Republican victory
85-577: The XYZ Line ( Spanish : Línea XYZ ), also known as the Matallana Line , was a system of fortifications built in 1938 during the Spanish Civil War to defend Valencia , the capital of the Second Spanish Republic . The XYZ Line was a simple system of trenches and bunkers , built to withstand heavy artillery or 450-kilogram (992 lb) aerial bombs, and took advantage of some of
170-660: A Spanish-based creole language called Chavacano developed in the southern Philippines. However, it is not mutually intelligible with Spanish. The number of Chavacano-speakers was estimated at 1.2 million in 1996. The local languages of the Philippines also retain significant Spanish influence, with many words derived from Mexican Spanish , owing to the administration of the islands by Spain through New Spain until 1821, until direct governance from Madrid afterwards to 1898. Corpo Truppe Volontarie The Corps of Volunteer Troops ( Italian : Corpo Truppe Volontarie, CTV )
255-865: A central column moving between them through the mountains. The Nationalists found it slow going due to rainy weather in March and April that slowed the offensive. The difficult terrain of the Maestrazgo aided the Republican forces, driving back the Nationalists with their strong defensive positions and determination. The Republicans had been reinforced with new weapons brought in from France: Soviet Supermosca ( I-16 Type 10) fighters with four machine-guns, 40 Grumman FF fighters and anti-aircraft guns. On 13 June, Castellón fell to Garcia Valiño's corps after several days of fighting, but they were halted short of Sagunto , where
340-588: A considerable number of words from Arabic , as well as a minor influence from the Germanic Gothic language through the period of Visigoth rule in Iberia. In addition, many more words were borrowed from Latin through the influence of written language and the liturgical language of the Church. The loanwords were taken from both Classical Latin and Renaissance Latin , the form of Latin in use at that time. According to
425-623: A decisive victory for the Nationalists. They were then transferred to the Aragón front. Some CTV forces may have been involved in the Battle of El Mazuco , but details are unconfirmed. October : After the northern campaigns, the 1st CCNN Division and 2nd CCNN Division were consolidated with the Division XXIII di Marzo and renamed the XXIII de Marzo - Llamas Negras Division. March : The Flechas Negras Brigade
510-517: A dramatic change in the pronunciation of its sibilant consonants , known in Spanish as the reajuste de las sibilantes , which resulted in the distinctive velar [x] pronunciation of the letter ⟨j⟩ and—in a large part of Spain—the characteristic interdental [θ] ("th-sound") for the letter ⟨z⟩ (and for ⟨c⟩ before ⟨e⟩ or ⟨i⟩ ). See History of Spanish (Modern development of
595-476: A first language by Spaniards and educated Filipinos ( Ilustrados ). Despite a public education system set up by the colonial government, by the end of Spanish rule in 1898, only about 10% of the population had knowledge of Spanish, mostly those of Spanish descent or elite standing. Spanish continued to be official and used in Philippine literature and press during the early years of American administration after
680-605: A fourth offensive on Madrid. The Italian offensive resulted in the Battle of Guadalajara , which ended as a decisive victory for the Republican forces. In contrast, the Italian forces suffered heavy losses. The Italian armour, consisting for the most part of L3/35 tankettes , proved to be no match for the tanks that were provided to the Republicans by the Soviet Union . The Italian offensive
765-569: A front 32 kilometres (20 mi) wide until they were stopped by the XYZ Line fortifications running east and west from Viver into the Sierra de Espadan. Between 18 and 23 July, the defenses of the XYZ Line, held by two Republican corps led by Colonels Ernesto Güemes and Carlos Romero, were successful in halting the Nationalist advance. Republican positions were well-placed and entrenched which gave them
850-471: A long history in the territory of the current-day United States dating back to the 16th century. In the wake of the 1848 Guadalupe Hidalgo Treaty , hundreds of thousands of Spanish speakers became a minoritized community in the United States. The 20th century saw further massive growth of Spanish speakers in areas where they had been hitherto scarce. According to the 2020 census, over 60 million people of
935-480: A major tactical advantage over the Nationalists. Machine gun nests were set up to crossfire to easily repel assaults. Many positions were hidden which made them difficult to detect, and therefore difficult to call in artillery or for aircraft to bomb them. Waves of infantry and intense bombing raids were used to try break the Republican lines, but the defenders' use of well planned trenches and protected lines of communication were able to inflict heavy casualties on
