Indeed,
as witnessed by Britain and France's contribution of its citizens to
International Brigades despite official non-intervention policies, the
democracies were deeply divided over the Spanish war. The Great Depression
had already stretched social cohesion thin, and the added weight of
the decision over the Spanish Civil War began to take its toll. British
Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain, for example, forced Foreign Secretary
Anthony Eden to resign as a result of disagreements over Spain. Eden
favored being tough on the dictatorships while Chamberlain favored staying
uninvolved and 'ignorant' of Fascist intervention in the hopes of not
antagonizing them into provoking a general war. The democracies appeared
weakened, especially in France, and Hitler took note of this.15
Britain and France did attempt to curb Fascist intervention on behalf
of the Nationalists in one way, though. Alarmed at Italy's wanton submarine
warfare on neutral shipping destined for Spain, Britain and France coordinated
Naval policies in the Mediterranean in order to hunt down "pirate"
submarines in the Nyon agreement of September 1937. Even though it was
common knowledge that the submarines were Italian, the democracies still
refused to openly accuse the Italians of intervention. Britain in particular
still hoped for rapprochement with the Italians, hoping to recreate
the Stresa Front against Germany. As a result of the British and French
crackdown, Italian 'piracy' stopped, but attacks on neutral shipping
were picked up again this time by German aircraft, against which the
British and French were largely powerless.16
Furthermore, Germany made use of two incidents to "justify"
their intervention should anyone challenge them. On May 29, 1937, the
battleship Deutschland was