Bérard-Jordana Agreement
The Bérard-Jordana Agreement (French: Accords Bérard-Jordana, Spanish: Acuerdo Bérard-Jordana), also called Berard-Jordan Agreement in English, was a political treaty signed by France and Spain in Burgos on 25 February 1939. Its name is based on the two principal signatories, Léon Bérard for France and General Jordana for Spain.[1]
| Drafted | 5–23 February 1939 |
|---|---|
| Signed | 25 February 1939 |
| Location | Burgos, Francoist Spain |
| Effective | 27 February 1939 |
| Signatories | |
| Parties |
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Background
The Spanish Civil War that had begun between the left-leaning Republicans (or "Loyalists") and the right-leaning Nationalists on 17 July 1936 had by January 1939 decisively turned in favor of the Nationalist side, with major Republican defeats at the Battle of the Ebro in November 1938 and the Catalonia Offensive of 1938–1939 and the fall of Barcelona.[2] In the meantime, Germany advanced its foreign policy goals on France's other flank, achieving the Remilitarization of the Rhineland and the Anti-Comintern Pact in 1936, and the Anschluss of Austria and the Munich Agreement in 1938. The Spanish Nationalists, who accepted German and Fascist Italian assistance against the Republicans, did not desire to be drawn into a potential conflict between Germany and France, and signalled to the unofficial French envoys to the Nationalist leadership that they would maintain strict neutrality in Germany's expansionist designs.[3]
The left-leaning French government of Léon Blum, which had tentatively supported the Republicans, was now faced with more than 400,000 refugees that attempted to escape the Nationalist advance and crossed the border into France, as well as with the diplomatic prospect of Spain being ruled by Francisco Franco, who was diplomatically aligned with France's rivals, Germany and Italy. As a result, the French government was forced to clarify its relationship with Francoist Spain to both deal with the refugee crisis and to prevent a Spanish military alliance with Germany and Italy which might be aimed against France. The new Francoist government in Spain on the other hand desired to maximize its own political and diplomatic legitimacy by normalizing the relations with France and the United Kingdom as soon as possible. The Spanish leadership was willing to grant France's request to prevent permanent German and Italian troop presence in Spain, which the Francoists had not intended to allow anyway, but in return demanded that France deliver all goods of the Spanish Republic currently in France, including art collections, financial assets and military equipment.[4]
Meetings took place between the French senator Léon Bérard and General Jordana, Franco's leading advisor on foreign policy and later foreign minister, in February 1939. The first meeting started on 5 February, the second one on 18 February,[5] and the final convention, at the end of which the treaty was signed between Bérard and Jordana, started on 23 February. France accepted almost all of Spain's demands for the diplomatic relationship and was unable to secure any major concessions from the Spanish in return. The agreement was signed on 25 February 1939. It remained secret until two days later, when the French government publicized it on 27 February.[4]
The French legislature had held the vote to confirm the recognition of Franco on 24 February, voting in favor of Édouard Daladier's desire to normalize relations with the new Spanish regime with a margin of 323 to 261.[3]
Content
The agreement contained a political declaration, a declaration of good neighborly relations, and a declaration on the Spanish assets in France. Furthermore, Jordana gave verbal assurances on the refugee situation in France.[6]
Political Declaration
The French government recognized the Franco government as the legitimate government of Spain. Spain and France affirmed that they would practice cooperation in Morocco.[lower-alpha 1]
Declaration of good neighborly relations
The two governments agreed to undertake every necessary measure to closely supervise any activity directed against the tranquility and security of the other party. The French government promised to take specific measurements to prevent subversive activities of Spanish nationals in France direct against Spain.
Verbal assurances by General Jordana regarding the refugee question
The Spanish government declared its willingness to receive all refugees, without distinction between men, women and children, that had gone to France. However, the Spanish government reserved itself the right to prosecute in Spanish courts any of the refugees for any crimes they might have committed.
Declaration on the Spanish assets in France
The French government promised to return to Spain Spanish property of the following types:
- Gold deposited as a pledge of a loan to the Banque de France at Mont-de-Marsan.
- Weapons and war material of all kinds belonging to or intended for the Republicans.
- Livestock of all kinds entered from Spain into France against the will of the legitimate proprietors.
- All the merchant or fishing fleet registered in Spain.
- All Spanish artistic heritage exported since 18 July 1936, against the will of the legitimate owners or possessors.
- The deposits of gold, jewels, and precious stones, currency, banknotes, currency, securities, securities, stocks, bonds, etc., belonging to the Spanish State and exported since July 18th, 1936, against the will of their legitimate owners or owners.