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#17328863873371020-498: A primarily Hassaniya Arabic -speaking territory, Spanish was officially spoken as the language of the colonial administration during the late 19th and 20th centuries. Today, Spanish is present in the partially-recognized Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic as its secondary official language, and in the Sahrawi refugee camps in Tindouf ( Algeria ), where the Spanish language is still taught as
1105-599: A second language features characteristics involving the variability of the vowel system. While far from its heyday during the Spanish protectorate in Morocco , the Spanish language has some presence in northern Morocco , stemming for example from the availability of certain Spanish-language media. According to a 2012 survey by Morocco's Royal Institute for Strategic Studies (IRES), penetration of Spanish in Morocco reaches 4.6% of
1190-518: A second language, largely by Cuban educators. The number of Spanish speakers is unknown. Spanish is also an official language of the African Union . Spanish was an official language of the Philippines from the beginning of Spanish administration in 1565 to a constitutional change in 1973. During Spanish colonization , it was the language of government, trade, and education, and was spoken as
1275-416: Is cognate to the root word of satisfacer ("to satisfy"), and hecho ("made") is similarly cognate to the root word of satisfecho ("satisfied"). Compare the examples in the following table: Some consonant clusters of Latin also produced characteristically different results in these languages, as shown in the examples in the following table: In the 15th and 16th centuries, Spanish underwent
1360-436: Is Latin in origin, including Latin borrowings from Ancient Greek. Alongside English and French , it is also one of the most taught foreign languages throughout the world. Spanish is well represented in the humanities and social sciences . Spanish is also the third most used language on the internet by number of users after English and Chinese and the second most used language by number of websites after English. Spanish
1445-657: Is a global language with about 500 million native speakers, mainly in the Americas and Spain , and about 600 million when including second language speakers. Spanish is the official language of 20 countries , as well as one of the six official languages of the United Nations . Spanish is the world's second-most spoken native language after Mandarin Chinese ; the world's fourth-most spoken language overall after English , Mandarin Chinese, and Hindustani ( Hindi - Urdu ); and
1530-399: Is estimated that about 486 million people speak Spanish as a native language , making it the second most spoken language by number of native speakers . An additional 75 million speak Spanish as a second or foreign language , making it the fourth most spoken language in the world overall after English, Mandarin Chinese, and Hindi with a total number of 538 million speakers. Spanish is also
1615-740: Is heavily influenced by Venezuelan Spanish. In addition to sharing most of its borders with Spanish-speaking countries, the creation of Mercosur in the early 1990s induced a favorable situation for the promotion of Spanish language teaching in Brazil . In 2005, the National Congress of Brazil approved a bill, signed into law by the President , making it mandatory for schools to offer Spanish as an alternative foreign language course in both public and private secondary schools in Brazil. In September 2016 this law
1700-806: Is spoken by very small communities in Angola due to Cuban influence from the Cold War and in South Sudan among South Sudanese natives that relocated to Cuba during the Sudanese wars and returned for their country's independence. Spanish is also spoken in the integral territories of Spain in Africa, namely the cities of Ceuta and Melilla and the Canary Islands , located in the Atlantic Ocean some 100 km (62 mi) off
1785-804: Is the de facto national language of the country, Spanish is often used in public services and notices at the federal and state levels. Spanish is also used in administration in the state of New Mexico . The language has a strong influence in major metropolitan areas such as those of Los Angeles , Miami , San Antonio , New York , San Francisco , Dallas , Tucson and Phoenix of the Arizona Sun Corridor , as well as more recently, Chicago , Las Vegas , Boston , Denver , Houston , Indianapolis , Philadelphia , Cleveland , Salt Lake City , Atlanta , Nashville , Orlando , Tampa , Raleigh and Baltimore-Washington, D.C. due to 20th- and 21st-century immigration. Although Spanish has no official recognition in
