Franco, the Last Fascist Standing

Between the two World Wars, Europe was tri-polar. The democrats were one side, the communists the other, and the fascists the third. In Spain, when the communists tried to overthrow the government in 1933, it started what came to be known as the Spanish Civil War. In 1936, the left won the elections and formed the government. The democrats feared an outright communist takeover, and took up arms against the leftists.

 

The man who made this situation his calling was Francisco Franco, says this Hourly History book. At this point, Franco was an army man stationed in the Spanish colony of Morocco. In an interview, he announced:

“I shall advance. I shall take the capital (Madrid). I shall save Spain from Marxism at whatever cost.”

But he faced a problem: how to cross over from Morocco to Spain, when the waters were controlled by the enemy. So Franco turned to Mussolini for help. Initially reluctant, Mussolini ultimately obliged by giving Franco 12 bombers. Soon Nazi Germany lent him some military equipment as well. With all this help, Franco was able to land in Spain. By January 1939, Franco had taken control of most of Spain. And promptly announced that Spain would not go to war unless it was invaded. This, right when World War II was about to start…

 

In 1940, Hitler again tried to persuade Franco to join the Axis powers. Franco wasn’t interested. This didn’t mean Franco was anti-violence:

“This restraint of force when it came to engagement abroad would not translate into restraint when it came to Franco’s use of force at home… (executing) 25,000 political dissidents and revolutionaries.”

Later, as Mussolini seemed on the brink of collapse, Hitler tried to woo Franco again, hoping he would cut off the Allies from the Mediterranean. Franco, however, calculated that Spain wasn’t ready for war, and went and signed a “food for neutrality” deal with the US. And when Germany invaded Russia, Franco signed the Anti-Comintern (Communist International) Pact. Franco didn’t care about Allies or Axis, he just hated the communists!

 

While technically neutral, Spain’s dependence on the US meant that thousands of Allied troops “passed right under Franco’s nose through the Straits of Gibraltar and on to North Africa”. Later, Franco would cite this as proof of his being pro-Allies, but in reality, he had no choice there.

 

As it became clear that the Axis powers would lose the war, Franco tried to “distance Spain from its fascist connections, while still manoeuvring to keep its anti-communist leanings intact”. The attempt worked, at least partly. While most western democracies gave Spain the cold shoulder after the war, the US was ok with Spain as long as it was anti-communist. And thus, Franco came out as the last fascist standing at the end of World War II.