peninsula which forms the southwestern corner of the European continent,
reaching farther south than any other European country, and farther west
than any except Portugal. Spain, the _Spania_, _Hispania_, and _Iberia_
of the Greeks, and known to the Romans by the same names, was inhabited
at the period at which it first receives historical mention, by a people
deriving their origin from different races. It is supposed to have been
originally inhabited by a distinct race called Iberians; upon whom,
however, a host of Celts are supposed to have descended from the
Pyrenees. In the earliest times of which we have any record, these two
races had already coalesced and formed the mixed nation of the
Celtiberians. The Phœnicians and Carthaginians successively planted
colonies on the coasts of Spain about 360 B.C.; and the Romans conquered
the whole country, 206 B.C., which they erected into a Roman province,
consisting of two political divisions,--_Hispania Citerior_ (Hither
Spain) and _Hispania Ulterior_ (Farther Spain). From the time of the
complete supremacy of the Romans till the death of Constantine, the
condition of Spain was eminently prosperous. In 409, hordes of
barbarians, Alans, Vandals, and Suevi, crossed the Pyrenees, and swept
over and desolated the peninsula; about 412, the Visigoths invaded the
country, and their king, Athaulf, who acknowledged a nominal dependence
on the Roman emperor, established the Gothic monarchy in Catalonia. The
battle of Xerxes in 711 gave the Moors almost undisputed mastery of
nearly the whole of Spain, as well as of the outlying Gothic province of
Septimania (Languedoc) in Franco. The Moors held Spain, for the first
few years of their rule, as a dependency of the province of North
Africa; but, after the downfall of Muza and his son Abd-el-aziz, who had
been the deputy-governor of Spain, the country was governed (1717) by
emirs appointed by the caliph of Damascus. The favorite scheme pursued
by the Spanish emirs was the extension of their conquests into Gaul, to
the neglect of the rising power of the Goths in Asturias; they also took
the Balearic Islands, Sardinia, Corsica, and part of Apulia and
Calabria; but their northward progress was signally checked on the plain
of Tours by Charles Martel. Anarchy and bloodshed were prominent
features of the first forty years of Mohammedan rule in Spain. Within
this period of forty years, no fewer than twenty emirs had been called
to the direction of affairs; but a revolution at Damascus, which
unseated the Ommiades, and placed the Abbasides in possession of the
caliphate, put an end to this state of misrule in Spain. The Moors at
length suffered a great defeat at Tarifa, by Alfonso XI. of Castile in
1340, and nearly the whole Christian dominions of Spain were united in
one monarchy in 1479; but the power of the Moors was not finally
extirpated until 1492, when Spain was consolidated into one empire from
the Pyrenees to the Strait of Gibraltar. But the expulsion of the Moors
and Jews was productive of the direst results, and the decline of the
splendid Spanish empire may be said to have had its origin in the event
which raised the country to the height of its magnificence. In the reign
of Charles I., Mexico and Peru were added to the possessions of Spain.
Philip II., by his enormous war expenditure and maladministration, laid
a sure foundation for the decline of the country; and the reigns of
Philip III. and Philip IV. witnessed a fearful acceleration in the
decline of Spain by the contests with the Dutch, and with the German
Protestants in the Thirty Years’ War, the intermeddling in the affairs
of Northern Italy, the rebellion of the Catalans, the wars with France,
and the rebellion of Portugal (1640), which had been united to Spain by
Philip II. That of Charles II. was still more unfortunate, and the death
of the latter was the occasion of the War of the Spanish Succession.
(See SUCCESSION WARS.) During the inglorious reign of Charles IV.
(1788-1808), a war broke out with Britain, which was productive of
nothing but disaster to the Spaniards, and by the pressure of the French
another arose in 1804, and was attended with similar ill success.
