Part 128

=Spain.= A kingdom of Europe, occupying the larger portion of the great 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.