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#17328863873371870-484: Is the official Spanish language of the State. ... The other Spanish languages shall also be official in their respective Autonomous Communities... The Royal Spanish Academy ( Real Academia Española ), on the other hand, currently uses the term español in its publications. However, from 1713 to 1923, it called the language castellano . The Diccionario panhispánico de dudas (a language guide published by
1955-529: Is used as an official language by many international organizations , including the United Nations , European Union , Organization of American States , Union of South American Nations , Community of Latin American and Caribbean States , African Union , among others. In Spain and some other parts of the Spanish-speaking world, Spanish is called not only español but also castellano (Castilian),
2040-567: Is usually assumed to be derived from castillo ('castle'). In the Middle Ages , the language spoken in Castile was generically referred to as Romance and later also as Lengua vulgar . Later in the period, it gained geographical specification as Romance castellano ( romanz castellano , romanz de Castiella ), lenguaje de Castiella , and ultimately simply as castellano (noun). Different etymologies have been suggested for
2125-665: The France–Spain border , reopened in March. 39°56′00″N 0°34′00″W / 39.9333°N 0.5667°W / 39.9333; -0.5667 Spanish language This is an accepted version of this page Spanish ( español ) or Castilian ( castellano ) is a Romance language of the Indo-European language family that evolved from the Vulgar Latin spoken on the Iberian Peninsula of Europe . Today, it
2210-858: The French Navy and the British Royal Navy . When founded, the CTV consisted of four all-Italian divisions, under the joint command of General Mario Roatta as CTV commander: After the defeat of the Italian troops in the Battle of Guadalajara, Roatta was replaced by Ettore Bastico on April 15, 1937. Bastico immediately initiated a reorganization of the CTV: the blackshirt divisions Dio lo Vuole and Penne Nere , which had proven useless in combat, were sent back to Italy. In return, 1,500 new soldiers arrived from Italy in June, after which
2295-607: The Mediterranean Sea and split the Second Spanish Republic in two. The Spanish Republican Army was in disarray and the road to Barcelona was open for conquest by the Nationalists. Even General Vicente Rojo Lluch said that Barcelona could have been taken with "less force and in less time" than in January 1939 . The Nationalist's German and Italian allies expected a swift attack against Barcelona. Nevertheless, Nationalist leader Francisco Franco decided to turn south against
2380-509: The Spanish as a First Foreign Language (SAFFL) initiative in March 2005. Spanish has historically had a significant presence on the Dutch Caribbean islands of Aruba , Bonaire and Curaçao ( ABC Islands ) throughout the centuries and in present times. The majority of the populations of each island (especially Aruba) speaking Spanish at varying although often high degrees of fluency. The local language Papiamentu (Papiamento on Aruba)
2465-508: The Spanish–American War but was eventually replaced by English as the primary language of administration and education by the 1920s. Nevertheless, despite a significant decrease in influence and speakers, Spanish remained an official language of the Philippines upon independence in 1946, alongside English and Filipino , a standardized version of Tagalog . Spanish was briefly removed from official status in 1973 but reimplemented under
2550-627: The "Corps of Volunteer Troops" ( Corpo Truppe Volontarie , or CTV). The Blackshirt ( Camicie Nere , CCNN) Divisions contained regular soldiers and volunteer militia from the National Fascist Party . The CCNN divisions were semi-motorised. There, it also had the independent XXIII de Marzo Group of CCNN infantry. The Italian CTV also had a Tank and Armoured Cars Group , Corps Artillery of ten regiments (Groups) of field artillery and four batteries of anti-aircraft artillery. 3 to 8 February : The 1st CCNN Division "Dio lo Vuole", in support of
2635-404: The 2021–2022 school year alone. The local business process outsourcing industry has also helped boost the language's economic prospects. Today, while the actual number of proficient Spanish speakers is around 400,000, or under 0.5% of the population, a new generation of Spanish speakers in the Philippines has likewise emerged, though speaker estimates vary widely. Aside from standard Spanish,
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2720-574: The 20th century, Spanish was introduced to Equatorial Guinea and the Western Sahara , and to areas of the United States that had not been part of the Spanish Empire, such as Spanish Harlem in New York City . For details on borrowed words and other external influences upon Spanish, see Influences on the Spanish language . Spanish is the primary language in 20 countries worldwide. As of 2023, it
