Why Didn't the Allies Get Rid of Franco After the Second World War? (Short Animated Documentary)

Given Franco's preferences during the Second World War (despite his official neutrality) along with his government's ideology, why didn't the allies get rid of him after world war 2? To find out watch this short and simple animated documentary.
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Sources:
A People’s History of Modern Europe by William A. Pelz
Beyond War Crimes: Denazification, 'Obnoxious' Germans and US Policy in Franco's Spain after the Second World War by DAVID A. MESSENGER
An elephant in the garden: The Allies, Spain, and oil in World War II by LEONARD CARUANA and HUGH ROCKOFF

[@michaelrizka]

I love it whenever the "diplomacy" scene shows up it always a character happily walk in a flower garden as if their diplomacy succeeded

[@twoscarabsintheswarm9055]

In some cases it has gone well but usually it ain't fun

[@DonHimikoYumeno]

Or Bismarck calmly walking across flower garden

[@michaelrizka]

@@Mike_P "a mild case of death"

[@rtr0_insn323]

Soviet UwUnion it’s always fun

[@baltulielkungsgunarsmiezis9714]

@@Mike_P "Bad case of the deads"

[@Jefrings]

Franco: Maybe if I don't move, they will forget about me...

[@mumblerapper1105]

It worked

[@spk1121]

Jurassic Park tactics!

[@harddrivegamesHDG]

more tha 40 years later, same tactic worked for ex president Rajoy to stay in charge for 8 years. -_-"

[@user-uw3fi2zg4t]

@@harddrivegamesHDG i doubt they were going to get invaded back then

[@TimeG37]

Well that worked perfectly

[@oswald7597]

Of course the French didn't like him. The 19th century taught us that Franco-Franco relations are distrustful at best

[@quasar4780]

Okay you got me there x)

[@jacquesmorin2597]

That's an excellent joke that I'll happily make more popular in my baguette country

[@JLvatron]

I wonder if Franco from Seinfeld was named after him?

[@hello-cn5nh]

Franco did nothing wrong

[@lastguy8613]

Well done..

[@CitroenGS]

Franco didn't enter the war on Axis side thanks to Wilhelm Canaris. The Admiral talked a lot with Franco. One of the times they talked, Franco expressed his fears of a German invasion to Spain in 1941, and Canaris told him to forget that, because in late 1941 Germany will be invading the USSR. This is why Franco could delay entering on the war. After Canaris was executed due to the July plot and the war ended, his wife moved to Spain and was given the pension of the widow of a dead admiral. I think that Franco knew Canaris was an anti-nazi.

[@БубликПомидорович]

You lie because blue divison bsieged Leningrad.

[@johnroscoe2406]

@@БубликПомидорович That was a token "volunteer" force that amounted to nothing.

[@johnroscoe2406]

@CitreonGS The pension for Canaris' wife was provided by the US, don't know if you knew that, or decided to leave that part out.

[@CitroenGS]

@@johnroscoe2406 what I knew is that Spain payed the pension. If she got another one from the U.S., good for her. But she moved to Madrid after the war.

[@JeffEbe-te2xs]

Token Wasn’t there long

[@andreischipor38]

Franco about Germany in 1939: Cool guy! Franco about Germany in 1945: Never met this man in my life!

[@Alusnovalotus]

How trumpist

[@silverhost9782]

@@Alusnovalotus yawn

[@zombiegameruk]

@@Alusnovalotus People like you got boring after the first week he won, now it's just sad tbh. Go find something constructive to do.

[@goatman9998]

@@Alusnovalotus npc response.

[@libertylovin2359]

@@Alusnovalotus Trump 2020

[@sergiovarela8724]

Ok 3 things to point out: 1. The decision of declaring war to Japan was also heavily motivated due to the masacre of almost all of the spanish population in the Philipines by the japanese forces (burning then alive in churches and stabing with bayonets those who had taken refuge in the spanish embassy. 2. The Soviets had also quite a resentment against Franco due to the "Blue division", a spanish military force sent to help in the invasion of Barbarosa which fought in the siege of Leningrad. 3. The suport of the british to Fascist Spain was also influenced by a really god relationship between their aristocrats, noblemen and businesmen. It was common for spanish wealthy familys to sent their sons to study to England where naturally ended up forming friendships.

[@shashwatsinha2704]

Can ypu tell me more about the Spanish-British relations or point to a source?

[@PolishBehemoth]

Stalin tried to take over Spain during revolution! Franco had every reason to hate communism and send the division against him!

[@DISTurbedwaffle918]

So basically, Spain was the good guy in WWII.

[@saguntum-iberian-greekkons7014]

I never heard about japanese killing Spanish citizens in the Phillipines. I don’t think its true

[@sergiovarela8724]

@@shashwatsinha2704 In books: Paul Preston in his book about the Spanish civil War when talking about the international relations at the start of the war and also in his Biography about Juan Carlos i think there were some comentaries also but the book its quite big and i am not really going to search for the page quite a big book and just like the Romanov by Simon S. Montfiore i regret not having put markers on the books i read i started after that last one. In the sources its more dificult to point especifics since its generally something that comes out of diaries, albums and that sort of thing. Then there is tv documentals, sadly enough all in spanish.

[@jackfitzgerald2955]

Britain decided to finally conquer Spain later on through the use of tourism.

[@alejandrop.s.3942]

Indeed, the British veterans have a stronghold on Benidorm whereas the unexperienced paratroopers have seized Mallorca, setting their HQ on Magaluf.

[@alejandrosotomartin9720]

Germans and British are still fighting WW2 in the beaches of Mallorca.

[@chefboy1980]

This.

[@ln6373]

yep. they go so fucking wild, holy shit. before this pandemy they would appear on the news every so often and it would be quite embarasing, though we kind of need them because our economy really depends on turism (no hate, they're nice but need to chill at parties)

[@kingt0295]

@@ln6373 when your country is a boring rainy shothole ig it’s understandable they go hard when they get the chance away lol

[@LedosKell]

Franco: "We killed a lot of Commies, and I mean a lot of Commies, a few years ago." UK: "Seems like a stand-up guy."

[@joseanl]

in the end, its the brits, always the brits...

[@alienlife7754]

The only good commie . . .

[@CrimsonPhantom88]

Chile: Hold my helicopter

[@RageSondrayy]

@Paul Judkins you wanna kill people??

[@minotauros13]

Yes, well... The vast majority of the armed opposition to Franco did not affiliate themselves with the Communist Party at all... Granted, the vast majority were of Marxist ideology, but they despised the Commies just as much as Franco did...

[@randomobserver8168]

1. An alternative Spanish government might have skewed pro-Russian. They were already worried about France and Italy going that way. Why rock the boat? 2. Franco was willing to cooperate with the US. Again, why rock the boat? 3. If there was the slightest chance Franco's Spain would have resisted and required an invasion, why expend more American or British lives or resources for no gain? The Allies went to war with Germany and Italy because they attacked things and threatened British, American and wider interests. Franco hadn't done any of those things.

[@Necroskull388]

Indeed, it’s almost like international capital is perfectly compatible with fascism so long as the fascists are polite enough not to touch their things.

[@black-uh1df]

​@@Necroskull388 Then explain the Molotov-Ribbentrop pact or the KPD's cooperation with Hitler

[@REALASUNDER]

​@black-uh1df you mean the alliance between the two state capitalist nations?

[@fortusvictus8297]

@@Necroskull388 There were several other fascist counties post-WW2. Argentina, Peru, at one point Chile come to mind. Additionally, there is a pretty good case that modern China is more fascist than communist in its structure at this point.

