LYCOS RETRIEVER 
Franco: Adolf Hitler
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Following the July 18, 1936 pronunciamento, Franco assumed the leadership of the 30,000 soldiers of the Spanish Army of Africa. The first days of the insurgency were marked with a serious need to secure control over the Spanish Moroccan Protectorate. On one side, Franco managed to win the support of the natives and their (nominal) authorities, and, on the other, to ensure his control over the army. This led to the summary execution of some 200 senior officers loyal to the Republic (one of them his own first cousin).[11] Franco's first problem was how to move his troops to the Iberian Peninsula, since most units of the Navy had remained in control of the Republic and were blocking the Strait of Gibraltar. He requested help from Mussolini, who responded with an unconditional offer of arms and planes; Wilhelm Canaris, the head of the Abwehr military intelligence, persuaded Hitler, as well, to support the Nationalists. From July 20 onward he was able, with a small group of 22 mainly German Junkers Ju 52 airplanes, to initiate an air bridge to Seville, where his troops helped to ensure the rebel control of the city.
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From the beginning, Franco assumed a central role in the uprising. When it became apparent toward the end of July that the Spanish navy, which remained loyal to the government, would not transport his troops across the Strait of Gibraltar to the Spanish mainland, Franco enlisted the support of fascist Italy and Nazi Germany. German dictator Adolf Hitler and Italian dictator Benito Mussolini supplied transport planes that were used to airlift the troops to the mainland. By taking this initiative, Franco not only placed himself at the forefront of the rebellion but he ... irrevocably widened the dimensions of Spain's civil war. In addition, General José Sanjurjo, whom the chief conspirators had designated as their leader, died in an airplane crash in late July. His death, as well as a series of swift and resounding military triumphs led by Franco (particularly the taking of the Alcázar fortress in Toledo), opened the way for Franco’s rise as leader of the rebel movement.
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Franco now cherished hopes of rebuilding the Spanish empire. During World War II, he pinned his hopes on an Axis victory, offering in June 1940 to fight at Hitler's side. Initially, the Führer was not interested. On October 23, 1940, Franco met Hitler at Hendaye near the Franco-Spanish border. Hitler was not prepared to feed and arm Spain, or to give Franco a North African empire. British and American supplies of food and fuel kept him neutral, although he did substantial service for Hitler by providing submarine refuelling bases, reconnaissance facilities, and strategic raw materials.
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Franco's tactics received important support from Hitler and Mussolini during the civil war. He remained emphatically neutral in the Second World War, but nonetheless offered various kinds of support to Italy and Germany. He allowed Spanish soldiers to volunteer to fight in the German Army against Stalin (the Blue Division), but forbade Spaniards to fight in the West against the liberal democracies. Franco's common ground with Hitler was particularly weakened by Hitler's propagation of a pseudo-pagan mysticism and his attempts to manipulate Christianity, which went against Franco's deep commitment to defending Christianity and Catholicism.
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Franco's main demand was that Germany had to fully compensate Spain for the cost of any British blockade of the country. Hitler was in no position to take on this burden and the negotiations came to an end. However, Franco did agree to provide logistical and intelligence support and promised to send a volunteer force, the Spanish Blue Division, to help the fight against communism in Europe.
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Franco's legacy is still controversial. While his followers remember him as a strong leader who pacified and stabilized Spain, others remember him as a harsh dictator. Issues surrounding his controversial legacy include whether the Second Spanish Republic he overthrew had become an unstable regime, the nature of the relationship between his politics and those of contemporaries Hitler and Mussolini, the repressive policies adopted in cultural and regionalist domains (such as Catalonia and The Basque Country), state centralization, the nationalist and corporatist ideology of the Movimiento Nacional, and the execution of thousands of military and political opponents during the civil war and many years after.
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