On the Spanish Civil War and Alternate History
Posted: Fri Feb 23, 2018 10:50 am
I started reading up on the Russian Revolution and got side-tracked to the Spanish Civil War. I haven't read much alternate history, but I keep thinking about a scenario that I have never seen addressed in that genre.
If the other team had won the war and not Franco, I wonder if they might have actively aided Hitler more than Franco did.
Orwell in "Homage to Catalonia" describes the purging of the non-Stalinist elements of the Republican side. You would have likely ended up with a Stalinist puppet government in Spain.
From August, 1939, when the Non-aggression pact was signed until June 22, 1941, the Soviet Union actively aided Hitler. IIRC, the last trains carrying supplies from the Soviet Union to Germany crossed the border early on the morning of June 22, 1941.
Throughout the world, communist parties turned on a dime when the pact was signed and supported Hitler. Is there any reason to believe that a Stalinist puppet government in Spain would have acted any different than Stalin's Russia did?
The best, or worst (or whatever) that you can say about Franco is that he slow-walked aid to Germany until about 1943 when it became clear that Germany was going to lose.
There was that crucial year in the Mediteranean from the Fall of France to Operation Barbarossa when minor changes would have made a big difference. What would have happened with Gibralter?-etc etc.
If the other team had won the war and not Franco, I wonder if they might have actively aided Hitler more than Franco did.
Orwell in "Homage to Catalonia" describes the purging of the non-Stalinist elements of the Republican side. You would have likely ended up with a Stalinist puppet government in Spain.
From August, 1939, when the Non-aggression pact was signed until June 22, 1941, the Soviet Union actively aided Hitler. IIRC, the last trains carrying supplies from the Soviet Union to Germany crossed the border early on the morning of June 22, 1941.
Throughout the world, communist parties turned on a dime when the pact was signed and supported Hitler. Is there any reason to believe that a Stalinist puppet government in Spain would have acted any different than Stalin's Russia did?
The best, or worst (or whatever) that you can say about Franco is that he slow-walked aid to Germany until about 1943 when it became clear that Germany was going to lose.
There was that crucial year in the Mediteranean from the Fall of France to Operation Barbarossa when minor changes would have made a big difference. What would have happened with Gibralter?-etc etc.