2805-550: The 9th century, and the first systematic written use of the language happened in Toledo , a prominent city of the Kingdom of Castile , in the 13th century. Spanish colonialism in the early modern period spurred the introduction of the language to overseas locations, most notably to the Americas. As a Romance language, Spanish is a descendant of Latin. Around 75% of modern Spanish vocabulary
2890-401: The CTV was divided into three larger units: In addition, the mixed division Frecce Nere was added. After the victory at Santander , the CTV was reorganized again in the fall of 1937. The new commander was General Mario Berti , and the divisions under his command were reduced from three to two ( Littorio and XXIII Marzo ) due to the high losses. In the winter, the mixed Frecce Division
2975-581: The CTV's XXIII de Marzo Group and 11 Artillery Groups. August to September : Roatta's replacement, General Ettore Bastico , commanded the CTV forces including the Division XXIII di Marzo , formed from the XXIII de Marzo Group. The CTV broke the Republicans' lines near Soncillo; captured a key pass, the Puerto del Escudo ; and penetrated deep into the Republican rear during the Battle of Santander , which resulted in
3060-639: The Equatoguinean education system and is the primary language used in government and business. Whereas it is not the mother tongue of virtually any of its speakers, the vast majority of the population is proficient in Spanish. The Instituto Cervantes estimates that 87.7% of the population is fluent in Spanish. The proportion of proficient Spanish speakers in Equatorial Guinea exceeds the proportion of proficient speakers in other West and Central African nations of their respective colonial languages. Spanish
3145-691: The Iberian Peninsula. These languages included Proto-Basque , Iberian , Lusitanian , Celtiberian and Gallaecian . The first documents to show traces of what is today regarded as the precursor of modern Spanish are from the 9th century. Throughout the Middle Ages and into the modern era , the most important influences on the Spanish lexicon came from neighboring Romance languages — Mozarabic ( Andalusi Romance ), Navarro-Aragonese , Leonese , Catalan/Valencian , Portuguese , Galician , Occitan , and later, French and Italian . Spanish also borrowed
3230-550: The Italian "expeditionary force". General Luigi Frusci became his Deputy Commander. 23 December : The first formation of 3,000 troops landed in Cadiz and was called the "Italian Army Mission". January : By then, approximately 44,000 regular Italian army soldiers and members of the Fascist paramilitary ( Blackshirts ) were in Spain. In late February, the "expeditionary force" was renamed
3315-402: The Italian dictator, Benito Mussolini , immediately responded in a positive manner. They sent transport aircraft and crews to Morocco to airlift Nationalist forces from there to Spain. The colonial troops from Morocco allowed the Nationalist forces to take the initiative on mainland Spain. The Italians also used Nationalist-held and Portuguese harbours as staging points for sending supplies to
3400-560: The Nationalist forces and for landing Spanish troops to support the rebellion. Italian submarines began to sink Spanish, Soviet and other nations' ships that were transporting materials through the Mediterranean to Republican harbours. However, action by the League of Nations resulted in the Nyon Agreement of September 1937, which classed these operations as acts of piracy and was enforced by
3485-516: The Nationalist offensive began on 13 July. To the west, Solchaga's corps moved south from Teruel with Varela's corps and the CTV on their flank to the east, and the Garcia Valiño formation tried to advance down the coast. After some determined resistance at Mora de Rubielos and Sarrion , the Republican line in the Sierra del Toro crumbled. The Nationalists then advanced 97 kilometres (60 mi) along
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3570-465: The Nationalists (about 20,000 casualties) while suffering relatively few themselves (only 5,000 casualties). The Nationalist offensive had halted less than 40 km from Valencia. On 24 July, the Republicans launched an offensive in the north, the Battle of the Ebro , which prevented any further assaults on the line by drawing away eight Nationalist divisions and their heavy artillery. According to Beevor,
3655-478: The Nationalists, launched an offensive against Málaga . On 8 February, the Italians and Nationalists captured the city. The Battle of Málaga was a decisive victory for the Nationalists. About 74 Italian soldiers were killed, 221 wounded, and two missing in that battle. March : The Corps of Volunteer Troops now numbered over 50,000 troops. 8 to 23 March : Mussolini decided that Fascist Italian forces should lead
