Did Spain face any kind of retribution from the US or Western Europe for their role in WW2 as a German ally?

by RoboCastro1959

Did they face any sort of punishment, or pressure to become a democracy? Or was Franco seen as a loyal cold war ally?

drozweego

I wouldn't possibly be able to develop my answer to the depth and length I would like, but I believe no.

Portugal and Spain remained neutral during the war—there was a union formed between both countries for this purpose. Countries remain neutral by either showing no support for the parties involved or equally supporting them.

These two countries had a long history with political alliances—for Portugal it was the UK (and US by extension) and for Franco's Spain it was Nazi Germany—and complete apathy was never expected, so they provided all parties involved with much-needed supplies (preservatives, warfare, raw materials, etc) and did so from very early on until a two or three years before the end of the war when their respective alliances started to pressure them into not providing to the other side anymore. Portugal was pressured by the UK to stop selling tungsten to Germany and Spain was pressured by Germany to pay back their efforts during the Spanish Civil War. Both countries complied.

Portugal's case was a little better than Spain because Portugal signed up with the UK, but they both "violated" their neutrality policies. I am not sure if Spain did indeed ever participate directly in the war (sending troops is what I mean), but Portugal did indeed stop selling tungsten to Germany around 1942-43 but never stopped suppling the UK.

After the war, the US was the least "physically" affected of all countries involved due to its geographical location and saw the opportunity to expand its influence in Europe with the Marshall Plan—designed, at first, to provide the funds to restore continental economy, and later extended to all countries who could benefit from it. Also, the US feared that after the war, Europe's believe in capitalism and right-wing government would halt and countries would slowly turn to communism, which, conversely, would mean victory for the URSS over Europe. Portugal and Spain were, then, seen as great allies in fighting the "red demon", so the US subsidized them in many ways and, for this, the lives of these two fascist regimes were extended until the 1974 and 75, respectively.

I am not so sure about Spain, but Portugal gave into the idea of having a "democratic" election (after many decades without one) that was a complete show, much like what happened in South America. There was some sort of "pressure", it is true, but the US knew democracy would ultimately mean the election of a left-wing government (as so happened after the fall of both regimes), so there was never this big investment towards democratisation. It was better to keep the authoritarian fascist states and have them under the US' influence than to lose them completely to their nemesis.