Charles abdicated in favor of his eldest son, the prince of the
Asturias, who ascended the throne as Ferdinand VII. Forced by Napoleon
to resign all claims to the Spanish throne, Ferdinand became a prisoner
of the French in the year of his accession, and in the same year Joseph,
the brother of the French emperor, was declared king of Spain. But an
armed resistance was organized throughout the whole country, and the
supreme junta, that of Seville, declared war against Napoleon and France
on June 6, 1808. In July, England, on solicitation, made peace with
Spain, recognized Ferdinand VII. as king, and sent an army to aid the
Spanish insurrection. This war lasted until the beginning of 1814, when
the allied armies of England, Spain, and Portugal were thoroughly
victorious. For important events which took place during this war, see
appropriate headings in this work. Ferdinand VII. treated the subjects
who had shown him devoted loyalty with infamous ingratitude, and
subsequently obtained the aid of France to establish despotism. The
reign of his daughter Isabella II. was disturbed by the Carlist
rebellion in 1834-39, in which the British aided the queen with an army
under Sir De Lacy Evans. The next events of importance were the contest
between Espartero, the regent, and Queen-dowager Christina, for the
supreme power during the minority of the queen; Espartero’s flight
before O’Donnell and Narvaez (1843); his restoration in 1847; banishment
of Queen Christina (1854); formation of the O’Donnell ministry (1858);
war with Morocco and annexation of St. Domingo (1861); war with Peru and
Chili (1864-65), and permanent truce in 1871; Prince Amadeus of Savoy
declared king in December, 1870; abdication, February, 1873;
insurrection of Don Carlos, 1873-76, when Prince Alfonso, son of Queen
Isabella, became king. For more specific history of provinces and cities
of Spain, see appropriate headings.
=Spancelled.= In heraldry, a term applied to a horse, two of whose legs
are fettered by a log of wood.
=Spandau.= A fortified town of Prussia, in the province of Brandenburg,
7 miles west from Berlin. It was taken by the Swedes in 1631, and by the
French in 1806.
=Spanish Fury, The.= A name given, in history, to the attack upon
Antwerp by the Spaniards, November 4, 1576, which resulted in the
pillage and burning of the place, and a monstrous massacre of the
inhabitants.
=Spanish War of Succession.= See SUCCESSION WARS.
=Spare-pole.= See ORDNANCE.
=Spare-pole Key.= See ORDNANCE.
=Spare-pole Ring.= See ORDNANCE.
=Spare-wheel Axle.= See ORDNANCE.
=Sparta.= Also called Lacedæmon, the capital of Laconia and the chief
city of Peloponnesus, was situated on the right bank of the Eurotas (now
_Iri_), about 20 miles from the sea. Sparta was never surrounded by
walls, since the bravery of its citizens and the difficulty of access to
it were supposed to render such defense needless. In the mythical
period, Argos was the chief city in Peloponnesus, and Sparta is
represented as subject to it. The Dorian conquest of Peloponnesus,
which, according to tradition, took place eighty years after the Trojan
war, made Sparta the capital of the country. The oldest inhabitants of
the country maintained themselves at Amyclæ, which was not conquered for
a long time. From various causes the Spartans became distracted by
intestine quarrels, till at length Lycurgus gave a new constitution to
the state. This constitution laid the foundation of Sparta’s greatness.
She soon became aggressive, and gradually extended her sway over the
greater part of Peloponnesus. In 743 B.C. the Spartans attacked
Messenia, and after a war of twenty years subdued this country. In 685
the Messenians again took up arms, but at the end of seventeen years
were again completely subdued, and their country from this time forward
became an integral part of Laconia. After the close of the second
Messenian war, the Spartans continued their conquests in Peloponnesus.
