Editing Axis powers (section)

===Spain===
{{Main|Spain during World War II}}
[[File:Bundesarchiv Bild 183-L15327, Spanien, Heinrich Himmler bei Franco.jpg|thumb|Front row in order from left to right: [[Karl Wolff]], [[Heinrich Himmler]], [[Francisco Franco]] and Spain's Foreign Minister [[Ramón Serrano Súñer|Serrano Súñer]] in Madrid, October 1940]]
[[File:Franco-Mussolini-Serrano-1941.jpg|thumb|[[Francisco Franco]] (centre) and Serrano Súñer (left) meeting with Mussolini (right) in [[Bordighera]], Italy in 1941. At Bordighera, Franco and Mussolini discussed the creation of a Latin Bloc.<ref name="John Lukacs"/>]]

[[Francisco Franco|''Caudillo'' Francisco Franco's]] [[Spain under Franco|Spanish State]] gave moral, economic, and military assistance to the Axis powers, while nominally maintaining neutrality. Franco described Spain as a member of the Axis and signed the [[Anti-Comintern Pact]] in 1941 with Hitler and Mussolini. Members of the ruling [[Falange Española y de las JONS|Falange]] party in Spain held irredentist designs on [[Gibraltar]].{{sfn|Wylie|2002|p=275}} Falangists also supported Spanish colonial acquisition of the [[Tangier International Zone]], [[French Morocco]] and northwestern [[French Algeria]].{{sfn|Rohr|2007|p=99}} In addition, Spain held ambitions on former [[Spanish America|Spanish colonies in Latin America]].{{sfn|Bowen|2000|p=59}} In June 1940 the Spanish government approached Germany to propose an alliance in exchange for Germany recognizing Spain's territorial aims: the annexation of the [[Oran Province]] of [[Algeria]], the incorporation of all [[Morocco]], the extension of [[Spanish Sahara]] southward to the twentieth parallel, and the incorporation of [[French Cameroons]] into [[Spanish Guinea]].{{sfn|Payne|1987|p=269}} Spain invaded and occupied the Tangier International Zone, maintaining its occupation until 1945.{{sfn|Payne|1987|p=269}} The occupation caused a dispute between Britain and Spain in November 1940; Spain conceded to protect British rights in the area and promised not to fortify the area.{{sfn|Payne|1987|p=269}} The Spanish government secretly held expansionist plans towards Portugal that it made known to the German government. In a communiqué with Germany on 26 May 1942, Franco declared that Portugal should be annexed into Spain.{{sfn|Preston|1994|p=857}}

Franco had previously won the [[Spanish Civil War]] with the help of Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy. Both were eager to establish another fascist state in Europe. Spain owed Germany over $212&nbsp;million<ref>{{cite book|last1=Reginbogin|first1=Herbert|title=Faces of Neutrality: A Comparative Analysis of the Neutrality of Switzerland and other Neutral Nations during WW II|year=2009|publisher=LIT Verlag|page=120|edition=First}}</ref> for supplies of [[matériel]] during the Spanish Civil War, and Italian [[Corpo Truppe Volontarie]] combat troops had actually fought in Spain on the side of Franco's Nationalists.

When Germany invaded the Soviet Union in 1941, Franco immediately offered to form a unit of military volunteers to join the invasion. This was accepted by Hitler and, within two weeks, there were more than enough volunteers to form a division – the [[Blue Division]] (''División Azul'') under General [[Agustín Muñoz Grandes]].

The possibility of Spanish intervention in World War II was of concern to the United States, which investigated the activities of Spain's ruling [[Falange Espanola Tradicionalista y de las JONS]] in [[Latin America]], especially [[Puerto Rico]], where pro-Falange and pro-Franco sentiment was high, even amongst the ruling upper classes.{{sfn|Leonard|Bratzel|2007|p=96}} The Falangists promoted the idea of supporting Spain's former colonies in fighting against American domination.{{sfn|Bowen|2000|p=59}} Prior to the outbreak of war, support for Franco and the Falange was high in the Philippines.{{sfn|Steinberg|2000|p=122}} The [[Falange Exterior]], the international department of the Falange, collaborated with Japanese forces against the [[United States Armed Forces]] and the [[Philippine Commonwealth Army]] in the [[Philippines]] through the [[Philippine Falange]].{{sfn|Payne|1999|p=538}}