Spain

The Spanish Republic was formally overthrown only a few months after the Rhineland Crisis, but the nationalist forces did not achieve the quick victory they hoped for, and the Spanish civil war which followed was the last major war to take place on European soil. All the major European nations agreed formally to stay out of the war, and although they all subverted this agreement to some degree, foreign involvement in the war was relatively moderate and largely unofficial. The UK, France and Germany made some attempts to stop their citizens from traveling to Spain, but were only partly successful - in Berlin, Spain was seen as a good way to get rid of Hitlerists, and quite a few low-level Hitlerist militia leaders were given a choice of going to Spain or being disappeared. There are even rumours that some of them had their death arranged for them - Karl Schongarth, formerly the police chief of Munster and a Captain in the SS, was killed by Spanish republicans near Teruel in 1938 when his rifle turned out to be inexplicably empty of bullets. This strategy did sometimes backfire - one senior SS officer, sent to Spain, was instrumental in setting up an intelligence service for the nationalists, was made a Spanish General, and returned to Germany a hero, subsequently serving as ambassador to Spain and Italy. The only countries that did provide major assistance in the war were the USSR, on the Republican side, and Italy, on the Nationalist side. Since both nations were, at best, regional military and economic powers, neither was able to provide decisive assistance. The war dragged on for years, eventually ending with the Nationalist capture of Madrid in 1950. News of the Francoist *white terror* leaked into Berlin, and provoked a fair amount of distaste, bringing back memories of Hitlerist excesses - an impression not helped by the presence of a few notable Hitlerists, such as Muller, in Franco´s forces. However as the 1950s went on, Franco´s regime settled into the same post-Hitlerist groove as Italy and Portugal. When the Americans began making some guarded overtures to the Spanish government, Spain was brought in to the *Bund*, and has remained a member in good standing since.

Spain is still governed by General Francisco Franco, the *caudillo* and regent of the Spanish Kingdom. Franco has been a good friend to Germany, and his national-religious government has been smoothly integrated into the Europa Bund. Spain is a popular location for tourism from the rest of Europe, and an influx of German investment has seen an economic boom in the 1950s and 1960s. Like many other post-Hitlerist states, however, Spain has seen declining public interest in its party (in this case, the *Falange Espanola*) and Franco is not getting any younger. The regime, unlike many of its neighbours, does not face any serious military challenges - Basque separatists are active but are not capable of much except sporadic terrorism, and its African colonies are small and quiet, with the exception of Morocco, where France does most of the fighting. Franco has announced plans to crown the young Prince Juan Carlos as his successor, but in the past few years he has given more and more responsibility to Admiral Luis Carrero Blanco, even reviving the moribund post of Minister President for his benefit. The most likely arrangement is that Franco´s role will be split, with Juan Carlos becoming a constitutional monarch and Carrero Blanco governing. This agreement has already received tacit support from Berlin, where both Juan Carlos and Carrero Blanco have visited several times already.

Spain´s own military is relatively modest and is mostly concentrated in the south of the country, around Gibraltar, a British territory that it still wishes to reclaim. Some hotheads in the Spanish government hope for a war with the USA because they would finally have the chance to seize the last piece of unredeemed Spanish territory. Spain is also host to very substantial German military forces, who are stationed in the Canary Islands, the Balearics and La Rota, which is one of Germany´s largest overseas naval bases.