Spain THE MILITARY IN NATIONAL LIFE
King Juan Carlos in military uniform
Courtesy National Tourist Office of Spain
Since the early nineteenth century, the Spanish armed
forces
had been burdened by an inflated officer corps and had had
infrequent military challenges. The professional military
was
preoccupied with its status and its privileges. Promotions
were
slow, and they were based on seniority rather than on
merit.
Fighting units were starved of modern equipment because of
heavy
personnel costs. The military had established a tradition
of
frequent interventions to alter the course of internal
politics
in what it perceived to be the higher interests of the
nation.
Nevertheless, until the authoritarian regime of Miguel
Primo de
Rivera (1923-30), the military was more inclined to induce
changes in civilian governments than it was to impose
direct rule
(see The African War and the Authoritarian Regime of Miguel Primo de Rivera
, ch. 1).
Although left with a large and powerful army at the
close of
the Civil War in 1939, Franco allowed the armed forces to
deteriorate. The majority of his officers were identified
with
the most reactionary elements in the government and with
the
repressive aspects of the regime. They were thrust into an
uneasy
relationship with the civilian politicians of the
democratic
government installed after Franco's death in 1975.
Aggrieved over
the course of events, a small group of army and Civil
Guard
(Guardia Civil) officers attempted a coup on February 23,
1981,
by holding the entire government hostage in the Cortes
(Spanish
Parliament). The coup failed because of the lack of
support and
the intervention of the king on the side of democratic
rule
(see Disenchantment with UCD Leadership
, ch. 1).
The Socialist government that assumed office in 1982
introduced a radical program to reform the status of the
armed
forces. It set out to improve the material conditions of
military
life, but it also imposed layers of civilian control and a
sharp
cutback in the size of the army and the number of
active-duty
officers. Smaller, but more rationally configured and
embarked on
a modernization program, the armed forces were faced with
the
task of coordinating Spain's fighting strength with the
overall
NATO defense effort. Although the officer corps continued
to be
treated cautiously as a potentially intrusive factor if
the
civilian government faltered, its traditional political
role
seemed increasingly anachronistic.
Data as of December 1988
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