There have been tanks in the Spanish Army since French FT-17s were
delivered in 1919. These were used in the Rif War and participated in
the first amphibious landing with tanks. In 1925, the Spanish Army began
to produce its own tank, based on the FT-17, but it was never put into
mass production. During the Spanish Civil War, the two opposing armies
received many tanks from foreign powers. The war proved inconclusive in
regards to the proof of mechanized warfare, despite attempts by foreign
advisers and soldiers to use newly devised theories. Afterwards, Spain
began to manufacture a light tank, known as the Verdeja, but the project
was a failure. In 1953, the United States agreed to supply tanks
including the M48 Patton (pictured) but after a dispute about the
tanks' use Spain began to look elsewhere for further tanks, including
the AMX-30E. Renewed plans for a Spanish tank (the Lince program) failed
due to financial problems; instead Spain modernized the AMX-30Es and
procured American M60 Patton tanks. In 1994, Spain began negotiating
with Germany to purchase the Leopard 2, procuring 108 Leopard 2A4s and
building 219 Leopard 2Es in Spain; these are still in use.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tanks_in_the_Spanish_Army>
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Today's selected anniversaries:
1869:
Prospectors in Moliagul, Victoria, Australia, discovered the
largest alluvial gold nugget ever found, known as the "Welcome Stranger"
(memorial pictured).
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Welcome_Stranger>
1909:
Belgian chemist Leo Baekeland announced the creation of
Bakelite, the world's first synthetic plastic.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bakelite>
1963:
The European Court of Justice's ruling in Van Gend en Loos v
Nederlandse Administratie der Belastingen established the principle of
direct effect, one of the basic tenets of European Union law.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Van_Gend_en_Loos_v_Nederlandse_Administratie_der_Belastingen>
1985:
The mayors of Rome and Carthage signed a peace treaty to
ceremonially end the Third Punic War, 2,131 years after the conflict had
ended.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Third_Punic_War>
2004:
The Revolutionary Artibonite Resistance Front captured
Gonaïves, Haiti, starting a coup d'état against the government of
President Jean-Bertrand Aristide.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2004_Haitian_coup_d%27%C3%A9tat>
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Wiktionary's word of the day:
comestible:
Suitable to be eaten; edible.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/comestible>
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Wikiquote quote of the day:
We travel together, passengers on a little spaceship, dependent on its
vulnerable reserves of air and soil; all committed, for our safety, to
its security and peace; preserved from annihilation only by the care,
the work and the love we give our fragile craft.
--Adlai Stevenson
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Adlai_Stevenson>