page_title: Spanish Army
section_title: Years of Economic Development (Menéndez Tolosa Reform, 1965)
hierarchical_section_title: Spanish Army / The Spanish Army under the Francoist Regime (1939–1975) / Years of Economic Development (Menéndez Tolosa Reform, 1965)
caption_attribution_description: Banderas de la Legion español
context_page_description: The Spanish Army is the terrestrial army of the Spanish Armed Forces responsible for land-based military operations. It is one of the oldest active armies — dating back to the late 15th century. However, it could be considered even older if the Visigothic Kingdom of Toledo is taken into account. In the sixth century, with Reccared I, the territorial unity of the Kingdom was achieved, which included the entire Iberian Peninsula, thus finishing the work already begun by his father Liuvigild, being the Spanish Visigoth Army responsible of defending the borders of the kingdom especially against the Franks.
context_section_description: The 1965 Reforms were inspired by contemporary French organisation and Doctrine of the era. The Army was grouped into two basic categories: the Immediate Intervention Forces (Field Army) and the Operational Defence Forces (Territorial Army) and were divided into the following:
  The IIF (FA) had the mission of defending the Pyrenean and the Gibraltar frontiers and of fulfilling Spain's security commitments abroad and thus were composed of the following:
  Armoured Division, with two Brigades
  Mechanised Division, with two Brigades
  Motorized Division, with two Brigades
  Parachute Brigade (raised 1973)
  Airborne Brigade
  Armored Cavalry Brigade
  Army Corps support units
  ODF (TA) units had the missions of maintaining security in the regional commands and of reinforcing the Civil Guard) and the police against subversion and terrorism categorized into:
  9 independent TA Infantry Brigades (one in every Military Region), with two Infantry Battalions each,
  2 TA Mountain Divisions,
  1 Mountain Reserve of the Army High Command (TA),
  The Canary Islands, Balearic Islands, Ceuta and Melilla commands, with their respective TA units including the Regulares (6 Groups later reduced to 4) and the Spanish Legion (4 Tercios),
  and the Army General Reserve Command, composed of TA units working as the reserve force of the Army and are the equivalent to the United States Army Reserve.
  During the last years of the Francoist regime, contemporary weapons were ordered for the Spanish Army. In 1973, the military education system was reformed in depth, in order to make its structure and objectives similar to those existing in the civilian universities. It was during this time that the Spanish Army fought in the campaigns in what is now Western Sahara against Arab forces in the area who agitated for the end of Spanish colonial rule.
caption: Troops of the Spanish Legion
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