Badass Spaniard



"Percy: I'd like to see the Spaniard that could fight his way past me! Edmund: Then go to Spain. There are millions of them."

- Blackadder II

"But though a great part of Spain is deficient in the garniture of groves and forests, and the softer charms of ornamental cultivation, yet it's scenery is noble in it's severity and in unison with the attributes of it's people; and I think that I better understand the proud, hardy, frugal, and abstemious Spaniard, his manly defiance of hardships, and contempt of effeminate indulgences, since I have seen the country he inhabits."

- Washington Irving, Tales of the Alhambra.

The Badass Spaniard is any Badass Normal who has the 5-point advantage of being Spanish or Latin American. Not only does he speak Spanish but his accent makes him even more badass. Odds are good that he fights with a rapier, or some other weapon that emphasizes finesse rather than power. Though not necessarily honorable - traditional Spanish sword fighting was dirty and ruthless; one traditional method of "killing English" was to use your own cape to protect your hand from injuries, grab the opponent's sword, and stab him repeatedly in the gut. Also, a traditional sword-fighting side weapon was the daga de mano izquierda or main gauche (also known as "vizcaína" or "mata amigos" to fans of Capitán Alatriste), a huge and very pointy parrying dagger.

Not that historical accuracy ever mattered in Hollywood.

The Badass Spaniard's claim to Spain need not be direct: Hispanic, Latin-American or even Latin descent is acceptable within this Trope. The important thing is that he has a killer accent and a killer instinct. But he's NEVER from Mexico, since mexicans doesn't identify with the spanish culture (regardless of the De Facto language of the country) as most of their historical badassery comes from battling their way out of the Spanish rule, a Mexican is as much of a badass spaniard as an American is a badass englishman, unless he's of white Spanish descent (And even then most white mexicans does not care much for their european roots), like Zorro or Ricardo Montalban (his parents upper-class Castillians). Cuba is usually a good exotic choice, as to an American, Cuban and Spanish accents sound similar.

Bonus points if he shares a name with a conquistador or an iconic Spanish author, if his Leitmotif sounds like Carmen on steroids, or if other characters literally call him "the Spaniard". May also be a Latin Lover. Will probably make use of Gratuitous Spanish. If male, his love interest is almost inevitably a Spicy Latina.

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 * The Most Interesting Man in the World from the Dos Equis commercials transcends to Memetic Badass Spaniard.
 * Alejandro the Almond from Planters Peanuts. Olé!
 * Parodied in a current British TV commercial for kitchen roll wherein Zorro-a-like Juan Sheet saves the "pretty ladies" of a bridal party from the horrors of spilled liquid on their dresses using only "Juan Sheet" of paper.

Anime & Manga

 * The El Dora V in Gun X Sword. Seriously, for Super Robot Armor riders over 60, they didn't lose an ounce of Badass with age.
 * This might be why Meta Knight was given a Spanish accent in 4Kids dub for Kirby Right Back At Ya.
 * Dracule Mihawk from One Piece is based on this archetype as well as the strong vampire overtones.
 * Later in the series we get flower "Flower Sword" Vista as well.
 * Spain in Axis Powers Hetalia definitely has his moments.
 * León García de Asturias tends to show a lot of badassery every time he appears. In the novels Then you discover that Leon had defeated that same man in the very same fashion before. And, to add insult to injury,
 * Probably the reason why the Samurai Deeper Kyo dub gave Migeira a Spanish accent. (Even though he is Japanese)
 * Dordonii from Bleach, who has a Spanish accent in the dub. Although, he's not really badass until
 * Many of the other Espada tried for this.
 * Capricorn El Cid from Saint Seiya: The Lost Canvas. One of the 12 Gold Saints, the most powerful warriors among Athena's troops, and the provider of the longest Crowning Moment of Awesome in the series (almost two entire editions!!): . Capricorn Shura, his successor in the original series, also counts, surviving.
 * About Shura, there's also his fight against the Bronze Saints, where his very first move created a crevasse. And that was just the beginning.
 * Mendoza from The Mysterious Cities of Gold is pretty much the only competent adult, never loosing a 1 on 1 sword fight through the whole series. He's also the best helmsman and military strategist around, and on one occasion takes on a shark virtually barehanded.
 * Buffaloman of Kinnikuman series who is born from Spain and was the leader of Seven Devil Choujin until he made a Heel Face Turn. His Image Song also has Spanish motifs.

