AHC: Spain enters WW1

As it says on the tin, any plausible way for Spain to end up being involved in World War 1? The POD is at the beginning of the war in 1914.
 
this is kinda hard;
maybe they join the CP in hopes of building a new empire?
or just smashing france.

Either way its going to say alot when france is surrounded (link in the early modern era only germany and spain are alot stronger.
Germany being stronger than france, and spain on an almost even footing.

IDK if spain is willing to goto war, but i see no gains in them fighting the CP, whilst the allies hold Gribaltar and France owns lots of land the spainiards had their eyes on.
 
As it says on the tin, any plausible way for Spain to end up being involved in World War 1? The POD is at the beginning of the war in 1914.

The Spanish Right had sympathy for the Central Powers. The Spanish Left in turn favored the Entente. King Alfonso was determined to remain though he did small favors for both sides.

Under the turno pacifico system in place at the time Right and Left took turns running the country. The best bet is when the Left takes over in Dec 1915. Quite a few of them wanted to join the Entente and decrease the size of the Spanish military at the same time. That makes sense, si? Which means a largely sympolic commitment of Spanish forces to the Western Front.

Spain joining the CP is harder but there is <warning self promotion>
http://alternatehistoryfictory.yuku.com/forums/2/Alternate-History-Fiction
 
Well, there was not many incentives for Spain to enter in the war, nor the internal circumstances (from the social conflicts to the state of the armed forces) invited to military adventures. Meanwhile, there were substantital incentives to keep the neutrality, which benefited greatly the spanish industries snd opened the door to the posibility of exert some international influence as "mediator" amongst the warring sides (at least that was Alfonso XIII's idea).

However, on the event of a spanish intervention in the war, it would be most likely on the side of the Entente, since Spain was already closelly tied to Britain and France due to economical dependencies (a situation that increased during the war) and previous international treaties (mainly the Mediterranean Agreements and the Cartagena Agreement) There was not such links with the Central Powers, though the army was mostly germanophile, and furthermore, with the geographical situation of Spain it wouldn't be only an economical suicide, but also a geostrategical one. Indeed, german diplomacy never expected or seeked more from Spain than extrict neutrallity, due the aforementioned situation. Plus, the german unrestricted submarine warfare
caused notable damages to the spanish merchant navy, with harsh logic diplomatic consequences. And precisely this is the only feasible reason I can think to push Spain into the war, as a reaction to the german attacks over spanish ships if Germany neglects the politic of appeasement towards the spanish protests that she followed in OTL (economical and material compensations)

Cheers.
 
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