[@LeRoiEnJaune]

@@fortusvictus8297 Don't forget Brasil! It's facista lasted juuuust long enough to see Brasil through the war. And then be immediately deposed. In part because some felt Vargas' fence-sitting had isolated Brasil and cost it opportunities on the global stage.

[@peruamorrortubarrenetxea5300]

It might be interesting to note that there was an armed attempt by the Spanish National Union (UNE), a group sponsored mainly by the PCE (Spanish Communist Party), to militarily invade Spain with the aim of provoking a general anti-Francoist insurrection among the population. Up to 6000 "guerrilleros" invaded in October, 1944, in what was called the "Invasion of Val D'Aran", but it was an utter failure, since the expected general uprising didn't occur. This further convinced many that Franco's regime was strong at this point and that it faced no widespread internal opposition, and made the Allies think that removing him would be more costly and detrimental than not to.

[@alejandrolaguna203]

Hmmm, almost as if people didn’t want to fight two civil wars in arrow🤔 how quaint

[@RyoKasai25]

To be fair, many spaniards were tired and sick from the recent civil war, it's not hard to believe that your average Alejandro wouldn't be part of an armed uprising, even if it was to depose the dictator.

[@GeneralBlorp]

lmao what a bunch of idiotas grandes

[@rohunsaigal2576]

also the Spanish Marquis was active in Guerrilla campaigns and hiding in France until around the end of WW2, so Franco did have some experience in putting down rebellions by that point

[@peruamorrortubarrenetxea5300]

@@RyoKasai25 We should also take into account that most of the people that had been politically active in favor of the Second Spanish Republic had by that point been killed in war, executed, vanished, imprisoned or forced into exile, both internal and external, and those who remained were either hiding or too afraid to challenge the statu quo, so no wonder that plan failed miserably.

[@quickrat3348]

A Spanish scholar of WW2, Florentino Rodao, wrote a book on this issue, claiming that Franco's regime had not a double but a triple view on the war. 1) War against communism, in which Franco supported the Axis. 2) War against Japan expansionism, in which Franco supported the Allies. In fact, Japan carried out a genocide against Spanish speakers in the Philippines, and even invaded the Spanish embassy. 3) War against German expansionism, in which Franco decided to be neutral. These triple view outraged almost everyone outside Spain, but was an intelligent decision in order to avoid war yet getting a good result from any possible outcome.

[@BigBroTejano]

Pragmatism.

[@silverhost9782]

It's easy to shit on Franco for his obvious faults but as far as totalitarian dictators go he seems fairly reasonable

[@Uberkatze-]

@@silverhost9782that's caude he wasn't a totalitarian dictator

[@bobing1752]

@@Uberkatze- Yes, but still a dictator

[@Chinaball-fx7gi]

@@silverhost9782 he was not a totalitarian dictator, he more resembled that of a conservative military dictator, which is not too much better, but hey, atleast he had not gone to the levels of Stalin

[@franciscopadilla4844]

Nunca pensé que vería hablar de Franco a un canal inglés, pero sorprendentemente esta muy bien explicado

[@Alfonso88279]

En España la peña sigue traumatizada culturalmente por la guerra civil, no hay huevos para hablar del tema. Pero visto desde fuera la situación era muy simple, o como mínimo no requiere tanta delicadeza.

[@DarKodama]

Y aquí dices lo mismo y dicen que son inventos de los "social-comunistas".

[@amcespana2150]

El avion que trajo a Franco a España lo puso el servicio secreto ingles. Los "aliados" respaldaron el golpe de estado, de que de hecho se fraguo en Inglaterra. Lo demas es propaganda de guerra.

[@the_walking_man1234]

En España si no dices que estaba loco y era malvado eres un facha. Se ha dejado el raciocinio para otros países.

[@Fqnd0lNasay]

​@@the_walking_man1234 no sé qué entiendes por malvado, pero bueno no era xd. Así que sí, si no dices que era malvado eres facha 👍🏻

[@GreatRedMenace]

Correction: Spain WAS NOT neutral in WWII. It was "non-belligerant", meaning that they sent troops to aid the Germans without formally declaring war.

[@DISTurbedwaffle918]

They mostly only aided in Operation Barbarossa, as Franco viewed the destruction of Communism to be a worthy effort. Despite this, he also advocated for the Allied war effort against Japan, while also personally being opposed to German expansion.

[@Angel_EU34]

Yeah but Hitler wanted to build a military outpost in the Pyrenees and Franco said "Fuck you" sssssooooo....

[@JarrodFrates]

Spain started as neutral because of Germany's alliance with the communist USSR, but changed to non-belligerent status when Italy entered the war on June 10, 1940. In October 1940, Spain signed the Protocol of Hendaya, which included joining the Steel Pact that Germany and Italy signed in 1939. This meant collaboration with Germany and Italy but not a formal joining of the Tripartite Pact. Germany pushed the latter, which the Allies feared because it could mean closing off the Mediterranean to Allied forces, so the Allies reduced trade sanctions that were hampering Spain's economic survival and prepurchased Spanish goods to keep them out of German hands (and British cash bribes to key Spanish elites helped). At the same time, Germany started having trouble paying for Spanish goods it did import and having trouble fulfilling promised exports that Spain purchased. With the start of Operation Barbarossa, Germany's attention was diverted and they didn't push Spain so hard on the Tripartite Pact. As Operation Torch got underway in North Africa, internal government opposition in Spain saw even more reason to stay out of the war because it looked bad for the Axis. By October 1943, Spain had returned to a declared neutral status, though Franco still had clear leanings toward Berlin, as evidenced by his protection of German assets and refusal to limit German access. Spain didn't entirely act like a neutral country, and its pro-Axis overtures clearly violated basic tenets of activities of neutral nations. But it also wasn't treated like one. Germany held sway over it both on the basis of historical assistance and threat of military action to try to force an alliance, and the Allies used economic actions and threat of military action to try to force neutrality, all of which violated basic tenets of treatment of neutral nations. It's hard to look back on them and assign a binary good or bad label because much of what they did was playing for survival.

[@GreatRedMenace]

@@DISTurbedwaffle918 He wasn't personally opposed to German domination at all. His admiration letters to Hitler are proof enough for that.

[@GreatRedMenace]

@Jonathan Williams Except no. They participated actively in war crimes at Leningrad.

[@pakhmu]

Franco in 1941: **sends Division Azúl to the eastern front** Franco in 1945: uuuh ... i can explain

[@sho3003]

Azul doesn't have tilde

[@nicosmind3]

They were voluntary as far as i know, so a good way of giving support without giving support as it wasnt government sanctioned. Almost like how the Irish do things cause they send troops to fight in both sides, then hope no one calls them on their bull

[@FKaps16]

There were Spanish volunteers on both sides of the war. The first unit to enter Paris when it was taken back from the Germans was also Spanish.

[@Mrkabrat]

@@FKaps16 Republican ones too. It was funny because they joined De Gaulle because he promised them that he would move into spain next and overthrow Franco. He didn't fulfill his promise

[@wolfsden6479]

He hates communism

[@primuspilusfellatus6501]

I read "Allies" as "Aliens" in the thumbnail, and i was like: Now we are answering the real questions

[@claypidgeon4807]

Yeah, be careful around that Tsukalous guy, his hair might crawl off his head and attack you.

[@soyuznavy]

I'm just imagining a legion of aliens in their UFOs descending upon Spain and abducting Franco

[@insurgentbroccoli]

It is possible to do this in HoI2 but i cannot guarantee they will stop afterwards

[@darkphosphorus330]

Franco didn’t have James Bissonete there to fund his military interests

[@FirstnameLastname-cw8ok]

Shut up

[@raghaviyer3065]

Very True

[@julianusvictor327]

@@FirstnameLastname-cw8ok Someone get this guys mum he's having a temper tantrum.

