Spain during World War I

The upper classes (the aristocracy and the rich bourgeoisie), the Catholic Church and the Spanish Army generally favoured the Central Powers, usually identified with Germany.

Among political parties, the Germanophile tendency was represented among the reactionary Carlists and the conservative Mauristas, followers of Antonio Maura, who himself favoured closer ties with the Allies because of Spain's 1907 pact with Britain and France, which was designed to head off German colonialism in north Africa.

[7] The Pact of Cartagena of 1907 provided that the Spanish fleet would support the French Navy in case of war with the Triple Alliance.

[8][7] Throughout 1914-18 the Spanish Army continued to be maintained on a peacetime basis without the extended mobilisation measures of other neutral nations (Netherlands, Denmark, Switzerland and Sweden) in closer proximity to areas of actual fighting.

In short, the Spanish Navy of 1914 was composed largely of older ships that were not sunk near Cuba and the Philippines during the Spanish–American War, either because they survived the naval battles or because they were part of Admiral Cámara's fleet, which had not been involved in the conflict.

Spanish maritime trade was significantly impacted by German U-boat campaigns, with an estimated 100 lives and 66 ships lost to submarines.

The growing poverty intensified internal migration to the industrial areas, and the railway system was unable to bear the increased demand.

[16] In July 1916, the two main trade unions, the socialist Unión General de Trabajadores and the anarchosyndicalist Confederación Nacional del Trabajo, joined forces to put pressure on the Liberal government.

[19] The projected Reina Victoria Eugenia-class battleships, which also would have relied heavily on imported guns and armour plate, were cancelled outright after the war started.

Though Spain as a whole was neutral throughout the war, the conflict split the country into groups of 'Francophiles' and 'Germanophiles' who each sympathised with the opposing Entente and Central Powers, the rift being only deepened by the ongoing U-boat campaign which continued to impact Spanish ships.

[14] Spanish journalists also acted as war correspondents near the battlefront, keeping the public informed with regard to the conflict and conditions, with opposing viewpoints in these reports often also contributing to the varying sympathies of the country and the divide as a whole.

While formally interned on the Spanish colonial island of Fernando Po, this formidable force of well-disciplined troops continued to drill and train under German control.

The Spanish Government was able to defuse the situation by transferring the German officers to Spain itself while the African Schutztruppe remained on Fernando Po until the Armistice of 11 November 1918.

As can be seen on this map, Spain was far from the main battlefields, located on the Franco-German border, northern Italy, Russia and the Ottoman Empire.
Sprinklings of the War: "Without fashions coming from Paris, I don't know what to put on."
Mauser Model 1893 .
The German submarine SM U-35 next to the merchant ship Roma , also German, in the port of Cartagena . The visit of the submersible on June 21, 1916, endangered Spanish neutrality in the Great War. It is estimated that German submarines caused losses of between 139,000 and 250,000 tons in the Spanish merchant fleet. [ 11 ] Four German submarines were interned in Spain (the SM UB-23 in La Coruña , the SM U-39 in Cartagena, the SM UC-56 in Santander and SM UB-49 in Cádiz ) [ 12 ] and two others, visited Spanish ports, one of them, the aforementioned U-35 , transporting to Cartagena a letter from the Kaiser to the King. [ 13 ]
A map of Río Muni , part of Spanish Guinea , 1903.
Spanish Africa during the twentieth century (including Fernando Po and the Canary Islands)