The telegram that saved Franco: London, Washington and the matter of the Regime (1942-1945)

Abstract

General Franco's dictatorship lasted for four decades, largely thanks to the foreign strategy of ambiguous policies and a simulation of diplomatic equidistance. The main objective of this research project is to shed light on the complex set of crossed policies that the Spanish government deployed in the context of the Second World War, with respect to the Axis powers and the Allied countries. The author's methodological approach establishes a framework for reviewing the main qualitative results in this matter, as well as proposing a synthesis of the main lines of research on diplomatic, institutional, military, commercial and ideological actions. As a result, it is observed that the conjunctural circumstances of the war, the differences in diplomatic criteria between Washington and London and the withdrawn political-military position of Madrid made it possible for the dictatorship to last over time. The time frame is very limited, but long enough to develop a highly specialized analysis structure. The value of this author´s work resides in the number of primary sources surveyed and in the inclusion of the different strategic approaches to the “Spanish question.” Despite the fact that this is a very common theme in the history of Spanish relations, it presents many new elements and the conclusions are quite far from the official interpretations of Spanish nationalism.