Despite what some of his colleagues in the House might think, Winston Churchill was nobody's fool.
"It seems to me Prime Minister that your inquiry as to
whether I intend to make such a motion is in fact an
instruction that I should do so."
"Does it?" Chamberlain asked blandly, refilling the other man's cup of tea. "I can assure you that the government would never advocate such a provocative step at this time."
"But daft old Winston might?" Churchill gave a barking laugh, "And so I probably would. I just did not expect to receive your approval, covert or otherwise."
"And you never shall." Chamberlain assured the other man, "The government will only reluctantly allow your motion to be debated, I assure you."
"Debated and passed, with any luck. And if not, then it is only my head on the chopping block, not yours, right?"
"I imagine there would be some outcry against you, yes."
"You're a tougher fish than I thought, Prime Minister." Churchill noted grudgingly, "Why the sudden desire to support the Spanish Republicans? An anarchist rabble, aren't they?"
"It's more a matter of opposing Fascism. The free hand he had in Africa has emboldened Mussolini. He must be made to see that Britain will not stand idle while he supports military coups in our continental neighbours."
"And what of Herr Hitler? He too has supported Franco's troops with material and volunteers."
"I believe Herr Hitler will listen to reason, in time. Unlike Mussolini he does not have a history of demanding new territory, or of declaring war on other nations."
"What of his remilitarisation of the Rhineland?"
"An understandable act that I think most people are surprised did not occur sooner. Hitler is not the braggart and bully that this self-styled Duce has shown himself to be."
Churchill looked far from convinced of Chamberlain's words, but he shrugged his broad shoulders.
"Time will tell on that question, Prime Minister. For now, I can simply assure you that I will table a motion in the House for material and volunteers to be permitted into Republican areas."
A week later, in a fiercely contested debate and vote, the motion passed: British supplies and volunteers were on their way to Spain.
* * *
Three months later, in the dark morning hours of October 20th, Chamberlain stared across the table at his cabinet. The pain in his chest were worse than usual, today, and his tone was sharp as he spoke.
"What was the Italian response?"
Lord Halifax shuffled his papers nervously.
"The official response reads 'The recent detonation of bombs on Gibraltar was doubtless the fault of disorganised Republican forces. However, even if the unfortunate explosions were due to a navigational error on the part of a volunteer pilot serving with the Nationalist brigades, the Italian government has no responsibility for the failures of private individuals who are not members of its armed forces."
Chamberlain forced himself not to slam his fist on the table.
The nerve of that Italian jackal. 'Private individuals' indeed!
"Order the dispatch of IV Corps to Gibraltar." he snapped, "Issue communiques to both sides warning them that this government will consider any further damage to our territory to be an act of war against the British Empire."
There was a shocked murmur from around the table. Halifax literally went pale.
"Prime Minister, are you sure? With the heavy fighting in Malaga, accidents -"
"Of course I am sure!" Now Chamberlain really
did slam his fist on the table. "You will issue the warning at once. You will make it clear that we will tolerate no more
accidents."
* * *
"The people of Gibraltar were touched by the Spanish war for the third time yesterday, when eleven bombs were dropped on the isthmus. The source of the bombs was a Nationalist bomber, probably attempting to attack Republican positions some ten miles north of Gibraltar.
This government has repeatedly warned the participants of the civil war that we would act to defend our territory if it was harmed. We did not issue that warning lightly. In order to safeguard the lives and property of British citizens, I have ordered the Army to advance into Spain and take up peace-keeping duties between Seville and Malaga. Any attempt to resist this advance will be treated as an act of war."
-- Neville Chamberlain addresses the nation, 17 December 1936
Game Notes: Clearly, I chose to send materials and volunteers to the Republicans. Germany, Italy and the Soviets all got involved as well. I then worked at improving relations with Republican Spain until they were willing to join the Allies. On December 17th, they finally signed up, with the front lines looking something like this (red borders show Republican territory, yellow shows Nationalist):
