spain ww2 Essay

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
Candidate Number :

Word Count: 3963

1

Contents
Abstract – Page 3
Introduction – Page 4
Investigation- Page 5
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Structure of investigation - page 6

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Analysis of Sources – page 6

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Analysis – Military – page 7

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Analysis – Economy – page 9

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Analysis – Covert Operations – page 10

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Analysis – Different Interpretation – Page 12

Conclusion – Page 13
Bibliography – Page 14

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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

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