3740-488: The Nationalists, the Republicans had the six army corps (Palacio's XVI Corps, Garcia Vallejo's XVII, Vidal's XIX, Duran's XX and Ibarrola's XXII, as well as Güemes's Group A and Romero's Group B) of General Leopoldo Menéndez 's Army of the Levante . On 5 July, Garcia Valiño attacked from Castellón, but he was stopped by the Republican forces led by Colonel Duran and General Menendez at the Sierra de Espadan . The final push of
3825-529: The Old Spanish sibilants) for details. The Gramática de la lengua castellana , written in Salamanca in 1492 by Elio Antonio de Nebrija , was the first grammar written for a modern European language. According to a popular anecdote, when Nebrija presented it to Queen Isabella I , she asked him what was the use of such a work, and he answered that language is the instrument of empire. In his introduction to
3910-571: The Royal Spanish Academy) states that, although the Royal Spanish Academy prefers to use the term español in its publications when referring to the Spanish language, both terms— español and castellano —are regarded as synonymous and equally valid. The term castellano is related to Castile ( Castilla or archaically Castiella ), the kingdom where the language was originally spoken. The name Castile , in turn,
3995-528: The Spanish, which resulted in some losses for the Italians. 12 December : After the failure of Franco's offensive on Madrid , Mussolini decided to send regular army forces to Spain. Mussolini made that decision after he had consulted Italian Minister of Foreign Affairs Galeazzo Ciano and General Mario Roatta , who were then two of the most influential men in Italy. Roatta was made the Commander-in-Chief of
4080-502: The U.S. population were of Hispanic or Hispanic American by origin. In turn, 41.8 million people in the United States aged five or older speak Spanish at home, or about 13% of the population. Spanish predominates in the unincorporated territory of Puerto Rico , where it is also an official language along with English. Spanish is by far the most common second language in the country, with over 50 million total speakers if non-native or second-language speakers are included. While English
4165-451: The administration of Ferdinand Marcos two months later. It remained an official language until the ratification of the present constitution in 1987, in which it was re-designated as a voluntary and optional auxiliary language. Additionally, the constitution, in its Article XIV, stipulates that the Government shall provide the people of the Philippines with a Spanish-language translation of
4250-483: The army personnel consisted disproportionately of recruits from the southern regions of Italy and the islands. Northern and central Italy contained about two-thirds of the total Italian population, but only a third of all of the CTV's fallen army soldiers came from these regions. In contrast, southern Italy and the islands, with only a third of the total population, accounted for two thirds of the fallen army soldiers. 3 September : Republican forces from Catalonia , under
4335-548: The city of Valencia , the capital of the Republic at the time. Following the recent Anschluss , Franco feared that an advance on Barcelona could prompt France to intervene in Catalonia . Furthermore, he did not want a swift end to the war, but a war of annihilation against the Republic to crush all opposition. Dionisio Ridruejo said, "A long war meant total victory. Franco chose the crueller option which, from his point of view,
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#17328863873374420-566: The classic hispanus or hispanicus took the suffix -one from Vulgar Latin , as happened with other words such as bretón (Breton) or sajón (Saxon). Like the other Romance languages , the Spanish language evolved from Vulgar Latin , which was brought to the Iberian Peninsula by the Romans during the Second Punic War , beginning in 210 BC. Several pre-Roman languages (also called Paleohispanic languages )—some distantly related to Latin as Indo-European languages , and some that are not related at all—were previously spoken in
4505-545: The command of Captain Alberto Bayo , made a landing on Majorca . His formations were the target of the Italian Air Force, which attacked on 24 October. On the same date, Italian bombers and fighters launched their first air raid on Madrid . That was intended to demonstrate to the Republican forces the power of Franco's allies. In the following days, they began a series of bombing raids on the Spanish capital. 2 November : Italian and German bombers and their fighter escorts were attacked by Soviet aircraft, nicknamed " Chatos " by
4590-446: The consonant written b (a bilabial with plosive and fricative allophones). In modern Spanish, there is no difference between the pronunciation of orthographic b and v . Typical of Spanish (as also of neighboring Gascon extending as far north as the Gironde estuary , and found in a small area of Calabria ), attributed by some scholars to a Basque substratum was the mutation of Latin initial f into h- whenever it
