Spain "Absorbs" Portugal in WW2

Well, actually there was a plan to invade Portugal.

You can check the book La Gran Tentación by Manuel Ros Agudo, which located in the spanish military archives Franco's Plans for attacking and invading France in aprovved in 1939 (no joke even before the german attack), others for french Morocco and Argelia in 1940 and Portugal in 1942.
 
I remember Lochery mentioning the Spanish plans to attack Portugal. He only referes to Portuguese Army intelligence discovering their existence & not the nature of the plan/s. Also he mentions these only in the context of 1941-42.
 
I also wonder about the nature of those plans, considering that in 1942 the first installment of the Iberian Pact was signed between Franco and Salazar, granting amongst other things like a non-agression pact, the mutual assistance between both countries in the case of a third party attacked the Peninsula....

The most Franco could absorb while the others were bussy was Tangiers, and still it was problematic, so go figure. Considering the diplomatic developments, I doubt there were any real intention to invade Portugal.
 
I also wonder about the nature of those plans, considering that in 1942 the first installment of the Iberian Pact was signed between Franco and Salazar, granting amongst other things like a non-agression pact, the mutual assistance between both countries in the case of a third party attacked the Peninsula....

The most Franco could absorb while the others were bussy was Tangiers, and still it was problematic, so go figure. Considering the diplomatic developments, I doubt there were any real intention to invade Portugal.

They may have been just boiler plate 'Staff Studies'. The sort of thing that appears as a sort of busy work for HQ staff and war colleges. The question came up on another forum & no details or other sources were produced.
 
Franco did seriously consider invading Portugal after the 1974 revolution. In fact, Franco spent his all life obsessing about Portugal and this is a well known fact.
 
Franco did seriously consider invading Portugal after the 1974 revolution. In fact, Franco spent his all life obsessing about Portugal and this is a well known fact.

The plans for the invasion of Portugal in 1974 were a contingency plan in case (and remark the in case) that Portugal went red after the Carnation Revolution, not to annex the country but to topple a communist government. Basically the regime was shiting bricks about the possibility of something similar happening in Spain. It's a very different scenario.

Amongst Franco's obssesions you have a bunch: Free-masons, communists(including every thing at the left of the CEDA), Morocco, his father, his brother Ramón, God, Hilda, Saint Theresa's uncorrupted arm, communists, free-masons, eliminating the root of "the anti-Spain", communists and free-masons, not necessarily in this order.
For portuguese matters you have the other Franco, his brother Nicolás, who was ambassador in Portugal and rather a lusophile. Now, if you have sources about that well onown obssesion of (Francisco) Franco with Portugal...
 
Spain invades Portugal? The Brits take the Canary Islands and destroy the Spanish navy. The Brits also help the Portuguese set up a government in exile in the Azores, with that government granting the Brits anti-submarine basing rights. Franco removed from power at the end of World War Two and tried as a war criminal. Spain loses its colonies in Africa.
 

Pangur

Donor
In 1386, England and Portugal signed an alliance promising to aid each other in times of war if they were called to. This alliance was only ever interrupted during the Spanish-Portuguese union, and was superseded by NATO. Even during WWII, Portugal offered Britain use of the Portuguese Atlantic Islands for basing. No matter what, Britain would not hesitate to aid the small nation that had been their ally for the past 450 years. Which means that there would now be an Iberian front in the war. When would this end? I mean, the Spanish-Portuguese border is pretty mountainous, so where would the invasion take place from? Galicia? The Algarve?

There is this for starters, Spain tries in on with Portugal and UK would have supported Portugal IMHO. Depending on when it happened the US would be more than likely to support the Porugese as well. End result, a massive defeat for Franco. To add to this if if we are talking about post June 1941 I would be inclined to think that Hilter would not be happy about a Spanish attack what so ever and seeing as Spain would need 100% support from Germany then basically not going to happen. The Spanish at a stretch might have tried post Dunkirk but there you have at best a few month window
 
The plans for the invasion of Portugal in 1974 were a contingency plan in case (and remark the in case) that Portugal went red after the Carnation Revolution, not to annex the country but to topple a communist government. Basically the regime was shiting bricks about the possibility of something similar happening in Spain. It's a very different scenario.

Amongst Franco's obssesions you have a bunch: Free-masons, communists(including every thing at the left of the CEDA), Morocco, his father, his brother Ramón, God, Hilda, Saint Theresa's uncorrupted arm, communists, free-masons, eliminating the root of "the anti-Spain", communists and free-masons, not necessarily in this order.
For portuguese matters you have the other Franco, his brother Nicolás, who was ambassador in Portugal and rather a lusophile. Now, if you have sources about that well onown obssesion of (Francisco) Franco with Portugal...

