# Chief of Staff of the Army (Spain)

The Chief of Staff of the Army (JEME) is a military office held by a four-star general in the Spanish Army. Because of this, the JEME is the principal advisor to the Chief of the Defence Staff (JEMAD) on ground warfare and it is also an advisor to the Minister of Defence, the Secretary of State for Defence (SEDEF) and the Under-Secretary of Defence (SUBDEF).
Under the authority of the defence minister, the Chief of Staff of the Army exercises command over the land branch of the Armed Forces.
The JEME has two main roles: the support role by which advice is provided to the Minister of Defence about land military policy, the JEMAD about how to use the personnel and their operative status, the SEDEF about the economic, armament and infrastructure policies and the Under Secretary about the personnel and teaching policy, and the operative role to prepare the force for combat, instruct military personnel, establishes the organization of its military branch and watches over the welfare of the personnel under his command and evaluates the needs of the Army.
The Chief of the Staff of the Army convenes the meetings and coordinates the efforts of the Army Staff (EME), the main support body to the JEME responsible for providing the necessary elements of judgment to base its decisions, translate these into orders and ensure their fulfillment. The EME has a whole body of military officers at its service, and among the main officers include the Second Chief of Staff of the Army, the General Chief of the Terrestrial Headquarters of High Availability, the Chief of the Land Force and the General Chief of the Command of Personnel of the Army, among others.
The position was previously held by Army General Francisco Javier Varela Salas and is currently held by General Amador Fernando Enseñat y Berea.

## History

The creation of an Army Staff (Estado Mayor Central del Ejército) (EMCE) was planned on the Law of 17 July 1904 by which the Ministry of War was authorized to modify its structure. On 13 December 1904, the Minister of War approved a Regulation developing that structure and creating the Army Staff and in front of it a chief of staff. The JEME needed to be a lieutenant general and at the same time was created the office of the Second Chief of Staff of the Army with the rank of divisional general. On 30 May 1907, the National Defence Board and the JEME was part of it.
The EMCE was suppressed on 29 December 1912 and it was replaced by a section called Section of Army Staff and Campaign and the powers of the JEME were assumed by the Under Secretary of War.
The need to recover the Army Staff did not take long to appear and in November 1915 the Council of Ministers approved the draft bill of the Army Staff that was approved by the Cortes Generales and on 26 January 1916 the EMCE was re-created with mere technical functions, because it had no executive functions and was only granted such in times of war.
In this new law the position was reserved to captain general or lieutenant general officers and in times of war it was granted to the JEME total command of the Army unless the King put himself in charge of it. The JEME was indistinctly titled Chief of the Army Staff or General Chief of the Army Staff.
In 1925, the EMCE was once again suppressed and the functions of the JEME were assumed directly by the Minister of War, and the Directorate-General of Campaign Preparation, which served as the Army Staff, was created. It was recovered by the provisional government of the second republic in July 1931.
During the Civil War, as with the rest of the military branches, each side created its own General Staff. With the end of the civil war, the Francoist government maintained the structure of the Army Staff that existed previously, and did not change until the arrival of democracy, which changed the name of Chief of the Central Staff of the Army to Chief of Staff of the Army in 1977.

