The deployment of US military assistance to Spain in the 1950s: limited modernisation and strategic dependence

This article looks at the initial implementation of US military assistance to Spain under the lopsided Mutual Defence Agreement of 1953. The process was characterised by the disparity in the objectives of both sides, the centrality of the military training programmes, and the logistical and organisa...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Cold war history 2021-01, Vol.21 (1), p.55-70
Main Authors: León-Aguinaga, Pablo, Delgado Gómez-Escalonilla, Lorenzo
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Armed forces
Assimilation
Cold War
Cooperation
decolonisation
Decolonization
Deployment
France
Military aid
military assistance
Military training
modernisation
Modernization
Spain
training
United States
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Summary:This article looks at the initial implementation of US military assistance to Spain under the lopsided Mutual Defence Agreement of 1953. The process was characterised by the disparity in the objectives of both sides, the centrality of the military training programmes, and the logistical and organisational limitations of the Spanish Armed Forces to assimilate American aid. The Ifni-Sahara decolonisation conflict of 1957-58 in Northwest Africa, in which Spain was forced to seek French military cooperation, made apparent the conditioned and limited nature of US military assistance and Madrid's need to diversify its security partners during the Cold War.
ISSN:1468-2745
1743-7962
DOI:10.1080/14682745.2018.1492554