Spanish troops

“ She must amend and strengthen her government; she must improve the administration of her resources, and the structure and discipline of her armies, before she can become capable of deriving [480] benefit from foreign aid. Spain has proved untrue to our alliance, because she is not true to herself.”—“Until some great change shall be effected in the conduct of the military resources of Spain, and in the state of her armies, no British army can safely attempt to co-operate with the Spanish troops in the territory of Spain.” ”

“ The King of France engages to send 32,000 infantry and 8,000 cavalry into Italy, and to maintain other armies on his other frontiers; also to have a squadron ready at Toulon, either to join the Spanish fleet or to act separately, and another squadron at Brest, 'to keep the English in fear and jealousy'; also, in case of war with England breaking out, to commission the largest possible number of privateers. Spain also promises a fixed number of troops. The 11th and 12th articles lay the foundation of a close commercial alliance to be formed between France and Spain. ”

“ Ten or twelve years of fighting against Spanish troops, years in which there had been many severities and cruelties perpetrated on each side, had accustomed everybody to violence and had made soldiers the only leaders. ”

“ Few more sensible uniforms are to be met with in Europe. Properly officered, there is nothing to prevent the Spanish infantry from regaining the prestige it once held. The men have the right stuff in them, are temperate and frugal, cheerful under privation, and hardy as wild ducks. They do not want pluck either; they have the reputation of showing a good deal of dash in their pursuit of the Carlists; but that is no fair criterion of what they could do when pitted against the troops of some great Power in ordered line of battle. ”

“ The war now declined into foraging inroads on the part of the French, in which they swept the flocks and herds from the fertile pastures, and into guerilla operations on the part of the Spanish, who ambushed and sought to cut off the detached troops of the enemy. But more romantic encounters occasionally took place. The knights on both sides, full of the spirit of chivalry, and eager to prove their prowess, defied one another to jousts and tourneys, and for the time being brought back a state of warfare then fast passing away. ”

“ They left 1200 men dead on the field, and were pursued 4 leagues by the Spanish Cavalry and Light Troops, who killed a great many more. Their loss is therefore estimated at 2000 or more, as they retired in great confusion to Salamanca, near 8 leagues. I most sincerely rejoice the Spaniards should have done this by themselves. It will give them confidence, and persuade them that with a little perseverance the invaders can be conquered. ”

“ While the Spaniards curiously watched the manœuvres of the troops others of the French quietly gathered on the drawbridge. At a signal this was seized, a rush took place, and the citadel of Barcelona was added to the conquests of France.
The surprise of these fortresses produced an immense sensation in Spain. That country had sunk into a condition of pitiable weakness. Its navy, once powerful, was now reduced to a small number of ships, few of them in condition for service. Its army, once the strongest in Europe, was now but a handful of poorly equipped and half-drilled men. ”

“ A training in the Spanish army is not exactly the thing to fit for the peaceful and toilsome monotony of industrial occupations.
The battalions of cazadores of Mérida and Barcelona, in garrison at Valencia, exhibited symptoms of discontent; but the officers were on the alert, and checked them on the spot. That is the only plan—nip the evil in the bud. It is the custom in Spain to confine troops to barracks during times of popular commotion. ”

“ Orders were immediately given to retrace our steps as rapidly as possible, that we might assist the Spanish army in its defence. Judge, then, of the astonishment of our general, on reaching the plain, at the view that presented itself! One side of the heights was occupied by the French, while the Spanish rear-guard was flying, with their baggage, in great confusion, on the other. On one side of us lay the cavalry of the French, and, on the [132] other marching to the attack was a large body of troops, under Laval. “Where is La Pena?” ”

“ These are about 15,000 men, and are some of the best and most trustworthy troops in Spain; the carabineros or custom-house officers, who guard the frontiers, form another corps of about 12,000. Towards the close of the late Carlist and Cuban wars the actual army was far above these numbers, and it is probable that 150,000 men were under arms on the side of the Government in the Basque Provinces alone. The Spanish soldier is one of the best in Europe, if properly commanded. He is sober, and has great powers of endurance; is an excellent marcher, and a trustworthy sentinel ”

“ Too many journalists and correspondents were permitted to witness the work of Spanish sharpshooters, and to see their obstinate resistance to the advance of our troops, to allow comments upon the inefficiency of the Spanish Army to pass unnoticed. Our army from the beginning was well impressed with the character of the foe and nerved itself accordingly. The bravery of our own soldiers was fully recognized by the men who surrendered to our army and who were capable of appreciating it, because they themselves were not wanting in the same qualities. ”

“ Thirdly, it was never dreamt by any thinking man, that the Spaniards were to succeed by their army; if by their army be meant any thing but the people. The whole people is their army, and their true army is the people, and nothing else. Five hundred men, who in the early part of the struggle had been taken prisoners,—I think it was at the battle of Rio Seco—were returned by the French General under the title of Galician Peasants, a title, which the Spanish General, Blake, rejected and maintained in his answer that they were genuine soldiers, meaning regular troops. ”

“ The Spanish heavy-armed cavalry, indeed, were a match for any in Europe, and were even said to surpass every other in the beauty and excellence of their appointments, at a period, when arms were finished to luxury. [15] He had but a handful of these, however; by far the greatest part of his cavalry consisting of ginetes, or light-armed troops, of inestimable service in the wild guerilla warfare to which they had been accustomed in Granada, but obviously incapable of coping with the iron gendarmerie of France. ”

“ There were altogether 147 battalions of Spanish infantry, excluding the foreign troops, and if all of these had been up to the proper establishment of 840 men, the total would have amounted to 98,000 bayonets. But the state of disorganization was such that as a matter of fact there were only 58,000 under arms. The regiments which Napoleon had requisitioned for service in the North had been more or less brought up to a war-footing, and each showed on an average 2,000 men in the ranks. But many of the corps in the interior of Spain displayed the most lamentable figures: e.g. ”

