The Potsdam Conference and the Spanish Problem

Abstract

This article examines and analyses the discussion over ‘the Spanish Problem’ taking place between the leaders of the three great Allied powers during the Postdam Conference of July–August 1945. It argues that the approved condemnation of the Franco regime was a bald rhetorical declaration which contained no effective sanctions, be they diplomatic, economic or military. The reference to Spain was the result of a minimal agreement reached with great difficulty after arduous negotiations which resulted in the imposition of a toothless international ostracism. Consequently, aided by the disintegration of the Grand Alliance and its replacement by the Cold War, the Francoist dictatorship cautiously inched its way to post-war survival.