Franco and Hitler : Spain , Germany , and World War II - Tapa dura

"Franco and Hitler is the crowning achievement of Payne's work which includes an impressive number of studies of Spain 1931-1945, a complex subject matter of which he is now the outstanding non-Spanish historian."-John Lukacs Franco and Hitler is the crowning achievement of Paynes work which includes an impressive number of studies of Spain 1931-1945, a complex subject matter of which he is now the outstanding non-Spanish historian.John Lukacs -- John Lukacs "An excellent account of the Franco government during World War II and its relationship with Hitler s Germany. It deserves praise because it tells in a clear and engaging fashion a very compelling story. As a study of Franco's relationship with Hitler, Payne's work is simply unmatched." Geoffrey Jensen, author of "Franco: Soldier, Commander, Dictator"--Geoffrey Jensen" "Franco and Hitler shatters many myths, especially those fostered by the Franco regime, concerning Spain's role in the conflict. It is compelling, iconoclastic, and insightful." Michael Seidman, author of "Republic of Egos: A Social History of the Spanish Civil War" --Michael Seidman" "Franco and Hitler" is the crowning achievement of Payne s work which includes an impressive number of studies of Spain 1931-1945, a complex subject matter of which he is now the outstanding non-Spanish historian. John Lukacs --John Lukacs" "Stanley Payne has written an excellent study of the relations between Franco and his regime and the Germans during the years of the civil and world wars. Much of what he writes has been known in outline for a long time. But Payne has brought together the result of the latest research on this thorny topic to our great benefit, in a fascinating book." Hugh Thomas --Hugh Thomas" Stanley Payne is recognized as the most serious and informed foreign historian of modern Spain in a whole range of areas. Here he deals with a subject of considerable debate and makes a major contribution to European and Spanish history. Juan Linz, Yale University --Juan Linz" "Stanley Payne is recognized as the most serious and informed foreign historian of modern Spain in a whole range of areas. Here he deals with a subject of considerable debate and makes a major contribution to European and Spanish history."--Juan Linz, Yale University --Juan Linz ""Franco and Hitler" is the crowning achievement of Payne's work which includes an impressive number of studies of Spain 1931-1945, a complex subject matter of which he is now the outstanding non-Spanish historian."--John Lukacs --John Lukacs

This is the first book in any language to answer these intriguing questions. Stanley Payne, a leading historian of modern Spain, explores the full range of Franco's relationship with Hitler, from 1936 to the fall of the Reich in 1945. But as Payne brilliantly shows, relations between these two dictators were not only a matter of realpolitik. These two titanic egos engaged in an extraordinary tragi-comic drama often verging on the dark absurdity of a Beckett or Ionesco play. While Payne investigates the evolving relationship of the two regimes up to the conclusion of World War II, his principal concern is the enigma of Spain's unique position during the Second World War, as a fascist country struggling to maintain a tortured neutrality. Why Spain did not enter the war as a German ally, joining with Hitler to seize Gibraltar and close the Mediterranean to the British navy, is at the centre of Payne's narrative. Franco's only personal meeting with Hitler in 1940 to discuss precisely this is recounted here in groundbreaking detail that also sheds significant new light on the Spanish government's vacillating policy toward Jewish refugees, the Holocaust, and Spain's German connection throughout the duration of the war.