What if France Intervened in the Spanish Civil War?

I want you to image something, the year is 1936 and you’re the French government. Germany had annexed the Saarland a year prior, with them just remilitarizing the Rhineland. Just months, the Spanish Civil war erupts, with Germany intervening militarily.
If Germany is not stopped early, they will grow stronger, most likely destroying you in the future.
#frace #spain #germay #ww2
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This channel is a haven for those who crave intellectual stimulation and love to ponder the profound "what ifs" of history. Join our passionate community of history enthusiasts, where engaging discussions and insightful commentaries fuel our collective imagination.
Subscribe now and embark on this enthralling adventure with us. Prepare to question, wonder, and discover as we navigate the corridors of time, peeling back the layers of history to reveal a tapestry of alternate paths and captivating possibilities.
Welcome aboard, fellow explorers of alternative history. Let's rewrite the past together!
▬ Contents of this video ▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬
00:00 - Video Intro

[@alejandrogrande3066]

italy abandoning spain seems so unrealistic considering francoist spain was more ideologically aligned to the italians than the germans in many fields (catholicism and fascism as their government ideology to name a few) i think this point is not mentioned enough

[@rewriting-history]

I agree with you, but what would you prefer? Ally with France or Spain? It makes more sense to ally with France no matter what

[@tot0m]

@@rewriting-history France was unstable, some politicians trusted alliance with petite entente (Czecoslovakia, Yugoslavia, Romania, partially Greece, sometime Poland). But since Barthou was assassinated with king of Yugoslavia this idea ended. Then after 1934, some politicians wanted to ally with USSR, some politicians wanted to ally with Italy, but majority decided to wait and follow Britain. Align in same time with Italy and USSR was not conceivable.

[@oppionatedindividual8256]

Bruh that’s the first time I’ve seen ‘Petite Entente’ despite knowing full well that was its real name.. I’m HOI4 pilled I guess

[@danielsantiagourtado3430]

Interesting! The spanish civil war is a curious time! Suggestion: What if Juan Prince of Asturias and Girona survived and continúed the Trastamara line in spain?

[@rewriting-history]

I don't think i can title this in any simple way + I don't think my audience is into ancient/medieval history. Need to poll to find out.

[@danielsantiagourtado3430]

@@rewriting-history noted. And it could be: What if the Trastamaras survived?

[@minevader1]

​@@rewriting-historydon't worry, I'm always in

[@TheKarofaar]

@@rewriting-history "What if spanish empire was no german?"

[@isaacdavis7979]

​@@rewriting-historyPlease may you do what if Napoleon surrvived all the way to ww2 and stopped the nazi german tank advance through the ardennes ?

[@Konrad-zc1ve]

one small mistake, the german army was still mostly on foot and on horseback only a minority of it was mechanised and armored, France was beat down because no one thought the ardennes was not passable by any military force on the ally side but even when the battle of France lasted 6 weeks the germans lossed high cassualties by the french army

[@nate8932]

I smell a frenchie

[@Konrad-zc1ve]

@@nate8932 lol

[@bloodboughtsaint777]

I actually doubt the French would fall so fast if the Germans attacked a year sooner. Part of the reason why the Germans chose to attack the French, in our timeline, when they did, was because of the fact that the Maginot Line originally included a deployment plan in cooperative defense with Belgium along rivers and natural barriers, which Belgium decided to back out of when Germany started getting violent. The Arrden Forest became the weak point in the Maginot Line, because the defensive line was actually cut in half, and there were no natural anchors for the line once Belgium backed out. I still think the French would have lost because the ability for the Germans to wage war was greater a year earlier.

[@rasputin-sama9003]

yes, and considerating all the exeprience earned during the war, maybe france high command wouldn't be so trash during the battle of France

[@ultimatestuff7111]

To be fair, 50000 guns is a lot when your army was 400k at the start, that’s an eighth of the army now equipped enough to fight

[@rbxless]

1:37 "If the country is going to collapse, we might as well collapse it ourselves" - the Spanish army in 1936

[@rewriting-history]

You put it great! Nice!

