Spain, on the other hand, was both willing and able to challenge totalitarianism, crushing the Communists and anarchists who had been Sovietizing the country and murdering Catholics by firing squad for several years.
Franco was such a brilliant tactician that he beat the Soviets and their surrogates, helped by air support from the Nazis. But he stiffed Hitler when Der Fooey asked to use Spain as a base of intelligence operations. And then he helped Jews escape the Nazis.
Does Prof. Hanson really believe that the outcome of the Spanish Civil War was a victory for totalitarianism? It was a victory against it.
But also the time during the period of Franco in Spain was also a dictatorship, if my memory is correct.
Wasn’t there a movie titled “Eleni” that portrayed the Spanish Civil War. If I recall correctly, the commies were actually shown as the bad guys.