[@legowagfles7287]

Be quiet. And that’s not how you spell his name

[@selleneus]

Oversimplified and history matters both new videos, my favorite British history channels. Edit: Enjoy the video glad we talked about Argentina and often less talked about nation in history. I'd love to see more videoson other nations history and there's current position on the world stage keep up the good work. Maybe one on why not all British colonies are in the Commonwealth, or the Indian revolution aftermath/ post world war 2

[@pacoramon9468]

0:41 Franco knew about the danger of weeaboos.

[@Angel_Gomez]

1.Those "good relationships with Britain" weren't quite good as Churchill declared a naval blockade to Spain in hopes of drowning their food supply. The only country who didn't respect this blockade was Argentina as Peron sent tons of meat for stopping the famine outbreaks in Spain. 2. Spain had a strong resentment towards Japan due to the genocide of Filipinos and Spanish speakers in the Philippines.

[@alejandrop.s.3942]

Podrías recomendarme alguna lectura de este periodo? Me interesa bastante, y no conozco en absoluto el genocidio de filipinos hispanohablantes. De hecho, no tenía ni idea de que Franco hubiera ayudado contra Japón.

[@Angel_Gomez]

@@alejandrop.s.3942 Más que libros todo esto lo he ido leyendo en la sección histórico cultural del ABC (Te la recomiendo porque cada semana suben algo bueno) y en algún que otro documental de los que subía Canal Historia hace años. Pd: Si te interesa, te recomiendo que busques cosas sobre el genocidio filipino que hizo EEUU en 1899, justo después de la expulsión de los españoles.

[@mikicerise6250]

@@Angel_Gomez El genocidio estadounidense contra los filipinos hispanohablantes lo conozco, pero lo que usted ha comentado es que Franco habría querido ayudar a EE UU contra Japón por un supuesto genocidio japonés contra los filipinos hispanohablantes, cosa que me extraña sobremanera. ¿Cuál es la documentación que demuestra que Japón exterminara a los filipinos hispanohablantes en la segunda Guerra mundial? Que sepa yo, ocuparon Filipinas principalmente para controlar sus bases navales, al igual que hicieron con Papua, sin ninguna agenda étnica particular más allá de facilitar la colonización japonesa. Las masacres japonesas se dirigieron principalmente contra los chinos en la invasión de China.

[@warfarenotwarfair5655]

​@@alejandrop.s.3942He didn't help. The United States defeated Japan.

[@lowenwelle1044]

" I'd rather have four teeth pulled than negotiate with Franco again..." - Some weird Germany-Boi from Austria

[@buggydclown7724]

is it that one?

[@Nathan-jh1ho]

I heard he got kicked out of an art school

[@theogeffrelot983]

@@Nathan-jh1ho He also had one testicle only.

[@gumdeo]

Franco was being deliberately difficult.

[@blackpowderuser373]

@@gumdeo And it paid off for him

[@vladmihailghinea4626]

We really need an episode about Salazar.

[@soujirosasaki7570]

You called? . . . . . . sorry i can't help it xD Julio Cesar Salazar at your service btw....

[@steelbear2063]

Yeah he was funny in Resident Evil 4. Oh wait, wrong one

[@mohdadeeb1829]

Hitler : Why are you late ? Franco : I was doing stuff Salazar : I am the stuff . Franco : Salazar No ! Hitler : Lmao Franco

[@soujirosasaki7570]

@ᴇᴢᴇᴄʀɪs 305 i think there are also a video on portugal with some focus on Salazar... though there is still none about the person himself....

[@whatischeese4179]

@@mohdadeeb1829 I don't get the joke. Can you explain it?

[@Irochi]

Interesting note: In Spain we are told in school that Spain was not "neutral" but "non belligerent" during WWII. We did send the "Blue Division" to Russia to support the Germans after all ^^;

[@Maidaseu]

And Franco used the German bombers against the republicans

[@commisaryarreck3974]

Volunteers I still see that as neutral, especially as it was basically just paying back a debt to the Germans

[@meanmanturbo]

That was the same status Sweden declared in the Winter war between Finland and the Soviet Union.

[@duran3d]

In practise "non-belligerant" equals to neutral. It's true that a small group of Spanish volunteers helped Germany although they only fought in the Russian front vs the comunists (also some Spaniards fought vs Gemany on their own).

[@MrPakurfulo]

There were also volunteers who fought for the allies, in fact more fighters than the blue division. Although it was against the wish of the government, of course.

[@greenveilgaming1149]

Attlee holding a sign saying: "what part of no?" Is my new favourite sign

[@bartoszN01]

My Video ideas: - When did Korea become christian? - When did the Pope lose power over Europe and when was the last time Europe listened to Pope? - Early History of HRE (from east francia to habsburg takeover). - WW1 outside Europe. - 7 Years War

[@TheOstry322]

WWI outside Europe is interesting

[@-haclong2366]

North Korea is mostly Atheist.

[@bigpotato8]

Wait since when is Korea Christian?

[@csvigneshwar3390]

@@bigpotato8 yup they are

[@ominosentenzioso5100]

@@bigpotato8 South Korea is 30% circa christians, higher than Buddhism. Yeah, Korea has Nearly 50% of Atheists/Agnosticism, but a big result notherless. Mostly because of the christan evangelism, which were also present in China and Japan, but got outlawed for élite interests.

[@snupmadra3787]

The Spanish considered declaring war on Japan. Now that is a good one!

[@marneus]

Yes, after the Japanese massacred the Spaniards living in the Philippines.

[@blackpowderuser373]

Would be interesting to see Spanish troops fighting in the Pacific Theater. Spain: SIII RECONQUISTA EL TIEMPO- USA: N O Philippines: N O Spain: ...lo siento

[@marneus]

@@blackpowderuser373 do you suffer brain damage?

[@ivanmacgar6447]

Actually, we DID informally declare war on Japan because of their massacres of Spanish citizens in the Philippines.

[@antonioferrari241]

Hirohito: Before we start… Franco: Jesus Christ… Hirohito: I said. Before. We. Start! Franco: HOLY SHIT! Hirohito: Would you kindly let me explain? Franco: Oh yes! I’d love to know why you killed all the Spanish in the Pilippines! Hirohito: They weren’t Asians. Franco:…THEY WEREN’T ASIANS?!?! Hirohito: They. Weren’t. Asians! Franco: Well I guess they should get out! Hirohito: Well, too late. ‘Cause we killed ‘em. Franco: Great! So what are we supposed to do now?!? Hirohito: Well, off to the Co-Prosperity Sphere they go! Franco: UUUUURRRRRRGGGGHHHHHHH! Hirohito: Yep. Can’t see any other option. Franco: How about any other options?! Any other options at all?!? Hirohito: No use trying to put the brakes on this! It’s going down! Franco:…You planned this. Hirohito: What?!? Franco: You planned this! I know you did! Franco: You…You honestly don’t trust me? Jose Laurel: Master! The Archipelago has been secured! Unfortunately a few Philippinos are resisting, but-oh. Hirohito:..You won’t BELIEVE how cheap this guy is! He’s a lawyer! Franco: HIROHITOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!! Hirohito: BITCH, LET ME HAVE MY JAPANESE EMPIRE!

[@jacklaurentius6130]

And: *When you ally with communists to defeat the fascists but decide to ally with fascists to defeat communists*

[@mattbowdenuh]

Almost like today with supporting some terror group against a regime, while supporting another regime against terrorists....politics is complicated.

