Military history of Spain
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The military history of Spain includes the history of battles fought in the territory of modern Spain, as well as her former and current overseas possessions and territories, and the military history of the Spanish people regardless of geography.
[edit] Carthaginian conquest
Spain before it was largely united under the rule of Carthage was a mix of tribal states, Celtic and Iberian, and trading ports, Greek and Phoenician. The largest state was the kingdom of Tartessus. With the eruption of war between Carthage, a Phoenician colony in North Africa, with the Greeks, the Carthaginians begin extending their influence in Iberia, creating the city of New Carthage (Cartagena), in hopes of crafting a trading empire. Following the First Punic War with Rome, in 237 BC, Hamilcar Barca, the famous Carthaginian general, begins the conquest of Turdetania (the successor state of Tartessus) and Gades to provide a springboard from which further attacks on Rome could be launched. Hamilcar entrusted the conquest and militarisation of the region to his son Hasdrubal the Fair. His other son, Hannibal, would march his troops across Hispania with elephants to lead them on Rome in the Second Punic War. During that war, in 218 BC, Rome declared Hispania to be a provincia. This began the century-long campaign to subdue the people of Iberia to Roman rule following the defeats of Carthage.
[edit] Roman conquest
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After the expulsion of the Carthaginians from Hispania in the Second and Third Punic Wars, Rome warred with the native tribes in an attempt to subdue them. In the northeasterly province of Hispania Citerior, the Celtiberian Wars occupied governing forces for the better part of the second century. In Hispania Ulterior, the Lusitanian War did the same. The resistance of the Lusitani under Viriathus became legendary across the Empire.
From 81 to 72 BC, Quintus Sertorius held most of Iberia as a de facto independent sovereign against the partisans of Sulla. His attitude towards the natives and his military reforms (he was a partisan of Marius) secured him the loyalty of the populace and the army and his general success until his assassination.
The Spanish Era, a dating system predominant in Iberia until the close of the Middle Ages, began in 38 BC, with Roman peace established over the whole peninsula. The last region of Hispania to be subjected was the northeast. The conquest was complete with the Cantabrian Wars ending in 19 BC.
[edit] Barbarian conquest
During the third through sixth centuries, the Roman Empire was beset by numerous barbarian invaders, mostly Germanic, who migrated through her borders and began warring and settling in her territories. While the Vandals and Alans were fighting each other for supremacy in southern Gaul, the confederation of the Suevi crossed the Pyrenees and passing through Vasconia, entered Gallaecia. The year was 409.
[edit] Vandals and Alans
The Vandals soon followed the Suevi example in October and the Alans followed them. The Alans settled in Lusitania and Carthaginiensis and the Siling Vandals in Baetica, while the Asding Vandals vied with the Suevi for Gallaecia. For the following decades, Hispania was beset by the internecine feuding of the Teutons. The Visigoths crossed the Pyrenees to expand their kingdom in 416. They pushed the Vandals and Alans back, defeating and killing the Alan king Attaces in 426 and forcing the two tribes to amalgamate and cross the Straits of Gibraltar into Africa.
[edit] Suevi
In 438, the Suevi king Hermeric ratified a peace with the local Hispano-Roman population, which had been resisting the barbarians. Thus were the Suevi the first to settle down. Weary of fighting, Hermeric abdicated in favour of his son Rechila.
During the expansion of the Visigothic kingdom into Iberia and the subsequent flight of the Vandals and Alans, the Suevi expanded their own realm as far south as Mérida.
In 456, the new Catholic king, Rechiar, died in battle with the Visigoth king Theodoric II and the Suevi kingdom began to diminish under Gothic pressure. Political division was rife when, in 585, the Suevi capitulated to the Visigoths. A rebellion was maintained for a few years, but soon the last of Suevi resistance was erased.
[edit] Visigoths
The Visigoths, after expelling the Vandals and Alans, turned their warmaking against the Suevi of Gallaecia. The Suevi king Hermeric, a foederatus of Rome, made peace with the Hispano-Roman population in 438 and abdicated, tired from incessant warfare. The Visigoths consolidated a kingdom spanning most of Iberia and Gaul. For the next two centuries, they warred not only amongst themselves at times of succession crises (which followed every royal death, because their kings were not hereditary but elected), but also against the Byzantine Empire trying to regain territory in the south, the Arian Suevi trying to hang on to Gallaecia, and the Franks expanding against them in southern Gaul.
