Why was Spain Neutral in WW2?

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Why was Spain Neutral in WW2?

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♦Music Used :
Kevin MacLeod - Decisions
Kevin MacLeod - Faceoff
Kevin MacLeod - Grave Blow

♦Script & Research :
Skylar Gordon

#History #Documentary

[Knowledgia]

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[anubisd]

Beacuse Spain was already destroyed.
"You can't be destroyed in a World War if you destroy yourself in a civil one"

[aninditasakti]

Because Germany did not unlock "Ally Spain" focus tree...
Woops that's HOI4...

[Newdivide]

One notable fighter in the Spanish civil war was an author name, George Orwell. The author behind the dystopian novel 1984

[pzdywcc]

At least Franco was smart enough to not involve in war with superpowers after devastating civil war, unlike his ally Mussolini

[armaintherye]

I once heard that Franco stated that instead of there being just one war, there were 3 simultaneous ones. Germany vs USSR in which he supported the german cause, the so called Allies vs the so called Axis in which he considered himself neutral, and the USA vs Japan in which he supported the USA.


I might be paraphrasing but still, I thought that was a very clever way to keep everyone happy without having to get involved.

Edit: I don't have the source, it may very well be a rumor, so take this with a ton of salt

[kau]

Hello, I am from Spain, (Barcelona), and there are many important things missing in this video. The video portrays this thing like it was just disagreement regarding the conditions for joining the war, but it wasn't even close that simple. Spain after the Civil War had a crippled economy, completely destroyed. One of the main things that saw an important depletion was food. Generally, Spain issued ration cards for the population as it was the only way to make everyone get something to eat. In this regard, it is important to mention that a big part of the food provided was made out of the wheat that Perón's Argentina dictatorship gifted Spain every year. Imagine entering the war, what would have happened with that supply. Maybe Franco's demand regarding French territory had a lot to do with ensuring the food supply from French agricultural lands. Another important factor is that Spain had no important Navy, Aircraft and Army. Simply, its military was not capable of holding ground in the long run. A German ambassador made some research and concluded that, being optimistic, Spain would only be able to fight for a month in its full capabilities, so you can imagine how the situation was. And, one of the even more important factors: British bribes. The British sprayed money all over Franco's regime to make them be 'pro allied' or, actually, simply not supportive of the war. Franco knew about it, and the size of this 'secret' (but well known) allied bribes goes as far as to say that the British had actual plans to start a military rebellion with Spain's bribed men. We can't say that everyone was bribed, but bribing the correct people with the correct amount of money magic can happen, as we all know.

There are many other things, but not mentioning corruption in the rationing system, British bribes and things like these is just saying 25% of the story. Good video, anyways.

[nelsonchereta]

Hitler: shoots himself in a bunker with the Red Army closing in. Mussolini: Hanged by partisans and body publicly mutilated. Franco: Dies peacefully after ruling Spain for 30+ years. Apparently he did something right.

[Frank-mmyp]

Spain was technically "neutral" in WWII even though Franco sent "DIVISION AZUL" composed of Spanish "volunteers" to fight alongside the Third Reich troops vs the USSR on the Eastern Front. When the tide turned around 1942-43 Franco withdrew them and returned to" neutrality", with apparently no one being any the wiser. One of the cleverest parlor tricks performed in WWII by a relatively minor player, who stayed in power until the mid 1970s. And, by all accounts, he is still dead....And Spain is now in NATO

[vegetableman]

Hitler (About Franco)-“That man is unbearable! I’d rather tear my own nails out than negotiate with him.”

[tonicarreira]

You should make a video about portugal in the world War 2.
I ve heard that Portugal influenced the war even being neutral.
An English diplomat said that Portugal was more useful as neutral nation in ww2 than an Allie in ww1.

[InputFresco]

I have always wanted to know deeper about this. Thanks!

[davidcercel]

I very much like the difference you made between neutral and non-belligerent countries. A very interesting concept as there are hardly any genuinely neutral countries in history.

[thecakeisalie]

What us the Spaniards should thanks Franco regardless of ideology is of saving our country from the World War 2 and avoiding a fatal invasion, both by the Allies and the Axis forces. Franco was not fooled by the apparent invincibility of Germany after the fall of France, and he was well aware of how extremely weakened Spain had been after the civil war, so instead of directly refusing to enter the war on the Axis side, he proposed terms to Hitler that he knew he could not accept.

In addition, if the Republican side had won, Spain would have become a puppet state of the USSR, and would have been invaded by the Axis from the north of the country at the beginning of Operation Barbarossa. The Germans would not have been able to totally defeat the country, since the Spanish people would dedicate themselves to guerrilla warfare as we did with Napoleon, but probably the entire territory and the population would suffer the wrath of the Nazis.

After the war, Franco dedicated himself to getting closer to the Allies and cooling tensions with them, and to opening Spain to the world, instead of completely closing the country and turning it into a kind of dystopian dictatorship as happened with North Korea and Albania. Even if they were two sides of the same coin, Hitler doomed his country forever, and Franco saved his own.

[sirreepicheeprules]

There are several reasons Spain didn't join the Axis in WW2. The first and most obvious reason is that they were already exhausted after fighting a brutal civil war for three years, at which point the last thing they needed was another war with multiple world powers bombing them and likely invading them some time in the next few years. The second reason is that their economy was in shambles and needed to rebuild their country, particularly they needed food and were only able to get what they needed through trade, much of which came from Latin America through Portugal. Finally their military was second-rate and poorly suited to fighting in WW2, even if they had joined the war, it is doubtful that their forces would have done much, Germany carried the Axis in Europe and did 85-90% of the heavy fighting.

Mussolini assumed that Germany would win after France fell and seriously underestimated British capabilities and determination to continue fighting, unfortunately Italy was badl unprepared for the war and depended heavily on trade to get food and oil, and the British did their best to cut off any supplies coming by sea. Mussolini was a complete idiot when it came to war and Germany had to bail his sorry ass out multiple times, he ended up losing all of Italy's african colonies and a direct Anglo-American invasion of Italy commenced in 1943. Considering Italy's poor performance in the war and eventual fate, it's quite easy to see that Franco made the right choice staying out of the war.

[Jodonho]

Because Spain was flat out broke, that's why.

[galenusv]

And Franco never liked the paganism of nazism. The only thing they had in common was being against communism.

[EdricoftheWeald]

I'm not sure that "liberal" is an accurate term to describe the Communists and Socialists of the Spanish Civil War 😂

[NenekAtuk]

Franco, being a military man and experienced the horrors of war, taught him to be pragmatic according to situations.

[warriorbaha]

Love Spain From Turkey Mediterranean Brothers! 🇹🇷🇪🇸💪