[@thethirdsicily4802]

Ussr 1939: *When you ally with fascists to defeat republicans but then ally with republicans to defeat fascists*

[@carlosquintela2950]

I don't know if it makes sense but, Spanish facist dictatorship and Portugal's dictatorship (Franco and Salazar) weren't as hard-line facist as Mussolini or Hitler. Don't get me wrong, they did a lot of bad stuff, but their facism was "softer"

[@Jenkowelten]

@@carlosquintela2950 Not "soft" fascism but corporatism

[@thethirdsicily4802]

@@carlosquintela2950 Well yes, as far as I know neither were pure fascism, I am unsure about Portugals form of it but I know Franco was a Falangist, which had a few key differences.

[@SpanishDio]

Germany: Spain we could really use some help right now! Spain in 1945: I've never met this man in my entire life.

[@victorx6635]

WAIT WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE SIGO ESPERANDO A MIS ALIENS PAJEROS WUEY

[@xxxdiegogayxxx383]

Watafak dio

[@stormsand9]

Hearts of Iron 4 Spain: I gotchu fam (instantly conquers half of france and forces the allies to a 2front war in the middle of france, as well as a new war in Africa)

[@plusxz821]

@@stormsand9 Vic2 Spain: L⃟i⃟f⃟e⃟ i⃟s⃟ e⃟t⃟e⃟r⃟n⃟a⃟l⃟ p⃟a⃟i⃟n⃟

[@GilmerJohn]

Spain as a non-belligerent served the interests of a lot of folks. It was a neutral meeting ground for the diplomats (& spies) of all the participants in the war. Many, many allied airmen the escaped made their way back to the UK via Spain.

[@Moose-iz1uo]

History has never been so much fun to learn. Gotta love the animation and the the grammar used.

[@BluestSoldier]

Ah yes. Spain in the 20th century. A beautiful tale of "If i do nothing then i cant do nothing wrong". Edit: Really recommend reading the reply chain. Pretty interesting imo.

[@kousvetkousvet4158]

Well it kinda work, look at the cold war and 1973 oil thing.

[@Kreze202]

@ Well fascism is all about ultra-nationalism and more, so fascism without revanchinism and expansionism is like communism without collectivization or democracy without voting, which at that point might as well just call them authoritarianism. Besides, a non-expansionist fascist nation is still at it's core very racist and was all about racial supremacy. International relations would not improve just because they aren't aggressive. In fact, relationship between fascistic nations are purely for war purpose. Italy, Germany, and Japan (just to name a few) were really cautious against each other and at a few occassions were discriminative against each other.

[@Kreze202]

@The Nova renaissance Communism at it's very core is an economic based ideology. It's radically left economic wise, so it's only natural that left wingers, even moderate ones, would not condemn communism as much as moderate right wingers condemn fascism. Communism is an idea that can be applicable and indiscriminative across any race and nation, and it only has the bourgeois as it's enemy. Even if you're right wing socially, you can still be a supporter of communism (Nazbolism is a ridiculous ideology that reflects this.) Fascism, on the other hand, is a social based ideology. Even though it's naturally right wing, a fascist in Germany and a fascist in France would be fierce enemies. Fascism is all about racial purity and supremacy. The only reason Germany, Italy, and Japan were "allied" in WW2 were purely because they had the same enemies, and they realised that they have to compromise and set their differences aside for the duration of the war. Mussolini were very wary of Hitler at the early 30s, and Hitler considered the Italians and Japanese as lesser races to the Aryan race. In conclusion, Fascism is an ideology that naturally creates enemies, which is the reason why a wide range of people disapprove of such ideas. The attrocities they committed and their expansionism is just icing on the cake.

[@Kreze202]

@The Nova renaissance My point is racial supremacists naturally attracts and makes enemies. Since there's no dominant race in the world, they're bound to be in the minority, and therefore have literally the entire world as their ideological enemy. The Nazis only got into power because of the hyper inflation and economic crisis plus a little bit of covert actions. Italy and Japan had a coup d'etat. The fascists had to play real dirty to get into power, and that just proves that the population doesn't support such an ideology enough to have them rule in the first place, which in turn disproves fascism "normality" in the 30s society.

[@aesop1451]

@@Kreze202 But the Japanese were declared Honorary Aryans.

[@rebel7234]

Another key moment was the defeat of the Allies in Paris. The company that had spearheaded the Allied advance against the Nazis in France was made up of exiled Spanish Republicans and later enlisted in the French Legion, known as the Lecrec Division or "La Nueve". They hoped to count on the allied apollo to liberate Spain from Franco. His motto in fact was Paris, Berlin, Barcelona, Madrid indicating that this would be his war route. I do not remember well but I think it was Amado Granell, one of the leaders of the company, who, when attending a meeting between the Americans and the French, soon realized that the allies had no interest in Spain. According to his words, Patton said that he did not understand why those Spaniards were on his side.

[@WildwoodClaire1]

I believe that head of the Abwehr, Admiral Wilhelm Canaris, played a crucial role in ensuring that Spain remained neutral despite Hitler's overtures. Canaris, who spoke fluent Spanish, was a longtime opponent of the Hitler regime and a close friend of Franco. He was forced to retire in early 1944 and arrested after the failed attempt to kill Hitler in July 1944. He was executed on April 8, 1945. His secret diaries would probably have been one of the great sources on German underground opposition to Hitler had they not been discovered and destroyed.

[@espanasectaria2818]

Thanks for the video. Greatings from Spain!!!

[@Zymemaru]

Franco: Oh mighty conch shell! What must I do to remain in power Conch shell: Nothing Franco: The conch has spoken!

[@Zymemaru]

@@helend7542 what? never seen classic spongebob?

[@axelsanchez5849]

“France hated Franco for three reasons: -First, he existed”

[@familygash7500]

*VIDEO SUGGESTION:* How did the other European powers react when Napoleon III became The Emperor Of France and founded The Second French Empire? Weren't they at all worried that he would do the same things that his uncle did, and start a repeat of The Napoleonic Wars?

[@clementlefevre5384]

They were, but Napoléon III whole reign was basicly trying to prove to everyone that he was a good guy.

[@elharvey5032]

@@clementlefevre5384 By bringing Liberal reforms while remaining a traditionalist, Conquering Africa, invading Mexico, losing to the Prussians, and so on

[@roadent217]

@@elharvey5032 I'm pretty sure losing to the Prussians ended Napoleon's rule...

[@FrancoisMarchant]

The main reason is : he was nothing like Napoleon. He prefered proxy-wars, helping the rise of other allied nations (Italy, and failed Mexico) than personal conquest (which is a smart move). He switched from authoritarian empire to liberal empire (mainly because France was a shitstorm), and he seemed much more concerned with the developpment of economics and industrialisation than military conquest. He was, overall, not very intimidating to the neighbouring nations (Victor Hugo called him "Napoleon the Small", but i believe he actually had a positive impact on his country, unlike his "great" predecessor). That being said, he brought some new territories to France (Nice and Savoy), which if i recall correctly were given to him by the new Italian king as a thank you gift for helping him win the italo-austrian war (and remaining neutral concerning the italian-papacy conflict, which was crucial for the italian unification).

[@BobBob-eb4io]

@@FrancoisMarchant im pretty sure napoleon (the predecessor one) also had a positive impact on France like where would France be if it kept that ineffective government it had before his rise to power i also imagine napoleon had a big impact on French national pride

[@Hylodatus]

0:32 Everytime I see a map of Europe during World War 2 I always find hilarious how Switzerland is just vibing in the midst of chaos.

