Editing Spanish Legion (section)

==History==
The Spanish Legion was formed by royal decree of King [[Alfonso XIII]] on 28 January 1920, with the Minister of War {{ill|José Villalba Riquelme|es}} stating, "With the designation of Foreigners Regiment there will be created an armed military unit, whose recruits, uniform and regulations by which they should be governed will be set by the minister of war." In the 1920s the Spanish Legion's five battalions were filled primarily by native Spaniards (since foreigners were not easy to recruit) with most of its foreign members coming from the Republic of [[Cuba]].

===Predecessor===
Historically there had been a "Spanish Foreign Legion" which preceded the modern Legion's formation in 1920. On 28 June 1835, the French government had decided to hand over to the Spanish government the [[French Foreign Legion]] in support of [[Isabella II of Spain|Queen Isabella]]'s claim to the Spanish throne during the [[First Carlist War]]. The French Foreign Legion, with around 4,000 men, landed at Tarragona on 17 August 1835. This became the first Spanish Legion until it was disbanded on 8 December 1838, when it had dropped to only 500 men.

===The Title of Spanish Legion===
The Spanish Legion was modelled on the [[French Foreign Legion]]. Its purpose was to provide a corps of professional troops to fight in Spain's colonial campaigns in North Africa, in place of conscript units that were proving ineffective.  The first commanding officer, Lieutenant Colonel [[José Millán-Astray|José Millán-Astray Terreros]], referred to his unit as ‘La Legión’ from the start but this only became part of the unit's title from 1937.<ref>{{cite web|author=MB van Roode|url=http://www.lalegion.es/1/11.html|title=La Legión Española - HISTORIA&#93;|publisher=Lalegion.es|access-date=2011-11-13|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111114104110/http://www.lalegion.es/1/11.html|archive-date=2011-11-14}}</ref>

In the original {{lang|es|Tercio de Extranjeros}} there were Latin Americans, amongst others, one Chinese, three Japanese, one Maltese, one Russian, both German & Austrian, one Italian, two Frenchmen, four Portuguese, one Belgian, unknown Filipino and one Spanish woman from [[Spanish settlement of Puerto Rico|Puerto Rico]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.strategypage.com/cic/docs/cic107a.asp |title=Combat Information Center analysis, facts and figures about military conflicts and leaders - Military History |publisher=StrategyPage.com |access-date=2011-11-13}}</ref> However, soon the majority of its members were Spaniards who joined to fight outside of European Spain.{{Citation needed|date=May 2010}}

{{lang|es|Tercio}} ({{lit|a third}}) is an old Spanish military term that roughly translates as ‘regiment' (originally it had enough manpower to be considered a half-brigade). In the 18th century tercios were replaced by regiments. There is no equivalent word in English. Dating from the 16th century, the name was chosen to evoke the era of Spain's military supremacy as the leading Catholic power in Europe under the Habsburg Emperors. Organised into {{lang|es|tercios}} in 1534, the Spanish infantry gained a reputation for invincibility.

In 1925, the unit title was changed to {{lang|es|Tercio de Marruecos}} ("Tercio of Morocco"). This was soon abbreviated to ‘The Tercio’. In 1937 at the height of the Spanish Civil War, the {{lang|es|Tercio de Marruecos}} was renamed {{lang|es|La Legión}}, the name by which it is still known today.

===Early campaigns===
The Spanish Legion's first major campaign was in Spanish North Africa.  In 1920 Spain was facing a major rebellion in the Protectorate of [[Spanish Morocco]], led by the able Rif leader [[Muhammad Ibn 'Abd al-Karim al-Khattabi|Abd el-Krim]]. On 2 September 1920, King Alfonso XIII conferred command of the new regiment on Lieutenant Colonel of Infantry [[José Millán-Astray]], chief proponent of its establishment. Millán-Astray was an able soldier but an eccentric and extreme personality. His style and attitude would become part of the mystique of the legion.

