Banco de dados da Segunda Guerra Mundial (WW2DB)

Contributor: C. Peter Chen

ww2dbaseOn 23 Oct 1940, German leader Adolf Hitler and Foreign Minister Joachim von Ribbentrop hosted a brief meeting with Spanish leader Francisco Franco and Foreign Minister Ramón Serrano Súñer at the train station Hendaye, France, a town near the Franco-Spanish border. Although Franco had been cautious in officially aligning with Germany, he raised the request that, if Germany could offer Spain Gibraltar, Oran, Morocco, Guinea, and possibly the French county of Roussillon, Spain would entertain allying with Germany. In return, Spain expressed the possibility of offering one of the Canary Islands to Germany to build a naval base. Hitler and his party arrived at the station at 1520 hours, and Franco and his party arrived shortly after. The meeting was held in a railroad lounge car. Ultimately, Franco's territorial demands (which Hitler could not offer because much of it was to be carved out of France, which was under German influence) and potential display of favoritism undermining Italy (a German ally) caused the negotiations to fail.

Meeting at Hendaye Interactive Map

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Meeting at Hendaye Timeline

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