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Italian dictator Mussolini has repeatedly stated that Italy's decision to aid Franco was "out of important strategic and political considerations". Spain is located in Iberian Peninsula, and its strategic position is very important. Its southern tip is the Strait of Gibraltar, which is separated from Africa by water. The East Coast and Balearic Islands are very important naval and air bases. Mussolini believes that once Italy takes control of this place, it will put it in a strategic position in the western Mediterranean. At that time, it can not only control the Mediterranean sea, but also make Britain in the Mediterranean.
military affairs
The base can't take concerted action, and it can sever the connection between France and African colonies. Therefore, the Italian fascist regime has coveted Spain for a long time. Mussolini personally discussed with the rebels to overthrow the Spanish Republic and provide assistance in Rome three times in April 1932, October 1933 and March 1934. The day after the Spanish civil war broke out, Franco called the Italian government and asked for military assistance. 1937 from the end of July to August, Italy * * * provided 39 planes, 5 fast tanks, 12 anti-aircraft guns and 40 machine guns to the rebels. After understanding Germany's attitude, Mussolini stepped up sending troops to Spain. By February 1937, * * * sent more than 50,000 black shirts, military experts and regular troops to Spain to form four infantry divisions.
Obviously, Italy was widely involved in the Spanish civil war with the intention of occupying the Balearic Islands and controlling Spain. Mussolini took two measures to this end: first, he ordered the Italian army to occupy the whole Balearic Islands 1936+065438+ on June 7, and began to build naval bases and air bases on the island, with three airports; Secondly, threatening to supply weapons and equipment forced Franco to sign a secret agreement with Italy on1October 28th, 165438. The main contents of the agreement are as follows: (1) The Italian government undertakes to provide assistance and support to the Spanish national government (namely the Franco government) in the future, so as to safeguard Spain's independence and territorial integrity, including the mainland and colonies, and help it restore the social and political order of this country; (2) The contracting parties promise to keep close contact and coordinate their actions on all issues involving common interests, especially those related to the Mediterranean. Both sides should adjust their policies and support each other on these issues; (3) The governments of the two countries undertake the obligation to ensure that they will not participate in groups and agreements against each other, and will not provide direct or indirect assistance, especially to ensure that third countries will not be allowed to use their own territory, ports and inland seas to carry out war actions of any nature against each other, or to prepare for such war actions, and that their materials and troops will not be allowed to pass freely; (4) When a country or any third country goes to war with one of the contracting parties in the future, or decides to take collective military, economic or financial measures against it, the other contracting party promises to provide it with necessary materials and give it all facilities for using ports, airports, railways and highways.
During the three years of its involvement in the Spanish Civil War, Italy * * * sent 654.38+0.5 million troops, lost 730 planes, more than 900 tanks and armored transport vehicles, 7688 machine guns, 654.38+0.930 cannons and 654.38+0.305 cars, at a cost of 654.38+0.4 billion lira. In addition, according to Italian government official Gouard Neri, Mussolini provided a large number of weapons, equipment and materials to the Spanish rebels in order to win the war. The scope and quantity are incredible, so that Italy's strategic reserves and even the equipment of the Italian army were given to Franco. In order to import the necessary industrial raw materials from Spain, when the Italian army retreated, it left 250,000 guns, 2,000 cannons and 750 military aircraft to the Spanish rebels. These are equivalent to one-third of Italy's armaments at that time. During the Spanish Civil War, 6000 Italian fascists died and were injured 1 1000. No wonder Italian Foreign Minister Chano later lamented: For Italy, the Spanish card was exchanged for blood and gold.
The Spanish War was very unpopular in Italy. Cantalup, the ambassador to Spain at that time, believed that it was a mistake to interfere in the Spanish civil war, which was not only costly, but also seriously wrong in estimating the situation, thinking that the civil war could be ended in a short time. But the Spanish War lasted for three years and became a war of attrition that consumed Italy's strength. Canary, an Italian financial expert, believes that the Spanish war did not improve but reduced the prestige of fascism. The poor performance of the Italian army in the Spanish battlefield made Mussolini's threat lose its power. Italian Foreign Minister Giorgio Chano thinks it is foolish to interfere in the Spanish civil war, because the war has caused a rift between Italy and western democratic countries and narrowed the space for Italy's foreign policy activities. As far as the relationship between Britain and Italy is concerned, the relationship between the two countries has deteriorated greatly because of Italy's intervention in the Spanish civil war. In the early 1930s, Britain's policy towards continental European countries was to unite France, contain Italy and prevent Germany from expanding. However, the Spanish civil war caused the split between the western democratic countries and the fascist axis group, and there was no room for improvement in the relationship between Britain and Italy.
