page_title: Foreign involvement in the Spanish Civil War
section_title: United Kingdom and France
hierarchical_section_title: Foreign involvement in the Spanish Civil War / National non-intervention / United Kingdom and France
caption_attribution_description: English: Plaque honoring the fallen British volonteer soldiers who died in the Ebro Battle defending the Spanish Republic at the monument on cota 705, Serra de Pàndols Español: Placa en honor de los brigadistas voluntarios británicos caidos en la Batalla del Ebro defendiendo la Segunda República, monumento en Serra Pàndols
context_page_description: Foreign involvement in the Spanish Civil War included many non-Spaniards participating in combat and advisory positions. The governments of Italy, Germany and, to a lesser extent, Portugal contributed money, munitions, manpower and support to Nationalist forces, led by Francisco Franco. The governments of the Soviet Union and, to a lesser extent, France and Mexico, aided the Republicans, also called Loyalists, of the Second Spanish Republic. The aid came even after all the European powers had signed a Non-Intervention Agreement in 1936. Although individual sympathy for the plight of the Spanish Republic was widespread in the liberal democracies, pacifism and the fear of a second world war prevented them from selling or giving arms. However, Nationalist pleas were answered within days by Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini. Tens of thousands of individual foreign volunteers travelled to Spain to fight, the majority for the Republican side.
context_section_description: The British government proclaimed neutrality, and its foreign policy was to prevent a major war by appeasement of Italy and Germany. British leaders believed that the Spanish Republican government was the puppet of extreme-left socialists and communists. Accordingly, the British Cabinet adopted a policy of benevolent neutrality towards the military insurgents, a covert aim being to avoid any direct or indirect help to the Republic. Public opinion was divided, with a clear majority demanding another major war to be avoided. The British establishment was strongly anticommunist and so tended to prefer a Nationalist victory. However, Popular Front elements on the left strongly favoured the Republican cause.
  The ambassador to Spain, Sir Henry Chilton, believed that a victory for Franco was in Britain's best interests and so worked to support the Nationalists. British Foreign Secretary Anthony Eden publicly maintained the official policy of non-intervention but privately expressed a preference for a Nationalist victory. Eden also testified that his government "preferred a Rebel victory to a Republican victory". Admiral Lord Chatfield, the British First Sea Lord in charge of the Royal Navy, was an admirer of Franco, and the Royal Navy favoured the Nationalists during the conflict. As well as permitting Franco to set up a signals base in Gibraltar, a British colony, the British allowed the Germans to overfly Gibraltar during the airlift of the Army of Africa to Seville. The Royal Navy also provided information on Republican shipping to the Nationalists, and HMS Queen Elizabeth was used to prevent the Republican navy shelling the port of Algeciras. The German chargé d'affaires reported that the British were supplying ammunition to the Republicans. During the fighting for Bilbao, the Royal Navy supported the Nationalist line that the River Nervión was mined and told British shipping to keep clear of the area, but it was badly discredited when a British vessel ignored the advice, sailed into the city and found that the river was unmined, just as the Republicans had claimed. However, the British government discouraged activity by its ordinary citizens supporting either side.
  The Labour Party was strongly for the Republicans, but it was heavily outnumbered by Conservative Party in the British Parliament. the left in France wanted direct aid to the Republicans. The Labour Party would reject non-intervention in October 1937. The British Trades Union Congress was split since it had a strong anticommunist faction. Both the British and French governments were committed to avoiding a second world war.
  France was reliant on British support in general. Prime Minister, Leon Blum, the socialist leader of the Popular Front, feared that support for the Republic would lead to a civil war and then a fascist takeover of France. In Britain, part of the reasoning was based on an exaggerated belief of both German and Italian preparedness for war.
  The arms embargo meant that the Republicans' chief foreign source of matériel was the Soviet Union, and the Nationalists received weapons from Italy mainly and Germany. The last Spanish Republican prime minister, Juan Negrín, hoped that a general outbreak of war in Europe would help his cause by compelling Britain and France to help the Republic at last. Ultimately, neither Britain nor France intervened to any significant extent. The British supplied food and medicine to the Republic but actively discouraged Blum and his French government from supplying weapons. Claude Bowers, the US ambassador to Spain, was one of the few ambassadors friendly to the Republic. He later condemned the Non-Intervention Committee by saying that each of its moves had been made to serve the cause of the rebellion: "This committee was the most cynical and lamentably dishonest group that history has known". Winston Churchill, who initially was an enthusiastic supporter of non-intervention, later described the workings of the committee as "an elaborate system of official humbug".
  Following the withdrawal of Germany and Italy from patr
caption: Plaque honouring the British soldiers of the International Brigades who died while they defended the Spanish Republic at the monument on Hill 705, Serra de Pàndols.
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