Hitler was furious that Franco wouldn’t join the Axis; Franco shared none of Hitler’s racial views and wasn’t an enemy of the Western allies. He asked them for assistance in the Spanish Civil War because the Western democracies stood by while Spain underwent a violent communist revolution; the fact that they alone assisted him speaks volumes.
Much of Europe (particularly in eastern Europe) saw right-wing governments supported by their populations to fight off communist unrest; it brought Hitler and Mussolini to power as well. After the brief assistance to the Whites in Russia’s civil war in the early 1920s, the Western democracies did nothing to stop the spread of communism throughout Europe. When nothing was done to aid Spain or later Finland, Europeans realized they’d have to deal with communism alone. Salazar in Portugal shared many similarities with Franco (and provided invaluable assistance to him), yet I never hear him referred to as a Nazi.
Nor did I intend to call Franco a Nazi.
I used the generic term national socialist as equivalent to fascist in their economic policies.
Those were people who supported Franco in Spain's civil war and who Spain supported (i.e., the Eastern Front) during WWII.
kearnyirish2: "the Western democracies stood by while Spain underwent a violent communist revolution;"
Agreed -- without doubt the Western democracies (France, Britain, USA) stood by and watched throughout the 1930s while Spain suffered a proxy war between fascist/national socialists (Italy, Germany) versus international socialists (USSR).
They also watched Italy invade Ethiopia and Japan invade China, doing nothing beyond speeches at the League of Nations.
One result of their inaction was the bloodiest world war in history.