Okay, imagine there is a big game happening between different teams. This game is called World War I. Lots of countries are playing, and each country has its own team with different players and strategies.
One of the countries playing is Spain, but they decided that they didn't want to join any of the teams playing in the game. They wanted to sit on the sidelines and watch as the other countries played.
Now, even though Spain wasn't officially part of the game, they still felt the impacts of it. They were surrounded by other countries who were fighting, and they had to deal with problems like shortages of food and supplies.
Spain also had some problems of their own during this time. They were dealing with a flu epidemic that affected many people around the world, including soldiers fighting in the war. This flu epidemic was very serious and caused many deaths.
So even though Spain wasn't directly involved in the World War I game, they still felt its impacts and had their own troubles to deal with.