At the Battle of Vouillé in 507, the Franks under Clovis I wrested control of Aquitaine from the Visigoths. The Visigoths lost all of their territory north of the Pyrenees except the province of Gallia Narbonensis. The first half of the sixth century was largely a failure for the Visigoths. They failed to hold onto their Gallic possessions, they failed to oust the Suevi, and they failed to repulse the Byzantine Empire when it first endeavoured to reassert control over its Iberian provinces. In 554, Granada and southernmost Hispania Baetica were lost to the Byzantines.
Under the last Arian king, Leovigild, the Suevi kingdom was annexed (585) and war of reconquest against the Byzantines was begun. Under King Suintila, it was completed in 624. The Visigoths faced no serious external threat from then on until the sudden Moorish invasion of 711.
The Visigoth military structure was highly decentralised. The great territorial magnates, the duces (dukes), maintained their own armies (as in all the great Germanic kingdoms of Europe at the time). These armies rarely cooperated in common and, due to the lack of an external threat, rarely had reason to. They instead wasted themselves in wars for the throne. When the Moors of Africa finally invaded, few dukes came to the aid of their technical sovereign and the entire Visigothic nation was quickly divided and subdued.
[edit] Islamic conquest
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The Islamic invasion of Iberia was sudden and unexpected. Due to provocations that will never be known for certain, the varied Moorish tribes of Morroco united under the leadership of Arab generals sent by the reigning Umayyad caliph and crossed the Straits of Gibraltar on 30 April 711 under the leadership of the Berber Tariq ibn Ziyad. Tariq won a swift victory at the Guadalete and defeated and killed the reigning Gothic king, Roderic. The next year, he was joined by the troops of Musa ibn Nusair. In a campaign lasting eight years, the whole of Iberia was subjected to Umayyad authority, except for the Asturias mountain range in the far northwest and the pockets of resistance in Navarre.
The nature of the Islamic conquest was complete, but the offensive was not sustained after losses in Frankland. Neither was it sustained after reverses were experienced during the push into the Asturias. For the next century, a small Christian kingdom under the rule of a Visigothic dynasty persisted in defiance of the caliphate in the Asturias. The Islamic conquest was only very slowly undone, however: over the course of seven centuries in what the Christians of Spain called the Reconquista.
The Arab methods of warfare were employed with great success against those inexperienced with them, but they made Moslem armies out to be no more raiding parties when confronted by well-prepared forces, as at Tours and Covadonga. The naturally fortress-like nature of the mountainous northern Iberian coast forbade any real attempt by Arab-led Berber armies to subdue the local populace.
[edit] Reconquista
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Within years of the Islamic conquest, the conquerors were being aggressively opposed by three main forces: the Visigothic holdouts in Asturias, the holdouts in Navarre and the Pyrenees, and the Franks of Aquitaine. It is with the former that the Christian Reconquista of Iberia begins.
In 722, Pelayo, a Gothic nobleman, defeated a Berber army intent on completing the conquest of the Asturias at the Battle of Covadonga. This is usually marked as the foundation of the Kingdom of Asturias. The Reconquista, as a concerted effort to remove the Moslems form territories they held, however, was not taken up with any great fervour until the reign of Alfonso I (739 – 757). Alfonso led an offensive into the valley of the Duero and left the region depopulated, the so-called "Desert of the Duero." For the next century, this prevented any serious Moslem incursions into the Christian territory of the north.
During that period (late eighth and early ninth century), the Franks under their Carolingian rulers took up the cause of reconquest along the Mediterranean littoral. Though the campaigns of Charlemagne himself often failed (as at Roncesvalles), due to lack of cooperation from the Basques, in 797, his son, Louis the Pious, captured Barcelona the greatest (and then capital) city of the new Marca Hispanica which would evolve into Catalonia, but at the time served as the first bulwark against anything like the invasion of 737 occurring again.
