General Franco
Dan Snow's History Hit
00:00
Did Hitler Really Want Franco to Join the War?
Franco received help from Mussolini during the Civil War, and yet Franco did not join in the war effort. How realistic was the prospect that he might join the war effort? Did Hitler and Mussolini expect him to make great attempts to bring him in? This is a very complicated subject. One of Franco's claims to fame, as it were, he always claimed that he was the man who saved Spain from the Second World War. I would claim that he was actually gagging to get into the war, particularly in the early stages. So basically what we have is a strange situation in which it is in the interest both of the Western Allies and of Hitler to keep Spain neutral.
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