en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spain_during_World_War_II
2 corrections found
Truman and Churchill persuaded Stalin to settle instead for a full trade embargo against Spain.
The Potsdam record does not show Truman and Churchill agreeing to a trade embargo on Spain. Churchill explicitly opposed stopping British trade with Spain, and the conference’s final statement only opposed Spain’s admission to the UN under Franco.
Full reasoning
The official record of the Potsdam Conference contradicts this claim.
- In the published Joint Report With Allied Leaders on the Potsdam Conference (August 2, 1945), the section on Spain says only that the three governments would not favor any application by the present Spanish Government for United Nations membership. It does not announce a trade embargo.
- The Foreign Relations of the United States minutes for the July 19, 1945 Potsdam meeting show Churchill arguing against Stalin's proposal to break relations with Franco's Spain. Churchill also said Britain had "valuable trade relations" with Spain and that, unless convinced it would help, he did not want this trade stopped.
- Historian Enrique Moradiellos summarizes the outcome of Potsdam as a "bald rhetorical declaration" with "no effective sanctions, be they diplomatic, economic or military" and calls it a "toothless international ostracism."
So the historical record shows the opposite of what the article says: Potsdam did not produce a "full trade embargo against Spain."
3 sources
- Joint Report With Allied Leaders on the Potsdam Conference | Harry S. Truman
The three governments feel bound however to make it clear that they for their part would not favor any application for membership put forward by the present Spanish Government...
- Foreign Relations of the United States, Diplomatic Papers, The Conference of Berlin (The Potsdam Conference), 1945, Volume II
Churchill referred also to the valuable trade relations which Britain maintained with Spain... Unless he were convinced that it would bring about the desired result, he did not want this trade stopped.
- The Potsdam Conference and the Spanish Problem | Contemporary European History | Cambridge Core
The approved condemnation of the Franco regime was a bald rhetorical declaration which contained no effective sanctions, be they diplomatic, economic or military.
in 1954 Japan concluded 54 bilateral agreements including one with Spain for $5.5 million, paid in 1957.
The Japan-Spain claims agreement was not concluded in 1954. The official treaty was concluded and entered into force on January 8, 1957.
Full reasoning
This sentence gives the wrong date for the Japan-Spain agreement.
The official treaty text identifies the agreement as an "Exchange of notes constituting an agreement" between Japan and Spain made in Madrid, 8 January 1957. It also states that it came into force on 8 January 1957. The Japanese Foreign Ministry's treaty database likewise lists the agreement on Spanish claims with an effective date of 1957-01-08.
So while the amount of $5.5 million matches the treaty, the statement that Japan concluded the agreement with Spain "in 1954" is incorrect. The Spain agreement was a 1957 agreement, not a 1954 one.
2 sources
- United Nations Treaty Series/Volume 318/1/4615 - Wikisource
No. 4615 JAPAN and SPAIN ... Exchange of notes constituting an agreement ... Madrid, 8 January 1957 ... Came into force on 8 January 1957 ... the Government of Japan will pay ... five million five hundred thousand United States dollars.
- Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan treaty database entry for the Spain claims agreement
条約名称 ... スペインのある種の請求権に関する問題の解決に関する日本国政府とスペイン政府との間の取極 ... 効力発生年月日 1957年01月08日