Spanish Civil War

[akatung]

Hi everyone,

I'm wondering what do people from other countries think about the influence that the Spanish Civil War can have on the game. I don´t even know how much is known about this war in your countries or if it is considered an important event. Do you plan to intervene when playing as european countries? Do you wish to play some game as Spain and change the history/follow it? Will you kick UK out of Gibraltar (please)?

Also, I would like to say that if a DLC comes out with a unique National Focus tree for Spain I'll throw my money to Paradox without hesitation. I know Spain lost his major status a long time before WW2, but I like to think someone is interested on us.

 

[kviiri]

I live in Finland and I guess most people are aware that there was a Spanish civil war, but that's about it. They know a bit more of the Franco regime itself than the war that brought it to power, thanks to some works of pop culture that touch on the oppressive regime of the period (Cuéntame cómo pasó and to less extent, Pan's Labyrinth).

Gameplay-wise, I think Spain could be among the more significant of minors, and whichever side they might join will be greatly influenced by the winner of the civil war. I'd guess majors will be sending a lot of leased equipment to their favored side to help them win, and then possibly try to ally them for a bit of additional oomph in Western Europe and Mediterranean.

 

[ThatLittleLegen]

It really depends on who I am playing
If I were Germany I would support the nationalists and invite them to my faction
However if I were Italy I may take advantage of the civil war and try to take some land
If there was a stalemate on the newly extended magnoit line as France, Spain may be a useful pace to gain power while europe is in deadlock
If i were to play Spain I think the Republicans would b fun to play and then join the Comintern
As UK i would hold my ground on Gibralter but that is about it

In terms of dlc I dont think Spainish exclusive dlc would be great but i do think sub-major nations should get national focus trees

 

[kviiri]

I will refrain from commenting on sub-major focus trees before I've seen the minor nation focus tree, it might be fun anyway afterall.

 

[chemonaut]

In the US the Spanish Civil War is seen as any other war we were not involved in, not that important to us. If not for Whom the Bell Tolls many more of those from the US would be scratching their heads as to what the war was. The war happens early in the game, so it is tough to declare war against countries still. Lobbing units in is great for experience, and it appears that everyone who can would place as many into the fray as they are allowed. That most likely will be sent to the Nationalist side since their sympathizers have the ability to send expeditionary forces and the democracies don't seem to.

 

[Victor Cortez]

When I was a kid pretty much anyone in their family had a by the dead relative who had emigrated to either North or South America and one who had fought in WW2. More rare but still happening was someone who 'had fought in Spain'.

I had all of them.

In any case, the Spanish civil war is probably best known for Guernica (the painting, not the pueblo) and for Franco.


In game it seems the SCW will be a field day for the axis unless the Ussr decides to make a huge commitment.

 

[leviathan172]

If I remember right, in the last WW Wednesday they said that fascist countries can declare on any country they want, whenever they want. So I may take advantage of the civil war to get a staging point to quickly take Gibraltar as Italy.

 

[Caesar15]

When I was a kid pretty much anyone in their family had a by the dead relative who had emigrated to either North or South America and one who had fought in WW2. More rare but still happening was someone who 'had fought in Spain'.

I had all of them.

In any case, the Spanish civil war is probably best known for Guernica (the painting, not the pueblo) and for Franco.


In game it seems the SCW will be a field day for the axis unless the Ussr decides to make a huge commitment.

What country do you live in?

 

[akatung]

I live in Finland and I guess most people are aware that there was a Spanish civil war, but that's about it. They know a bit more of the Franco regime itself than the war that brought it to power, thanks to some works of pop culture that touch on the oppressive regime of the period (Cuéntame cómo pasó and to less extent, Pan's Labyrinth).

It's funny to know you watch "Cuéntame" in Finland... never thought that could be possible!

In terms of dlc I dont think Spainish exclusive dlc would be great but i do think sub-major nations should get national focus trees

Yeah I was thinking about a more generic DLC, not only about Spain. I doubt they would develop it.

I forgot to mention that I want to see who aligns with the republican side in the game, the Allies or the Comintern. It's clear that the nationalists have more in common with the Axis, but here we got a debate about if the republicans were more a communist or a democratic group. The USSR helped them much more than UK and France, but who knows what could happen if Franco had lost. For anyone who wants to know, nowadays in Spain the word republican is almost synonym for socialist/communist, since the only people who don´t support the current constitutional monarchy are usually pretty left-wing.

 

[kviiri]

It's funny to know you watch "Cuéntame" in Finland... never thought that could be possible!

Oh yeah, IIRC our national broadcast company started airing the show once they ran out of "Los Serrano" to air and I guess they thought they could capture the fanbase with another Spanish show. The Finnish title even references the Franco regime by the way, it translates roughly to "Franco's reign: Our experiences". They should've just translated the original - they had to change the title when Franco died in the series, hah!

/me moves back on topic

I wonder how Allied Republican Spain would fare against a historically aggressive Germany, I guess Franco's defeat in the Civil war could spark a quite different alternative history. Fortified Pyrenees could perhaps serve as a second Maginot line behind which the Allied forces could rally before striking against occupied French lands. Or then Hitler might try to remove the threat pre-emptively...