[@CuzShark]

Might be unpopular opinion, but I think you should avoid comparing history/alternate history to HOI4. It would be more professional in my opinion. Great video by the way! :)

[@rewriting-history]

Appreciate the comment! I just know many of my fans play HOI4, so I added a little reference

[@lemonboy9208]

yes it is an unpopular opinion, change your opinion

[@DapperDonkey]

​@@lemonboy9208lmaoo

[@stargazer-elite]

So people can’t just have a little fun?

[@CuzShark]

​@@stargazer-eliteI think the video was enjoyable. Personally, it was entertaining and also fun to me, not because of the hoi4 references but rather his random jokes.

[@MohabWali08]

Your alternate history Scenarios are unique and i love it

[@rewriting-history]

Appreciate it! More to come, I have scheduled a lot of videos and constantly producing!

[@Canada1994]

The Irish "help" was unofficial and De Valera condemned the volunteers fighting for both sides in Spain

[@alsanderandciaran]

Whilst mostly true the public opinion was in favour of the nationalist

[@saladmcjones7798]

You should expand on this scenario! What you covered is like WW1.5, it would be neat to see your version on WW2 with this outcome as the premise. Cheers!

[@Protont]

The battle of France might have been prevented from even happening. In this time line france is likelly to be far more active on the battle field then in our timeline. This would probably end up with France investing into better intel on Germany and as result German army would not be able to safelly cross Ardenes before being stopped by French forces. They would likelly lose large part if not most of the tanks that participated in this offensive as the French would attack them while still in the Ardenes where tanks would be at huge dissadvantage.

[@rewriting-history]

I do believe that France could really prevent capitulation, but where is the fun in that? It's quite unrealistic I have to say, but at least it's different than Weimar Germany just being restored

[@Protont]

@@rewriting-history Not really unrealistic. France had more tanks which were comparable quality to german ones. Had they have faced them off before germans got out of Ardennes they’d win

[@sebastianreyes7774]

Why in every video italy and france end up teaming up? They didn't like each other at the time and by the time of the spanish civil war good relations were impossible

[@pierreemilienlewislecadre6428]

the reasons france losse in ww2 is because of the incompetant command structures and bad luck, the french got better tanks then germany, only the planes where inferior with a involvement in the spanish civil war, the issues of incompetence would find a solution as news and youger commanders would emerge in spain and with the start of ww2 they are able to take command of the franch army and use it far more effectivly then in our tl and they would be familiar with germans tactics, also new plane would be put into service earlier with the civil war thus solving the planes issues too. with that the germans would never be able to win quickly and the more time is given to france to mobilize and start their war industry the more they have an advantage that the germans could not match due to them already being in their war time at the start of the war for the invasion of benelux that not a decisive move for germany as in our tl, the old and incompetant franch command knew that they needed to send troops in belgium and have some reserve in case, they where simply to slow to react to the germans assault in the ardennes, so with youngers commander that knew of the way to fight of the germans, they would have no issues reacting to this assault and preventing the fall of france, even starting to push back the germans in some places

[@KameroonEmperor]

this whole video and last few kinda feel like if someone made a map and wrote the script to justify their existence especially with all the hoi references every 2 minutes. Like one example why in the world would realistically germany give italy their own allies' land, especially how much + corsica which is so cliché. why not just peace them out, and as for the battle of france if its so obvious they would fall why not explain why (outside giving random numbers to justify it). It feels half good half terrible and each time something smart is mentioned its counter balanced by a very uneducated guess based on cliche Alt hist maps. On the bright side tho your videos are much better now

[@rewriting-history]

Still improving and continuing to improve. Still need to read many history books, so I can be decent at it. Working on this everyday!

[@KameroonEmperor]

@@rewriting-history wish you the best

[@familygash7500]

02:52 Was that an intentional History Matters reference?

[@rewriting-history]

It was indeed, yes

[@fox_rblx9391]

Another great video, I might jus binge watch all your vids at this point

[@rewriting-history]

I would very much appreciate that! I'm also glad that you liked this video too!

[@GeographerWilson]

Woah! Super unique, as always! Could you do what if the Vikings spread the word of the Americas and set up a colony?

[@rewriting-history]

I was thinking about a Vinland video, will research it in the future

[@roderik3059]

If this were the case, Franco annexed the south of France to Spain and divided French Africa with Germany.

