The Canary Islands and Spanish foreign policy in the First World War, 1914--1918: The international role of the islands as scene of diplomatic and strategic confrontation

This thesis studies the role of the Canary Islands in the diplomatic negotiations and strategy of the Great War. The episodes of confrontation for the control of the Atlantic which took place in the waters of the Archipelago confronted fundamentally Great Britain with Germany, in the attempt by the latter to jeopardize the safety of the Atlantic routes, controlled by British trade, that had in the Canary Islands one of their fundamental crossroads. The main focus of attention are the fears, aims and, in short, the attitudes of the Foreign Office, the Auswartiges Amt and the various Admiralties, whose actions in the Canary Islands affected the foreign policy of Spain since they influenced many of the anxieties, inclinations and decisions within the Ministry of State and the Spanish authorities on the islands, which is another of the central concerns of this research. The first chapter analyses the growing presence of the Canary Islands as object of interest and rivalry in Imperialist diplomacy, and attempts to define the international profile of the islands---strategic revaluation and defensive vulnerability---and how this profile shaped Spanish foreign policy from 1898. The second examines the conditions which determined the situation of the Canary Islands in the face of the war: the economic preponderance of foreign interests, above all British; the policy of neutrality of the Spanish Government; and the scarce means for the defense and surveillance of the neutrality in the Archipelago, whose security depended on that provided by the British naval forces. The following chapters are dedicated to the evolution of events during the war: a first phase, from August of 1914, characterized by the German cruiser war and the allied blockade; and a second, from November of 1916, when the German submarine war extended to the Canary Islands, with the allied reply, which transformed the islands into one of the points of greatest commitment for the weak and conservative Spanish diplomacy. The incorporation of Spanish, British and German documentation allowed us to reach different conclusions which aim to be a substantial contribution to understanding the role of the Canary Islands and the foreign policy of Spain, since some moments studied here, such as the critical moment of the near break with Germany in the Summer of 1918, have not been dealt with specifically in the history of international policy in Spain.