Spanish Foreign Legion

Abstract

Abstract An elite unit of the Spanish army. The Spanish Foreign Legion was created by Lieutenant Colonel José Millán Astray, a professional soldier and africanista (Spaniards in favor of Moroccan colonialism). Another name for the Legion is el Tercio, a term chosen as an homage to the “invincible” Spanish infantry Tercios of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. Its formation was authorized by King Alfonso XIII in January 1920, and the unit accepted its first recruits on September 20, its subsequent anniversary day. The Spanish presidio of Ceuta in Morocco became its first recruitment center as well as its principal headquarters and training base at Dar Riffien, located four miles outside the city of Ceuta. Although modeled on the more famous French Foreign Legion, which recruited foreigners exclusively, the Spanish version would be staffed mostly by Spanish volunteers.