In 1939, on this day Spain without warning or provocation attacked the British outpost at Gibraltar, triggering the Second World War. Spanish Falangist dictator Francisco Franco had been planning this attack for years in revenge for his country's defeat by the Allies in the First World War; he was strongly encouraged to do so by his Axis partners Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini, both of whom stood to benefit from a successful Spanish conquest of Gibraltar.