Most significantly, the Spanish Civil War was beneficial to Hitler as he was able to improve his relations with Mussolini and gain fascist Italy as an ally. Previously, Mussolini had sided against Hitler as seen in the formation of the Stresa Front with Britain and France in March 1935 in response to Hitler’s reintroduction of conscription and moving troops to the Brenner Pass in retaliation to the murder of Chancellor Dolfuss in 1934. The Spanish Civil War allowed Hitler to work with Mussolini and prompt the Italian leader to the German side. It was successful as in November 1936 during a speech Mussolini announced the “Rome-Berlin Axis” and in 1937 joined the German-Japanese Anti-Comintern Pact.

Hitler was also able to successfully test his new aerial force, the Luftwaffe. After its exit from the World Disarmament Conference and League of Nations in 1933 Germany had been secretly rearming and by 1936 had developed its aerial force directly breaking the clauses of the Treaty of Versailles. The Spanish Civil War allowed Hitler to test the Luftwaffe in events such as the ruthless assault of Guernica in the Basque region of northern Spain and ensure that they were strong enough for a full-scale war in the near future.

Hitler ingeniously realised that  the Spanish Civil War would provide a distraction for Britain and France and would take their focus away from his actions in central Europe. Subsequently, over the duration of the Spanish Civil War, Hitler facilitated the Anschluss and invaded Czechoslovakia without any major retaliation or response from Britain or France.

Many forget about Hitler’s role in the Spanish Civil War and even more so do not question why he got involved in the first place. The Spanish Civil War as a whole contributed to the exponential growth of his power in the 1930s and without it the history of World War 2 may not be what it is today.