[@luismenendez5089]

and thriving! they really benefit from it and hold many of the richest of the Jewish who perished in the holocaust

[@Jim-Tuner]

There was heavy pressure on Spain in the immediate postwar period. Spain was not even allowed to join the UN until 1955. There were multiple attempts to create an effective insurgency in Spain sponsored by countries like France after the war, but they all failed. The French attitude was largely driven by the influence the French Communist Party had in the government in the immediate postwar period. Franco attempted various measure to improve the situation. He marginalized the actual fascists (the falange) in his government after the war and replaced them with more traditional conservative politicians. He also moved to (in theory) restore the monarchy eventually. There was always uncertainty about going too far with Spain. There was a belief that no insurgency would be strong enough to actually overthrow Franco in a clean way. That any support for an insurgency would effectively lead to a resumption of the civil war and quite possibly lead to events that would be difficult to predict or control. What changed everything was the outbreak of the Korean War. US Policy changed in the direction of supporting any country that seemed friendly and useful.

[@shashwatsinha2704]

Does your surname "Tuner" signify anything?

[@a6s3]

"There was a belief that no insurgency would be strong enough to actually overthrow Franco in a clean way. That any support for an insurgency would effectively lead to a resumption of the civil war and quite possibly lead to events that would be difficult to predict or control. " Lessons that the west recently forgot with their adventures in Lybia and Syria

[@Jim-Tuner]

​@Underdog History The French Attitude in the later 1940s was very much influenced by the role of the French Communist Party (the PCF) in government. The PCF was regularly drawing a quarter of the French national vote. The PCF was generally the largest party within the coalition French governments between 1945 and 1947. Supporting the overthrow of Franco was one of the major priorities of the PCF at that time. The entry of 146 Spanish soldiers into Paris the night before the rest of the allied formations entered paris in 1944 was of no significance.

[@Jim-Tuner]

@@shashwatsinha2704 The name is an alias I created without very much thought a long time ago. Its effectively meaningless.

[@shashwatsinha2704]

@@Jim-Tuner Oh, that possibility never crossed my mind.

[@zaraiwzara]

Allies: *win the war Franco: ... *i respect you* *I like you* *I cooperate with you*

[@trajan75]

Franco played a brilliant game with Hitler. He kept stalling Hitler off, avoiding involvement in the World War. Unlike Mussolini he had no extra-territorial ambitions. After WW2 he held a strategic position and could guarantee stability in Spain. He was a dictator and remained so, but it was quite possible that had he failed an even more brutal Communist dictatorship might have replaced him. Now Spain is a democracy. History forces some tough choices.

[@trajan75]

@ggg No, what you say is possible,but given Stalinist support it is more likely that show trials, denial of personal liberty, installation of a dictatorial leadership and a tyrannical and inefficient bureaucracy would be the actual result.

[@celeridad6972]

@ggg you really need to open a book, or at least, watch economic videos on youtube

[@mrstxx2048]

@@trajan75 Because Stalin was the only helping the republic, hell even England blocked France from help the country at the same time a coup is getting a shitton of help from everywhere. You yanks and english love to talk about democracy but as long as it benefits you, you don't give a shit.

[@stuartc9149]

You need to do some more study. Historians are doubtful whether Franco was that clever. Far from not having territorial ambitions his proposals to Hitler included ceding large parts of French colonial Africa to Spain. Franco more likely was persuaded by his generals, suborned by Churchill paying them large amounts of gold, and Admiral Raeder who privately urged Franco not to get involved. Raeder had a close relationship with Franco going back to their cooperation during the civil war.

[@SwfanredLotr]

@@mrstxx2048 In France the Popular Front of Leon Blum still sent weapons and supplies to the Republic through the Pyrenees frontier, but secretly during the first years of the war. No one, except maybe Britain and US, followed up the Non Intervention Pact.

[@ευθυμηξερωπουμενειςκαισεγαμω]

Franco portrayed with so much hair makes me weirdly uncomfortable for some reason

[@Iktius]

Male baldness pattern sucks

[@yewisemountaingoat528]

Just a bold guess without having watched this video: Franco was "useful" in that he kept the number of communists down in Spain. That's certainly how a whole slew of military juntas in South America were given a carte blanche in regards to their own internal politics. Let's say that totalitarian regimes such as Franco's and others were more than just condoned during the Cold War.

[@jlonzo5274]

Stalin: How about we remove Europe's last fascist dictatorship Allied: how about no

[@TheHacknor]

More like Britain saying no, as France and the US were up for it

[@sdsd2e2321]

Franco did that himself. By the 1950s there were no fascists left in his government.

[@xdcarno]

and replace it with a communist one?

[@Uberkatze-]

FRANCO👏WASNT👏FASCIST👏

[@martenkahr3365]

@@sdsd2e2321 It's honestly questionable how "fascist" Franco's government was to begin with, considering he was actually still able to purge the fascist elements that went in while he was being friendly with Germany. His regime was a right-wing dictatorship, sure, but not every right-wing dictatorship is fascist. Meanwhile, the Soviets were in the habit of calling a lot of regimes and insurgent groups opposing them "fascist" for propaganda purposes, regardless of reality or nuance.

[@bambinazo123]

1:26 Francisco Franco's spain: *exists* France: You know the rules and so do I Say goodbye

[@Ander-5187]

Except britain says *WHAT PART OF NO*

[@bambinazo123]

@@Ander-5187 true

[@ΒακουφτσήςΙωάννηςΚυριάκος]

Franco remarkably escaped twice, once when he didn't aloud Germans to attack Gibraltar , twice after the war! For a military man , he was a very capable politician !

[@carmugon]

Mabey he was caplable, but he was actually a dictator, and he also made concentrations camps, and made like 700.000 spanish people die from hunger.

[@vpowerization]

@@carmugon In reality, all types o Governments need a type of Democratic allowance! You can't run a Country you and few hundreds of your friends its impossible! In Democracy you get this allowance by voting, in Dictatorship you get it by the collaboration of the key players in State mechanisms and the fact that people in general stay quiet . More importantly when you examine Dictatorships which stayed in power for decades. I of course condemn Dictatorships, I believe its better for the people to have Democracy but on the other hand I can't accept that a dictator who managed to stay in power that long wasn't a good politician! His long stay in power made him politician even if at the beginning was just a Dictator and nothing more. And one more thing. Even capable politicians are committing crimes, the fact that he was capable politician doesn't make him innocent for his crimes.

[@requiem5151]

@@carmugon Franco is still based -From a Spaniard

[@Samthebritishgent]

@@requiem5151as a brit all I can say is he seemed a damn sight better then the alternative so he may as well have led

[@The01t]

Franco was based. He was a cool, calm collected operator psychopath, whereas Hitler and Mussolini were crazy, angry murder hungry psychopath's. Franco hit the jackpot of the 'successful psychopath'.

[@TheWrongBalance]

I like how half a minute he mentiones his patreon supporters

[@End-Result]

I'm glad you covered this. Also impressed you used the works of the late William A. Pelz as a reference point. Very nice.

[@mmarques2736]

Small mistake @0:33 - Portugal was neutral in ww2. Actually, Salazar had an attitude similar to that of Franco, and even lowered the portuguese flag the day Hitler died.

[@wonjubhoy]

Portugal was pro allied and allowed the allies to use Portuguese bases. That is why Portugal was helped via the Marshall plan. Portugal has always been the most pro English Latin country and has had long term alliance with England.