“ The greater part of the soldiers whom I saw—they were all in the infantry—were young men, short of stature, swarthy, alert, and clean, as one would imagine the soldiers of an army which at one time had the lightest and most effective infantry in Europe. Indeed, the Spanish infantry has the reputation of containing the best walkers and swiftest runners. The men are temperate, spirited, and full of a national pride, of which it is difficult to get an adequate idea without studying them closely. The officers wear a short black coat like that of the Italian officers. ”

“ Summing up the faults of the Spanish army, its depleted battalions, its small and incompetent cavalry force, its insufficient proportion of artillery, its utter want of commissariat, we find that its main source of weakness was that while the wars of the French Revolution had induced all the other states of Europe to overhaul their military organization and learn something from the methods of the French, Spain was still, so far as its army was concerned, in the middle of the eighteenth century. ”

“ The army has no significant offensive capability, and it could oppose modern forces invading continental Spain in open battle for only a very short period; thereafter its resistance would be limited to guerrilla warfare. Army units in the North African places of sovereignty1, Spanish Sahara, and the Canary Islands have received priority in training and equipment, particularly infantry weapons. They are capable of defending Spanish interests in Africa against incursions by minor powers. ”

“ Hitherto the Portuguese have had all the firing on their side. When the batteries open from the enemy, we shall be better able to judge how resolute they are. I daresay they will do very well.
I can, however, assure you that the situation of the French in Spain is most distressing. Officers of rank from Madrid write to France (intercepted correspondence) that they are reduced to the greatest necessity. Joseph the usurper, with an [160] army of 250,000 men in Spain, is only in possession of that part of his kingdom which the Troops occupy. ”

“ The remarkable efficiency of the Spanish Infantry which was fighting against Maurice for the182 domination of the Netherlands should not be overlooked. They had, besides musketeers, bodies of swordsmen with bucklers, active enough to overcome the pikemen. The Spaniards were the first to establish depôts for their army in war, where recruits could be trained by a few old soldiers. Their Regiments were of some 1,700 men, and the Companies varied from 150 to 300. The good order of the Spanish Army, and its strict discipline, were its most remarkable features. ”

“ Better raw material for warfare, I am sure, could not readily be come at, and I am equally sure that if more attention were paid to drill, and if the curse of morbid aspirations for promotion amongst the lower grades were more rigidly repressed, the Spanish army would regain its ancient renown. ”

“ Eight hundred of the Spanish cavalry, with two small field-pieces, sallied out to meet their assailants, who slowly retired before their superior numbers. In this way the royalists were drawn on to a place called Las Queseras del Medio, where a battalion of infantry had been placed in ambush near the river. Here, suddenly ceasing their retreat, and dividing up into groups of twenty, the patriot horsemen turned on the Spaniards and assailed them on all sides, driving them back under the fire of the infantry, by whom they were fearfully cut down. ”

“ The Spanish armed forces are proud of their military traditions. During the 16th century, when Spain ruled an empire, its infantry was feared throughout Europe, and its navy held supremacy of the seas. Spain declined as a great power in the 17th and 18th centuries, and in 1808 its forces were defeated in the Napoleonic invasion of the peninsula. During Napoleon's military occupation that followed, a tradition of guerrilla warfare developed in the Spanish people. ”

“ The Marine corps were embarked in the Fleet under Admiral Sir George Rooke, and were at the taking or Gibraltar, and in its subsequent defence in 1704; they were afterwards employed at the siege of Barcelona in 1705.
[3] The brave Sir Roger Williams, in his Discourse on War, printed in 1590 observes:—“I persuade myself ten thousand of our nation would beat thirty thousand of theirs (the Spaniards) out of the field, let them be chosen where they list.” Yet at this time the Spanish infantry was allowed to be the best disciplined in Europe. ”

“ The world seemed suddenly to have expanded its wings from East to West, only to bear the fortunate Spanish Empire to the most dizzy heights of wealth and power. The most accomplished generals, the most disciplined and daring infantry the world has ever known, the best equipped and most extensive navy, royal and mercantile, of the age, were at the absolute command of the sovereign. Such was Spain. ”

“ As an organised force, the Spanish army was contemptible; while, in desultory warfare, the peasantry were invaluable. With few exceptions, the history of Spanish service would be a mere detail of presumption and defeat; while their neighbours, the Portuguese, merited the perfect approbation of their officers, and proved worthy of standing in the battlefield by the side of British soldiers. ”

“ Were the Spanish armies able to meet their antagonists in the open or in pitched battle, prompt and decisive results might be looked for, and the immense superiority of the Spanish forces in numbers, discipline, and equipment could hardly fail to tell greatly to their advantage. ”

“ Though counting more fighting vessels, the Spanish fleet was inferior to the American squadron in size and armament. The Spanish vessels mounted 116 guns, the American 135. But the Spanish fleet was protected by land batteries and forts armed with modern guns. The Spaniards were, therefore, much superior to the Americans in force and armament. ”

“ Once a mimic regiment, with a deafening variety of unmusical instruments and a genuine Spanish flag, charged on me roguishly and drew up in battle square about their prisoner, but it was only to troll the staple song of Spanish adolescence: "I want to be a soldier," and when I had munificently rewarded the captain with a copper, the youngsters doffed their varied headgear, dipped their banner in martial salute, and contentedly re-formed their ranks. ”

“ In the present time, the army and navy of New Spain must be considered as a component part of the military force of the Mother country, as she is engaged in reinforcing them, by every means in her power, in order to quell the disturbances which have arisen to such a height in her more southern colonies. ”