How Decisive Was Spanish Intervention in World War Two?
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How decisive was Spanish intervention in world war two? Plaque commemorating the liberation of Paris the bottom plaque reads «To the Spanish Republicans main component of the Dronne column» http://www.lanueve.net/memoria/img/paris/01-24_08_04.jpg International School of Toulouse (FR042) Russel Tarr ! 27/6/12 17:01 Deleted: Name : Borja De La Viuda Word Count: 3963 Candidate Number : 1 Contents Abstract – Page 3 Introduction – Page 4 Investigation- Page 5 • Structure of investigation - page 6 • Analysis of Sources – page 6 • Analysis – Military – page 7 • Analysis – Economy – page 9 • Analysis – Covert Operations – page 10 • Analysis – Different Interpretation – Page 12 Conclusion – Page 13 Bibliography – Page 14 2 Abstract This essay investigates the question “How decisive was Spanish intervention in world war two?” This investigation makes use of a variety of sources: The first source is a book written by the historian Evelyn Mesquida called “La Nueve: Los españoles que liberaron Paris” the book describes the story of the ninth company of Leclerc’s armored division, composed solely of republican Spanish soldiers. “La División azul: Sangre española en Rusia 1941-1945” by Xavier Moreno Julia tells in detail the story of the Blue Division, formed of volunteers and sent by Franco to help Hitler in his Russian campaign. “Españoles en la segunda guerra mundial” by Luis reyes briefly describes all of the spanish soldiers involved in the war. Two other books where used, one about the diplomacy between Hitler and Franco and the other about the spy Garbo. This investigation also uses a number of websites. The investigation is structured in the following manner, firstly the structure of the analysis is briefly described, and then several sources are analyzed to be followed by the analysis of the investigation divided into three sections: military, economy, covert operations and different interpretation. Finally a conclusion to the investigation is approached and described. The conclusions of this investigation is that the Spanish intervention cannot be considered to be solely decisive for the outcome of the war, rather only decisive for certain factors and for certain people, like for example the French which had their capital liberated by Spanish soldiers. 3 Introduction World war two has been studied many times; it is one of the most important events in the 20th century. It has been clearly established that the two main belligerent sides were those of the allies, composed of the Russians, British, Americans and French, and the axis, which included Germany, Italy and Japan. Yet there were many other countries involved in the war, such as the case of Spain, which was a non-belligerent country, yet participated actively in the conflict, thus making it important to define the extent and the decisiveness of its participation. Resolving the issue of the Spanish participation has still got a significant relevance today since while the soldiers on both sides have all been recognized and have had memorials built for them; there isn’t any which remembers those Spanish soldiers that died for either of the two sides. Therefore if the Spanish did in fact result to be of a major determination in the outcome in the war, they should be not only remembered but also rewarded as much as any of the other soldiers of the other nations which were involved in the war. There is the special case of one of the companies of soldiers which were promised that the allies would in fact help them to deal with Franco if they provided their aid against the Germans, however when they did so the allies let them down and never fulfilled such promise, all the while leaving the soldiers to be forgotten. 4 Investigation. Structure of the Investigation. This investigation will firstly consider the ways in which the Spanish were decisive and ways they weren’t decisive in terms of military, this section will therefore include all the military actions done by the Spanish soldiers on both sides of the war. Following this the investigation will consider the economic aid provided by the Spanish dictator Franco to the Germans and the ways that this aid proved crucial for the war or whether it was not important at all. Next consideration will be given to the aid in terms of covert operations both in Spain and outside aided by the Spaniards and whether they seemed to be of any use at all to the outcome of the war. Analysis of Sources. Source 1 “La Nueve: Los españoles que liberaron paris.”1 Is a book which has certain values to a historian studying this topic. These values come in terms of its origins, the writer Evelyn Mesquida has become an expert in this specific unit after ten years spent “weaving the threads of an infinite story never included in French history books”2. The