Spain late '38: 3 '39: 3 '40: 2 '41: 1 '42+: 4 With a fascist dictator who owes his position to Italy and Germany, Spain would seem ripe to be an Axis ally. After the fall of France, Franco might have been persuaded to join the war had he been pressed to do so. As it was, Spain provided a division of troops who served in Russia. Had the Germans or Italians pressed the issue to the point of sending troops into Spain, it would seem very unlikely that Franco would have fought them. This would have added to the German Atlantic vulnerabilities, while offering the possibility of closing entry to the Mediterranean to the British. This expansion of involvement in the West was not what Hitler wanted in late 1940, and the possibility passed. With the entry of the US into the war, Spain would be very unlikely to join the axis, though still might not fight if invaded by them. Presumably the Spanish would resist attack by the Allies. Portugal Portugal is inclined toward the Allies, but can be treated as a passive neutral. Adding Politics to Your WWII Game A Model Introduction Poland Great Britain France, Belgium, Holland Italy USSR USA Spain and Portugal Hungary and Romainia Yugoslavia and Bulgaria Greece and Turkey Finland Norway, Sweden, and Denmark Political Event Table Treaties Back to Table of Contents -- Against the Odds vol. 1 no. 2 Back to Against the Odds List of Issues Back to MagWeb Magazine List © Copyright 2003 by LPS. This article appears in MagWeb.com (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web. Other articles from military history and related magazines are available at http://www.magweb.com * Buy this back issue or subscribe to Against the Odds direct from LPS.