Hitler and Franco meet at Hendaye to discuss Axis alliance

In September 1940, Adolf Hitler and Francisco Franco met at the Hendaye railway station near the French border for the ‘Hendaye Interview’. The meeting, attended by foreign ministers Joachim von Ribbentrop and Ramón Serrano Suñer, aimed to negotiate Spain's participation in World War II on the side of the Axis powers.

Following the Spanish Civil War, Germany had provided significant military support to Franco's regime, including the Condor Legion. Hitler sought to leverage this assistance to secure Spanish involvement in the conflict. However, despite the pro-Nazi stance of Serrano Suñer, Franco concluded the meeting without signing any firm agreements, beyond the eventual dispatch of the ‘Blue Division’ volunteers.

The meeting highlighted the tension between the two leaders; Hitler viewed Franco as an incapable ruler, and the relationship remained characterized by mutual distrust. While Spain moved from neutrality to a non-belligerent status, Franco's imperial aspirations and the country's precarious post-war state served as obstacles to a full military commitment to the Axis.