ABSTRACT
The Spanish Civil War was characterised by extensive external interference, both diplomatic and military. For the Soviets their involvement enabled Stalin to track down and eliminate Trotskyites, acquire the gold reserves of the Republic and burnish his credentials as the leading anti-fascist. The German involvement provided a training ground for Hitler’s air force which inflicted heavy casualties by the dive bombing of civilian populations. Salazar’s Portugal supplied a token military force to assist Franco’s Nationalists reaping the dividend of preventing the spread of communism. While the British and French governments were officially neutral the International Brigades played a significant role in boosting the Republican defences as Franco, slowly but surely, conquered the country. Only Mussolini’s involvement yielded no benefit as Italian troops underperformed on the battlefield and the cost of their deployment increased the burden on Italy’s straining public finances. Nonetheless, the main beneficiary of the external involvement was Franco who, aware of Spain’s exhaustion in 1939, resolved to keep his country out of World War II. At his meeting with Hitler at Hendaye in 1940, Franco’s survival instinct enabled him to maintain Spanish neutrality among a fog of pro-Axis propaganda.
