> Had Franco lost, the communists would have taken Spain. Then Hitler would have rolled in after France fell. And that would have prolonged WWII by another year... <
Maybe more. As you noted, Hitler probably would have invaded Spain. And then he would have taken Gibraltar as well. That would have closed the Mediterranean to the Allies.
Franco’s maneuvering to stay neutral during WW II was quite impressive. Hitler even met with Franco once to try to convince him to join the Axis. Franco dodged and weaved. Hitler later remarked that he’d rather have three or four teeth pulled then talk with Franco again.
Side note: Franco was warned by his friend German admiral Wilhelm Canaris that Germany was going to lose the war. So did Franco stay neutral because he knew Hitler was a bad guy, or did he just not want to be on the losing side?
> So did Franco stay neutral because he knew Hitler was a bad guy, or did he just not want to be on the losing side?
Spain stayed out because they had just gotten out of an exhausting and divisive civil war where about 3%-5% of the population died. There was still lots of internal dissent. Also, much of their food came from the United States with Germany having nothing significant to spare - that includes oil. They were exhausted and could be useful to the axis in other ways, like evading the British blockade.