And the tungsten went into the war
Tungsten or tungsten was a strategic metal because it is the element with the highest melting point. During World War II, it was used for armor and hardening of projectiles. China was the world's leading producer, but since Germany's invasion of the USSR in 1941 transport from Asia to Europe had been suspended, and Europe had to resort to local exploitation by the Germans. Since 95% of the European tungsten was extracted in the Iberian Peninsula, it became mandatory for the Nazi arms industry to agree to supply it with the Franco government. And then the “conflict of the tungsten” between Spain and the United States broke out, the historian Joan Maria Thomas in The Battle of the Tungsten. Received in United States and Spain from Pearl Harbor to the Cold War (Cátedra, 2010).
The US government decided to impose an embargo on the sale of oil to Spain, and tension between the two countries increased. The United States imposed several conditions to lift the embargo: The release of American ships seized in Spanish waters, the punishment of soldiers fighting for Hitler... But the main condition was the suspension of tungsten exports to Germany.President
Roosevelt said: “The current Spanish regime is an abomination to the ideas of Americans about democracy and good governance.” The historian Carlton Hayes, at a similar time, said in a memoir: “Most Americans want Spain to become a democratic republic.” But
the basis of the conflict was economic, not ideological. And so, as the economic conditions were resolved, the opinion of the Americans also changed. As Hayes himself said a little later, “I recognize that Spain is essentially a democratic country, because democracy can have very diverse forms of expression.” The United States decided not to promote the end of the Franco dictatorship, among other things, in 1783 in Bergara, thanks to the chemical element isolated by the Elhuyar brothers. Or because of him.
Washington, D.C., June 17, 1930. The U.S. Congress passed the Tariff Act. It is also known as the Smoot-Hawley Act because it was promoted by Senator Reed Smoot and Representative Willis Hawley.
The law raised import tax limits for about 900 products by 40% to 60% in order to... [+]
Londres, 1944. Dorothy izeneko emakume bati argazkiak atera zizkioten Waterloo zubian soldatze lanak egiten ari zela. Dorothyri buruz izena beste daturik ez daukagu, baina duela hamar urte arte hori ere ez genekien. Argazki sorta 2015ean topatu zuen Christine Wall... [+]
Deportazioaren Memoriarako Euskal Koordinakundeak aintzat hartu nahi ditu Hego Euskal Herrian jaio eta bizi ziren, eta 1940tik 1945era Bigarren Mundu Gerra zela eta deportazioa pairatu zuten herritarrak. Anton Gandarias Lekuona izango da haren lehendakaria, 1945ean naziek... [+]
Porzheim, Germany, February 23, 1945. About eight o’clock in the evening, Allied planes began bombing the city with incendiary bombs. The attack caused a terrible massacre in a short time. But what happened in Pforzheim was overshadowed by the Allied bombing of Dresden a few... [+]
Japan, 6 and 9 August 1945, the United States launched an atomic bomb causing tens of thousands of deaths in Hiroshima and Nagasaki; although there are no precise figures, the most cautious estimates indicate that at least 210,000 people died at the end of that year. But in... [+]
Born 27 June 1944. The German soldiers carried out a raid on a small town of about 80 inhabitants of Zuberoa. Eight people died on the spot and nineteen were arrested, all civilians, nine of whom would be deported and only two would survive from the concentration camps in which... [+]
Normandy. 6 June 1944. They started operation Overlord: Thousands of British, American and Canadian soldiers landed on the beaches of Normandy to drastically change the course of the Second World War and, therefore, history. Or at least that's what we've been told a few days ago,... [+]
Genocide is unfortunately a fashionable word. According to Rafael Lemkin’s definition in 1946, genocide is defined as “actions aimed at the total or partial destruction of a national, ethnic, racial or religious group.” These actions may include “killing the members of... [+]