 

[Victor Cortez]

What country do you live in?

I'm Italian but I live in Spain.

I wonder how Allied Republican Spain would fare against a historically aggressive Germany, I guess Franco's defeat in the Civil war could spark a quite different alternative history. Fortified Pyrenees could perhaps serve as a second Maginot line behind which the Allied forces could rally before striking against occupied French lands. Or then Hitler might try to remove the threat pre-emptively...

Well actually pretty much anything would be more interesting of what happened in real life.
Either an allied or axis Spain would be more fun than the actual neutral.

 

[RogalDorn]

If I remember right, in the last WW Wednesday they said that fascist countries can declare on any country they want, whenever they want. So I may take advantage of the civil war to get a staging point to quickly take Gibraltar as Italy.

An Italian invasion of southern Spain or perhaps Barcelona would be interesting. I wonder if 1936 would give enough time for world tensions to drop back to normal levels before AH panics the Allies. I actually think a great idea would be to seize Mallorca and try to fortify them or build naval facilities there. Italy has such poor experience with naval invasions that it might be a bit of a hot mess...

 

[Peter Wass]

If I remember right, in the last WW Wednesday they said that fascist countries can declare on any country they want, whenever they want. So I may take advantage of the civil war to get a staging point to quickly take Gibraltar as Italy.

I think it is that Fascist countries can declare war at will If they are at war. If the Italians were still fighting in Abyssinia then that should work, but otherwise it might not. Either way, I imagine world tension would shoot up, helping the democracies.

 

[leviathan172]

I think it is that Fascist countries can declare war at will If they are at war. If the Italians were still fighting in Abyssinia then that should work, but otherwise it might not. Either way, I imagine world tension would shoot up, helping the democracies.

True, but having control of the Mediterranean may be worth that jump in world tension, depends on just how much of a jump it is I suppose which will probably be changing constantly before release.

 

[Kazansky22]

Well I'm not a "higher" educated American, and I can say in high school we learned zero about the Spanish civil war. But since then just through video games and playing online with Spanish guys I have learned a little bit through idle conversation.

But it pretty much boils down to it lasted a long time, lots of very bad things happened that we're not allowed to talk about on this forum. Volunteers and equipment were sent by various parties. And I was told that events of the Spanish civil war impacted Spain's economic situation very badly.

 

[teamgene]

Hi everyone,

I'm wondering what do people from other countries think about the influence that the Spanish Civil War can have on the game. I don´t even know how much is known about this war in your countries or if it is considered an important event. Do you plan to intervene when playing as european countries? Do you wish to play some game as Spain and change the history/follow it? Will you kick UK out of Gibraltar (please)?

Also, I would like to say that if a DLC comes out with a unique National Focus tree for Spain I'll throw my money to Paradox without hesitation. I know Spain lost his major status a long time before WW2, but I like to think someone is interested on us.

I think I have played Spain at least once in each of the Hearts of Iron games both as Republic and Nationalist.

 

[Caesar15]

Well I'm not a "higher" educated American, and I can say in high school we learned zero about the Spanish civil war. But since then just through video games and playing online with Spanish guys I have learned a little bit through idle conversation.

And I can say that we learned slightly more than zero for me.

 

[Cinigs]

Hi everyone,

I'm wondering what do people from other countries think about the influence that the Spanish Civil War can have on the game. I don´t even know how much is known about this war in your countries or if it is considered an important event. Do you plan to intervene when playing as european countries? Do you wish to play some game as Spain and change the history/follow it? Will you kick UK out of Gibraltar (please)?

Also, I would like to say that if a DLC comes out with a unique National Focus tree for Spain I'll throw my money to Paradox without hesitation. I know Spain lost his major status a long time before WW2, but I like to think someone is interested on us.

They will probably update every country to have unique focus tree but it will take a while after release. At least that's what they did in EU4. Also I would never heard of the Spanish Civil War if it was for HoI3. (My grandfather once mention it this summer but I played HoI3 before that.) My AP World History textbook has no mention of it. We might discuss it in AP European History which I'll take as a senior. From a game play perspective it serves as a good place to get exp before the WW2 starts. However the out come wouldn't have a huge effect because Spain wasn't that strong at the time and remain neutral.

 

[No idea]

The SCW is seen as a prologue to the Second World War, as it was the first "engagement" between the two ideologies that would clash during WW II: fascism and communism. As such, it has gotten a lot of attention (more than it deserves nowadays, imho) by historians. Forces of Italy, Germany, the SU and international volunteers fought there. On its times, it was already seen as it is seen today: a clash between ideologies (although it doesnt started that way: it was simply a coup that was just partially succesful. The ideologies came into play later)

Regarding DLC stuff, I am not sure what kind of DLC the OP might be thinking about.

 

[paranoidsteve]

it is very common for me in HOI games as allies to push republican Spain into the axis. I have found it to be the soft underbelly of europe and a lot easier to capture then the Balkans.