[@mmarques2736]

@@wonjubhoy it is true that by the end of 1944, Portugal allowed the US to use Azores air force base - having access to that military base was a wish of both the allies and the axis since 1939, but Portugal only made the decision of allowing one of the sides to use the base by the time that it became clear that Nazi Germany was pushing Spain and Portugal out of neutrality so to push forward a plan of occupying the peninsula, and secure a solid occupation of the north of Africa (which would have radically changed history). That said, Portugal maintained neutrality in the war because a) it was not a relevant war for Portugal as long as no country would try to invade one of its colonial territories - on the contrary, neutrality was economically interesting as they were selling wolfram to both allies and axis, b) so to justify they were keeping the historical alliance with England (which would have surely been broken if the UK had thought of demanding Portugal for military support fulfilling the alliance), while they would keep an ideological alliance with far-right powers, which Salazar hoped and believed would represent the political future of Europe, even if he personally had a degree of intellectual disdain for Hitler, Mussolini or Franco (Salazar was a rather arrogant person who would believe that he was smarter than any other European leader; he was equally arrogant as a university professor, believing to be the top expert on political economy, while in reality he was just a professor of fiscal law); c) Portugal was really far more worried about the Soviet Union than any other political force. That last point is also the reason why Portugal joined the western powers as a founding member of NATO, and that is the real reason why Portugal received a small amount of money from the Marshall plan (which initially Salazar refused claiming that Spain should also receive Marshall funds, and did so for the same ideological reasons that lead to maintaining a neutral position in the war and a sympathetic stance towards Nazi Germany).

[@CarlosEduardo-rz5ww]

@@wonjubhoy It´s been more than 20 years since the last time I saw someone calling southern european countries (such as Portugal, or Spain, or Italy - or even France) a "Latin country". How old are you, Sir? Americans imposed that "latino" is a derrogative word for Latin America, and formerly known Latin coutries in Europe now are just "Europeans" (try calling anyone from those countries above a "latin" and see what happens)

[@pihlajafox]

​@@CarlosEduardo-rz5wwbut like... aren't majority of people from Latin America ethnicly either Spanish or Portuguese? Ok yeah there is also many people whose relatives were previous slaves from Africa but still, I always find it wierd why people in America think that previous English men and previous Spanish men are so different, but in Europe both Spanish people and English people are called Europeans

[@josuibarretxe6544]

The video sumarise in a sentence: “The enemy of my enemy is my friend”.

[@thatoneweirdrandomguy4766]

Allies: We finally destroyed all fascist nations of Europe! Bill Wurts: They forgot Spain..

[@HodgePodgeVids1]

Dictatorship but not really fascist

[@kousvetkousvet4158]

@@HodgePodgeVids1 exactly, Franco wasn't really a politician at all.

[@marcocardia3960]

And Portugal

[@markhenley3097]

@@marcocardia3960 Portugal also wasn't really fascist, even less so than Spain, but still a reactionary dictatorship.

[@ycoutinho89]

...and Portugal.

[@sapphyrus]

He had mastered the art of standing so incredibly still that he became invisible to the eye.

[@khadirafarah1314]

*2:42* You forgot to color in Georgia as a part of the U.S.S.R.!

[@tomh8141]

You left out the part where the UK helped Franco seize power and supported him during World War II as detailed in the book Franco’s Friends by Peter Day. This is from the review in The Guardian: But it was not until the second world war that Franco really started coining money out of his British friends. The British could have tried to profit from the fact that Franco's government was full of jealousies and faction-fighting. Instead, Churchill's policy was to keep Spain out of the war by lavish bribes to key people in Franco's government, including Franco's brother-in-law and perhaps Franco himself. A huge slush fund was administered directly by the British embassy under Sir Samuel Hoare, and the regime, which was corrupt as well as brutal, made itself rich and unassailable at the expense of the British taxpayer. Western capitalists always hated communists more than Nazis. Just check out The First Casualty by Phillip Knightley.

[@bocatadepann]

😂😂😂 if u believe a single word from The Guardian u are just dumb enough to defend what u just posted here, mate. The Guardian has always been against Spain and it's History. It's just ridiculous propaganda. Even Spanish communists admit Franco seized power despite the british, french, soviets, canadians and the US, which all them fought against Franco through the Brigadas Internacionales and the Makis. It was long after the 50's where they decided to stop isolating Spain since it was an anticommunist country, and without a single loan from abroad nor invading any lands, Spain escalated up to 8th World Power in 10 years. Dude, stop reading The Guardian and start reading books.

[@bradhombre6912]

Except that they allied with Communist Stalin against Nazi Hitler. That undermines your assertion that they always hated communists more. A more reasonable conclusion would be that they hated both, but were willing to tolerate whichever they thought was the smaller threat at any given time if it helped oppose the bigger threat.

[@crimsonfire6932]

@@bradhombre6912 they might have allied with Hitler against the Soviet Union were it not for the fact that Hitler started fighting them first. But generally your consensus is right. Post WWII and to this day, communism was the bigger threat because nazism lost the Second World War. It could’ve been the other way around, and perhaps we might even say it should have been. Hard to really decide which is worst, but I’d say communism is worse than nazism because it has actually been more successful.

[@Necroskull388]

Or the even more relevant and more problematic fact that Stalin and the capitalists allied in undermining the anti-fascist side of the Spanish Civil War. George Orwell details this quite neatly in his Homage to Catalonia, which chronicles his personal experiences in war against the Spanish fascists. The most effective fighting force against the fascists in the civil war were the anarchists, and international capital opposed them because they of course had no respect for the property rights of foreign investors, and Stalin opposed them because… well, a lot of reasons, all of them having to do with Stalin being a piece of shit, but particularly involved with Stalin being fully opposed to worker control and revolution to that end - much like the USSR in general post-1921. What the Spanish situation shows us is not only that liberals are more scared of socialism than fascism, but also that “communists” are more scared of socialism than fascism. Stalin, Lenin before him, and every “communist” leader in the world today are LARPers who have no intention of either advancing socialism themselves or even allowing others to advance it for them.

[@admiral7043]

That sounds like a good idea to me.

[@gezzarandom]

I’d have thought because he wasn’t involved in the war and didn’t oppose any of the regimes.

[@BigBroTejano]

Several thousand Spanish volunteers fought with the Germans on the eastern front against the USSR... so while Spain and the Soviets were never “officially” at war they weren’t exactly friendly. Also probably one of the reasons why the USSR was so keen on seeing Franco ousted.

[@quadcannon]

The Napoleon ghost was 🤌 perfect.

[@bangscutter]

It's hard being neutral when the place is on fire all around you, and everyone wants a piece of you, or want you to support them. Sweden, Spain, and Turkey needed to tread carefully diplomatically. Play along well with every side.

[@abhishekganguly7419]

Well this dictator kept his cool. His story ended happily.

[@ちにたてとな]

Motorsport Fan he killed lots of spaniards tho

[@abhishekganguly7419]

@@ちにたてとな I knew such a comment will come. A change always cost a large number of lives. That man saved Spain from stupid communist and other leftist moron, didnt let Spain drain its resources in war. Truly a great leader

[@ちにたてとな]

@@abhishekganguly7419 la mejor forma de acabar con el guerracivilismo que inunda nuestra politica es no hacer juicios de moral sobre la guerra ni la dictadura, tenemos que verlo como agua pasada, estudiarlo como estudiamos el Imperio Romano, si nos involucramos tomando lados no vamos a salir nunca del ciclo de autodestrucción en el que lleva España dos siglos. Franco no fue un gran líder, mató gente, las circunstancias serían las que fuesen, pero no podemos andar defendiendo a alguien que mató gente como no se puede defender a Carrillo

[@abhishekganguly7419]

@@ちにたてとな bro i cant understand u

[@ちにたてとな]

@@abhishekganguly7419 shit i thought you were spanish, i'd translate it but it's not going to make much sense without the context of Spain's current political situation. Some politicians still take sides in the war, and it is often argued about in the congress. In the message I said that we shouldn't take sides, Franco killed people, so did the Republic, none of them were good, it is just what happenned, we shouldn't make moral judgments

[@learneconomics2021]

And with Franco Spain managed to become the 9th largest economy in the world, Europe´s main touristic hub, a debt to GDP of under 20%, have the longest living time under full peace in centuries, couples would have an average of 3 children, 2 houses, one car and full employment.