4675-404: The country's constitution. In recent years changing attitudes among non-Spanish speaking Filipinos have helped spur a revival of the language, and starting in 2009 Spanish was reintroduced as part of the basic education curriculum in a number of public high schools, becoming the largest foreign language program offered by the public school system, with over 7,000 students studying the language in
4760-414: The defense of the XYZ Line was a far greater victory for the Republic than the Battle of Guadalajara . The Nationalists occupied the province of Castellón , but failed to occupy Valencia and suffered heavy casualties. The Republican Army had time to reorganize, and to plan their assault across the River Ebro . Furthermore, the Republican forces in Catalonia had time to rearm with the weapons received across
4845-450: The following table: Spanish is marked by palatalization of the Latin double consonants ( geminates ) nn and ll (thus Latin annum > Spanish año , and Latin anellum > Spanish anillo ). The consonant written u or v in Latin and pronounced [w] in Classical Latin had probably " fortified " to a bilabial fricative /β/ in Vulgar Latin. In early Spanish (but not in Catalan or Portuguese) it merged with
4930-466: The former British colony of Belize (known until 1973 as British Honduras ) where English is the sole official language, according to the 2022 census, 54% of the total population are able to speak the language. Due to its proximity to Spanish-speaking countries and small existing native Spanish speaking minority, Trinidad and Tobago has implemented Spanish language teaching into its education system. The Trinidadian and Tobagonian government launched
5015-454: The grammar, dated 18 August 1492, Nebrija wrote that "... language was always the companion of empire." From the 16th century onwards, the language was taken to the Spanish-discovered America and the Spanish East Indies via Spanish colonization of America . Miguel de Cervantes , author of Don Quixote , is such a well-known reference in the world that Spanish is often called la lengua de Cervantes ("the language of Cervantes"). In
5100-632: The language from the Kingdom of Castile , contrasting it with other languages spoken in Spain such as Galician , Basque , Asturian , Catalan/Valencian , Aragonese , Occitan and other minor languages. The Spanish Constitution of 1978 uses the term castellano to define the official language of the whole of Spain, in contrast to las demás lenguas españolas (lit. "the other Spanish languages "). Article III reads as follows: El castellano es la lengua española oficial del Estado. ... Las demás lenguas españolas serán también oficiales en las respectivas Comunidades Autónomas... Castilian
5185-423: The language's hegemony in an intensely centralising Spanish state were established from the 18th century onward. Other European territories in which it is also widely spoken include Gibraltar and Andorra . Spanish is also spoken by immigrant communities in other European countries, such as the United Kingdom , France , Italy , and Germany . Spanish is an official language of the European Union . Today,
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#17328863873375270-470: The leftist Popular Front government. Making the situation more difficult for the Nationalists was the fact that the Spanish Republican Air Force and Navy generally remained loyal to the government. If the Nationalist forces fighting in Spain did not receive reinforcements, the rebellion could soon fail. General Francisco Franco and the other Nationalist leaders sent emissaries to Berlin and to Rome to ask for help. The German dictator, Adolf Hitler , and
5355-628: The majority of the Spanish speakers live in Hispanic America . Nationally, Spanish is the official language—either de facto or de jure —of Argentina , Bolivia (co-official with 36 indigenous languages), Chile , Colombia , Costa Rica , Cuba , Dominican Republic , Ecuador , El Salvador , Guatemala , Honduras , Mexico (co-official with 63 indigenous languages), Nicaragua , Panama , Paraguay (co-official with Guaraní ), Peru (co-official with Quechua , Aymara , and "the other indigenous languages"), Puerto Rico (co-official with English), Uruguay , and Venezuela . Spanish language has
5440-409: The military equipment represented a loss to Italy's war inventory, most of the equipment was obsolete and outdated. The financial cost of the CTV and AL to Italy was higher and amounted to between 6 and 8.5 billion lire . At 14 to 20 percent of annual expenditure, that represented an immense drain on the Italian economy. The high cost of the Spanish expedition further limited Italy's economic output in
