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Spain remained neutral throughout World War I between 28 July 1914 and 11 November 1918, and despite domestic economic difficulties, it was considered “one of the most important neutral countries in Europe by 1915”. Spain had enjoyed neutrality during the political difficulties of pre-war Europe, and continued its neutrality after the war until the Spanish Civil War began in 1936. While there was no direct military involvement in the war, German forces were interned in Spanish Guinea in late 1915.

Spanish neutrality

The Spanish prime minister, Eduardo Dato, a Conservative, declared neutrality by Royal Decree on 7 August 1914:

“Existent, sadly, the state of war between Austria, Hungary and Serbia […] the Government of His Majesty believes in the duty to order the strictest neutrality to Spanish subjects.”

Dato was applauded for this in the Cortes when they reconvened on 30 October. Opinion among the public was divided. 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. Pro-Allied sentiment, which was generally Francophile, was most common among the middle and professional classes and intellectuals. It was common among Catalan nationalists, Republicans and Socialists. A few Liberals, including Álvaro de Figueroa, leader of the opposition in the Cortes, were also pro-Allied, along with Miguel de Unamuno and other select members of the Spanish intelligentsia.

The Italian government’s initial neutrality was a key factor in Spanish government also being able to declare itself neutral. Due the Pact of Cartagena of 1907, the Spanish fleet would support the French Navy in case of war with the Triple Alliance against the combined fleets of the Kingdom of Italy and Austria-Hungary in the Mediterranean Sea since the Royal Navy should focus on the North Sea against the Imperial German Navy; and the French fleet alone could not contain the Italian and Austro-Hungarian fleets together and it was necessary for France to transport its colonial troops from North Africa to the European continent.

Spanish Armed Forces

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. Except in Morocco, Spanish troops continued to wear colourful dress uniforms for parade and off-duty wear; a feature that quickly disappeared in all armies directly involved in the war.

The main rifle of the Spanish Army at this time was a version of the Mauser, manufactured in Oviedo in 7 mm caliber, known as the Mauser Model 1893 rifle. To this was added a small number of machine guns such as the Maxim gun, Hotchkiss M1909 and even the M1895 Colt. However, the number of machine guns per company or division was much lower than in the rest of the European countries. The artillery was made up of cannons made by Krupp or various versions of the Schneider cannon made in Trubia and Seville. Most were being used in the Rif War being fought in northern Morocco (Rif), where Spain had been granted a protectorate).

The Spanish Navy was barely a shadow of its former self, though it was starting to rebuild. Its best units were the dreadnought España and the pre-dreadnought Pelayo and, under construction, the dreadnoughts Alfonso XIII and Jaime I. The navy had the armored cruisers Carlos V, Princesa de Asturias, Cataluña, the protected cruisers Río de la Plata (es:Río de la Plata), Extremadura (es:Extremadura), Reina Regente, the unprotected cruiser Infanta Isabel and, under construction, the light cruiser Victoria Eugenia. In addition to seven destroyers: four Furor class and, under construction, three new Bustamante class, which were joined by the four Recalde class and Álvaro de Bazán class gunboats, in addition to other older ones such as the Mac-Mahón or the Temerario.

Finally, the massive construction of T-1 class torpedo boats began, of which six had already been enlisted, together with the older Orión, Habana and Halcón torpedo boats, and finally the typical conglomerate of tugboats, cutters, gunboats and small boats.

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. Other ships had been recently built under the Ferrándiz Plan.

The Military Aeronautics (predecessor of the Spanish Air Force) had just been created in 1913, so it had few units. All the planes were bombers, since the fighters did not appear until well into the war. Of biplanes it had Farman MF.7, Farman MF.11, Lohner B.I; and monoplanes with several Morane-Saulnier G and Nieuport II, which together formed the Military Aeronautics, to which a few more biplanes and the first seaplanes of the Naval Aeronautics would later be added.

Spanish neutrality left the country outside the technological advances derived from war needs, so that, at the end of the war in November 1918, the Spanish Military Aviation was in a situation of clear inferiority in means compared to those of the other neighbouring countries.

• Some pictures of Spanish Armed Forces of that time
• Battleship España, of the España-class battleship, in the port of Bilbao on the occasion of a Royal visit in 1915.
• Spanish artillery in action in September 1913 in the Gaba forest during the Rif War.
• A Lohner B.I airplane of the Spanish Army returning to its base in the Tetuan area in 1913.

