European Update-Spanish Civil War Ends, Italy Invades Albania

Two items which perhaps deserved their own chronological entries. Ah well, real life sometimes intervenes. On March 28, 1939, Francisco Franco’s Nationalist forces entered Madrid effectively ending the Spanish Civil War. Shortly thereafter Spain signed the anti-Comintern Pact thus aligning with Germany, Italy and Japan. Franco, having come to power with considerable military and economic aid from Germany and Italy, feels the need to stay aligned with them if only because Spain is economically and militarily weak and Franco’s power is new and unconsolidated in a world full of enemies.

Franco also feels the need to serve Spain’s nationalist agenda as well as his own. How much this departs from Hitler’s and Mussolini’s idea of Fascist solidarity and anti-communist crusade remains to be seen. While outwardly just another uniformed Fascist dictator, Franco is a real general and wears the uniform of his army, has good relations with the Catholic church and departs in a number of other ways from the agenda of Hitler’s Germany. Still, the possible entry of Spain into a future European war on the side of the axis powers will present serious problems for and call for extensive countermeasures by the western allies.

On April 7, 1939 Italy invaded Albania thus pursuing its own continued pattern of aggression in the shadow of its more powerful German ally.  After four days of ineffectual Albanian resistance, Italy completed its occupation of the country. Shortly thereafter, Albania’s King Zog having fled the country for Greece and ultimately Britain, the  now Italian controlled Albanian parliament named the King of Italy, Victor Emanuelle III, King of Albania as well.