5525-400: The most difficult terrain in Spain in the Iberian System ranges to the north and northeast of Valencia. The XYZ Line was successful at halting the Nationalist advance on Valencia, being one of the last Republican victories of the war, and allowed the Republicans to start the Battle of the Ebro . Following the success of the Aragon Offensive in April 1938, the Nationalist armies reached
5610-401: The mountains of the Sierra de Espadán came close to the sea. With the fall of Castellón, the Nationalists had a Mediterranean harbor into which munitions and food could be brought to their troops in this front. The Nationalists were surprised by the resistance of the Republican forces, and General Alfredo Kindelán tried to persuade Franco to abandon the operation. The German Condor Legion
5695-498: The northwest of the African mainland. The Spanish spoken in the Canary Islands traces its origins back to the Castilian conquest in the 15th century , and, in addition to a resemblance to Western Andalusian speech patterns, it also features strong influence from the Spanish varieties spoken in the Americas, which in turn have also been influenced historically by Canarian Spanish. The Spanish spoken in North Africa by native bilingual speakers of Arabic or Berber who also speak Spanish as
5780-481: The population. Many northern Moroccans have rudimentary knowledge of Spanish, with Spanish being particularly significant in areas adjacent to Ceuta and Melilla. Spanish also has a presence in the education system of the country (through either selected education centers implementing Spain's education system, primarily located in the North, or the availability of Spanish as foreign language subject in secondary education). In Western Sahara , formerly Spanish Sahara ,
5865-445: The reduction of the CCNN Divisions, Italians began to serve in mixed Italo-Spanish Flechas ("Arrows") units, with the Italians providing the officers and technical personnel and the Spanish served in the rank and file. The first were the Flechas Azules (“Blue Arrows”) Mixed Brigade and the Flechas Negras (“Black Arrows”) Mixed Brigade , which served respectively in Extremadura and Viscaya from April to August 1937. Also in Viscaya were
5950-584: The success of the Nationalists meant that the Italians now had a friendly regime in the western Mediterranean . Of the approximately 78,500 men sent to Spain, 3,819 had been killed and 10,629 wounded. Most of the casualties were caused during the Catalan and the Aragonese Offensives, with about 44% of the deaths and 43% of the wounded, and the rest during the Guadalajara , Santander and Levante offensives. The Italian military left behind roughly 3,400 machine guns, 1,400 mortars, 1,800 artillery pieces, 6,800 vehicles, 160 tankettes and 760 aircraft. However, while
6035-431: The term español (Spanish). According to the Royal Spanish Academy, español derives from the Occitan word espaignol and that, in turn, derives from the Vulgar Latin * hispaniolus ('of Hispania'). Hispania was the Roman name for the entire Iberian Peninsula . There are other hypotheses apart from the one suggested by the Royal Spanish Academy. Spanish philologist Ramón Menéndez Pidal suggested that
6120-444: The theories of Ramón Menéndez Pidal , local sociolects of Vulgar Latin evolved into Spanish, in the north of Iberia, in an area centered in the city of Burgos , and this dialect was later brought to the city of Toledo , where the written standard of Spanish was first developed, in the 13th century. In this formative stage, Spanish developed a strongly differing variant from its close cousin, Leonese , and, according to some authors,
6205-623: The third most used language on the Internet , after English and Chinese. Spanish is the official language of Spain . Upon the emergence of the Castilian Crown as the dominant power in the Iberian Peninsula by the end of the Middle Ages, the Romance vernacular associated with this polity became increasingly used in instances of prestige and influence, and the distinction between "Castilian" and "Spanish" started to become blurred. Hard policies imposing
6290-580: The world's most widely spoken Romance language. The country with the largest population of native speakers is Mexico . Spanish is part of the Ibero-Romance language group , in which the language is also known as Castilian ( castellano ). The group evolved from several dialects of Vulgar Latin in Iberia after the collapse of the Western Roman Empire in the 5th century. The oldest Latin texts with traces of Spanish come from mid-northern Iberia in
6375-759: Was a Fascist Italian expeditionary force of military volunteers , which was sent to Spain to support the Nationalist forces under General Francisco Franco against the Spanish Republic during the Spanish Civil War , 1936–39. In July 1936, at the beginning of Spanish Civil War , most of the elite Nationalist forces were isolated in Spanish Morocco or on the Canary Islands . Meanwhile, in Spain, smaller formations of Nationalists and Guardia Civil forces were locked in combat with pro-government militias, Assault Guards and those army units which remained loyal to