Although Franco received a lot of military assistance from Italy, he showed great independence. Franco ignored Italy's proposal to end the civil war quickly by blitzkrieg or terror, and adopted a delaying strategy to avoid unnecessary casualties and destruction. 1in April, 937, he said to the Italian ambassador, "Give me planes, artillery, tanks and ammunition, and give me diplomatic support. I will be very grateful. But first of all, don't rush me, don't force me to win at a very fast speed, because it means killing more Spaniards and destroying more wealth in the country. " Franco said that once the civil war is over, Spain must be independent. In order to get rid of Italy's economic control over Spain, Franco also repaid all Italian military loans. 1940 in may, the two countries reached an agreement on Spain's repayment of Italy's 5 billion lira military loan by stages before 1962. Although the Spanish economy was very difficult after the civil war, Italy's debt was paid off with goods and foreign exchange. Franco later said: "50% of the debt has been repaid to Italy by goods, and the other 50% by foreign exchange. Spain has paid off all the debts."
Mussolini once naively thought that Spain would side with Italy in the future European war. However, Mussolini's wishful thinking also failed, and Italy did not get the expected return from Spain after that. 1940 On May 3, Franco wrote to Mussolini that Spain, which was preparing to heal the wounds of war, was absolutely and inevitably neutral. On February 2 1939, Chano learned that Franco would participate in the anti-* * treaty, and he wrote optimistically in his diary: "It (referring to the Franco regime in Spain) will give us eggs today and chickens tomorrow". Later, he finally found out that "the Spanish have been wanting this and that for years, but they are gone forever."
Mussolini deceived himself when he reviewed the Spanish War: Although many people died because of Italy's intervention in the Spanish Civil War, the gains outweighed the losses. In fact, Italy's intervention was a desperate decision made only two months after it invaded Ethiopia and its national strength was damaged. As A. J.P Taylor, a famous British historian in modern times, pointed out: "The only significant result of Italy's involvement in the Spanish Civil War is the exhaustion of national strength." However, Mussolini, who was overjoyed, found comfort in the end of the Spanish War, because Italian military aid played an important role in Franco's victory after all.
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Different from Italy's intervention in Spain, Germany basically achieved its goal in forming an alliance between Germany and Italy and testing new strategies and tactics, but on the key issue, that is, winning Spain's participation in the war, all Hitler's efforts were in vain.
The Spanish Civil War provided Hitler Germany with a good opportunity to win over Mussolini. It turned out that 1936 After Italy captured Ethiopia in May, Britain and France hastily lifted the economic sanctions against Italy through the League of Nations, trying to win Mussolini back to the western camp to cope with the situation in Europe after Germany entered the Rhineland in March of that year. However, the Spanish War failed the peace efforts between Britain, France and Italy. Hitler's policy of German-Italian armed intervention in Spain was far-sighted from the beginning, and his abacus was accurate. He once said to his foreign ministers and generals: "From the German point of view, Franco's 100% victory is not desirable. We are willing to continue the war and maintain tension in the Mediterranean. " This will lead to discord between western countries and Italy, and then pull Mussolini to Germany. Hitler made full use of the war in the western Mediterranean to win over Italy. 1At the beginning of September, 936, Mussolini sent representatives to Germany for a "private visit" in order to find out Germany's intention to interfere in Spain and explore the possibility of dividing the sphere of influence. When meeting with Italian representatives, Hitler said: "The Mediterranean belongs to Italy and Central Europe belongs to Germany. The common mission of the two proletarian countries should be accomplished through their own efforts. There is no possibility of racial conflict. " Hitler also stressed that Germany, like Italy, could not tolerate Britain's presence in the Mediterranean. He not only understood Italy's position of interfering in the Spanish civil war, but also made it clear that "the solution of this problem should obey Italy's interests." In order to further dispel Mussolini's doubts, Hitler sent his cronies and Minister of Justice Frank to visit Rome on September 23rd. When meeting with Mussolini, Frank said: "Germany's aid to Spanish nationalist parties is only based on political and ideological consistency, while Germany has neither interests nor goals in the Mediterranean." Germany's interests lie in the Baltic Sea, that is, Germany's Mediterranean Sea. After receiving the above commitment, Mussolini stepped up his dispatch of troops to Spain, and immediately sent Foreign Minister Chano to visit Germany to sign a formal agreement with Germany on the issue of armed intervention in Spain. 1936 10 At the end of the year, Germany and Italy reached the following agreement: the two sides immediately made military efforts to recognize the Franco government after occupying Madrid. Subsequently, Italy and Germany signed a formal agreement, which became a link to strengthen relations between the two countries. When meeting with Chano, Hitler said that Germany "will fully support Italy" on the Spanish issue. Chano's trip to Berlin marked the formation of the alliance between Italy and Germany. Therefore, the intervention in the Spanish Civil War made Mussolini finally fall into Hitler's arms.