They defeated the Tegeans, and wrested the district of Thyreæ from the
Argives. At the time of the Persian invasion they were confessedly the
first people in Greece; and to them was granted by unanimous consent the
chief command in war. But after the final defeat of the Persians, the
haughtiness of Pausanias, king of Sparta, disgusted most of the Greek
states, and led them to transfer the supremacy to Athens (477). From
this time the power of Athens steadily increased, and Sparta possessed
little influence outside of the Peloponnesus. The Spartans made several
attempts to check the rising greatness of Athens, and their jealousy of
the latter led at length to the Peloponnesian war (431). This war ended
in the overthrow of Athens, and the restoration of the supremacy of
Sparta over the rest of Greece (404). But the Spartans did not retain
this supremacy more than thirty years. Their decisive defeat by the
Thebans, under Epaminondas, at the battle of Leuctra (371), gave the
Spartan power a shock from which it never recovered; and the restoration
of the Messenians to their country two years afterward completed the
humiliation of Sparta. Thrice was the Spartan territory invaded by the
Thebans, and the Spartan women saw for the first time the watch-fires of
an enemy’s camp. The Spartans now finally lost their supremacy over
Greece; and about thirty years afterward the greater part of Greece was
obliged to yield to Philip of Macedon. The Spartans, however, kept
haughtily aloof from the Macedonian conqueror, and refused to take part
in the Asiatic expedition of his son, Alexander the Great. The power of
Sparta continued to decline until the beginning of the reign of
Cleomenes III. (236), whose reforms for a time infused new blood into
the state, and for a short time he carried on war with success against
the Achæans. But Aratus, the general of the Achæans, called in the
assistance of Antigonus Doson, king of Macedonia, who defeated Cleomenes
at the decisive battle of Sellasia (221), and followed up his success by
the capture of Sparta. Sparta now sank into insignificance, and was
ruled by a succession of native tyrants, till at length it was compelled
to abolish its peculiar institutions, and to join the Achæan League.
Shortly afterward it fell, with the rest of Greece, under the Roman
power. The Spartans were a race of stern, cruel, resolute, rude, and
narrow-minded warriors, capable of a momentary self-sacrificing
patriotism, but utterly destitute of the capacity for adopting or
appreciating a permanently noble and wise policy.
=Spartans.= See SPARTA.
=Sparthe.= An Anglo-Saxon term for a halbert or battle-axe.
=Sparum.= A kind of dart, which was used by the ancients in war, and was
shot out of a cross-bow. The wound it occasioned was extremely
dangerous, as its point was triangular. Several of these darts were
discharged in a volley.
=Spatterdashes.= Were a kind of covering for the legs of soldiers, made
of cloth, or coarse linen waxed over, and buttoned tight, by which the
wet was kept off.
=Spatts.= Were a kind of spatterdashes, that reached only a little above
the ankle.
=Spayade.= In heraldry, a stag in his third year; a spay.
=Spear.= A lance or long weapon with a sharp point, formerly used as a
manual or missile weapon. Pliny ascribes the invention of the spear to
the Etolians. The spear of the Greeks was generally of ash, with a
leaf-shaped head of metal, and furnished with a pointed ferrule at the
butt, with which it was stuck in the ground; a method used, according to
Homer, when the troops rested on their arms, or slept upon their
shields. The cross spear-heads of the Britons were all pyramidal,
narrowing at the base. The heads of the Anglo-Saxon spears were
exceedingly long, and sometimes dreadfully barbed.
=Spear-hand.= The hand in which a horseman holds a spear; the right
hand.
=Spear-head.= The pointed end of a spear.
=Spearman.= One who is armed with a spear.
=Special Duty.= Soldiers may be employed on duties not strictly
military, when the exigencies of the service require it, for the reason
that they are incident to the operations of an army; as, mechanics,
laborers, cooks, and attendants in hospitals, clerks, scouts, etc.
Soldiers when detailed on these duties are generally reported on special
or extra duty, but are required to attend the regular inspections and
musters, and if not proficient in drill, should be required to attend
drills until they know their duties as soldiers. Officers when placed on
duty which temporarily relieves them from duty with their companies, as
acting commissaries and quartermasters, or on court-martial duty, etc.,
are reported on special duty.
=Special Orders.= See ORDERS, SPECIAL.
=Specific Gravity.= See GRAVITY.
=Specification.= The designation of particulars; particular mention; as,
the specification of a charge against a military officer. A written
statement containing a minute description or enumeration of particulars,
as of charges against officers or soldiers.
=Speen.= A parish of England, in Berkshire, 2 miles from Newbury, in
which the second battle of Newbury was fought, October 27, 1646.
=Spencer Rifle.= See SMALL-ARMS, and MAGAZINE GUNS.
=Spend.= This term is sometimes used in military matters to express the
consumption of anything; as, to spend all your ammunition.
=Spent Ball.= A ball shot from a fire-arm, which reaches an object
without having sufficient force to penetrate it.