## List of officeholders

| No. | Portrait | Name (born–died) | Term of office | Term of office | Term of office | Ref. |
| No. | Portrait | Name (born–died) | Took office | Left office | Time in office | Ref. |
| 1 | | Lieutenant general Camilo García de Polavieja (1838–1914) | 25 December 1904 | 19 March 1906 | 1 year, 84 days |
| 2 | | Lieutenant general Vicente Martitegui [es] (1843–1912) | 23 March 1906 | 8 November 1908 | 2 years, 230 days |
| 3 | | Lieutenant general Diego de los Ríos (1850–1911) | 8 March 1909 | 14 January 1910 | 312 days |
| 4 | | Lieutenant general Julián González Parrado | 14 January 1910 | 27 December 1912 | 2 years, 348 days |
| Office suppressed between 1912 and 1916 |||||||
| 5 | | Captain general of the Army Valeriano Weyler (1838–1930) | 14 January 1916 | 5 January 1922 | 5 years, 356 days |
| 6 | | Lieutenant general Luis Aizpuru y Mondéjar [es] (1857–1939) | 7 January 1922 | 27 May 1923 | 1 year, 140 days |
| 7 | | Captain general of the Army Valeriano Weyler (1838–1930) | 28 July 1923 | 6 October 1925 | 2 years, 70 days |
| Office suppressed between 1925 and 1931 |||||||
| 8 | | Divisional general Manuel Goded Llopis (1882–1936) | 31 July 1931 | 30 June 1932 | 335 days |
| 9 | | Divisional general Carlos Masquelet [es] (1871–1948) | 17 February 1933 | 4 April 1935 | 2 years, 46 days |
| 10 | | Divisional general Francisco Franco (1892–1975) | 19 May 1935 | 23 February 1936 | 280 days |
| 11 | | Divisional general José Sánchez-Ocaña Beltrán [es] (1874–1964) | 23 February 1936 | 19 July 1936 | 147 days |
| Civil War |||||||
| 12 | | Divisional general Toribio Martínez Cabrera (1874–1939) (Disputed) | 19 July 1936 | 20 May 1937 | 305 days |
| 13 | | Brigadier Fidel Dávila Arrondo (1878–1962) (Disputed) | 2 October 1936 | 30 September 1939 | 2 years, 363 days |
| 14 | | Divisional general Vicente Rojo Lluch (1894–1966) (Disputed) | 20 May 1937 | 9 February 1939 | 1 year, 265 days |
| End of the Civil War |||||||
| 15 | | Artillery Colonel Carlos Martínez de Campos y Serrano [es] (1887–1975) | 30 September 1939 | 12 May 1941 | 1 year, 224 days |
| 16 | | Brigadier general Carlos Asensio Cabanillas (1896–1969) | 12 May 1941 | 4 September 1942 | 1 year, 115 days |
| 17 | | Divisional general Rafael García Valiño (1898–1972) | 4 September 1942 | 24 March 1950 | 7 years, 201 days |
| 18 | | Lieutenant general Fernando Barrón (1892–1952) | 24 March 1950 | 9 November 1952 | 2 years, 230 days |
| 19 | | Lieutenant general Emilio Esteban Infantes (1892–1962) | 9 November 1952 | 5 October 1955 | 2 years, 330 days |
| 20 | | Lieutenant general Antonio Alcubilla Pérez | 5 October 1955 | 27 April 1959 | 3 years, 204 days |
| 21 | | Lieutenant general José Cuesta Monereo (1895–1981) | 27 April 1959 | 30 December 1961 | 2 years, 247 days |
| 22 | | Lieutenant general Valero Valderrábanos Samitier | 30 December 1961 | 16 November 1962 | 321 days |
| 23 | | Lieutenant general Ramón Gotarredona Prats [es] (1898–1968) | 16 November 1962 | 25 October 1963 | 343 days |
| 24 | | Lieutenant general Rafael Cavanillas Prosper [es] (1899–1998) | 25 October 1963 | 13 July 1965 | 1 year, 261 days |
| 25 | | Lieutenant general César Mantilla Lautrec [es] | 6 August 1965 | 18 June 1968 | 2 years, 317 days |
| 26 | | Lieutenant general Fernando González-Camino y Aguirre [es] | 18 June 1968 | 2 July 1971 | 3 years, 14 days |
| 27 | | Lieutenant general Gonzalo Fernández de Córdoba y Ziburu [es] | 2 July 1971 | 12 November 1973 | 2 years, 133 days |
| 28 | | Lieutenant general Emilio Villaescusa Quilis [es] (1912–2002) | 12 November 1973 | 1 July 1976 | 2 years, 232 days |
| 29 | | Lieutenant general Manuel Gutiérrez Mellado (1912–1995) | 1 July 1976 | 26 October 1976 | 117 days |
| 30 | | Lieutenant general Ramón Cuadra Medina [es] | 3 November 1976 | 13 January 1977 | 71 days |
| 31 | | Lieutenant general José Miguel Vega Rodríguez (1913–1999) | 13 January 1977 | 24 May 1978 | 1 year, 131 days |
| 32 | | Lieutenant general Tomás de Liniers y Pidal | 24 May 1978 | 18 May 1979 | 359 days |
| 33 | | Lieutenant general José Gabeiras [es] (1916–2005) | 18 May 1979 | 15 January 1982 | 2 years, 242 days |
| 34 | | Lieutenant general Ramón Ascanio y Togores | 15 January 1982 | 11 January 1984 | 1 year, 361 days |
| 35 | | Lieutenant general José Sáenz de Tejada y Fernández de Bobadilla | 11 January 1984 | 31 October 1986 | 2 years, 293 days |
| 36 | | Lieutenant general Miguel Íñiguez del Moral | 31 October 1986 | 18 May 1990 | 3 years, 199 days |
| 37 | | Lieutenant general Ramón Porgueres Hernández [es] (1928–2018) | 18 May 1990 | 14 February 1994 | 3 years, 272 days |
| 38 | | Lieutenant general José Faura Martín | 14 February 1994 | 1 October 1998 | 4 years, 229 days |
| 39 | | General of the Army Alfonso Pardo de Santayana y Coloma (1936–2015) | 1 October 1998 | 17 January 2003 | 4 years, 108 days |
| 40 | | General of the Army Luis Alejandre Sintes [es] | 17 January 2003 | 25 June 2004 | 1 year, 160 days |
| 41 | | General of the Army José Antonio García González [es] | 25 June 2004 | 28 April 2006 | 1 year, 307 days |
| 42 | | General of the Army Carlos Villar Turrau (born 1945) | 28 April 2006 | 18 July 2008 | 2 years, 81 days |
| 43 | | General of the Army Fulgencio Coll Bucher (born 1948) | 18 July 2008 | 27 July 2012 | 4 years, 9 days |
| 44 | | General of the Army Jaime Domínguez Buj (born 1952) | 27 July 2012 | 1 April 2017 | 4 years, 248 days |
| 45 | | General of the Army Francisco Javier Varela Salas (born 1952) | 1 April 2017 | 6 October 2021 | 4 years, 188 days |
| 46 | | General of the Army Amador Fernando Enseñat y Berea (born 1960) | 6 October 2021 | Incumbent | 3 years, 110 days |