Intervention in the Spanish War provided a practical testing ground for the newly armed German army. The German Air Force "Condor Corps" is an important part of Hitler's armed intervention army. The regiment is an air force carrying out special missions in Spain. It includes four bomber squadrons and four fighter squadrons, and is also equipped with anti-aircraft guns and anti-tank units. After the end of the Spanish Civil War, the "Condor Corps" returned to Germany with many rare practical experiences. These experiences mainly include: using transport aircraft to maneuver troops from the air and change the strength contrast between the two sides to gain strategic advantages; Direct air support to ground and sea forces; Improve bombing tactics and create new methods of dive bombing. At the beginning of World War II, the extremely effective dive bombing tactics of the German Air Force were developed and perfected from the Spanish War. Air combat tactics have been further developed.
The German army's various new weapons and operational theories have been improved day by day after the actual test of the Spanish War, and played an important role in the world war launched by Germany later.
In addition, Franco Spain provided a large number of strategic raw materials and materials for Germany to launch a war of aggression. Although Spain did not formally participate in the war, it cooperated closely with Germany in the economic field, especially by providing strategic raw materials and food to support the latter's blood transfusion. During the war, Spain provided Germany with 90% tungsten, 30 million tons of iron ore and a large number of food and petroleum products. At the same time, it also transshipped many important strategic materials to Germany through its ports. When Germany cut off the access to raw materials from the member countries of the British Empire after the war began, the proportion of Spain's exports to Germany increased.
Although Spain signed the International Agreement against the Production of * * * with Germany, Italy and Japan on March 27th 1939, and signed a friendly treaty with Germany on March 30th of the same year, the Franco regime still adopted a wise attitude to protect itself when the war really came.
In order to persuade Franco to join the war, Hitler decided to go out in person. 1940101On October 23rd, Hitler took a special train to Ange, a border town between France and West, for talks with Franco. Hitler was beaming, boasting that he had won and that the British were about to surrender. In order to maintain peace, Germany hopes to form an alliance with Spain. He told Franco that in the new order to be established in Europe, history left a place for Spain and let it play a glorious role. Franco told him calmly that the war was far from being won. Since Churchill refused to negotiate, it meant that he was convinced that the United States would join the war and Britain would continue to fight anywhere in Britain and the huge British Empire. Therefore, it can only be said that the war has just begun. Hitler was surprised to see Franco unmoved by his rhetoric and asked, "Do you think the war will drag on for a long time? If the war drags on, we will be in trouble! " Franco replied, "Don't doubt it at all. Therefore, although Spain believes that Germany can win, it is not qualified to participate in the war because it still has many problems to solve. The most important issue is the supply of people. " Franco complained about the difficulties at home and said that Spain was unable to participate in the long-term war. Then, he put forward many unreasonable demands: for example, modifying the boundary of the Pyrenees and ceding Catalonia, Algeria and Morocco to Spain as a condition for participating in the war. No matter how hard Hitler tried, Franco always beat around the bush and refused to commit himself to the war. A few days later, when talking with Mussolini, Hitler accused Franco of making demands that were absolutely disproportionate to Spain's strength, and said with indignation: "I would rather have three or four teeth pulled out than engage in such negotiations again." Franco later said: "Hitler should know that I can't drag my country into a devastating war just to pay off my debts. The outcome of this war is still very slim." I will always be grateful for his help, but I don't need to take risks with the independence of my motherland in return for the blood of the Spanish people. "Therefore, when Germany asked to cross the Spanish border and attacked Gibraltar at 194 1 1, it was rejected by Franco. The Germans were finally disappointed to find that Franco had no intention of going to war. 1941On June 22nd, the Soviet-German war broke out, and Spain indicated that it would send volunteers to fight against the Soviet Union in return for Germany's assistance to Spain during the civil war. But at the same time, he explained that making this gesture of unity and Spain's participation in the war are two different things, and Spain will not participate in the war until the appropriate time.
To sum up, it can be seen that the German and Italian fascists tried to control the Iberian Peninsula, a strategic place on the European flank, by intervening in the Spanish Civil War, but it backfired, because Hitler and Mussolini underestimated the dictator Franco. Franco, who pursued pragmatism, accepted assistance from Germany and Italy, but he didn't want to risk the independence of his country. Perhaps the miscalculation of the Axis war maniacs is that they forgot the warning of a British politician in the19th century: "There is no country in Europe like Spain, and foreigners can interfere in their affairs without any benefits."