"Requete" redirects here. For the Spanish superlative prefix, see Spanish adjectives

Spanish adjectives

The Spanish language uses adjectives in a similar way to English and most other Indo-European languages. Spanish adjectives usually go after the noun they modify, and they agree with what they refer to in terms of both number and gender .Spanish adjectives are very similar to nouns, and often...

. For the French term, see Maître des requêtes

Maître des requêtes

Masters of Requests are high-level judicial officers of administrative law in France and other European countries that have existed in one form or another since the Middle Ages.-Old Regime France:...

.

The Requetés (from the French

French language

French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...

 requêté, “hunting call”) were the Carlist militia

Militia

The term militia is commonly used today to refer to a military force composed of ordinary citizens to provide defense, emergency law enforcement, or paramilitary service, in times of emergency without being paid a regular salary or committed to a fixed term of service. It is a polyseme with...

 during the Spanish Civil War

Spanish Civil War

The Spanish Civil WarAlso known as The Crusade among Nationalists, the Fourth Carlist War among Carlists, and The Rebellion or Uprising among Republicans. was a major conflict fought in Spain from 17 July 1936 to 1 April 1939...

. Wearing red beret

Beret

A beret is a soft, round, flat-crowned hat, designated a "cap", usually of woven, hand-knitted wool, crocheted cotton, or wool felt, or acrylic fiber....

s, they mostly came from Navarre

Navarre

Navarre , officially the Chartered Community of Navarre is an autonomous community in northern Spain, bordering the Basque Country, La Rioja, and Aragon in Spain and Aquitaine in France...

 and were highly religious with many regarding the war as a Crusade. They were often accompanied by priests as field chaplains, who were known for risking their lives to perform the Last Sacrament on the battlefield, and who also urged the men on. A Spanish encyclopedia of 1965 defines the Requetés as a “group of traditionalists whose object is to encourage amongst themselves the goals of the political party, valorous sentiments, physical prowess, initiative, spirit of resistance, and the acceptance of responsibility, and who during the civil wars of Spain

Carlist Wars

The Carlist Wars in Spain were the last major European civil wars in which contenders fought to establish their claim to a throne. Several times during the period from 1833 to 1876 the Carlists — followers of Infante Carlos and his descendants — rallied to the cry of "God, Country, and King" and...

, fought in corps (tercios) in defense of the religious and monarchical traditions.”

The earliest use of the term was applied to the Third Battalion of Navarre (Tercer Batallón de Navarra), in 1835, during the First Carlist War

First Carlist War

The First Carlist War was a civil war in Spain from 1833-1839.-Historical background:At the beginning of the 18th century, Philip V, the first Bourbon king of Spain, promulgated the Salic Law, which declared illegal the inheritance of the Spanish crown by women...

, and was later applied generally to all Carlist combatants.

The Carlist Requetés had been receiving military training during the Second Spanish Republic

Second Spanish Republic

The Second Spanish Republic was the government of Spain between April 14 1931, and its destruction by a military rebellion, led by General Francisco Franco....

. During the early and central periods of the war the Requeté units were well known as highly motivated and (comparatively) well trained assault troops for the nationalists. Carlist units were instrumental in several nationalist victories, notably during the tough fighting in the and around the Basque country during the Northern Campaign in 1937.

The negotiations with the conspiring generals were tough. By July 1936, however, Carlism unanimously supported the nationalist side on the Spanish Civil War. From the start there were serious troubles, between the Carlists, especially their then political head Manuel Fal Conde

Manuel Fal Condé

Manuel José Fal Condé, Duke of Quintillo, Grandee of Spain was the political leader of the Carlist movement in Spain in the 1930s and during the Spanish Civil War. Condé was born in Seville, Spain and was a lawyer by profession...

, and the military government. On 8 December 1936, Manuel Fal had to leave temporarily for Portugal, after a major clash with Franco.

On 19 April 1937 their political branch was "unified" with the Falange

Falange

The Spanish Phalanx of the Assemblies of the National Syndicalist Offensive , known simply as the Falange, is the name assigned to several political movements and parties dating from the 1930s, most particularly the original fascist movement in Spain. The word means phalanx formation in Spanish....

 party. Both the Falange and the regent Javier de Borbón protested this move, and, after a meeting with Francisco Franco

Francisco Franco

Francisco Franco y Bahamonde was a Spanish general, dictator and head of state of Spain from October 1936 , and de facto regent of the nominally restored Kingdom of Spain from 1947 until his death in November, 1975...

, Javier de Borbón was expelled from Spain. Due to the necessities of the war, actions against the Unification did not go much further, but meant the loss of all material wealth of the party (buildings, newspapers, etc.).

Sources

• Francisco de Paula Madrazo: Historia militar y política de Zumalacárregui; Madrid 1844.
• Julio Aróstegui: Los combatientes carlistas en la Guerra Civil española 1936-1939, Madrid 1991