This. Bur Niko forgor about the Jews. Everything was a conspiración judeo-masónica bolchevique internacional. To Franco's defence, his father was an asshole, I can understand why Franco had such ambition, a distant and never-approving, even demeaning, father and a ever-loving mother is apparently the perfect combination to develop a need of power and ambition in people.

Honestly Franco invading Portugal is very, very unlikely. The country was in no position to do so after the war and Franco's relations with Salazar weren't bad, certainly better than with Hitler. Now, there's the added factor of Don Juan, who lived in Portugal, in Estoril, with all the other wealthy Portuguese elite and hence would be easily apprehended and used as a hostage. In the 40s Franco's power was not completely established, as the various conspiracies to get ride of him proved, and such a major cock up would result in some very, very angry monarchists (which includes most of the Army).
 
So England had Ironclad agreements do defend Portugal? If so, did this extend to a "populist uprising" that was in fact orchestrated by Franco and his fifth column friends?
 
There really is a huge amount of risk and not much chance of gain for Franco.

Yabbut WI Franco is not the Caudillo? He was the third in line after Sanjurjo and Mola, both of whom died in completely avoidable airplane crashes. (Sanjurjo's being especially stupid and his own fault.) Was either of them known to be interested in Spanish annexation of Portugal?

Also, if Spain moves in fall 1940, I don't think Britain can do much of anything. Maybe after they know SEELOWE has been cancelled; but their means are so slender and other needs so great that sparing anything for Portugal seems right out until 1941. Furthermore, Britain aiding Portugal with troops probably means Spain explicltly joining the Axis. (As opposed to independently exploiting the distraction and weakness of Britain and France.)

Britain has a lot to lose if that happens, and won't want to risk it.

It could be analogous to the decision in 1939-1940 to overlook the Soviet attack on Poland. "One war at a time" was the mantra.

There could be interesting consequences though. Salazar would evacuate to the Azores, and retain control of the colonies. He could offer Britain use of the Azores for ASW basing, which would be very helpful, and would not force the issue between Britain and Spain. Madeira, Cape Verde, and Guinea would also be useful.

Supposing that the U.S. enters the war about as OTL - the Azores and Madeiras would be important cover/bases for an Allied invasion of French North Africa. Spain could still remain nominally neutral, but would see "the handwriting on the wall": Portugal's alliance with the Allies points to an eventual Allied invasion of Spain for restoration of Portugal and the Republic.

Spain would then have the choice of joining the Axis and intervening in North Africa (jointly with Germany and Italy) or backing off and withdrawing from Portugal, thereby removing the casus belli. The latter would probably be unthinkable to a Caudillo foolish enough to move on Portugal in the first place, so the former seems more likely.

The North African campaign then gets stretched out into later 1943, and will be followed by an Iberian campaign.

Or (wild-card possibility) the folly of joining the Axis at this stage of the war is obvious to others in the Spanish junta, who stage a coup. Franco comes to power with a mandate to get on the right side of the Allies, whatever it takes. That begins with withdrawing from Portugal, and continues with joining the Allies. (Is it crazy? Italy and Romania both did it.) Franco IMHO was ruthless enough to do it. Churchill if not FDR might be cold enough to make the deal (Spain joins the Allies, the Allies leave the junta in power). As with OTL Italy, all the bad acts can be blamed on the late (?) ex-Caudillo.

If it happens, Spain becomes the beachhead for the Allies on the continent, with multiple major ports to use for supply. The transport net to the front in France was battered in the Civil War, but it's been patched up in the last four years, And it hasn't been worked over by Bomber Command and the Mighty 8th. The liberation of western Europe could start at the Pyrenees in mid-1943 instead of the Italian campaign.
 
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If Britain had no ironclad agreement to defend Portugal, would that mean an OK for Spain, just like Poland and Russia? Will he get covert support from Hitler because he can weaken the British, but not outright join the Axis? That is the question.
 
If Britain had no ironclad agreement to defend Portugal, would that mean an OK for Spain, just like Poland and Russia? Will he get covert support from Hitler because he can weaken the British, but not outright join the Axis? That is the question.

Portugal did have an agreement with Britain that was formed in 1940 in secret. In September 1940, Churchill wrote to Salazar praising him keeping the country neutral, as the British realised that drawing Portugal into the war would be a burden for the British, rather than an asset. The agreement between the two countries stipulated that if Portugal were invaded by Spain or Germany, the Portuguese government would transfer to the Azores and that the British Armed Forces would be responsible for Portugal's defence. The Foreign Office made it clear that Britain did not have the resources to defend Portugal in 1941, and informed the Portuguese Government that it should offer no more than a token resistance on the mainland and evacuate to the Azores. This was reiterated in a Foreign Office memorandum to Salazar on 15 October 1941. The British were to allocate resources to the defence of Portugal's islands in the Atlantic, and hoped that the Americans would assist in the defence of the Azores.
 
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