=Speyer=, also =Speier=. The capital of Rhenish Bavaria (the former
Palatinate), and one of the oldest towns in Germany, stands at the
influx of the Speyerbach in the Rhine 23 miles north of Carlsruhe.
During the Orleans Succession war--well called by the Germans the
_Mordbrenner Krieg_--the whole Palatinate was savagely wasted, Speyer
was taken by the French, its inhabitants driven out, and the city blown
up with gunpowder and burned to the ground. Only the cathedral resisted
the barbarous efforts to mine it. In 1794, it was wasted by the French
under Custine, and has never recovered from these calamities.
=Spherical Bullets.= See PROJECTILE.
=Spherical Case-Shot.= A spherical case-shot consists of a thin shell of
cast iron, containing a number of musket-balls, and a charge of powder
sufficient to burst it; a fuze is fixed to it as in an ordinary shell,
by which the charge is ignited and the shell burst at any particular
instant. A spherical case-shot, when loaded ready for use, has about the
same specific gravity as a solid shot, and therefore, when fixed with
the service charge of powder, its range, and its velocity at any point
in its range, is about equal to that of a solid shot of the same
caliber. The spherical case mostly used for field service is the
12-pounder, and contains, when loaded, 90 bullets. Its bursting charge
is 1 ounce of powder, and it weighs 11.75 pounds. Its rupture may be
made to take place at any point in its flight, and it is therefore
superior to grape or canister. The attrition of the balls with which it
is loaded, formerly endangered the firing of the bursting charge. This
is now obviated, in making one mass of the balls, by pouring in melted
sulphur. It is also prevented by Capt. Boxer’s improved spherical
case-shot, of which there are two forms. In one form the bursting charge
of powder is contained in a cylindrical tin box, attached to a brass
socket which receives the fuze, and which is screwed into the shell. In
the other, the part of the shell containing the bursting charge is
separated from that containing the bullets by a diaphragm of sheet-iron,
cast into the shell (_i.e._, the shell is cast on to the diaphragm which
is inserted into the core). The bullets are introduced into the shell by
a second orifice, and are kept in their places by a composition
afterwards poured in. The present 12-pounder spherical case-shot, fixed
with a charge of 2¹⁄₂ pounds of powder, is effective at 1500 yards. The
proper position of the point of rupture varies from 50 to 130 yards in
front of, and from 15 to 20 feet above, the object. The mean number of
destructive pieces from a 12-pounder spherical case-shot, which may
strike a target 9 feet high and 54 feet long, at a distance of 800
yards, is 30. The spherical case-shot from rifle-cannon is said to be
effective at over 2000 yards. Spherical case should not be used at a
less distance than 500 yards.
=Spicheren=, or =Speicheren=. See SAARBRUCK.
=Spike Cannon, To.= Is to drive into the vent a jagged and hardened
steel spike with a soft point, or a nail without a head; break it off
flush with the outer surface and clinch the point inside by means of a
rammer. A gun may be unspiked if the spike is not screwed in or
clinched, and the bore is not impeded, by putting in a charge of powder
one-third of the weight of the shot, and ramming junk-wads over it;
laying on the bottom of the bore a slip of wood, with a groove on the
under side containing a strand of quick-match, by which fire is
communicated to the charge. In a brass gun, take out some of the metal
at the upper orifice of the vent, and pour sulphuric acid into the
groove, and let it stand some hours before firing. If this method,
several times repeated, is not successful, unscrew the vent-piece if it
be a brass gun; and if an iron one, drill out the spike, or drill a new
vent.
Artillery can be rendered unserviceable by other methods besides
spiking, as follows: (1) Wedge a shot in the bottom of the bore by
wrapping it with felt, or by means of iron wedges, using the rammer or a
bar of iron to drive them in. (2) Cause shells to burst in the bore of
bronze guns. (3) Fire broken shot from them with large charges. (4) Fill
the piece with sand over the charge, to burst it. (5) Fire a piece
against another, muzzle to muzzle, or the muzzle of one to the chase of
the other. (6) Light a fire under the chase of a bronze gun, and strike
on it with a sledge, to bend it. (7) Break off the trunnions of iron
guns; or burst them by firing them at a high elevation, with heavy
charges and full of shot.