[@00martoneniris86]

What if Switzerland was divided between Austria and France after the Treaty of Vienna And Germany was divided between North Prussia and south Austria

[@rewriting-history]

Would be the worst timeline since I love Switzerland. But also, nothing much would change I bet

[@00martoneniris86]

early United Germany and Italy that muts Italian and German empire would not be good for the Austrian empire

[@alexzero3736]

What if Savoy kept parts of Switzerland up to unification of Italy?

[@El__Mosquito]

Hey i really love your alt history scenarios, will make a 'what if belgian congo had independence in 1930'?

[@rewriting-history]

I could as a short perhaps. Long-form video doesn't make sense for this topic, nothing much would change and people aren't mostly interested in it.

[@SANP76234]

I think that if u did what if germany invaded switzerland instead of belgium during WW1 would be a great scenario

[@Vexillogically]

This definitely sounds interesting

[@rewriting-history]

Thank you for the suggestion! I will save it for later!

[@lemonboy9208]

would be hard because of the mountains but the french had sparser troops on the border so it might shock them, it would be very very hard to blitz the swiss unlike the flat plains of belgium

[@nphax2008]

Fun fact out of the around 40000 volunteers in spain around 500 odmf them were slovenians

[@rewriting-history]

Yeah I saw that there was also like 40 macedonians and etc. It was wild

[@nphax2008]

the slovenians that went the as volunteers to fight against fascism were called Španski borci or in english the Spanish fighters

[@elseggs6504]

​@@nphax2008Yugos in general. It mustve helped a bit after fascist "Croats" helped the Germans and Italians carve up their brothers

[@Wanna_See_My_Crayon]

Suggestion: What if the Soviets lost the russian civil war? I believe that the nazi German government would have a joint invasion of poland with russia which would end in western mediation where the borders of poland would be reduced to the russian poland borders but with full autonomy.

[@Wanna_See_My_Crayon]

I mean the special polish administration in the Russian Empire BTW

[@rewriting-history]

Good idea, I will do videos around the russian civil war in the future. Right now I'm learning one historical period and making as much videos as possible on it, then moving on to something else

[@alexzero3736]

Uh... If the Whites won under Kolchak or Denikin, it would be a dictatorship pretty close to what we got in Spain or Italy. I mean there is no point about autonomy if they take Poland. "Edinaya e nedelimay" ( Unified and unitary).

[@badart3204]

Would the Nazi’s even be able to gain power in the same way without a Soviet Russia scaring the shit out of Europe though? One has to remember one of their main selling points was anti communism and without the Soviets more moderate forces may have taken power instead

[@alexzero3736]

Why exactly Britain stayed away from war??? Also why Poland doesn't do anything? They had plans to invade Germany and their leadership was Pro- war. BTW Molotov- Ribbentrop pact isn't there, so why USSR not provided any help? I don't see this scenario plausible at all. Especially Franco- Italian alliance after they clashed against each other in Spanish Civil war. Instead this would mean more influence for communists and French activity would be a sign for Czhecs and Soviets that France would act against Germany if needed. My guess, there would be Anti- German pact of France, Czechoslovakia, Romania, Poland and Yugoslavia ( Little Entente reborn) with support of USSR in case of German invasion.

[@greeneanimations6422]

I feel like another World War would happen (imagine this war as a World War 1.5). Great video, keep it up!

[@rewriting-history]

World War 1.5 is very funny, I like it! Will use the idea for future content

[@Tom-jg9de]

Ok what if Austria Hungary colapse before ww1?

[@rewriting-history]

I think I already replied to one of your such comments and I said that I'm experimenting with a scenario both where they collapse and where they reform.

[@IndoSlovenian-Animations]

Idea: What if the Turks and Arabs were more succesful in there wars of independance (Makes this somehow change Ww2)

[@rewriting-history]

I wanted to make similar idea for a while, need to actually go for it soon

[@IndoSlovenian-Animations]

@@rewriting-history k

[@nphax2008]

Just one more thing the flag of yugoslavia before ww2 didnt have the star on it

[@rewriting-history]

Yeah my bad. I realized it later, but it's fine

[@nphax2008]

its ok the two flags are very similar even i confuse them sometimes

[@iparipaitegianiparipaitegi4643]

Why a picture of de Gaulle? Non sense

[@oooshafiqooo]

Best one soo far [funny how Germans didnt pushed to taking Bolzano (bozen)]

[@rewriting-history]

I should have given them parts of South Tyrol for sure, my bad for forgetting!

