Back to your question: No, because Franco was careful to maintain genuine neutrality throughout WWII. As Hitler told an aide after futilely trying to convince Franco to join the Axis in the summer of 1940: "I'd rather have three teeth extracted than go through that again."The Wehrmacht and Luftwaffe had gained invaluable combat experience in Spain. Also, Franco's SAR aircraft recovered both Axis and Allied aircrew among other things.
But Spain has a long tradition of fighting guerrilla wars against invaders; in fact they invented the term. A weeping sore like Yugoslavia would be the result, with an early invasion along the Atlantic Coast by the Allies in 1942 a definite possibility.
Yes, but at the time the spanish people was to tired of violence, and very scared about the horros of the Civil War. Even nowadays, the people who lived the war, as my grandmother, is still tired and horrified about what happened then.
Absolutely, but there’s nothing like having the neighbours storm in with tanks and jackboots to inspire someone to make a little extra effort to kick him in the shins, especially once the reprisals start and the OSS parachute in to assist with the tricky explosives.
Or they wait until the Allies land on the coast and then start a general uprising behind German lines.
I would agree woth you if the Spanish Civil War would have been a "regular" war. Usually the foreigners (it's not a critic, I have the same problem with conflicts in other countries) don't catch the psycological effects of the SCW on the people, probably because they have not acces to "first hand" memories and its sentimental charge. Sometimes there is also a certain romantization of the SCW. But when people see how his father is took prisioner in a night raid in his home, killed at the dawn and after that, someone, known by the familly, pisses over the corps saying (rough translation) "fuck you, pig" or when someone sees who someone takes his own brother, with different political views, and throw him over a cliff in a massive execution, they associate war with terrible things and they try to avoid it by all means.
That is one of the reasons why the guerrilla movements (the maquis) had not success nor support in post-war Spain. There were probably millions of republicans who couldn't leave the country after the war. Many of them spent decades having a low profile in the better cases or hidden in their houses à la Anna Frank in the worst cases, simply because they were too scared and too tired to fight more time. We call it "the inner exile". That's also the reason why everyone in Spain stayed at home during the attempted coup d'etat in 1981...
In the case of german invasion, there would be also a political problem. I don't know if the francoists and the remained republicans could find a way to work together against the nazis, with the wounds of the war still open. Also, probably the mos extreme factions in he francoist side, like the falangists, probably would be collaborators...
Sorry for the "rough" response, but I don't find another way to make clear my point.
But I can't see why Hitler would decide to invade Spain. Anywy, if he does that, it would be an easy task, Spain was not in conditions to wage a new war.
being new i dont know where to put this so tell me if this isnt the right place
While I agree with the second part (and Cook's Yugoslavian analogy, to an extent), I actually do see why Hitler would want to invade Francoist Spain, and I'm actually surprised that, being Spanish myself, I never really thought about the possibility.
IMO, this is even more reasonable than Hitler declaring war after a Republican Spanish victory. Why? Because we know that he was originally uninterested about Spain, but after his meetings with Franco, he grew to hate the clericalism of his regime. In his personal diaries, Hitler bitterly mocked Franco's wife for she used to attend mass every day, and he toyed with the idea of removing him from power, and setting a pure Falangist regime that, in his very own words, "washed away the clerical-monarchist filth that rules Madrid"
He also toyed with, I'm-not-fucking-making-this-up, giving help to the CNT as, again quoting his words, "they are not red on our perspective". Not that I see the old anarch guard collaborating with the Nazis in a good mood, of course, but I think that illustrates very well Hitler's mentality.
Let's go back to the early Francoist Spain. The regime itself could be seen as the second most convoluted system in the history of mankind, right after Peronism. I like the term "clerical fascism" because it sums it up very well, but the regime itself was never a monolithic doctrine, and it was very factionalized in the early years... it only worked out because every faction (the monarchists, the Falangists, the Carlists) but the most strategic ones (the Church, the Army) were equally backstabbed by Franco. But, to sum it up, in the early years, the Falangists were seen as a very uncomfortable force within the regime, and OTL they ended up merged with the Carlists (let's talk about ASBs... they hated each other to death, sometimes literally) and relegated to juvenile activities and seminars for housewives.
Now let's go back to the topic. Let's say now that Franco is even more uncalled-for in his negotiations with Hitler, so he just feels even more disgusted about Franco, decides he cannot stand it, and declares war to Spain. As said, it would be easy to invade, though I could see some (minor) partisan activity. To sum it up, it would be a Falange-wank, and the monarchists would be the ones in a silent exile now. And of course, this would make the tide to turn more violently (now the German would have bitten more than they could chew).
As for Spain, IMO it would result in an earlier monarchical restoration under Juan III... with the Falange illegallized and retaliated against. Oh, the sweet, sweet irony...