Under Ordoño I (died 866) and Alfonso III (died 910), the Reconquista was reinvigorated and the repoblación of the depopulated areas began, extending Christian borders southwards. The serious efforts of the Basques to win back lost territory on the peninsula also began around this time. King Sancho I of Pamplona (905 – 925) extended the Basque kingdom as far as Nájera. In the centre of the peninsula, the encastellation of the vast plateau, which became known as Castile during this period, took place under the watch of the Count Fernán González. During most of the tenth century, however, the Caliphate of Córdoba was experiencing a zenith and the divided Christian north (the Asturias were divided in 910) was incapable of resisting it. At the turn of the millennium, under Almanzor, the caliph's armies even seemed to be capable of reversing the work of the Reconquista.
In the early decades of the eleventh century, however, the situation was reversed. Christian Iberia was united under Sancho the Great, the King of Navarre (1000–1035), and the caliphate was divided and engulfed by civil war. The era of the taifas ensued in al-Andalus. The eleventh century, from a military perspective, saw a development of absolute importance to the whole history of the West occur first in Spain. This was the concept of a Christian holy war, to be waged against Islam with the purpose of recapturing long lost territories. When applied to Islamic conquests in Asia, the doctrine led to the Crusades. Crusading, under other names, took place in Spain from early in the century. Franks and Normans took to Spain in increasing numbers to join the locals in their fight against "the Moor." In 1063, even papal troops participated in a venture to retake Barbastro. In the final years of the century, as men from the rest of Europe headed east to Palestine for the First Crusade, the pope forbade the men of Spain to do likewise, as they had their own conflict against Islam at home.
The last threat of the eleventh century came in the form of religious fanatics from Africa: the Almoravids, who first hegemonised Morocco and then al-Andalus under their banner. While the Reconquista "rested" in the west, in the east of the peninsula, Alfonso the Battler increased the efforts of his predecessors on the Aragonese throne to win back territory in the valley of the Ebro.
In 1212, the Reconquistadores gained an important battle with a decisive victory over the Almohads. The Battle of Las Navas de Tolosa has been considered as the major turning point in the history of the Islamic presence in Iberia. Shortly after the battle, the Castilians retook Baeza and, then, Úbeda, major fortified cities near the battlefield, and gateways to invade Andalucia. Thereafter, Ferdinand III of Castile retook Córdoba in 1236, Jaén in 1246, and Seville in 1248; then he took Arcos, Medina-Sidonia, Jerez and Cádiz.
[edit] European Wars 1496-1658
[edit] Conquest of the New World and expansion in Asia
The first place where the Spanish overseas expansion clashed with no Christian or Muslim cultures was in Canary Islands, an experience which become model for other places in the world conquered by Castillians. After Christopher Colombus's successful navigation to the New World, it was rapidly conquered by the conquistadors, resulting in the destruction of the Aztec empire in Mexico under Montezuma II and the Inca Empire of South America, plus many other local tribes.
In the service of Spain, Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan and his Spanish crew started their voyage on September 20, 1519 to explore the East by sailing West. Magellan sighted Samar Island in the East on March 17, 1521. The next day, they reached Homonhon, and on March 28, 1521, the island of Limasawa where the first Mass was celebrated on March 31, 1521.[1] He named the new territory Philippines after Philip, the Crown Prince of Spain. Later, on April 7, 1521, he reached Cebu and won the friendship of the local king, Rajah Humabon. He converted the king's family and 700 other Cebuanos to Christianity.[1] However, Magellan would later be killed in the Battle of Mactan by indigenous warriors led by Lapu-Lapu, a fierce rival of Humabon.
In 1541, López de Villalobos was commissioned by the Viceroy of New Spain, Antonio de Mendoza, who was the first colonial administrator in the New World, to send another expedition to the East; in particular, to the "Islas del Poniente" (present-day Philippines). His fleet of six ships, the Santiago (the flagship), Jorge, San Antonio, San Cristobal, San Martin and San Juan de Letran left Barra de Navidad, New Spain with 370 to 400 men on October 25, 1542. On February 29, 1543, they entered Baganga Bay (which they named Malaga) on east Mindanao. López de Villalobos named Mindanao Caesaria Karoli after the King of Spain and Holy Roman Emperor, Charles V, because it looked so majestic.