[@ranganesquik2920]

Honestly, some of the faces you put on the figures are what makes these videos, so fucking hilarious. Well done and I hope you continue for AGES

[@lampshade87]

Why are the Spanish characters depicted as being so much more “brown” than the other Europeans? The Spanish should be the same “color” as Italians at least

[@arguinzoniza1394]

@CipiRipi00 the same thing happens on Spain

[@plak77]

@CipiRipi00 Have you ever heard about Basque Country and Catalonia?

[@plak77]

​@CipiRipi00 Must be a stereotype outside Spain, in the north of Spain just a few people will recognize themselves as "bronws", maybe inmigrants from the south or even Levante. I can assure you that Basque or Catalan nationalism has a weight comparable to that of Lega Nord, the difference is that in Spain it is not intended to give that image of class or racial difference because it would be tremendously unpopular, since these nationalisms knew how to capitalize on their opposition to the regime Franco and now strive to appear anti-fascism.

[@guillemmoreno5522]

@@plak77 Catalan and Basque nationalisms have very few things in common with Lega Nord. Lega Nord is openly right-wing, to the point of being considered far-right by some, and is very clearly anti-immigration and anti-EU. Catalan and Basque nationalisms are very much pro-EU and significantly more progressive. The only two things in common between these groups are that they feel a strong sense of identity and are against centralism. If anything, Lega Nord has many more things in common with Spanish nationalist parties like VOX than pro-independence nationalist groups in Catalonia and Euskadi.

[@plak77]

​@@guillemmoreno5522 Do you know about PNV and CIU or JxCAT? PNV has been always a catholic right wing party, the only thing they have a different rethoric is beacuse they lived the dicatorship with Franco and become really unpopular into antifraquism.

[@USSFFRU]

There's that 1 Spanish Guy in Spain that's named Fransisco Franco alive and was denied by the French Government to enter their nation

[@18pablo88]

Funny, informative and brilliantly put together. Love Francos wee worried look

[@imperialfish454]

Franco's strategy: "The Allies' vision is based on movement. If we don't move a muscle...they can't see us."

[@Jako1741]

I could explain this even in simpler terms: Franco remained because he outsmarted every other leader of his time.

[@Steamedavalone]

Franco died in his bed because he made a deal with Eisenhower to not join Hitler in WW2, that’s why when he met with Hitler in Endaia, he told the German that he couldn’t afford another war since he just finished the Spanish Civil one, but he would offer volunteers (La Brigada Azul). Also, he offered to Hitler to prove his new planes bombing the city of Guernica . Later, Pablo Picasso would recreate the macabre act on his painting Guernica. That’s why nobody bothered Franco, cause the US pact with him.

[@scottabc72]

Its worth mentioning that Spain's economy had been closely tied into the British Empire since the 1800's, a major reason why they didnt join the axis earlier in WW2 and also why Britain was satisfied with the status quo after WW2.

[@albertgaspa1670]

can you develope this statement please?

[@crotolamo1]

Spanish here. You got no fucking clue, Spanish economy was never closely tied to Britain, we were always in war. How the fuck could we trade. Also Franco was too busy imposing a dictatorship in Spain (with a lot of resistance)

[@scottabc72]

@@crotolamo1 There were no wars between Spain and Britain after Spain regained its independence with British help during the Napoleonic wars (If Im wrong cite an example). That said, being 'closely tied' doesnt mean Britain was doing any favors for Spain, its just that Britain dominated world trade at the time.

[@AE_AnarchistAlexcianEmpire69Bi]

“Something That Franco Could Help With.” Aww Thanks Franco

[@laurenceellis6256]

Here's a suggestion: why did Japan turn militarist in the 1920s/30s?

[@moritamikamikara3879]

Simple: Whypipo

[@Morrigi192]

Long story short, they were furious that the Western powers refused to recognize the Japanese Empire as an equal in the aftermath of WW1, decided that there was little point in international cooperation since it wasn't getting them anywhere, and began to sharpen their bayonets.

[@paulcoulthard8654]

Fascinating - I did always wonder about this - and now I KNOW. Muchas Gracias.

[@arandomguy9479]

If I don't move, they won't see me.

[@chewxieyang4677]

The Drax method of invisibility.

[@Nps300]

Considering what is happening in Belarus rn , I would say that the timing of this video is perfect .

[@thenewjord50]

The suspicious half shuted eyes got me 😂everytime

[@CyberneticOrganism01]

Thanks for the concise explanation 👍

[@WilloSNoack]

Franco was an intelligent facist dictator in opposite to Hitler and Mussolini: He never declared war on the enemies of Germany and sent only app. 30.000 soldiers only in German uniforms and with German weappons as the Legion Azul from June 1941 to June 1943 for the support of the German Wehrmacht against the USSR. He withdraw them after the defeat of the Germans in Stalingrad and Kursk (USSR) and in Tunesia and South-Italy. He never supported the German war against France, UK and other countries. And he never tried to occupy Gibralta and ti defend Italy against the USA and UK, although Mussolini had given him 30000 Italian soldiers for his fight against the Spanish republic. Franco had met Hitler only one time at the Spanish border and refused to take part into WWII against the western enemies. He became a good ally for them against the communists and the USSR.

[@Siptom369]

They just loved him to much

[@MrGreenthumb_]

"Preference" ? Spain's fascist regime was full helping Nazi Germany. Spain provided large number of troops to the eastern front, opened the ports to war ships and u-boats, send to germany key resources to made weapons and ammunition...

[@NickB1967]

TLDR: Franco was adamantly anti-communist, and never was hostile towards the Western Allies.

[@potatogod975]

more like tldw: to long didnt watch

[@leonz6691]

except this isn't reddit

[@kdfsdofk]

Your profile pic tells me you’re not very sharp

[@DellDuckfan313]

Meanwhile, in Portugal: Salazar: "Shhh! If we just keep quiet and follow Franco's lead, maybe they won't notice we're here!"

[@tsupi7056]

Franco lead? Salazar had to work hard Franco so he would lose the ideia of joining the axis so he could invade Portugal!

[@narmerdjr]

Neutral? And what about La División Azul?

[@DomWeasel]

They were volunteers. Like the Americans who served in the Eagle Squadrons after the Battle of Britain but before Germany declared war on the US or in the Flying Tigers in China fighting the Japanese before Pearl Harbour. Or the Americans, British, French, Italians, Germans and Soviets who fought in the Spanish Civil War.

[@oellappen269]

You can hold any opinion about Franco you want, but you can not deny that he was very smart and his diplomacy paid off.

[@nouhowlmao2809]

His diplomacy is not that smart literally any leader outside of dumb fanatics (mussolini) would have avoided joining ww2 half of the minor axis members were forced to join by germany out of threat of war

[@pridelander06]

"First, he existed." Makes me remember how many conflicts in history that basically boil down to this reason.

[@Mod-rw9cw]

There had been enough war and death and people couldn’t stomach anymore

[@jessicakorte]

I do love the little signs. Please add captions to your videos. The automatic ones are insufficient.

[@graytero7440]

Video Idea - When did people in the former Roman Empires lands stop calling themselves romans

[@theant9821]

Most of them probably didn't call themselves Romans anyway, the only people I've heard referring to themselves as Roman were from Rome, most of the British empire didn't call themselves British after all, only the British did, Canadians called themselves Canadian despite being adamant supporters of the British empire.

