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What Did Spain Do in World War 2? | History of Spain 1939 - 1945

History With Hilbert

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Spain is the largest country in Western Europe not to have taken part in the fighting of the Second World War. From 1936-1939 the Spanish fought the bloody Spanish Civil War between the Nationalists/Monarchists/Fascists and the Republicans/Communists/Anarchists/Liberals on the other. During the conflict Fransisco Franco's rebels received aid both from Nazi Germany and from Fascist Italy, and upon his victory the two likely thought they could count Spain as an ally in the upcoming war against the Allies. While early on in 1940 Spain did seem poised to enter the war on the side of the Axis, Franco frustrated Hitler at the last minute several times, and in the end Spain remained steadfastly neutral despite aiding the Germans in a number of ways.

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0:00 - Intro
0:56 - Spanish Civil War (1936-1939)
2:16 - Magellan TV Ad
3:04 - Spain Almost Joins the Axis (1940)
7:25 - Why Spain Remained Neutral (1940-1941)
10:30 - The War Develops Around Spain (1941-1943)
14:13 - Spaniards Fighting For Axis and Allies
17:28 - "Vigilant Neutrality" (1943-1945)
20:37 - Spain After the War (1945-1957)
22:50 - Outro

Music Used:
The Escalation - Kevin MacLeod
Eine Kleine Nachtsmuzik - Mozart
Clean Soul - Kevin MacLeod
Sunday Dub - Kevin MacLeod
Laid Back Guitars - Kevin MacLeod
Black Vortex - Kevin MacLeod
Rynos Theme - Kevin MacLeod
Teller of Tales - Kevin MacLeod
Darkling - Kevin MacLeod

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#WW2 #Spain #España

20 Comments

@GarfieldRex 4 years ago

"Franco was a poor diplomat"

Franco: let me show you a pro gamer move tío.

@Crackdalf 4 years ago

In HOI4 I usually conquer Portugal for the fun of it after the Civil War

@TheNinjaDC 4 years ago

TLDR:
Hitler: "You coming to the party?"
Fascist Spain: *seen

@Andres-vg1wy 4 years ago

La nueve wasn't "one of the first" to enter Paris, was the first unit of the allied forces that entered the city. Not one of the fitrst, the absolute first. And that's why they got to lead the famous parade through Paris.

@panqueque445 4 years ago

"The time when Germany sent a crew to Tibet to see if the people there were racially pure or not"
wat

@kmaher1424 4 years ago

My father was a navigator in the 8th Air Force. In 1943, his B17 was shot down over France. The Comet Line, a network based in Brussels to aid Allied airmen, helped him evade capture.

His party was smuggled out of France and over the Pyrenees. Then escorted to the British Embassy in Madrid. After a stay in a Madrid hotel, he was taken to Gibraltar and thence back to England.

I believe the Spanish part of the trip was discreet, but Spain knew what was going on.

@realhawaii5o 4 years ago

Fun fact - Portugal almost retook Olivenza (Olivença) during the Spanish civil war

@danutorr 4 years ago

Its funny cause you'll often hear in Spain that we should've actually entered the conflict because the axis defeat and an eventual allied take-over would've not only rid us of fascism decades earlier - but we could've even benefitted from the Marshall plan.

@diogoteixeiradeabreu9673 4 years ago (edited)

I'm surprised I'm saying this, but I believe the sentence you say at 22:13 is incorrect. Spain isn't the only fascist state to survive WWII start to finish, without losing territory. Portugal also didn't lose territory. In fact, Portugal was even included in the Marshal Plan, something that Spain was excluded from. So not only did Portugal manage to stay neutral during the war, but it also played both sides, making substantial amounts of money, without sending troops to war. It is even said that Salazar and Franco were close friends and Salazar strongly advised Franco to stay out of the war, predicting the outcome would be bleak.

@DamonNomad82 4 years ago

My grandfather was a crew member on a B-17 over Europe during the war. He was given a map of Spain to help him potentially try to escape there if his plane was shot down over Germany or German-occupied France. Fortunately, his plane wasn't shot down, so he never had to use the map. I now keep that map as an heirloom.

@Jekubman 4 years ago (edited)

I think the story of Spain in WW2 isn't really complete without a few words about Wilhelm Canaris, the chief of the German Abwehr and his role in the Spanish-German relations.
Edit: I forgot the word complete in the previous sentence and have now added it.

@alansmithee8831 4 years ago (edited)

Hello Hilbert. Something I learned quickly from spending time in Valencia province was that "Don't mention the war" was not just a joke from a sitcom.

@nicsmith7689 4 years ago

Paco Roca's graphic novel "Los surcos del azar" is an amazing read for anyone interested in Spaniards who fought for the Allies in WWII

@S571032 4 years ago

The leader of the Abwehr, Wilhelm Canaris, was also working behind the scenes to make sure the negotiators failed as he had become disillusioned with Hitler.
Great video!

@cnppreactorno.4965 4 years ago

Your comment that the Vichy French were very useful makes me want a video on Vichy France

@matthewshelbourne9560 4 years ago

Great documentry on Spain's role in WW2, but there is one important factor that stopped Spain joining the Axis that was not mentioned that is Spain's alliance with Portugal. Portugal was also neutral, but favoured the Allies and would have joined the Allies in the Second World War if Spain had joined the Axis. So by Spain remain neutral meant that Portugal remained neutral too.

@Matthew-yw3oi 4 years ago

I just watched Pan’s Labyrinth last night and was wondering what was going on in Spain in 1944 when the movie was based! Thank you for posting this just in time for me!

@Idahoguy10157 4 years ago

Franco was no fool. Spain had everything to lose and little to he gained by joining the Axis.

@cakecakeham5823 4 years ago

Can you imagine being the guy who came up with that decoy, and finding out that the Germans had diverted forces to reinforce the fake attack target? I hope he/she found out that happened. The information would have to pass through a lot of people to get back to them!

@CountRedrain 4 years ago

Very well researched! Even as a spaniard there's a lot of things I didn't know about the subject till I saw this (most of all the japanese reparations)