Effects of war

Though it remained one of the few neutral countries in mainland Europe, Spain was still affected by the conflict in a variety of ways.

Economically Spain experienced both positive and negative consequences from the war. Spanish maritime trade was significantly impacted by German U-boat campaigns, with an estimated 100 lives and 66 ships lost to submarines. Though Spanish industry in the north and the east of the country expanded as demand rose among the warring powers for Spanish goods, the inflow of capital produced inflation and imports dropped, exacerbating the poverty of the rural areas and the south. The growing poverty intensified internal migration to the industrial areas, and the railway system was unable to bear the increased demand. Spain experienced a scarcity in food commodities. The shortage of basic commodities became known as the crisis de subsistencias. In 1915, food riots erupted in some cities, and in December 1915, the government resigned, to be replaced by a Liberal government under Figueroa.

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. In March 1917, they even threatened to start a general strike. Their example inspired military officers to form unions of their own, the juntas de defensa. The officers’ goal was to prevent the passage of the Bill of Military Reform tabled in the Cortes in 1916, that sought to professionalise the military by introducing intellectual and physical tests as prerequisites for promotions; the ultimate goal being a reduction in the size of the bloated officers corps. The juntas de defensa demanded that promotions and pay increases continue to be based strictly on seniority.

The war also had a significant impact on the construction program of the Spanish Navy. The second and third España-class battleships, built in Spain between 1910 and 1919, were delayed significantly because of material shortages from Britain. Most importantly, the main battery guns for Jaime I did not arrive until 1919, after the war had ended. 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.

Also significant were the social impacts of the war. 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. The army, clergy and conservatives were inclined to be pro-German whereas merchants, liberals, republicans and most of the public leaned towards the Allied cause. Intellectuals were divided. Gran Canaria was used to supply submarines with food and water as an island with lots of caves it was easy to remain out of site to re load the subs. Although this was not known till after the war.

The Spanish public became aware of the harsh realities of the war itself by contact with a migratory influx of approximately 10,000 Spanish workers who returned home from Belgium, France and Germany.

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.

As early as August 1914, some Spaniards were volunteering to enlist in the French Army, mainly joining the Foreign Legion. In 1915, they founded their own magazine, Iberia, to defend and propagate their cause. In February 1916, the Comitè de Germanor (Committee of Brotherhood) was set up in Barcelona to recruit for the Legion. Over 2,000 Spaniards ultimately served in the Legion. King Alfonso XIII also tried to help in the war by creating the European War Office.

Archduke Franz Ferdinand
Archduke of Austria-Este
Franz Ferdinand c. 1914
Born	Franz Ferdinand Carl Ludwig Joseph Maria 18 December 1863 Graz, Duchy of Styria, Austrian Empire
Died	28 June 1914 (aged 50) Sarajevo, Condominium of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Austria-Hungary
Burial	4 July 1914 Artstetten Castle
Spouse	Sophie, Duchess of Hohenberg​​(m.1900; died 1914)​[1]
Issue	Princess Sophie of HohenbergMaximilian, Duke of HohenbergPrince Ernst of Hohenberg
NamesFranz Ferdinand Karl Ludwig Joseph Maria
House	Habsburg-Lorraine
Father	Archduke Karl Ludwig of Austria
Mother	Princess Maria Annunciata of Bourbon-Two Sicilies
Religion	Roman Catholicism
Occupation	Archduke of Austria
Signature

Archduke Franz Ferdinand Carl Ludwig Joseph Maria of Austria (18 December 1863 – 28 June 1914) was the heir presumptive to the throne of Austria-Hungary. His assassination in Sarajevo was the most immediate cause of World War I.

Franz Ferdinand was the eldest son of Archduke Karl Ludwig of Austria, the younger brother of Emperor Franz Joseph I of Austria. Following the death of Crown Prince Rudolf in 1889 and the death of Karl Ludwig in 1896, Franz Ferdinand became the heir presumptive to the Austro-Hungarian throne. His courtship of Sophie Chotek, a lady-in-waiting, caused conflict within the imperial household, and their morganatic marriage in 1900 was only allowed after he renounced his descendants’ rights to the throne. Franz Ferdinand held significant influence over the military, and in 1913 he was appointed inspector general of the Austro-Hungarian armed forces.

