The Origins of British Non-Intervention in the Spanish Civil War: Anglo-Spanish Relations in Early 1936

that conflict. It is also generally acknowledged that the policy adopted was eminently favourable to the insurgent army and a serious hindrance to the war effort of the Republican government. Certainly, the rigid adhesion by Britain to the Non-Intervention Pact signed by the European states in August 1936, with the corresponding imposition of a strict embargo on arms and munitions, produced uneven effects on the two Spanish camps. On the one hand, it denied the Republic the possibility of acquiring war materiel from its usual sources (France and Britain) and from potential Continental suppliers, so putting the recognized government and the rebels on the same footing in this key respect. On the other, given that Germany and Italy came to the aid of