 The political and emotional repercussions of the War transcended the National scale, becoming a precursor to World War II.The war has frequently been described as the "prelude to" or the "opening round of" the Second World War, as part of an international battle against fascism.However Stanley Payne suggests this isn't accurate, arguing that the international alliance that was created in December 1941, once the United States entered WW2, was politically much broader than the Spanish Popular Front as it included conservative capitalist states such as Great Britain and the United States; indeed it included the equivalent of many forces on Franco's side.