Why was Franco cool to Hitler?

Question

Why was Franco cool to Hitler? You would think they would be bosom buddies. Was Franco prescient enought to realize Hitler was headed for disaster, or was it because his first loyalty was to Spain and not fascism? Or was it because Franco wasn't into anti-semitism?

Answer 1

All of the above...

1. During the Spanish Civil War, Franco was more than willing to accept help from whomever was willing to gave it. But, primarily he was interested in the Spanish nation more than any grandiose notion of fascism as an international movment. Unlike Hitler or Mussolini, Franco maintained no vision of a larger Spanish empire; he was in it to secure his own lands, and that was it. Having achieved that goal, he had no real insentive to embark in costly and risky international wars.

2. Franco was not anti-semitic (and for that matter, neither was Mussolini). The following question may sound very arcane and detached, but it's not. It's a distinction that carries enourmous practical considerations. Which comes first, the "nation" or the "State?"
Fascists, like Franco and Mussolini believed the state comes first. The job of the state is to mold the people into a nation. The role of the state is to guide, and create the institutions by which public opinion is molded, and public action guided to achieve state ends. Since it is the state which creates "Spanishness" or "Italianness," neither Franco nor Mussolini thought of Jews as being any more alien than any other group. It's the state which creates the "nationality."

Nazisim, on the other hand, maintained that the naton comes first. For Hitler this meant the "Aryan" nation. The state, Hitler believed, flowed from the nation. And therefore, the "pure" state could only be created by the "pure" people -- thus his fixation on "racial purity." Secretly, both Franco and Mussolini thought Hitler quite mad for this. They viewed his anti-semitism as ultimately self-defeating.

3. Yes. Franco did see (or at least was made to see) that hitler was doomed. Originally, Franco did not enter the war because unlike Hitler and Mussolini, he was picking up the pieces of a shattered nation in the aftermath of the Civil War, and didn't believe he could afford to throw the nation into another war so quickly. Furthermore, as stated above, Franco never entertained imperial ambitions anyway. In 1939, Franco's grip was not that secure, and he didn't want to risk the possibility of increased destablization that a new war would cause.

Later on though, as American and British forces began pushing the Germans out of North Africa, Franco was warned by both nations not to enter the war -- or else. Franco sized up the forces on both sides, and coldly assessing the correlation of forces, gambled that Hitler would lose. After that, he actually instructed his intelligence organizations to cooperate with the allies, and this cooperation ensured his survival after the war.

Good question. Hope this answer helps. Cheers, mate.

Answer 2

Spain was not only 'cool' towards Hitler, he continued to finagle aid from Germany while providing virtually nothing in return. Germany provided lots of airplanes and armored vehicles to Franco's military (that is why many WWII movies are filmed in Spain, there are still lots of vintage aircraft there). In the end, Spain would provide ONE division for the crusade against the Soviet Union.

The main reason why Franco remained cool towards Hitler's request to support the war was because Spain was completely exposed to British retribution from the sea, and thus it would not be worth it to anyone for Spain to declare war. Spain would have to devote far more resources to covering their coastline than Britain would have to devote to menacing it (much like the problem with the Germans and the Atlantic Wall).

Also, Peter O makes a very good point about Spain importing valuable materials for trans-shipment to Germany, very similar to how Vichy France helped Germany.

Answer 3

Hitler helped Franco win the Spanish civil war and exterminated all oposition. Just as Papal Rome blessed the German army with so called holy water, so did catholic Spain belong to Rome. There is good reasons to belief that "My Kampf" was written by the Jesuit Priests for Adolf who in turn would help trying to resurrect the fallen Roman Empire. The UN and America is doing this now for Rome behind the scenes. The infamous Sunday law and the NWO is next on the agenda

Answer 4

Nutshell answer. Hitler gave Franco immunity from Nazification in exchange for using Spain as a testing grounds for Blitzkrieg Warfare during the Spanish Civil war. Franco wanted peace and Hitler was willing to give it to him as he needed an over flow valve in the south. By that I mean that a "neutral" Spain with heavy German leanings was a great place to bring in restricted goods, personnel, and much needed cash.

Answer 5

Hitler was a psycho-whatever. There is no category for him. He was charismatic, but that was his only quality. He systematically killed MILLIONS of human beings. There was nothing extraordinary about him. He had something in mind, and he acted on his own feelings. He was a monster. Just the fact that we are talking about him is....disgusting. He euthanized millions of humans. Who cares what he thought about or who he should be "bosom buddies with"? He was pure evil.....who cares....he is dead and he deserves much more than that.