[@graytero7440]

@@theant9821 Problem with comparing the British Empire with the Roman one is that the Romans gave citizenship to all its inhabitants and they were all called Romans and usually treated as such. Canadians called themselves English before their was such thing as a Canadian culture. And also the Byzantines still called themselves Romans until their downfall and even some small Greek towns in Anatolia still called themselves Romans until around the late 20th century. I do believe also that the Ottomans called themselves Romans to as they thought themselves as the legitimate heirs to Rome after they took Constantinople.

[@theant9821]

@@graytero7440 fair point, but France's colonial possessions were France, unlike British colonial possessions, but the Vietnamese didn't see themselves as French, as Indians didn't British. I know once upon a time north America was British, French and Spanish but still it didn't take long to develop their own identities like Australia soon became full of Australians when a generation earlier it was full of Britons. But most of the Roman empire had local identity already, like Germanic regions whose local identity predated and outlived the roman occupation of the region, etc.

[@graytero7440]

@@theant9821 id just think a 4 minute video about it would be interesting you know

[@theant9821]

@The Nova renaissance being called and calling themselves isn't the same thing, or Constantinople wouldn't be Istanbul since the fall of the Ottoman empire.

[@Ninlingue]

Easy... is Spain, you can invade them but never conquer them

[@evilmiera]

The real reason of course being the US didn't mind a fascist government they could influence.

[@DomWeasel]

South America nods, understanding.

[@vincentcarmine8731]

I remember I. The 1960s Franco still had German ME 109s in his airforce

[@neruba2173]

Please if you see a comment suspect to be from a spanish person, ignore it. I apologize for them. Our schools does not teach actual history.

[@KangaKucha]

In Aerobiz Supersonic, I stay out of Spain due to him until 1975 or 1980s.

[@Ocagna]

I'm not a native english speaker, and this is one of the hardest english accents I've ever had to deal with. Great video! (subtitles helped)

[@r.guerreiro140]

For me too lol

[@auexila5906]

God I love this man

[@steelbear2063]

@@forest7205 "You don't exist" (c) God

[@steelbear2063]

@@forest7205 Ah, a man of culture

[@silverhost9782]

@@forest7205 No evidence that he doesn't though

[@steelbear2063]

@@forest7205 I don't believe in gods, I'm just memeing around

[@lucone2937]

If Italy had stayed neutral in 1940, Mussolini might have died peacefully at the old age in his own bed just like Franco did. But Mussolini got greedy and he overestimated Italy's chances to win the war with Germany. Franco was a Machiavellian dictator who knew how to stay in power.

[@santiagosancho2317]

Long story short: dictators are not "bad" to the United States and allies, when said dictator is right wing and anti-comunist. (ex: all of south america during the 70's)

[@xalau5270]

this is absolutely correct

[@illusion6559]

Another part was that Franco wasn't a totalitarian, he was an autocrat. The people had general freedom, but the press was restricted. He didn't necessarily control the social life of every citizen.

[@generalpopcorn6427]

The people were expected to be apolitical, though. My grandfather was so used to it that long after Franco had died he would shush us with his finger to his lips and say, "Las paredes tienen oídos" if there was a political discussion going on.

[@prigual2901]

social life? meetings of more than 5 people were forbidden, eventotake the hand of a girl in the street, or the police would sue you, no association s,etc..

[@lexuamzaled5515]

Well, it's a good thing that my great grandfather was almost executed because "press was repressed but people had freedom".

[@littlejimmy8744]

@@lexuamzaled5515 Is it that hard to follow the rules ? Mine lived in Portugal and never had problems with there dictator.

[@lexuamzaled5515]

​@@littlejimmy8744 During the war and the first years of the dictatorship, it wasn't just a matter of "following the rules". If you were part of a rival political party during the Republic, if you desagreed with the falangists (even if you were a "Camisa vieja", those who were part of the falangist party before the war) or if you were just so unlucky that your business rival joined the falangists, you were probably going to die. Even in small villages. If you had a mill and other person has a mill in your village, you could just join the falangists, accuse your rival of being a communist (or just someone who opposed the dictatorship) and problem solved, your rival's corpse would appear in the middle of the forest (which, by the way, happened). During the dictatorship that was "easier", but if your family had communists, people loyal to the Republic or in general everything the dictatorship dispised, you belonged to the bottom of the society. It didn't matter that your father who was part of a small political party during the Republic was executed during the war and you were just a poor kid: there would be social consequences for you, even if it was just in your village or city.

[@tomashize]

Would the axis have won if Spain and Portugal had joined in 1940 or early 41?

[@sbls1114]

I dont understand why it would be hypocritical for the west to criticize the USSR for occupying the east if Franco stayed? 1:05

[@dylanhultman3922]

Because they're bashing one totalitarian power while tolerating another.

[@calebweldon8102]

Broder Moment because Franco was a brutal dictator who overthrew a democratic elected government and killed hundreds of thousands of people. So if they supported Franco they wouldn’t have any moral argument that that was okay while the occupation of Poland was bad

[@andresmartinez8644]

The USSR supported non-democratic governments/dictatorships, by allowing Franco's dictatorship to stay they kinda loose the moral high ground of "protecting democracy"

[@artembolshakov3901]

If Franco became a Western ally (which he de facto was), any criticism leveled at repressive actions by the (totally independent) Soviet "allies" could be rebutted with "you guys are friends with Franco." On another note, in its propaganda, the Soviets justified their foreign policy as "fighting fascism" (where do you think Antifa gets its favorite smear?), so an actual fascist in the Western camp helps justify their version of events. (Also, many Latin American regimes were also very fascist, but that's a story for another time).

[@sbls1114]

Dylan Hultman Ah ok

[@osz804]

There is also a very human side to this story. Many exiles and refugees from Spain fought in ww2 in what they saw as a continuation of the war at home, with the hopes that they would see their country liberated from fascism as well. Particularly guerrilla men who had liberated France never pardoned the allies for this seeming betrayal.

[@ArkadiBolschek]

"Seeming"?

[@osz804]

@@ArkadiBolschek complete, tbh

[@alanpennie8013]

@@osz804 A number of Spanish Republicans fought in the British Army (mainly as commandos or pioneers in the Mediterranean Theatre). Evelyn Waugh specifically mentions a formation engaged in the Battle of Crete

[@alanpennie8013]

A large part of the "French Resistance" was made up of Republicans who had fled from Spain at the end of the Civil War.

[@JoseGarcia-xf5gk]

And they wanted to see Spain with Jewish Bolsheviks

[@morsecode980]

I’d add that Francoist Spain wasn’t even fully fascist, just “fascist-lite” aka Falangist. But I think one big reason was that once Franco saw the Axis would lose, he made efforts to appeal to the Western Allies however he could, and it likely saved his regime

[@ra1279]

Tell that to the Basques and Catalonians.

[@zefft.f4010]

The Western Allies were never really anti-fascist, they were anti-Hitler. They would probably have been fine with Italian fascism too, if Mussolini hadn't joined the Axis.

[@adonizi]

They were anti Japan too. Whatever threatened allied territories.

[@zefft.f4010]

@@adonizi Well, they were worried about Japan as well, but it's possible they would not intervene in Asia if they had not attacked the US or European colonial holdings, effectively also joining the Axis.

[@JoseGarcia-xf5gk]

@@zefft.f4010 FDR wanted the Japanese to attack to get USA into the war.USA was definitely anti Japanese

[@lukavlaskalic8364]

Jugoslavia and Albania were never under Soviet occupation, this isn't directly claimed in the video but the graphic is quite misleading

[@0rL0cK55]

It is also important to note that Franco and Pétain helped the allies by refusing access of the Maghreb to the germans forces