They just got over a civil war, where the fascists won overwhelmingly. Hitler basically used Spain to test his Blitzkrieg strategy, using German hardware, and Franco was a megalomaniac, just like Hitler.
So, why didn’t Spain just naturally progress into WWII as part of the Axis?
The Generalissimo had the utmost interest in obtaining Axis help when he needed it and no interest at all in helping any other out.
‘Fascist’ nations were as deeply distrustful of each other as were ‘democratic’ nations or Comecon nations. Plus none of their various ideologies mixed well.
What was in it for Spain? They had no territorial ambitions, and no external enemies. And they had just fought an extremely nasty and expensive civil war; embarking on an external war with no purpose and no strategic objective would not have looked like a good idea.
The Germans certainly hoped they would, even planning an invasion of Gibraltar that came to nothing. In the end Franco agreed to enter the war on the Axis side only if it were obvious that Britain was about to be defeated or come to terms.
Actually UDS, Spain had territorial ambitions. Particularly in Northern Africa.
So soon after the civil war it seems to me that Franco was not very interested on weakening his military by sending troops far away from Spain, there was a lot of work (for a fascist) to be done just by keeping the population under control, but there were other reasons: According to Historian Paul Preston, Franco was very disappointed that Hitler was not generous because he refused to consider giving any of the African French territories to Spain. (According to Franco Spain had claims to Northern Morocco that was then a French protectorate)
http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/26101/
So Franco did not see any benefit from joining the Axis. Even though France was defeated Hitler was still careful to not push the Vichy government into being less helpful to Germany if Vichy had found out that some French territories were going to be given to Spain.
Meant to add that Spaniards did fight on the Russian front in the Blue Division, but Franco was pressured to disband it before the war’s end.
A combination of three reasons.
Spain was in bad shape after its civil war. It didn’t have a lot of resources left for fighting another war.
Franco wasn’t as ambitious as Hitler or Mussolini. He might have liked more territory but he didn’t have the driving need for conquest that they did.
Franco was more realistic than Hitler or Mussolini. He could see that they had a good chance of losing the war. So he decided he’d be better off staying neutral until it was clear which side was going to win.
Spain was devastated by the civil war, their infrastructure was heavily damaged and they had trouble feeding their people. They were reliant on sea trade to keep from famine, and Britain could’ve blockaded Spain and starved them. Little to gain, a lot to lose - Spain wasn’t going to enter unless Britain was completely out of the war, if even then
They just got over a Civil War, like you said. The Spanish government didn’t have any interest in getting involved in another war so soon.
Franco felt that siding openly with the axis would make Spain a clear target for allied attack. The Canary islands in particular were an ideal site for an allied naval base that Spain could not hope to defend by herself. By sitting on the fence as a neutral Franco kept the allies from alienating him by annexing Spanish territory.
Franco was initially willing to side with Hitler but demanded considerable concessions from Germany in return. Eventually Spanish-German negotiations degenerated into a personality conflict with Franco and Hitler hating each other, but the degree of schism was not apparent to the allies until it became too late to take advantage of it.
The most significant wartime interaction between Spain and Germany was the tungsten trade. Tungsten was a critical war material Germany never had enough of. Spain supplied tungsten to Germany as a means of repaying some of the considerable debt Spain had incurred during the Spanish civil war. After Germany’s surrender many allied nations viewed Spain as a collaborator country and imposed trade sanctions that damaged the Spanish economy for several years after WW2 had ended.
The question is not what Spain stood to gain. Franco would have loved to be invited to the party. The question is why would the axis, in the middle of a war, drag along the short bus kid who had just given himself a good beating and was completely useless. Franco wasn’t going to do anything against them, or ally with the other side to stop them from invading France, and that’s all they needed.
Sr Siete, Franco specifically refused to join the party, after making the Fuhrer drag his ass all the way down to the border between Spain and France.
“I would rather have three or four teeth pulled out than meet with Franco again.”
Additionally to all thing mentioned?
Spain probably has interests in South America. They wouldn’t want to start a fight with USA.
What if the Allies invaded Spain? Franco wouldn’t be able to stop that. He would probably had to resort to some guerrilla war of friction. But Spain was too weak even for that.
What if the Allies simply supported the leftists, and instigated a second civil war?
Franco being second best to Hitler… another Mussolini? That would destroy his prestige in the internal straggles for power.
Why not let the former superpowers, England, France, Germany (Austria-Hungary), finish with a Second World War,
what they started in the First World War? Killing each other, that is… That’s what the Americans did…
But let’s leave all options open. If we see that Hitler is about to win the war, we will give him all our support…
Nonsense. Hitler went to Hendaya, held talks, realized that he was dealing with a barely functional retard, and left disgusted. That’s the actual truth.
Franco had a lot of flaws but I don’t see how you can call him retarded. If he was, what does that same about all of the opponents he defeated?
He was placed in charge after the war by the big wigs of the fascist party. He wasn’t really the one who defeated the ragtag bundle of diverse political groupings, often riddled with infighting that made the other side.
Spain’s pro-Axis…leanings weren’t ignored by the Allies, who punished Spain by excluding them from joining the United Nations.
“The three Governments feel bound however to make it clear that they for their part would not favour any application for membership put forward by the present Spanish Government, which, having been founded with the support of the Axis Powers, does not, in view of its origins, its nature, its record and its close association with the aggressor States, possess the qualifications necessary to justify such membership.”
Stalin wanted to ho even further and go for a regime change;
“It is also necessary to examine the question of the regime in Spain. We Russians consider that the present Franco regime in Spain was imposed on the Spanish people by Germany and Italy. It is fraught with grave danger for the freedom-loving United Nations. We think it would be good to create conditions for the Spanish people to establish a regime of their choice.”
Churchill sympathised but felt that the practicalities precluded meddling;
“If we here were to take any concerted action, we should only be reinforcing his position. On the other hand, the British Government will in no way support Franco, the present Spanish Government, with the exception of continued trade with Spain, of which I have already spoken here. .”
Truman had bigger things on his mind and worried about restarting the Spanish Civil War:
"I have no sympathies for the Franco regime, but I have no desire to take part in a Spanish civil war. I’ve had enough of the war in Europe. We should be very glad to recognise another government in Spain instead of the Franco Government, but that I think is a question for Spain herself to decide. "
As has been mentioned, Spain was in bad shape after its civil war. Historian Antony Beevor says it was not unusual to see people fainting of starvation in 1941. The Allies sent oil and food to Spain with the understanding Spain would stay mostly neutral (they sent one division of “volunteers” to the Eastern front).
When Hitler and Franco met on 10/23/40, Franco began with a three hour monologue of Spain’s woes. Both wanted to capture Gibraltar but Franco balked at German command and feared the British would take the Canary Islands as reprisals. Franco didn’t like German demands for one of the Canary Islands and bases in Spanish Morocco. Hitler was also interested in Portuguese Azores and Cape Verde (both as naval bases and possible airbases to bomb America when 6,000 km range bombers were built. Hitler didn’t care for Franco wanting French Morocco and Oran before even entering the war.
Ultimately the fact that Britain and America could supply Spain better than Germany, left Franco to say he supported Hitler and maybe we’ll join you someday, but not now. Franco did consider attacking Portugal, Britain’s long time ally, but ultimately refrained.
Do you remember which one?
It’s a fascinating detail - to me, anyway, because my parents are from there.