question.
He was quite intelligent, but also ruthless (he was the youngest Spanish general ever, but had a nasty reputation from crushing a strike of Asturian miners in 1934).
While Franco used every resource offered to him while getting in power, he realised that Hitler and Mussolini were unrealistic dreamers and therefore refused to cooperate with them in WW2 (except for a token force of Blueshirt fascist volunteers for the eastern front, who miostly got killed as cannon fodder. It is said that this way he got rid of rivals in the fascist Falange movement, who were comparable in ideology with Röhm’s SA in Germany and through their revolutionary ideology threatened Franco’s cooperation with the rich Spanish upper class).
AFAIK, he was also miffed at the German Luftwaffe razing Guernica in the Basque country, apparently without his approval. They apparently wanted to try out new techniques and tactics in aereal bombardment, but Franco wanted the country he was going to rule survive at least partially intact.
Mussolini on the other hand made himself a laughing stock in Spain after the failed Guadalajara campaign, where a whole Italian “volunteer” armoured division was captured by the International Brigades.
Jan
Some Spanish soldier di fight for the Axis, but Im not convinced at all that Spains addition to it would have altered the wars outcome in the least.
Clauss, can you please explain in detail why you think Spains addition to the Axis will change the outcome of WW2? I am interwested in this and have just started studying the Spanish Civil War.
Firefly, this was the “Division Azul”, the blueshirt Falagist volunteers.
Jan
I think Spanish bring Axis soldiers Axis have more soldiers …imagine spanish conquer france ,all germans soldiers can go to east front ,and spanich will hold france
Unlike Hitler or Mussolini was Franco a trained general officer and knew which ambitions were realistic. By taking over power in Spain and undoing the changes of society done by republican reforms and therefore converting Spain back into the backward country it was up to the second Republic, he fullfilled all his ambitions. He was not interested in creating colonial empires, like Hitler or Mussolini wanted.
He realised that Hitler’s and Mussolini’s dreams were doomed and made sure that Spain wouldn’t be too much involved in them. The result wasthat Franco survived his co-dictators by 30 years.
Jan
Hitler wanted Franco to hit Gibraltar in '41/42 and close the Med to the Allies but Franco said no.
I wonder if he spared any though for the last time a Pan-European dictatorship had tried to use Spain in a world war. While the Spaniards had initialy co-operated with Napoleon he brought them nothing but trouble.
If he attacked Gibraltar he would have had the British troops that couldn’t get to Africa invading Spain via Portugal (again).
AFAIK, Franco also had the Spanish railway system converted to use the Russian track width (much wider than the one used in the rest of the continent, still in use today), so that Hitler couldn’t just move troops into Spain by rail.
Jan
FRANCO was a spy working for great britain!!!,and im afraid he can´t make the axis win the war.
Says who?
Says who?[/quote]
Television
(one of your guys said the bbc is a relevant font,so,im with the channel 9)
Clarin and La Nacion News paper.
a friend said me some of this will be in the history channel.
Says who?[/quote]
Television
(one of your guys said the bbc is a relevant font,so,im with the channel 9)
Clarin and La Nacion News paper.
a friend said me some of this will be in the history channel.[/quote]
Can you find anything online, rather than “I saw it on the telly”? I’m interested, you see.
yes,give me a sec stoat,i will search
i can´t find nothing. :?
Thought so! I had a quick google too. Seemed unlikely, in any case (which is why it would have been interesting had it been true).
Franco a spy of the brits ? :o
Well… I’m not sure… Franco was a faschist too, and he recieved the help of the “Division Condor” during the civil war in 1936. And then he gave soilders to Hitler ! If he joined the axis, I think the bigger problem would have been Gibraltar… Because if they went to France and if the Germans went on the est front, let me laugh ! The resistance would have made bigger damages, the D-Day would have been a complet succes and the allies troop would have conquered France in one month !!! 
you forget that there were more spaniards helping the allies than axis!!!
http://www.balagan.org.uk/war/1939/spanish_in_ww2.htm
there were 4 units for the axis and 6 for the allies
Yes, you’re right ! But if we talk about the whole country, Franco was on the side of Hitler. The spaniards serving with the Germans were gave by Franco wereas the allies spaniards did it secretly, serving in the resistance without the permission.
The Spanish who helped the Allies were anti Franco refugees and veterans from the Spanish civil war. Espercially the 13e Demibrigade of the French Foreign Legion contained many republican civil war veterans. They were highly unwelcome in Franco’s Spain.
Jan