While I agree with the second part (and Cook's Yugoslavian analogy, to an extent), I actually do see why Hitler would want to invade Francoist Spain, and I'm actually surprised that, being Spanish myself, I never really thought about the possibility.
IMO, this is even more reasonable than Hitler declaring war after a Republican Spanish victory. Why? Because we know that he was originally uninterested about Spain, but after his meetings with Franco, he grew to hate the clericalism of his regime. In his personal diaries, Hitler bitterly mocked Franco's wife for she used to attend mass every day, and he toyed with the idea of removing him from power, and setting a pure Falangist regime that, in his very own words, "washed away the clerical-monarchist filth that rules Madrid"
He also toyed with, I'm-not-fucking-making-this-up, giving help to the CNT as, again quoting his words, "they are not red on our perspective". Not that I see the old anarch guard collaborating with the Nazis in a good mood, of course, but I think that illustrates very well Hitler's mentality.
Let's go back to the early Francoist Spain. The regime itself could be seen as the second most convoluted system in the history of mankind, right after Peronism. I like the term "clerical fascism" because it sums it up very well, but the regime itself was never a monolithic doctrine, and it was very factionalized in the early years... it only worked out because every faction (the monarchists, the Falangists, the Carlists) but the most strategic ones (the Church, the Army) were equally backstabbed by Franco. But, to sum it up, in the early years, the Falangists were seen as a very uncomfortable force within the regime, and OTL they ended up merged with the Carlists (let's talk about ASBs... they hated each other to death, sometimes literally) and relegated to juvenile activities and seminars for housewives.
Now let's go back to the topic. Let's say now that Franco is even more uncalled-for in his negotiations with Hitler, so he just feels even more disgusted about Franco, decides he cannot stand it, and declares war to Spain. As said, it would be easy to invade, though I could see some (minor) partisan activity. To sum it up, it would be a Falange-wank, and the monarchists would be the ones in a silent exile now. And of course, this would make the tide to turn more violently (now the German would have bitten more than they could chew).
As for Spain, IMO it would result in an earlier monarchical restoration under Juan III... with the Falange illegallized and retaliated against. Oh, the sweet, sweet irony...
While I agree with the second part (and Cook's Yugoslavian analogy, to an extent), I actually do see why Hitler would want to invade Francoist Spain, and I'm actually surprised that, being Spanish myself, I never really thought about the possibility.
IMO, this is even more reasonable than Hitler declaring war after a Republican Spanish victory. Why? Because we know that he was originally uninterested about Spain, but after his meetings with Franco, he grew to hate the clericalism of his regime. In his personal diaries, Hitler bitterly mocked Franco's wife for she used to attend mass every day, and he toyed with the idea of removing him from power, and setting a pure Falangist regime that, in his very own words, "washed away the clerical-monarchist filth that rules Madrid"
He also toyed with, I'm-not-fucking-making-this-up, giving help to the CNT as, again quoting his words, "they are not red on our perspective". Not that I see the old anarch guard collaborating with the Nazis in a good mood, of course, but I think that illustrates very well Hitler's mentality.
Let's go back to the early Francoist Spain. The regime itself could be seen as the second most convoluted system in the history of mankind, right after Peronism. I like the term "clerical fascism" because it sums it up very well, but the regime itself was never a monolithic doctrine, and it was very factionalized in the early years... it only worked out because every faction (the monarchists, the Falangists, the Carlists) but the most strategic ones (the Church, the Army) were equally backstabbed by Franco. But, to sum it up, in the early years, the Falangists were seen as a very uncomfortable force within the regime, and OTL they ended up merged with the Carlists (let's talk about ASBs... they hated each other to death, sometimes literally) and relegated to juvenile activities and seminars for housewives.
Now let's go back to the topic. Let's say now that Franco is even more uncalled-for in his negotiations with Hitler, so he just feels even more disgusted about Franco, decides he cannot stand it, and declares war to Spain. As said, it would be easy to invade, though I could see some (minor) partisan activity. To sum it up, it would be a Falange-wank, and the monarchists would be the ones in a silent exile now. And of course, this would make the tide to turn more violently (now the German would have bitten more than they could chew).
As for Spain, IMO it would result in an earlier monarchical restoration under Juan III... with the Falange illegallized and retaliated against. Oh, the sweet, sweet irony...
I can see National Socialist republics of Catalonia, Eskudi, Galicia, etc.
I also suspect that he was intelligent enough to know that America would enter the war and that Hitler was doomed.
.
Originally Posted by Francisco Franco Bahamonde
The war in our continent has been clear and decided long time ago (...) the american continent can't dream with an intervention in Europe without facing a catastrophe(...) The fight between both continents is imposible. It would only mean the war in the sea, long and without achievements (...) The war has had a bad planning and the Allies have lost.