The importance of the Spanish civil war

Well if anyone still looks at this site some points:

The US did not help either side since it was following a policy of isolation. At the time the US Army was outclassed by Bulgaria (or some such state, #16 in the world or so). Many Americans (leftist leaning) were sympathic to the Loyalist cause and some fought for them. This was illegal under US laws, but I know of no legal action being taken.

Ernest Hemminway (American author of "The Sun Also Rises", "For Whom The Bells Toll") fought for the Loyalists, as did Errol Flynn (claimed in his autobiography, "My Wicked, Wicked Ways" ---American-Australian actor),and Eric Blair (British, George Orwell author of "1984", "Animal Farm", other works). These people had interesting things to say about the war. Frank Capra (American film director) photographed the Loyalists. To me Blair was the most interesting.

He disliked Hemmingway. Blair was a common soldier and was on a quiet sector of the lines at a time when Hemmingway appeared, driven up in a staff car. He went over to the trench and fired a machine gun at the opposite Nationalist troops and then left. He broke an 'understood' truce and nasty snipping followed. Blair was a socialist and hated the communists. His "1984" and "Animal Farm" are often mistaken as anti-fascist, but really were directed as condemnation of Stalin's USSR. He was a socialist that clearly did not support dictatorial states. He also disliked the way the communists controlled the supplies sent to the front, usually going to communist units without regard to need.

At the end of WW2 US President Harry Truman saw a film of some of Franco's troops and exclaimed words to the effect of, 'Those bastards are doing the goosestep' andd their was no US-Franco relationship until he left office.

Spain was neutral in WW2, not by accident. Franco was clever enough to question Hitler's chances against Britain. Canaris opposed Hitler right from the start (he'd been a friend of Beck). Did he help sway Franco? Who knows? Hitler could not occupy Spain: just so much more coastline to try and defend. Britain would not need an invite to land somewhere. As for the British, did they need an enemy there? Also Franco was religious leaning, not a good match with Hitler.

Send oil from Iraq through Turkey? Into Yugoslavia? Not even Hitler would try that. We can start talking Partisans, Croats, Chetniks... Oh my. Also, the US was a major source for oil in WW2. Middle East oil could be cut off from the British without much effect. (BTW - US today is still a major exporter of oil. Odd)
In 1940 the German Army moved quite a bit by horse and wagons, how'd they move that Eastern oil? And wait until 1942 to attck the USSR, after Stalin had his chance to re-build the disrupted Red Army? Not a good idea.

BTW- Spain produced one of my favorite heroes of the war, Juan Pujol Garcia, aka "Garbo".