To drive out a shot wedged in the bore: unscrew the vent-piece if there
be one, and drive in wedges so as to start the shot forward; then ram it
back again in order to seize the wedge with a hook; or pour in powder,
and fire it after replacing the vent-piece. In the last resort, bore a
hole in the bottom of the breech, drive out the shot, and stop the hole
with a screw. When a shot is jammed in a gun and cannot be rammed home
to the cartridge, destroy the charge by pouring water down the vent and
muzzle until the ingredients are dissolved, and cleared out of the bore;
then introduce a small quantity of powder through the vent and blow out
the shot.
=Spin Hay, To.= Is to twist it up in ropes, very hard, for an
expedition; by which means it is less bulky, and less troublesome for
the cavalry to carry behind them. An expert horseman can spin five days’
forage into a very narrow compass.
=Spingard.= A kind of small cannon.
=Splay.= The divergence outwards from the line of fire of the lines
which mark the bottom of the sides of an embrasure.
=Splinter-bar.= See ORDNANCE, CARRIAGES FOR.
=Splinter-proof.= Strong enough to resist the splinters of bursting
shells.
=Spoils.= Whatever is taken from the enemy in time of war. Among the
ancient Greeks, the spoils were divided among the whole army, only the
share given to the general was the largest; but among the Romans the
spoils belonged to the republic.
=Spoleto= (anc. _Spoletium_). A city of Central Italy, province of
Umbria, is situated on a rocky hill, 61 miles north-northwest of Rome.
During the second Punic war, Hannibal is said to have been repulsed by
the colonists in an assault which he made on the town (217 B.C.), after
the battle of Thrasymene. In 1860 it was taken by the Italians from a
body of Irish mercenaries in the service of the pope, and now forms part
of the kingdom of Italy.
=Sponge.= See IMPLEMENTS.
=Sponge and Rammer-stop.= See ORDNANCE, CARRIAGES FOR.
=Sponge-bucket.= See IMPLEMENTS.
=Sponge-chain.= See ORDNANCE, CARRIAGES FOR.
=Sponge-hook.= See ORDNANCE, CARRIAGES FOR.
=Spontoon.= A weapon bearing resemblance to a halberd, which, prior to
1787, was borne instead of a half-pike by officers of British infantry.
It was a medium for signaling orders to the regiment. The spontoon
planted in the ground commanded a halt; pointed backwards or forwards,
advance or retreat; and so on.
=Sporting Powder.= Gunpowder used in sporting arms,--usually finer
grained than that for military arms.
=Sporting Rifle.= A rifle made especially for hunting. There is no
invariable feature distinguishing it from other rifles. Ordinarily the
rear sight is not elevating.
=Spottsylvania Court-house.= A village in Spottsylvania Co., Va.,
situated on the river Po, 65 miles north from Richmond. A series of
desperate battles took place in the neighborhood of this village between
the Federals and Confederates, from May 8 to 21, 1864, in which the
former compelled the latter, after much carnage, to retreat to the North
Anna River, which ultimately resulted in the battle of Cold Harbor
(which see).
=Spread-eagle.= In heraldry, an eagle, or the figure of an eagle, with
its wings elevated and its legs extended;--often met as a device in
heraldry, upon military ornaments, and the like.
=Springfield.= A post-town, capital of Greene Co., Mo., 130 miles
southwest of Jefferson City. Near here was fought the desperate battle
of Wilson’s Creek, in which the Federals had the advantage over the
Confederates, but lost their brave general, Nathaniel Lyon, August 10,
1861.
=Springfield.= A city of Massachusetts, on the east bank of the
Connecticut River, 98 miles west by south of Boston. The national armory
is located here, which repaired and altered in 1869 upwards of 25,000
rifles and muskets. The present U. S. breech-loader, model of 1873, is
made here.
=Springfield Rifle.= See SMALL-ARMS.
=Sprue.= See ORDNANCE, CONSTRUCTION OF, MOLDING.
