The French Government's attitude was, in fact, equivalent to that of the Franco-Austrian Alliance. Italy's attitude also confirmed the position of the German-Italian Alliance.
Only a few days after Italy openly supported Spain, Germany also announced its support for Spain, along with a batch of weapons and equipment.
Moreover, the German Government announced that it would not prohibit civilians from voluntarily traveling to Spain to participate in the war. At the same time, however, the German Government also guaranteed that Germany would not join the Spanish Civil War.
Of course, such statements might fool ordinary civilians, but they certainly could not deceive the leaders of the various countries.
What did war represent for countries like Germany and Italy? It represented an excellent opportunity to train their armies.
Germany in particular had not participated in a proper war for nearly twenty years since the end of the First World War.
An attack on the United States might count, but Germany's army had been extremely complicated at the time, and those people had long since been demobilized.
The current German Army was made up mostly of new recruits and desperately needed an opportunity to temper them within the country.
For the German Government, the sudden outbreak of the Spanish War was the best possible opportunity to train its army.
Only a few days after the German Government's public declaration—on October 17, 1934—a large number of German "civilians" quietly left Germany and headed for Spain.
It was worth mentioning that these German civilians, who were supposedly ordinary people, inexplicably obtained a batch of weapons and equipment as soon as they arrived in Spain. Then, under the identity of the German Volunteer Corps, they joined the Spanish Civil War.
Although the Spanish Expeditionary Forces sent by Germany and Italy were not numerous, with only