Primo de Rivera offered a prospect for greater ascendancy over a country with a government now widely interested in the reforms carried out in Fascist Italy. Relations during this period were often embedded in a diplomatic triangle between France, Italy, and Spain. While showing a will for friendship and rapprochement, the "Treaty for Conciliation and Arbitration" signed in August 1926 between the two countries delivered limited substance in practical terms, compared to the expectations at the starting point of the Primorriverista dictatorship. A diplomatic "honeymoon" between the two regimes followed the signing of the treaty, nonetheless. Conspirations against the Spanish Republic The early monarchist conspirations against the Second Spanish Republic enjoyed support from Mussolini. One of the most important Italian communities in Spain resided in Catalonia as well as the Italian economic interests in Spain lied there, hence that region became a significant point of attention for the Italian diplomacy during the Spanish Second Republic, and the Italian diplomacy established some contacts with incipient philo-fascist elements within Republican Left of Catalonia, including Josep Dencàs, although Italy eventually went on to bet on Spanish fascism. Although both monarchists from Renovación Española, the traditionalists and the Fascist falangists engaged in negotiations asking help from Fascist Italy regarding the preparations of the 1936 coup d'état, Mussolini decided not to take part at the time. Italian intervention in the Spanish Civil War After 18 July 1936 and the beginning of the Spanish Civil War, Mussolini changed the strategy and intervened on the side of the Rebel faction. The Corps of Volunteer Troops (CTV), a fascist expeditionary force from Italy, brought in about 78,000 Italian troops, sent to help Franco and vowing to establish a Fascist Spain and a Fascist Europe. Key military actions in which the CTV took part include Málaga, Bermeo, Santander and the March 1937 fiasco of Guadalajara. Italian submarines carried out a campaign against Republican ships, also targeting Mediterranean ports together with surface ships. The Italian Regia Marina also provided key logistical support to the Rebels, including escort of commercial shipment transporting war supplies, and, seeking to facilitate the naval blockade on the Republic, it also allowed the Rebel Navy the use of anchorages in Sicily and Sardinia. Italians forces partially occupied the Balearic Islands and soon established an air base of the Aviazione Legionaria in Mallorca, from which Italians were given permission by the rebel authorities to bomb locations across