Conscious of a conflict with Spain (5)
I believe the answer is:
aware
'conscious of' is the definition.
(being conscious means being aware of something)
'a conflict with spain' is the wordplay.
'conflict' becomes 'war' (war is a kind of conflict).
'with' means one lot of letters go next to another.
'spain' becomes 'e' (abbreviation for Espana).
'a'+'war'+'e'='AWARE'
(Other definitions for aware that I've seen before include "Acquainted with or conscious of" , "Cognisant, mindful" , "Having knowledge or realisation" , "Conscious, sentient" , "Having knowledge of, informed" .)