For centuries, Spain recruited foreign soldiers to its armies, forming the foreign regiments (Infantería de línea extranjera) such as the Regiment of Hibernia (formed in 1709 from Irishmen who fled their own country in the wake of the Flight of the Earls and the penal laws). However, the specific unit of the Spanish Army and Spain's Rapid Reaction Force, now known as the Spanish Legion (Legión Española, La Legión), and informally known as the Tercio, is a 20th-century creation. It was raised in the 1920s to serve as part of Spain's Army of Africa. The unit, which was established in January 1920 as the Spanish equivalent of the French Foreign Legion, was initially known as the Tercio de Extranjeros ("Tercio of foreigners"), the name under which it began fighting in the Rif War of 1921–1926.
Over the years, the force's name has changed from Tercio de Extranjeros to Tercio de Marruecos ("Tercio of Morocco", when the field of operations targeted Morocco specifically), and by the end of the Rif War it became the "Spanish Legion", composed of several tercios as sub-units.
The Legion played a major role in the Nationalist forces in the Spanish Civil War. In post-Francoist Spain, the modern Legion has undertaken tours of duty in the Yugoslav Wars, Afghanistan, Iraq and UNIFIL.
The Spanish Legion was formed by royal decree of King Alfonso XIII on 28 January 1920, with the Minister of War José Villalba Riquelme 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". However, traditionally the Legion has held 20 September 1920, the day the first Legionnaire enlisted, as its founding date.
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 the French Foreign Legion over to the Spanish government in support of Queen Isabella's claim to the 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 French Auxiliary Division until it was disbanded on 8 December 1838, when it had dropped to only 500 men.
The Title of the Spanish Legion
The Spanish Legion was originally called the Tercio de Extranjeros (Tercio of Foreigners) when created in 1920. The word tercio is an old Spanish military term that applies to a type of military organisation of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. The use of "tercio" in the name was to evoke the era of Spain's military supremacy under the Habsburg monarchy. Its use in the title was purely honorific; the Spanish Legion was always organised regimentally, never as an actual tercio or tercios.
In 1925, the unit's title was changed to Tercio de Marruecos ("Tercio of Morocco"). This was often abbreviated to ‘El Tercio’. In 1937, at the height of the Spanish Civil War, it was renamed La Legión, the name by which it is still known today.
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 Terreros, referred to his unit as ‘La Legión’ from the start but this only became part of the unit's title from 1937.
In the original 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 Puerto Rico. However, soon the majority of its members were Spaniards who joined to fight outside of European Spain.
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 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 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 the Legion's second-in-command, concurrently commanding the 1st Bandera. The Legion fought in Spanish Morocco in the Rif War (to 1926). Together with the Regulares (Moorish colonial troops), the Legion made up the Spanish Army of Africa. Units of both the Legion and the Regulares were brought to Spain by the Republican government to help put down the Asturian Revolution of 1934.
Under the leadership of Lieutenant Colonel Juan Yagüe, the Army of Africa played an important part in the Spanish Civil War on the Nationalist side. The professionalism of the Legion and the Regulares gave the Nationalist troops a significant initial advantage over the less well trained 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. In 1940, it was reorganized into three Tercios (regiments). The 4th Tercio of the Legion was established in 1950.
Emblems, coats of arms, and names of the Tercios:
1st Tercio, "Great Captain" Gonzalo Fernandez de Cordoba
2nd Tercio, "Fernando Alvarez de Toledo, Duke of Alba"