=Spur.= An apparatus fastened to the heel of a horseman, for goading the
horse. It is much less used than formerly. All cavalry soldiers wear
spurs; but their use, except in the heat of an actual charge, is
discouraged as much as possible. In the days of chivalry, the use of the
spur was limited to knights, and it was among the emblems of knighthood.
To win his spurs, was for a young man to earn knighthood by gallant
conduct. The degradation of a knight involved the hacking off of his
spurs; and the serving before a knight of a pair of spurs on a dish, was
a strong hint by his host that he had outstayed his welcome.
=Spurs, Battle of the.= See COURTRAI.
=Spy.= In war, is a useful but not highly honored auxiliary, employed to
ascertain the state of an enemy’s affairs, and of his intended
operations. Spies have been used in all wars from the time when Moses
sent Joshua on such a purpose to the present time. Their employment is
quite recognized by the law of nations as interpreted by Grotius,
Vattel, and Martens; nor is it held to be any dishonor to a general to
avail himself of their services. On the other hand, the spy himself is
looked upon as an outlaw, and one devoid of honor. If taken by the
enemy, he is put to death ignominiously and without mercy. As, however,
the calling is so dangerous, and so little redounds to honor, it is
never permissible for a general to compel by threats any person, whether
of his own or the hostile party, to act as a spy; but he is at liberty
to accept all such services when proffered. A spy is well paid, lest he
betray his employer. In the British army, spies are usually controlled
by the quartermaster-general. Martial law, though distinct enough in
ordering the death of a spy, is not clear in defining what constitutes a
spy. A man--not of the enemy--within the enemy’s lines, and in the
enemy’s uniform, would presumably be a spy. If in civil dress, and
unable to give a good account of himself, his chance of hanging would be
considerable; but if found in one camp in the uniform of the opposite
side, he may not be treated otherwise than as a prisoner of war, or at
least as a deserter from the enemy. Both as regards honor and penalties,
it would seem that spies ought in fairness to be divided into two
classes,--first, those who betray their own country to an enemy;
secondly, those who, being enemies, contrive surreptitiously to obtain
information by penetrating into the opposing army. The first class are
traitors of a deep dye, for whom no ignominious death is too bad; but
the second class are often brave men, who dare much in the service of
their country. It is unfair to accord them the same treatment as the
traitors.
=Squad.= A small portion of a company, troop, or battery, placed in the
especial charge of an officer or non-commissioned officer for purposes
of inspection and supervision. In the infantry it corresponds with a
section. It also signifies a small number of men drilled together. The
term _awkward squad_ is applied to those soldiers who, on account of
clumsiness or want of attention, are sent back to the lowest squad to be
re-drilled.
=Squad Book.= In the British service, is the roll of a squad,
containing, besides the names, the trades and other particulars of the
men.
=Squad-bags.= In the British service, are black canvas bags, which are
issued at the rate of one to every 25 men, and are intended to contain
those articles of a man’s kit which are not comprised in the “service
kit.” They are only used when a regiment is in the field or on the line
of march. In India, where knapsacks are never carried, a small squad-bag
is issued to each soldier.
=Squadron.= In military language, denotes two troops of cavalry. It is
the unit by which the force of cavalry with an army is always computed.
Three or four squadrons constitute a regiment. The actual strength of a
squadron ranges from 120 to 200 sabres.
=Squall.= A sudden and violent gust of wind, often attended with rain or
snow. _Black squall_, a squall attended with dark, heavy clouds. _Thick
squall_, a black squall accompanied by rain, hail, sleet, etc. _White
squall_, a squall which comes unexpectedly, without being marked in its
approach by the clouds.
=Square.= In military evolutions, is the forming of a body of men into a
rectangular figure, with several ranks or rows of men facing on each
side. With men of ordinary firmness, a square should resist the charges
of the heaviest horse. The formation is not new, for a Grecian
_Syntagma_ was a solid square of 16 men in every direction; but in
modern warfare, the solid square having been found cumbrous, has been
abandoned for the hollow square, with officers, horses, colors, etc., in
the centre. The front rank kneels, and the two next stoop, which enables
five ranks of men to maintain a rolling fire upon an advancing enemy, or
to pour in a murderous volley at close quarters.