purpose of this book is also to inform by the use of interviews with the survivors themselves to create a “meticulous reconstruction of the story which was never recognized of the Republicans who fought against Nazism and liberated Paris.”3 Yet this source also has its share of limitations. In terms of origins, the book is based mostly on interviews with the survivors, which although were first hand witnesses, were also very old and might have left out certain details. In terms of its purpose, the writer herself admitted that her goal was to have “France recognize that it owes some of its freedom to more than 200,000 Republicans ... France to also recover its historical memory”4 and there is therefore likely to be certain bias to make the Spanish role seem greater than it really was. 1 Translation: « The Ninth: The Spaniards who liberated Paris. » 2 Gonzalez Harbour, Berna (Date accessed: 30/7/2010) http://www.elpais.com/articulo/ultima/Francia/debe/resolver/memoria/historica/elpepuesp/20090713elpepi ult_2/Tes “10 años a entrelazar los hilos de un relato infinito que jamás estuvo en los libros de historia franceses” 3 Ibid « una meticulosa reconstrucción de la historia nunca reconocida de los republicanos que lucharon contra el nazismo y que liberaron París.» 4 Ibid « Mi objetivo es que Francia reconozca que debe una parte de su libertad a más de 200.000 republicanos ... que Francia también recupere su memoria histórica» 5 Source 2 "La División Azul - Sangre Española en Rusia 1941-1945"5 Xavier Moreno Juliá. The values of this source in terms of its origins are that the historian has experience in investigating the relationships between Germany and France, writing this source and another book after that.6 In terms to its purpose, the book tries to inform of the sacrifice of the volunteers in such division and as such includes a very large amount of facts and figures and it is considered “currently the best work available on this subject.”7 Yet this source does also prove to have certain limitations. In terms of it’s origins, the historian would have to find his information from pre-existing sources of the time and it seems that “Information from Russian sources is nonexistent”8 meaning that the Russian perspective on this subject isn’t presented in his book, which is a certain limitation since the Russians were the ones the Blue Division fought against. In terms of it’s purpose the book could have certain bias which makes it depict the Spanish soldiers as heroes or that they didn’t support German policies but rather only wanted to fight communism, and thus separating them from the horrors committed by the Nazis. Source 3 “Franco and Hitler: Spain, Germany and World War II” Stanley G. Payne In terms of its origins, Stanley G. Payne is a well established and specialized historian when it comes to the study of Spain under the dictator Franco, writing an array of books revolving around this subject.9 In terms of purpose, the author tried to solve the “the enigma of Spain's 5 Translation: “The Blue Division – Spanish Blood in Russia 1941-1945” 6 List of books by this author: • Xavier Moreno (2004) La División Azul. Sangre española en Rusia 1941-1945. Critica. • Xavier Moreno (2007) Hitler y Franco. Planeta. 7 Nuñez Florenzio, Rafael (Date accessed: 28/8/2010) available at: http://www.elcultural.es/version_papel/LETRAS/10883/La_Division_Azul-_sangre_espanola_en_Rusia_1941- 1945 “hoy por hoy la mejor obra disponible sobre este asunto” 8 Ibid (28/8/2010) “la información de fuentes rusas brilla por su ausencia” 9 List of Books written by Stanley G. Payne in chronological order: • Falange: A History of Spanish Fascism, 1961 • Politics and the Military in Modern Spain, 1967 • Franco's Spain, 1967 • The Spanish Revolution, 1970 • A History of Spain and Portugal, 1973 • Basque Nationalism, 1975 • La revolución y la guerra civil española, 1976 • Fascism: Comparison and Definition, 1980 • Spanish Catholicism: An Historical Overview, 1984 • The Franco Regime 1936-1975, 1988 • Franco: El perfil de la historia, 1992 • Spain's First Democracy: The Second Republic, 1931-1936, 1993 6 unique position during the war”10 and to do so used information from the Fundacion Nacional Francisco Franco to base his research. Yet this source does prove to have certain limitations, the author has been accused of holding “little affection for Franco, pointing out his prejudices, blunders, and opportunism”11 this would mean that the source would have a certain bias to depict Franco worse than he probably could have been. There is also the fact that he seems to have taken from mostly one place, which is trying to “defend the Franco regime's historical record”12 meaning that he only disposed of one point of view to base his work from (however it must be kept in mind that this information was taken from the internet, so it might be incomplete and not fully informed).