France and the Nazi Threat by Jean-Baptiste Duroselle

Author:Jean-Baptiste Duroselle [Duroselle, Jean-Baptiste]
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781936274819
Publisher: Enigma Books
Published: 2015-06-22T04:00:00+00:00

2.

THE BEGINNING OF NON-INTERVENTION IN SPAIN

Léon Blum was unlucky. On July 17, six weeks after forming the Popular Front government, Spain was rocked by a military coup. The friendly regime of the “Frente Popular,” resulting from the February elections, was under attack from Morocco and inside Spain by a military revolt that, customarily, was seeking a rapid seizure of power. For many reasons that we shall not detail here, the coup led by Generals Sanjurjo and Franco became a long civil war lasting almost three years.

Logically, the French Popular Front was inclined to help its Spanish counterpart,50 based on political sympathies, many personal friendships and quite simply international law, which did not forbid delivering arms to a legitimate government. That was Léon Blum’s initial reaction. As early as July 20, following a request from the Spanish government, Léon Blum promised Spain’s chargé d’affaires, that airplanes, guns and ammunition would be delivered. A Franco-Spanish agreement of December 1935 had set aside 20 million francs for such an occurrence. On the 21st Blum informed Delbos, Daladier and Air Minister Pierre Cot. Fernando de Los Rios, a special envoy of the Spanish government, was responsible for drawing up the list of goods to be purchased.

As early as July 22 a few right-wing newspapers discussed French intervention in the war but then limited their comments to arms shipments. They objected, arguing that it would further weaken national defense. Furthermore, would this not encourage Hitler into sending arms to the “nationalists”?

Blum and Delbos, as we know, were in London on July 23 and returned on the evening of the 24th. In London Blum told Pertinax, a journalist at L’Écho de Paris, that he wanted to ship arms to Spain and told Eden as well.

Everything changed on the 24th and 25th. Spanish envoy Fernando de Los Rios took part in a meeting of several ministers at Blum’s private residence. Pierre Cot was in favor of making the shipments. Delbos was against it. He did not want the 25 Potez airplanes promised to Spain to be delivered by French pilots. The council of ministers met on the afternoon of July 25. What decisions did it take?51 François-Poncet reported that in Berlin “it was being implied that should France back Moscow’s side in Spain it would be taking a serious step.”52 The political affairs section of the Quai d’Orsay feared that the fascist countries might be driven into recognizing the rebel government.53 On July 23 Delbos informed Auriol that French customs had to stop war supplies from being shipped into Spain. He informed Herbette,54 the French ambassador to Madrid, of this decision taken at “a cabinet meeting on July 25.” Only civilian airplanes supplied by private industry to the Spanish government would be authorized. On July 30 Blum and Delbos declared to the foreign affairs committee of the Senate that no armaments were being supplied to Spain. Delbos did so again at the Chamber on July 31. They were both congratulated.

Yet the matter came up again on August 1.

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