[edit] Spain against Islam 1492-1859
- Spanish expansion on North Africa under the regency of Francisco Cardinal Jiménez de Cisneros
- Barbary Pirates
- Ottoman-Habsburg wars
[edit] European Wars 1658-1808
[edit] Colonial Wars
[edit] War of Independence
[edit] Hispanoamerican wars of Independence
[edit] Carlist Wars
The Carlist Wars in Spain were the last major European civil wars in which pretenders fought to establish their claim to a throne. Several times during the period from 1833 to 1876 the Carlists — followers of Infante Carlos (later Carlos V) and his descendants — rallied to the cry of “Dios, Patria, Fueros, Rey”, or "God, Country, Traditional Laws, and King" and fought for the cause of Spanish tradition (absolutism and Catholicism) against liberalism, and later the republicanism, of the Spanish governments of the day.
When Ferdinand VII of Spain died in 1833, his fourth wife Maria Cristina became Queen regent on behalf of their infant daughter Isabella II. This splintered the country into two factions known as the Cristinos (or Isabelinos) and the Carlists. The Cristinos were the supporters of the Queen Regent and her government. The Carlists were the supporters of Carlos V, a pretender to the throne and brother of the deceased Ferdinand VII, who denied the validity of the Pragmatic Sanction of 1830 that abolished the Salic Law.
The First Carlist War lasted over seven years and the fighting spanned most of the country at one time or another, although the main conflict centered on the Carlist homelands of the Basque Country and Aragon.
The Second Carlist War was a minor Catalonian uprising lasting two years from 1846 to 1849. The rebels tried to install Carlos VI on the throne. In Galicia, the uprising was put down by General Ramón María Narváez.
The Third Carlist War began in the aftermath of the deposition of one ruling monarch and abdication of another. Queen Isabella II was overthrown by a conspiracy of liberal generals in 1868, and left Spain in some disgrace. The generals replaced her with Amadeo, the Duke of Aosta (and second son of King Victor Emmanuel II of Italy). Then. when the Spanish elections of 1872 resulted in government violence against Carlist candidates and a swing away from Carlism, the Carlist pretender, Carlos VII, decided that only force of arms could win him the throne. The Third Carlist War began. It lasted until 1876.
The Spanish Civil War (1936-1939) was considered by the Carlists as yet another crusade against secularism. In spite of the victory of their side, General Franco frustrated the pretensions of the Carlist monarchism and subsumed their militias into the Nationalist army and their political party into his National Movement.
[edit] Campaigns abroad
Restoration Spain continued to participate in expeditions abroad despite its economic and political difficulties. In 1848 popular convulsions swept the Papal States, forcing Pope Pius IX to flee Rome for the fortress of Gaeta while the masses clamoured for liberal reforms and formed a republican government. From the start of the crisis Spain made clear its intention to restore the Pope's temporal authority. Spanish proposals for joint action by the "Catholic Powers"—Spain, France, Austria, Bavaria, Tuscany, Sardinia, and Naples-Sicily—were rejected by the Italian states on the grounds that an invitation of Austrian authority over their internal politics was unacceptable. Spain ignored her diplomatic setbacks and organized an independent expedition to make good her promise. In February 1849, five warships, including the frigates Isabella II, Lepanto, Valador and Mazzaredo, steamed to Gaeta from Barcelona. Three more from Cadiz followed in May, bearing troops from the Regimiento Inmemorial del Rey under General Fernando Fernández de Córdova. [2]
In total, 4,000 Spanish soldiers were deployed in Gaeta and placed at the Pope's disposition. This marked the Spanish Army's first expeditionary venture into Italy since the War of the Austrian Succession a hundred years prior. Spanish columns secured the region and assisted the French in their operations at Itri. The Spanish did not, however, join the French army in its terrible and bloody assault on the Republicans in Rome, and little fighting took place at Gaeta. Before returning to Rome in 1850, Pope Pius personally reviewed and thanked his Spanish succourers. The Spaniards unfurled the standard of Castile and laid it at Pius's feet, asking him to tread his holy feet upon the flag according to the army's ancient customs. Afterwards, the Pope was ordered to forfeit his shoes—having touched Castile's colours, the Papal shoes could no longer tread on any but Spanish ground! So ended Spain's last Italian campaign.