On 20 September 1920 the first recruit joined the new legion, a date which is now celebrated annually. The initial make-up of the regiment was that of a headquarters unit and three battalions (known as ''Banderas'',  lit. "banners"- another archaic 16th century term). Each battalion was in turn made up of a headquarters company, two rifle companies and a machine gun company. The regiment's initial location was at the Cuartel del Rey en [[Ceuta]] on the Plaza de Colón. At its height, during the Spanish Civil War, the legion consisted of 18 ''banderas'', plus a tank ''bandera'', an assault engineer ''bandera'' and a Special Operations Group. ''Banderas'' 12 to 18 were considered independent units and never served as part of the additional ''tercios'' into which the legion was organised.

[[Francisco Franco]] was one of the leaders of the legion and the unit's second-in-command, concurrently commanding the 1st Legion Bandera. The legion fought in [[Morocco]] in the [[Republic of the Rif|War of the Rif]] (to 1926). Together with the ''[[Regulares]]'' (Moorish colonial troops), the legion made up the [[Spanish Army of Africa]]. In October 1934 units of both the legion and the ''Regulares'' were brought to Spain by the Republican Government to help put down [[Asturian miners' strike of 1934|a workers revolt]] in the area of [[Asturias]].<ref>Paul Preston, pp. 103-105 "Franco", {{ISBN|0 00 686210 1}}</ref>

[[File:Insignas-legionarios.jpg|thumb|Colors of the Spanish Legion.]]
Under the leadership of Lieutenant Colonel [[Juan Yagüe]], the Army of Africa played an important part in the [[Spanish Civil War]] on the [[Nationalist faction|Nationalist]] side. The professionalism of both the legion and the ''Regulares'' gave Franco's rebel troops a significant initial advantage over the less well trained [[Spanish Republican Armed Forces|Spanish Republican forces]]. The Army of Africa remained an elite spearhead until the expansion of the rebel armies after April 1937 led to the legion and Moroccan units being distributed across several fronts. Following the Francoist victory in 1939, the legion was reduced in size and returned to its bases in Spanish Morocco. It was only after then that the legion attained its present composition of 4 Tercios, and the names given to them, the 4th Tercio of the legion was established later in 1950:

[[File:Emblem 1st Spanish Legion Tercio Gran Capitan.svg|65px]] [[File:Coat of Arms of the 1st Spanish Legion Tercio Great Captain.svg|65px]] [[1st Legion Tercio "Great Captain Gonzalo Fernandez de Coroba"|1st Tercio]] "Great Captain [[Gonzalo Fernandez de Cordoba]]"<br />
[[File:Emblem of the 2nd Spanish Legion Tercio Duke of Alba.svg|65px]] [[File:Coat of Arms of the 2nd Spanish Legion Tercio Duke of Alba.svg|65px]] [[2nd Legion Tercio "Duke of Alba"|2nd Tercio]] "[[Fernando Alvarez de Toledo, Duke of Alba]]"<br />
[[File:Emblem of the 3rd Spanish Legion Tercio Don Juan de Austria.svg|65px]] [[File:Coat of Arms of the 3rd Spanish Legion Tercio Don Juan de Austria.svg|80px]] [[3rd Legion Tercio "Don Juan de Austria"|3rd Tercio]] "[[John of Austria|Don Juan of Austria]]"<br />
[[File:Emblem of the 4th Spanish Legion Tercio Alexander Farnese.svg|65px]] [[File:Coat of Arms of the 4th Spanish Legion Tercio Alexander Farnese.svg|65px]] [[4th Legion Tercio "Alejandro Farnesio"|4th Tercio]] "[[Alexander Farnese, Duke of Parma]]"

When [[Morocco]] gained its independence in 1956 the legion continued in existence as part of the garrison of the remaining Spanish enclaves and territories in North Africa. The legion fought Moroccan irregulars in the [[Ifni War]] in 1957–58.

On 17 June 1970, Legion units opened fire and killed between two and eleven demonstrators at the Zemla [[neighbourhood]] in [[El Aaiun]], [[Spanish Sahara]], modern day [[Western Sahara]]. The incident, which became known as the [[Zemla Intifada]], had a significant influence on pushing the [[Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic|Sahrawi]] anticolonial movement into embarking on an armed struggle which continues, though Spain has long since abandoned the territory and handed it over to Morocco.

Through the course of the legion's history Spaniards (including natives of the colony of [[Spanish Guinea]]) have made up the majority of its members, with foreigners accounting for 25 percent or less. During the Rif War of the 1920s most of the foreigners serving with the legion were Spanish speaking Latin Americans.