6460-540: Was added, which essentially consisted of the Frecce Azurre and Frecce Nere brigades. For the final phase of the war, command of the CTV was transferred to Gastone Gambara on October 24, 1938. The CTV forces at the Catalonia Offensive now consisted of the new division Littorio d'Assalto as well as the three mixed divisions Frecce Nere , Frecce Azurre and Frecce Verdi . The casualty registers suggest that
6545-405: Was also more effective." The Nationalist offensive started on 25 April, with General José Enrique Varela 's Army Corps of Castille, Antonio Aranda 's Galician corps, and Garcia Valiño 's formation, but the advance was halted on 27 April. On 1 May, the Nationalists continued their offensive, advancing on three fronts: Varela from Teruel , Aranda along the Mediterranean coast, and Garcia Valiño in
6630-680: Was developed in the cities of Toledo , in the 13th to 16th centuries, and Madrid , from the 1570s. The development of the Spanish sound system from that of Vulgar Latin exhibits most of the changes that are typical of Western Romance languages , including lenition of intervocalic consonants (thus Latin vīta > Spanish vida ). The diphthongization of Latin stressed short e and o —which occurred in open syllables in French and Italian, but not at all in Catalan or Portuguese—is found in both open and closed syllables in Spanish, as shown in
6715-604: Was distinguished by a heavy Basque influence (see Iberian Romance languages ). This distinctive dialect spread to southern Spain with the advance of the Reconquista , and meanwhile gathered a sizable lexical influence from the Arabic of Al-Andalus , much of it indirectly, through the Romance Mozarabic dialects (some 4,000 Arabic -derived words, make up around 8% of the language today). The written standard for this new language
6800-642: Was exhausted and was eventually withdrawn from the front. Nevertheless, Franco ordered the attack to be continued, and that Valencia be captured by 25 July. By the beginning of July, the Nationalists reinforced the front with three divisions of the Italian Corpo Truppe Volontarie (CTV) led by General Mario Berti , and four divisions of General José Solchaga 's Turia Corps. Furthermore, the Nationalists had nine hundred cannons and four hundred aircraft in this front, and had just received about 50 Italian medium bombers ( BR.20 , SM.79 , SM.81 ). Opposing
6885-602: Was expanded into the Flechas Division "Arrows" and served in the Aragon Offensive and the March to the Sea, with the CTV now under Mario Berti . 18 March : Barcelona was the target of 13 Italian large-scale air raids. Mussolini ordered the bombings without consulting Franco. The Italian aircraft were armed with incendiary and gas bombs, which resulted in the death of around 2,500 civilians. November : The Flechas Division
6970-713: Was followed by a vowel that did not diphthongize. The h- , still preserved in spelling, is now silent in most varieties of the language, although in some Andalusian and Caribbean dialects, it is still aspirated in some words. Because of borrowings from Latin and neighboring Romance languages, there are many f -/ h - doublets in modern Spanish: Fernando and Hernando (both Spanish for "Ferdinand"), ferrero and herrero (both Spanish for "smith"), fierro and hierro (both Spanish for "iron"), and fondo and hondo (both words pertaining to depth in Spanish, though fondo means "bottom", while hondo means "deep"); additionally, hacer ("to make")
7055-561: Was repulsed by a strong Republican counter-offensive led by the 11th Division . Of the four Italian divisions engaged, only the Littorio Division did not suffer heavy losses. The three CCNN divisions had such heavy losses that they had to be reorganised into two divisions and a special weapons (armour and artillery) group. The 3rd CCNN Division was disbanded and consolidated with the 2nd CCNN Division in April 1937. April to August : Following
7140-462: Was revoked by Michel Temer after the impeachment of Dilma Rousseff . In many border towns and villages along Paraguay and Uruguay, a mixed language known as Portuñol is spoken. Equatorial Guinea is the only Spanish-speaking country located entirely in Africa, with the language introduced during the Spanish colonial period . Enshrined in the constitution as an official language (alongside French and Portuguese), Spanish features prominently in
7225-542: Was strengthened and renamed "Flechas Negras", and the Flechas Azules Brigade was expanded into two other Flechas Divisions, which took part in the Catalonia Offensive the final offensive of the war, along with the rest of the CTV under Gastone Gambara : February : After the victory of Franco and the Nationalists over the Republicans, General Bastico and the Italian volunteers left Spain. On 1 April 1939,
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