On 28 June 1914, Franz Ferdinand and his wife were assassinated in Sarajevo by the 19-year-old Gavrilo Princip, a member of Young Bosnia. Franz Ferdinand’s assassination led to the July Crisis and precipitated Austria-Hungary’s declaration of war against Serbia, which in turn triggered a series of events that eventually led – four weeks after his death – to Austria-Hungary’s allies and Serbia’s allies declaring war on each other, starting World War I.

Biography

Early life

Franz Ferdinand was born in Graz, Austria, the eldest son of Archduke Karl Ludwig of Austria (the younger brother of Franz Joseph and Maximilian) and of his second wife, Princess Maria Annunciata of Bourbon-Two Sicilies. In 1875, when he was eleven years old, his cousin Francis V, Duke of Modena, died, naming Franz Ferdinand his heir on condition that he add the name “Este” to his own. Franz Ferdinand thus became one of the wealthiest men in Austria.

Heir presumptive

In 1889, Franz Ferdinand’s life changed dramatically. His cousin Crown Prince Rudolf committed suicide at his hunting lodge in Mayerling This left Franz Ferdinand’s father, Karl Ludwig, as first in line to the throne. Karl Ludwig died of typhoid fever in 1896. Henceforth, Franz Ferdinand was groomed to succeed to the throne.

Despite this burden, he did manage to find time for travel and personal pursuits, such as his circumnavigation of the world between 1892 and 1893. After visiting India he spent time hunting kangaroos and emus in Australia in 1893, then travelled on to Nouméa, New Hebrides, Solomon Islands, New Guinea, Sarawak, Hong Kong and Japan. After sailing across the Pacific on the RMS Empress of China from Yokohama to Vancouver he crossed the United States, arriving at the World’s Columbian Exposition 1893 on the Chicago, Burlington, and Quincy Railroad on a private Pullman car named Mascotte, and staying at the Lexington Hotel, before continuing through to New York and returning to Europe.

Franz Ferdinand had a fondness for trophy hunting that was excessive even by the standards of European nobility of this time. In his diaries he kept track of 272,511 game kills, 5,000 of which were deer. About 100,000 trophies were on exhibit at his Bohemian castle at Konopiště which he also stuffed with various antiquities, his other great passion.

Military career

Franz Ferdinand, like most males in the ruling Habsburg line, entered the Austro-Hungarian Army at a young age. He was frequently and rapidly promoted, given the rank of lieutenant at age fourteen, captain at twenty-two, colonel at twenty-seven, and major general at thirty-one. While never receiving formal staff training, he was considered eligible for command and at one point briefly led the primarily Hungarian 9th Hussar Regiment. In 1898 he was given a commission “at the special disposition of His Majesty” to make inquiries into all aspects of the military services and military agencies were commanded to share their papers with him.

He also held honorary ranks in the Austro-Hungarian Navy, and received the rank of Admiral at the close of the Austro-Hungarian naval maneuvers in September 1902.

Franz Ferdinand exerted influence on the armed forces even when he did not hold a specific command through a military chancery that produced and received documents and papers on military affairs. This was headed by Alexander Brosch von Aarenau [de] and eventually employed a staff of sixteen. His authority was reinforced in 1907 when he secured the retirement of the Emperor’s confidant Friedrich von Beck-Rzikowsky as Chief of the General Staff. Beck’s successor, Franz Conrad von Hötzendorf, was personally selected by Franz Ferdinand.

Franz in 1913, as heir-presumptive to the elderly emperor, had been appointed inspector general of all the armed forces of Austria-Hungary (Generalinspektor der gesamten bewaffneten Macht), a position superior to that previously held by Archduke Albrecht and including presumed command in wartime.

Marriage and family

In 1894, Franz Ferdinand met Countess Sophie Chotek, a lady-in-waiting to Archduchess Isabella, wife of Archduke Friedrich, Duke of Teschen. Franz began to visit Archduke Friedrich’s villa in Pressburg (now Bratislava), and in turn Sophie wrote to Franz Ferdinand during his convalescence from tuberculosis on the island of Lošinj in the Adriatic. They kept their relationship a secret, until it was discovered by Isabella herself.