- All vehicles without distinction of nature or owner, registered in Spain and diverted by export in France to the detriment of their legitimate owners.
Aftermath
The French and British governments recognized Franco's leadership of Spain on 27 February 1939. Philippe Pétain, who later became the leader of the collaborationist Vichy regime in France, became French ambassador in Burgos on 2 March. He would oversee the repatriation of the Republican gold reserves and the paintings of the Museo del Prado from France to Spain.[4] The Spanish Civil War ended on 1 April 1939 in Nationalist victory. Franco, who abstained from intervention in World War II, would remain Spain's caudillo until his death in 1975.[7] Following the British and French recognitions of the Franco government, the government of the United States followed suit on 7 April 1939.[1]
Spain continued its policy of diplomatic ambivalence between the western democracies and the European fascists, and joined the Anti-Comintern Pact, initially formed by Germany and the Japanese Empire in November 1936, on 27 March 1939.[8] Spain was however appalled by the German cooperation with the Soviet Union under the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact of August 1939,[9] as the USSR was formerly a supporter of the Spanish Republicans during the Spanish Civil War against Franco.[10] Subsequently, the Spanish government abstained from participation in World War II on either side and denied the German aims for an Axis attack on British Gibraltar under the German military's proposed Operation Felix, although it allowed Spanish volunteers to fight in the German Wehrmacht as part of the 250th Infantry "Blue" Division.[11][12] The entry of Spain into the Anti-Comintern Pact resulted in a Spanish buildup against the western democracies, including in colonial Morocco,[13] which directly went against the terms of the Bérard-Jordana Agreement, in which France and Spain promised each other to maintain good neighborly relations and to act cooperatively in the two countries' Moroccan colonies.[6]
Notes
- The promise of cooperation in Morocco was promptly undermined by a Spanish military buildup in Spanish Morocco that came in the aftermath of the Spanish entry into the Anti-Comintern Pact on 27 March 1939, see Stone 1989, p. 221.
References
- Osmanczyk, Edmund J. (1990) [1985]. "Berard-Jordan Agreement, 1939". The Encyclopedia of The United Nations and International Relations (2nd ed.). Bristol: Taylor and Francis. pp. 92. ISBN 0850668336.
- Beevor, Antony (2006). "PART SIX: The Route to Disaster". The Battle for Spain: The Spanish Civil War 1936-1939. Ocito Ltd. ISBN 1429512016.
- Duroselle, Jean-Baptiste (2004). "Chapter XIII: The Failure of the Grand Alliance (March-August 1939)". France and the Nazi Threat: The Collapse of French Diplomacy 1932-1939. Enigma Books. ISBN 1929631154.
- Catala, Michel (1997). "L'ambassade de Pétain (mars 1939 - mai 1940)". Vintième Siècle. Revue d'Histoire (in French). 55 (55): 29–42. doi:10.2307/3770543. JSTOR 3770543.
- "Berard está satisfecho de su segunda misión a Burgos". El Tiempo (in Spanish). 20 February 1939. Retrieved 24 Oct 2019.
- – via Wikisource.
- Payne, Stanley G. (2008). Franco and Hitler: Spain, Hitler and World War II. ISBN 9780300122824.
- Osmanczyk, Edmund J. (1990) [1985]. "Anti-Comintern Pact, 1936". The Encyclopedia of The United Nations and International Relations (2nd ed.). Bristol: Taylor and Francis. pp. 49. ISBN 0850668336.
- Beevor, Antony (2012). "The Outbreak of War: June–August 1939". The Second World War. New York City: Little, Brown and Company.
- Beevor, Antony (2006). "PART THREE: The Civil War becomes international". The Battle for Spain: The Spanish Civil War 1936-1939. Ocito Ltd. ISBN 1429512016.
- Kleinfeld, Gerald R.; Tambs, Lewis A. (1979). Hitler's Spanish Legion: The Blue Division in Russia. Southern Illinois University Press. ISBN 0809308657.
- Krammer, Arnold (1973). "Spanish Volunteers against Bolshevism". The Russian Review. 32 (4): 388–402. doi:10.2307/127582. JSTOR 127582.
- Stone, Glyn (1989). "The European Great Powers and The Spanish Civil War, 1936-1939". In Boyce, Robert; Robertson, Esmonde M. (eds.). Paths to War: New Essays on the Origins of the Second World War. Houndmills: Macmillan. p. 221. ISBN 9781349203338.