The Last Battle of the Spanish Empire

France and spain were allies, but they made very strange bedfellows. According to the terms of their alliance, spain was duty bound to support france in the event of war with britain. The treaty allowed them to choose what form this support would take. They could either join the war directly or be main neutral, but provide a generous financial subsidy to france. And so they went with option two, promising a wopping 72 million francs a year until they were ready to join the struggle.