Lokacin da yakin basasa ya barke a Spain, Hitler da Mussolini sun ba da tallafi na soja ga 'yan tawayen Nationalist, wanda Janar Francisco Franco ya jagoranta. Italiya ta goyi bayan Nationalist zuwa mafi girma fiye da National-Socialist: gaba ɗaya Mussolini ya aika zuwa Spain fiye da sojoji na kasa 70,000 da ma'aikatan jirgin sama 6,000, da kuma kimanin jiragen sama 720. Tarayyar Soviet ta goyi bayan gwamnatin da ke gudana, Jamhuriyar Spain. Fiye da masu sa kai na kasashen waje 30,000, da aka sani da Brigades na Duniya, sun yi yaƙi da' yan Nationalist. Jamus da Tarayyar Soviet sun yi amfani da wannan yakin wakili a matsayin damar gwadawa a cikin yaƙi da makamai da dabarun da suka fi dacewa. 'Yan Nationalist sun lashe yakin basasa a watan Afrilu na 1939; Franco, yanzu mai mulkin kama-karya, ya kasance mai tsaka tsaki a lokacin yakin duniya na biyu amma ya fi son Axis.
Franco