To be eligible to marry a member of the imperial House of Habsburg, one had to be a member of one of the reigning or formerly reigning dynasties of Europe. The Choteks were not one of these families. Deeply in love, Franz Ferdinand refused to consider marrying anyone else. Finally, in 1899, Emperor Franz Joseph agreed to permit Franz Ferdinand to marry Sophie, on the condition that the marriage would be morganatic and that their descendants would not have succession rights to the throne. Sophie would not share her husband’s rank, title, precedence, or privileges; as such, she would not normally appear in public beside him. She would not be allowed to ride in the royal carriage or sit in the royal box in theaters.

The wedding took place on 1 July 1900, at Reichstadt (now Zákupy) in Bohemia; Franz Joseph did not attend the affair, nor did any archduke including Franz Ferdinand’s brothers. The only members of the imperial family who were present were Franz Ferdinand’s stepmother, Princess Maria Theresa of Braganza; and her two daughters. Upon the marriage, Sophie was given the title “Princess of Hohenberg” (Fürstin von Hohenberg) with the style “Her Serene Highness” (Ihre Durchlaucht). In 1909, she was given the more senior title “Duchess of Hohenberg” (Herzogin von Hohenberg) with the style “Her Highness” (Ihre Hoheit). This raised her status considerably, but she was still required to yield precedence at court to all the archduchesses. Whenever a function required the couple to assemble with the other members of the imperial family, Sophie was forced to stand far down the line, separated from her husband.

Franz Ferdinand’s children were:

• Princess Sophie of Hohenberg (1901–1990), married Count Friedrich von Nostitz-Rieneck (1891–1973)
• Maximilian, Duke of Hohenberg (1902–1962), married Countess Elisabeth von Waldburg zu Wolfegg und Waldsee (1904–1993)
• Prince Ernst of Hohenberg (1904–1954), married Marie-Therese Wood (1910–1985)
• Stillborn son (1908), buried in Artstetten Castle, near his parents

Franz Ferdinand and Sophie visited England in the autumn of 1913, spending a week with George V and Queen Mary at Windsor Castle before going to stay for another week with the Duke of Portland at Welbeck Abbey, Nottinghamshire, where they arrived on 22 November. He attended a service at the local Catholic church in Worksop. Franz Ferdinand and the Duke of Portland went game shooting on the Welbeck estate when, according to Portland’s memoirs, Men, Women and Things:

One of the loaders fell down. This caused both barrels of the gun he was carrying to be discharged, the shot passing within a few feet of the archduke and myself. I have often wondered whether the Great War might not have been averted, or at least postponed, had the archduke met his death there and not in Sarajevo the following year.

Assassination

Main article: Assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand

On Sunday, 28 June 1914, at about 10:45 am, Franz Ferdinand and his wife were assassinated in Sarajevo, the capital of the Austro-Hungarian province of Bosnia and Herzegovina. The perpetrator was 19-year-old Gavrilo Princip, a member of Young Bosnia and one of a group of assassins organized and armed by the Black Hand.

Earlier in the day, the couple had been attacked by Nedeljko Čabrinović, also a Young Bosnia conspirator, who had thrown a grenade at their car. However, the bomb detonated behind them, injuring the occupants in the following car. On arriving at the Governor’s residence, Franz asked “So you welcome your guests with bombs!”

After a short rest at the Governor’s residence, the royal couple insisted on seeing all those who had been injured by the bomb at the local hospital. However, no one told the drivers that the itinerary had been changed. When the error was discovered, the drivers had to turn around. As the cars backed down the street and onto a side street, the line of cars stalled. At this time, Princip was sitting at a cafe across the street. He instantly seized his opportunity and walked across the street and shot the royal couple. He first shot Sophie in the abdomen and then shot Franz Ferdinand in the neck. Franz leaned over his crying wife. He was still alive when witnesses arrived to render aid. His dying words to Sophie were, “Don’t die darling, live for our children.” Princip’s weapon was the pocket-sized FN Model 1910 pistol chambered for the .380 ACP cartridge provided him by Serbian Army Military Intelligence Lieutenant-Colonel and Black Hand leader Dragutin Dimitrijević. Franz Ferdinand’s aides attempted to undo his coat but realized they needed scissors to cut it open: the outer lapel had been sewn to the inner front of the jacket for a smoother fit to improve his appearance to the public. Whether or not as a result of this obstacle, his wound could not be attended to in time to save him, and he died within minutes. Sophie also died en route to the hospital.