Leopoldo O'Donnell's ministry was successful enough in restoring stability at home that it was able to project power abroad; Spain participated in the French expedition to Cochin China, the allied expedition sent in support of the French intervention in Mexico, an expedition to Santo Domingo, the Chincha Islands War, and most importantly, a successful campaign into Morocco that earned Spain a favorable peace and new territories across the Strait of Gibraltar. O'Donnell, even while president of the government, personally took command of the army in this campaign, for which he was named Duque de Tetuán.
[edit] Morocco Wars
- Spanish-Moroccan conflicts (1859–2002)
- Rif War (1909)
- Rif War (1920)
[edit] Spanish Civil War
The Spanish Civil War was a major conflict in that started after an attempted coup d'état committed by parts of the Spanish Army against the democratically elected government of the Second Spanish Republic. The Civil War devastated Spain from 17 July 1936 to 1 April 1939, ending with the victory of the rebels and the founding of a dictatorship led by Generalissimo Francisco Franco, the leader of the rebel army, also called Nationalists (nacionales).
[edit] World Wars and beyond
Spain sent a small medical unit to the Vietnam War. While this unit was respected by both the American army and the Viet Cong, the government of Francisco Franco preferred to keep silent about this intervention.
[edit] Spanish military terms
Historically, the Spanish adapted a great deal of military terms from the Arabic of their Muslim rivals. Subsequently many Spanish military terms have been adopted in English and other languages.
| Spanish term | Original language | Original meaning | Modern English term | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| alcaide | Arabic kaid | master, leader | Medieval Spanish military commander or castellan. | |
| alcazaba | Arabic al-casbah | walled citadel | ||
| alcázar | Arabic al-qasr | castle or palace | Could refer to a residence, citadel, or hilltop fortress. | |
| alférez | Arabic | Used in medieval Castile-León and Navarre to denote the standard-bearer and commander of the royal military household. In modern usage in Spain and Equatorial Guinea, a second lieutenant. | ||
| almirante | Arabic amir-al-bahr | commander of the seas | admiral | Adopted in Latinisation (ammiratus) by the Siculo-Normans and later brought to Spain by the Catalans after Sicily became part of the Aragonese Crown. |
| armada | Spanish | armed (fem.), later navy, fleet | armada | Came into English usage after the defeat of the Great Armada in 1588. |
| caballero villano | Spanish | "commoner knight" | A villein who owned a horse and armour and owed cavalry service. | |
| coronel | Spanish or Italian (colonnello), ultimately Latin (columnella) | diminutive of colonna/columna (column) | colonel | Rank popularised by the tercios. |
| flotilla | Diminutive of Spanish flota, from French flotte | (little) fleet | flotilla | |
| granada | Spanish | pomegranate | grenade | |
| guerrilla | Spanish | diminutive of guerra (war) | guerrilla | |
| Quinta Columna | Spanish | fifth column | Fifth Column | First used during the Spanish Civil War by Francisco Franco at the siege of Madrid in reference to his supporters within the city. |
| tercio | Spanish | third | Infantry unit developed by Gonzalo Fernández de Córdoba during the Italian Wars. |
[edit] Notes
- ^ a b Gregorio F. Zaide, Sonia M. Zaide (2004), Philippine History and Government, Sixth Edition, All-Nations Publishing Company
- ^ Principales Campañas - Recopilación de apuntes sobre la tradición y modernidad del Regimiento de Infantería Inmemorial del Rey nº 1 " (Coronel D. Fernando Sánchez Fernández ) (Spanish)
[edit] Sources
- Salas Larraza, Ramon, Perdidas de la guerra (1977), cited at length in Stanley Payne, The Franco Regime 1936-1975 (1987)
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