Spanish State
Government: Autocratic one-party military dictatorship
Ruler: Fransico Franco
Area: 307,000 square miles
Population: 25.8 million
Military: 250,000 men of eight corps at the start and 750,000 men in 1942 with a reserve
force of three divisions, one Calvary division, and the artillery general reserve.
Navy: 2 battleships, two heavy cruisers, five light cruisers, 21 destroyers, 12 torpedo
boats, six sloops, three mine-layers, nine coast guard ships and fourteen submarines.
Spain was neutral during the first world war but the war saw Spain inundated with an explosion
of exports towards new markets that had been abandoned by the fighting powers, and a fall
in imports.
The economy as a whole improved to a large degree, as the arms industry, boomed, and
many home-grown arms shops came up all around Spain.
While this caused a nightmare for the buyers due to quality issues, it created a booming
industry in Spain.
This was also met with an increase in the textile industry to produce uniforms, coal
exports and mined material which was the first time in Modern history that Spain had a trade
surplus.
They were even able to erase there national debt.
The decrease in imports, explosion in external demand, and the increasing circulation of
money did provoke rapid inflation while many basic commodities became rather scarce.
The situation was exacerbated by the collapse of the transport network which was rather
ineffective in the first place.
All of this was added to the flourishing of contraband trade which only worsened the problem
of scarcity.
This caused some radicalization of the populace that was further fueled by the Russian revolution
in early 1917, it emboldened Socialists, communists and even anarchists to unite against the government.
Prior to this, the Army and Catalan merchant class had done their best to act against the
ruling government and King.
The armies salaries had been frozen since the end of 1914 and both the conservative
Dato government and the liberal Preito government had instituted army reforms that aimed to
reduce the bloated officer class, making the promotion based on merit, rather then just
seniority.
In response to this, they found political allies in the Catalan merchant class and established
their own Junta units all along the Catalan province.
This alliance came into immediate conflict with the government under Garc a Prieto when
he demanded the dissolution of the Juntas.
Alfenso, sided with the Juntas and the Spanish government was arrested, with it being replaced
by Dato once again, with more action taken against the free press and a recognition of
the Juntas.
The Kings new government under Dado was pretty hated on all sides and was heavily divided,
making many believe that the monarchy was soon to fall.
Many groups allied themselves with the Military and the Catalan merchants, who took a part
in political scene once again.
This led to a revolutionary strike in April of 1917 where workers movements rose up in
rebellion in the Basque and Catalan regions.
It was largely confined to only a few cities and the military was able to suppress it.
They managed to gain huge political influence in these regions post strike, and it all cultivated
in the 1923 coup that brought Miguel Primo de Rivera into power, suspending the Constitution
and instituting Martial Law.
Support for his regime gradually faded, because his personal approach to political life ensured
he was personally held accountable for the government's failings, and due to an increasing
frustration over his interference in economic matters that he himself didn't understand.
He resigned in January 1930.
There was little support for a return to the pre-1923 system, and the monarchy had lost
credibility by backing the military government.
So King Alfonso abdicated as a way to avoid a civil war (hint hint that didn't work);
the Second Spanish Republic was formed and while it originally had support from all classes,
the reforms for the poor threatened the landowners and the wealthy so the implication of things
such as an eight hour work day or social security was left up to the local governing council
which was a bit lacking all the time.
A new Constitution was adopted in 1931 As the government believed it was necessary to
break the control the church had over Spanish affairs, the new constitution removed any
special rights held by the Catholic Church within the nation.
The constitution proclaimed religious freedom and a complete separation of Church and State.
Catholic schools continued to operate, but outside the state system; in 1933 further
legislation banned all monks and nuns from teaching.
The next two years saw various political violence and build-up of paramilitary forces by all
walks of life.
With the revitalization of the old forces and alliances two decades previous.
Mussolini supported various fascist based groups within the state and supplied them
with arms, training, and equipment.
After a failed military coup in July of 1936, the civil war started.
Insert extremely complex and a whole bunch of detail and the war is over with Francisco
Franco now leading the nation.
With just a few months before the start of the second world war.
Franco while pro-fascist and in considerable debt to Germany and Italy remained neutral
at the start of the war, and it's very easy to understand why.
By late 1939, Spain was shattered by three years of total war.
Food shortages, disruption to commercial and industrial production, credit shortage with
the loss of gold reserves to back its currency.
Given that the Nationalists' justification for their insurrection had been the need to
ensure stability and public order, they could hardly now prolong it.
The country needed breathing room to rebuild and getting into another conflict wasn't what
the nation needed.
Germany was a willing trade partner since Spanish minerals were the only easily-available
source for components of several modern armaments, including tank Armour and explosives, but
remaining neutral allowed Spain to trade these resources with both sides, according to the
war's changing circumstances.
Franco pledged support to the Axis if Germany could bring Britain to near collapse, but
as we all know that never happened.
Various plans were created to take over Gibraltar but the Spanish refusal to allow German troops
through was the main reason that these plans were never put into practice.
Then the question may be asked, why didn't Germany invade Spain?
Hitler had spent three years observing and expressing frustration with the inefficacy
of the Nationalists' military prowess, both in terms of its military strength, and of
its poor leadership.
Frequently, the German Condor Legion had to act as a spearhead for Franco, rather than
as the technical advisers they had been intended as.
Germany already had one useless ally overextending its resources and battlefronts in disastrous
Balkan wars; it was already faced with defending a vast Atlantic seaboard from Denmark to the
Pyrenees, and didn't need to expand its exposed borders further.
By October of 1940 the last meeting to fix details of the alliance led to nothing.
Franco demanded demanded heavy fortification of the Canary Islands as well as large quantities
of grain, fuel, armed vehicles, military aircraft and other armaments as well as recognize Spanish
claims to French territory in Morocco.
While no alliance was created, a division of men was sent to aid the Axis dubbed the
Blue Division, this Division was around 45,000 men in size.
This division wasn't part of the regular Spanish army but was instead a division of volunteers
from around Spain with some from Portugal as well, the only condition was that the division
be used against the Soviet Union, not against the British or Americans.