Spanish Colonial Troops 1828-1936

Until 1825 Spain controlled a vast colonial empire in the Americas, which stretched from Mexico in the north to Argentina in the south; following several years of bloody wars, however, most of the American colonies of Spain became independent republics. As a result, in 1828, the Spanish colonial military forces were completely reorganized with the objective of defending in a more effective way the rich overseas possession that were still controlled by Spain: the flourishing Caribbean islands of Cuba and Puerto Rico, as well the Asian archipelago of the Philippines and some small islands in the Pacific. During the 1850s, Spain created her own colony in Africa by settling the small territory of Equatorial Guinea; in 1898, however, she lost both the Caribbean colonies and the Philippines to the USA as a result of the disastrous Spanish-American War. The dramatic events of 1898, however, did not brought the Spanish colonial empire to an end. During the early decades of the XX century, in fact, Spain greatly expanded her territories in North Africa - which included the cities of Ceuta and Melilla since centuries - by establish a "protectorate" over the northern portion of Morocco. In the same years the Spaniards also settled the vast region that later became known as "Spanish Sahara", being located on the Atlantic coastline of Africa just south of Morocco. The main aim of the present book is to present a detailed analysis of the history, organization and uniforms of the Spanish colonial military forces from their reorganization of 1828 to the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War in 1936. Thanks to the presence of dozens of uniform plates in colour, full details will be provided about the flamboyant dress of all the colonial troops deployed by Spain during the period taken into account.