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, because the allies would have had to fight through Spain as well as France.
By then, what weapons might Germany have developed?
> 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?
I kind of think otherwise. Germans had not yet taken large areas of France. They would have needed to cross the Pyrrenees which would have made them less mobile when they reached the plains. It is also likely the Republicans would have entered the war on the Allied side just to defend their recent victory. Stalin would have found a way to support them as th he longer the war in the west went on, the better for him. Churchill would have dealt with the devil against Hitler so there would have been support from the Brits. Cool idea though. Something Harry Turtledove could flesh out