[@ChariTheAlternate]

For the british one, I see oswald mosley rising in power in that time ngl

[@rewriting-history]

With their fails, yes it's looking likely

[@HungarianRepublic]

CEDA won the popular vote.

[@blanckgod9642]

Nice esiting the explosions effects were good as well as the hoi4 references I disagree a little bit on Britain surrendering because Churchill was very patriotic but good video the only thing to like improve on is like the camera shaking effect you do

[@rewriting-history]

Will constantly improve and get better! I will never surrender!

[@Samar_Carroll]

Not the hoi4 notification while Im playing hoi4

[@rewriting-history]

You playing hoi4 when watching these videos? 🤣

[@Samar_Carroll]

Yes and I wa thinkin about playing spain or france,and Im playing it rn aswell@@rewriting-history

[@dakitheyugoslav5383]

Yugoslavia sent volounters around 10000-20000 of them they were called "Spanjolci" which means Spaniards

[@thunder_bug_1451]

Editing note: the shaky picture thing is really hard to watch and makes me feel kinda sick

[@ratisgood4448]

politcal instability, yay! -every south american president, ever

[@rewriting-history]

Don't forget the Balkans!

[@propernoun1583]

The imperial German flag as used in the video was actually banned by the NSDAP at the time of the Spanish Civil War. You could be imprisoned for even owning one.

[@flavius5722]

Wrong ! If the France intervine it will do it în force în 1937 , at least with the force that Italy do ,and unlike the others they have a direct border with Spain , Italia unready fir war and fearing a France -Soviet alliance will give up quicly Franco will lose around begining of 1929 and France will have a army with large experience and anti german paranoia

[@neptun6761]

Can we to back to the gold standart?

[@JustJ_KK]

What if Ireland gained independence in 1538 and Kilkenny Became the capital due to kilkenny college 🔴⚫️

[@JustJ_KK]

Is an Irish idea maybe a st Patrick’s day

[@stargazer-elite]

Interesting and unique scenario

[@rewriting-history]

Thanks for the support! Appreciate it very much!

[@notofficial_Aymaan7]

2:30 As someone who plays roblox that was unexpected😅

[@rewriting-history]

That was pretty funny ngl!

[@bluepapaya77]

Who left the toilet seat up indeed.

[@marym7104]

Within 11 days!

[@jakerupp3840]

What if United kingdom and their pre war allies, joined the central powers

[@albertomunoyerro5562]

Man u dont know anything about flags. The falange flag is not the spansih flag, the german flag u used is from ww1, the yugoslabian from the communist after the war

[@rewriting-history]

Yeah I'll let my editor know next time, my bad

[@bukanIqbal375]

Ew, Fr*nce. Can you please censor that?

[@Prometosermejor]

No f*cking idea about Spain.

[@Will79464]

No parece 😂

[@podaitemikufte5440]

Interesting 😮😮😮

[@Model3140digitalalarmclock]

Suggestion: what if William walker won the filibuster war

[@micahistory]

interesting idea. Definitely would not result in a better world

[@rewriting-history]

The next video I have planned is maybe going to result in a better world. Let's see

[@RandomHuman1103]

Introduction was too long honestly

[@rewriting-history]

But it was important to show my point of divergence. The alternate was to just come out with statements, with no data to back it up

[@lorp_ooo6204]

Why USSR speak Ukrainian 3:15

[@micahistory]

I like your videos but please stop including the coins, they're completely irrelevant to the rest of the video

[@rewriting-history]

I feel like coins is what makes me unique and some people like it. I will do a poll right now to see what people think

[@micahistory]

ok@@rewriting-history

[@marym7104]

12,855th viewer of this video!

[@WFHermans]

Germany didn't take over Slovakia, it became an independent state.

[@rewriting-history]

Independent state allied with Germany, in debt to Germany, politically supported by Germany

[@Mane-q2k]

Bru why societs speak Ukrainian

[@Mane-q2k]

Soviets*

[@gabiro6941]

hoi4

[@bukanIqbal375]

ENVAHISSEZ L'ESPAGNE POUR LA FRANCE HURRAH!!🐓🐓🇫🇷🇫🇷

[@emayex74]

ich bin francais

[@Idiot__]

Hi🎉

[@rewriting-history]

Hello hello!