The invasion and occupation of Spain would have diverted many thousands of troops from other fronts, where they were badly needed. Maybe a promise by Azana to remain neutral would have been enough to satisfy the Axis powers.
The country was exhausted from its ruinous civil war and could have contributed little in the way of fighting forces in any case, although the use of Spanish air and naval bases would have been a worthwhile asset for the Allies. In any event, though, there's no reason to suppose that the post meltdown of Communism in the USSR and Eastern Europe wouldn't have seen Spain make the transition to democracy along with the rest. Last edited: Dec 7, This is my favorite WWII what if, simply because it's early in Hearts of Iron 2 and it would probably only have really tiny ripple effects on the rest of the world, except for maybe a lacking in fascist oppression.
Spain doesn't have to become a Stalinist state, but if they do become communist, they could become part of the Comintern, perhaps. Which means, well Spain gets clusterfucked by the Nazis after they invade France.
Although, if Germany has to fight the Communists on two fronts, along with the allies, that might have some slight implications. Even if Spain doesn't join with the Soviets, it's very likely that the Germans would attack Spain along with the rest of Europe. The communists however seize power with Soviet support suppresing opposition movements.
This communist Spain allies with the Soviet Union. This results in a second Peninsular War with British troops landing there. However the communists seize power once more after World War 2 ends and joins Warsaw Pact. The Cold War includes Nationalist and other anti-Communist guerillas supported by the US operating in Spain leading to many close ups especially when the Soviets deploy nuclear missles to Spain.
When the Spanish communist government collapses in a fragile democracy takes power. Strangelove Banned. Yes, like the US and Britain would allow a communist government next to Gibraltar and with thousands of allied soldiers and exactly zero soviet soldiers in spanish soil.
Lets turn this scenario upside down and lets say that Stalin hadn't purged his armed forces in the early s. What if in then a much more mobile Red Army sends navyships filled with troops and armour to help boolster the Republic Defences and put down Francos upricising. Would these be able to land in Southern Spain?
Would they get pass the Italian Navy? Maybe see an earlier British Support for Franco to help guide him away from a close alliance with Nazi Germany? General Mung Beans said:. Click to expand What if the Republic had tried to subvert the loyalty of Franco's Moroccan troops at the very beginning of the conflict, by offering independence to Spanish Morocco?
My opinion of how Republican Spain could have survived: - As it was said before, Mussolini doesn't provide air transport so that Franco can cross his Moroccan Army through the Gibraltar Strait. When ammunition runs out, both sides will be forced to make a deal. Workers within these collectives were hostile to the Popular Front government for ideological reasons and were therefore often unwilling to send food to the Popular Army. Moreover, in some regions, money had been completely abolished making exchange with the government much less efficient.
Transporting food into key Republican-held areas was also difficult. Madrid, for example was under Nationalist siege for almost the entirety of the war. The Republican side was made up of moderate liberals, moderate socialists, more radical socialists, communists loyal to Stalin PCE , communists loyal to Leon Trotsky POUM and anarchists who opposed centralised state control.
This, rather inevitably, meant that there were deep ideological divisions and tensions within the Republican forces. Republican factions were clearly unable to put ideological differences aside and unite in order to fight the Nationalists. Nationalist military commanders were far more experienced than Republican leaders. Some Nationalist soldiers came from the notorious Army of Africa and so were highly skilled, however, fighters within Republican militias often had no previous military experience as well as being ill-equipped.
The Nationalists were not ideologically united — monarchists wanted the restoration of the monarchy to replace the republic, Carlists supported the re-establishment of a separate line to the Spanish throne and the Falange rejected the monarchy, wanting instead to establish Spain as a fascist dictatorship similar to that of Hitler and Mussolini. Unlike the Republicans, however, in Franco the Nationalists had a clear leader who was able to unite the various factions of the Nationalist side into one force.
Franco was careful not to associate himself too closely with neither the Carlists, Falangists or monarchists so that no faction became alienated to the Nationalist cause, this allowed him to eventually merge the Falange and the Carlist movements into one party FET y de las JONS in April despite the ideological differences between the two groups.
As well as being very politically astute, Franco was also competent tactically — his decision to fight a war of attrition played into the hands of the Nationalists who were better equipped and organised than the Republicans. The Nationalists received far better military equipment from Italy and Germany than the Republicans did from the Soviet Union but the political impact of foreign intervention was also important.
Aid sent by Hitler and Mussolini came at no political cost to the Nationalists as Franco remained in complete control of the Nationalist forces. But although they captured Spanish Morocco and the conservative heartland with barely a struggle, the Republican government retained about two-thirds of Spain, including most major cities.
As civil war subsequently erupted, Franco ferried his battle-hardened troops from Morocco to the mainland—using planes and boats provided by Benito Mussolini and Adolf Hitler—and began marching northward toward Madrid. By October , Franco had been named commander in chief of the armed forces and head of the rebel Nationalist government.
His final near-equal, General Emilio Mola, the technical mastermind of the coup plot, then died in a June plane crash, leaving him firmly and solely in charge. Tensions came to a boiling point in May , when a police raid on the anarchist-controlled central telephone exchange in Barcelona sparked days of street fighting that left hundreds dead.
This so-called civil war within the civil war, which pitted anarchists and anti-Stalin Marxists against Soviet-backed communists and the regional government, resulted in the communists—and hence Moscow—increasing their control over the war effort.
Anarchist and anti-Stalin Marxist organizations were suppressed, and the revolutionary egalitarian fervor that had once gripped Barcelona died out. Spanish Nationalist soldiers stand atop the rubble of the town of Guernica, destroyed by German aircraft during the Spanish Civil War, May
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