A detailed account of the shooting can be found in Sarajevo by Joachim Remak:

One bullet pierced Franz Ferdinand’s neck while the other pierced Sophie’s abdomen. … As the car was reversing (to go back to the Governor’s residence because the entourage thought the Imperial couple were unhurt) a thin streak of blood shot from the Archduke’s mouth onto Count Harrach’s right cheek (he was standing on the car’s running board). Harrach drew out a handkerchief to still the gushing blood. The Duchess, seeing this, called: “For Heaven’s sake! What happened to you?” and sank from her seat, her face falling between her husband’s knees.

Harrach and Potoriek … thought she had fainted … only her husband seemed to have an instinct for what was happening. Turning to his wife despite the bullet in his neck, Franz Ferdinand pleaded: “Sopherl! Sopherl! Sterbe nicht! Bleibe am Leben für unsere Kinder! – Sophie dear! Don’t die! Stay alive for our children!” Having said this, he seemed to sag down himself. His plumed hat … fell off; many of its green feathers were found all over the car floor. Count Harrach seized the Archduke by the uniform collar to hold him up. He asked “Leiden Eure Kaiserliche Hoheit sehr? – Is Your Imperial Highness suffering very badly?” “Es ist nichts. – It is nothing.” said the Archduke in a weak but audible voice. He seemed to be losing consciousness during his last few minutes, but, his voice growing steadily weaker, he repeated the phrase perhaps six or seven times more.

A rattle began to issue from his throat, which subsided as the car drew in front of the Konak bersibin (Town Hall). Despite several doctors’ efforts, the Archduke died shortly after being carried into the building while his beloved wife was almost certainly dead from internal bleeding before the motorcade reached the Konak.

The assassinations, along with the arms race, nationalism, imperialism, militarism of Imperial Germany and the alliance system all contributed to the origins of World War I, which began a month after Franz Ferdinand’s death, with Austria-Hungary’s declaration of war against Serbia. The assassination of Franz Ferdinand is considered the most immediate cause of World War I.

After his death, Archduke Karl became the heir presumptive of Austria-Hungary. Franz Ferdinand was buried with his wife Sophie in Artstetten Castle, Austria.

Character

The German historian Michael Freund described Franz Ferdinand as “a man of uninspired energy, dark in appearance and emotion, who radiated an aura of strangeness and cast a shadow of violence and recklessness … a true personality amidst the amiable inanity that characterized Austrian society at this time.” As his sometime admirer Karl Kraus put it, “he was not one who would greet you … he felt no compulsion to reach out for the unexplored region which the Viennese call their heart.” His relations with Emperor Franz Joseph were tense; the emperor’s personal servant recalled in his memoirs that “thunder and lightning always raged when they had their discussions.” The commentaries and orders which the heir to the throne wrote as margin notes to the documents of the Imperial central commission for architectural conservation (where he was Protector) reveal what can be described as “choleric conservatism.” The Italian historian Leo Valiani provided the following description.

Francis Ferdinand was a prince of absolutist inclinations, but he had certain intellectual gifts and undoubted moral earnestness. One of his projects – though because of his impatient, suspicious, almost hysterical temperament, his commitment to it, and the methods by which he proposed to bring it about, often changed – was to consolidate the structure of the state and the authority and popularity of the Crown, on which he saw clearly that the fate of the dynasty depended, by abolishing, if not the dominance of the German Austrians, which he wished to maintain for military reasons, though he wanted to diminish it in the civil administration, certainly the far more burdensome sway of the Magyars over the Slav and Romanian nationalities which in 1848–49 had saved the dynasty in armed combat with the Hungarian revolution. Baron Margutti (de), Francis Joseph’s aide-de-camp, was told by Francis Ferdinand in 1895 and – with a remarkable consistency in view of the changes that took place in the intervening years – again in 1913, that the introduction of the dual system in 1867 had been disastrous and that, when he ascended the throne, he intended to re-establish strong central government: this objective, he believed, could be attained only by the simultaneous granting of far-reaching administrative autonomy to all the nationalities of the monarchy. In a letter of February 1, 1913, to Berchtold, the Foreign Minister, in which he gave his reasons for not wanting war with Serbia, Franz Ferdinand said that “irredentism in our country … will cease immediately if our Slavs are given a comfortable, fair and good life” instead of being trampled on (as they were being trampled on by the Hungarians). It must have been this which caused Berchtold, in a character sketch of Francis Ferdinand written ten years after his death, to say that, if he had succeeded to the throne, he would have tried to replace the dual system by a supranational federation.