Comic Books

 * Bane, the Genius Bruiser who broke Batman's back.
 * Though Bane's father was prominent (very aryan) English villain, King Snake, Bane himself was born in the fictional hispanic country of Santa Prisca, and grew up in that country's prison to serve out his father's sentence for aiding local rebels. Regardless of his parentage, Bane was born, raised, and identifies as Santa Priscan.


 * Also from Batman, Officer Renee Montoya.
 * Capitan Trueno, who is essentially the Spanish Prince Valiant.
 * From the same author, El Jabato
 * Black Tarantula from Spider-Man and Spider-Girl Comics. The original Black Tarantula made his debut appearance by utterly demolishing Spider-Man in every encounter they had. Seriously, there wasn't a single confrontation between them that wasn't horrendously lopsided. Heck, one of Black Tarantula's flunkies made a habit of handing Spidey his backside. When she later got into a confrontation with Black Tarantula, he effortlessly killed her and then brought her back to life with his healing powers and put her back to work. This incarnation of Black Tarantula then experienced Badass Decay when he was later nearly killed by Bullseye with a single attack, and became something of an understudy to daredevil.
 * A second version of Black Tarantula exists in the alternate MC-2 Universe. This version is the son of the one Spider-Man used to fight and has become both an archvillain, and a love interest to Spider-Man's daughter, Spider-Girl. After an impressive Story-Arc in which he was trying to win her as his mate, but also deceive her into helping him become to new Kingpin of Crime, Spider-girl learned the truth and was prepared to go at him with everything she had. Upon realizing that she was serious, Black Tarantula promptly got down on his knees and surrendered rather than be forced to beat the woman he loved, showing hints of the Latin Lover trope as well. Almost as soon as the prisoner transport taking him away was gone, he easily escaped. He has since defeated and taken control over an organization of trans-dimensional assassins in order to force them to cancel the contract on Spider-Girl's life.
 * Vargas from X-Men comics. In his debut, he took on a lineup of X-Men consisting of several veterans, and a few newbies with only two flunkies backing him up. Over the course of this single battle he killed Psylocke and crippled Beast, while generally slapping the others around with little effort. He later beat Gambit in a card game, and always seemed to be several steps ahead of the X-Men both in direct physical combat and intellectually. Rogue was only able to defeat him by copying his abilities, and she was simultaneously using the abilities of many others whom she had copied in the past. Like Black Tarantula he also experienced Badass Decay when he was later killed off-panel by third-rate villains.
 * Don Lope de Villalobos y Sangrin from De Cape et de Crocs.
 * Mendoza also qualifies, complete with conquistador name and combat pragmatism.

Film
"TRAILER NARRATION: If you're gonna hire Machete to KILL the bad guys, then you'd better make damn sure the bad guy... isn't YOU!!!"
 * Ramirez from Highlander (who is really an ancient Egyptian, being played by a Scotsman, but never mind).
 * Not that this is any odder than an American Jew cast as Inigo Montoya.
 * Technically a Mexican but still very badass: the titular character of Robert Rodriguez' El Mariachi Trilogy.
 * Really, this applies to just about any character played by Antonio Banderas.
 * Which makes sense, seeing that Antonio Banderas is a Badass Spaniard.
 * Also, pretty much any character played by Rodriguez mainstay Danny Trejo.


 * On that note, Luz, played by Michelle Rodriguez, especially at the end.
 * Zorro, the Spanish nobleman who fights for the oppressed Mexican peasants.
 * I don't know if Anton Chigurh is supposed to be Spanish, but Javier Bardem (his actor) sure is.
 * There's also his role as Romeo Dolorosa in Perdita Durango.
 * Word of God says he's supposed to be sort of inhuman and from nowhere, but it still counts.
 * Maximus Decimus Meridius from Gladiator. Although he's played by an Australian actor speaking The Queen's Latin, he comes from the Roman province of Hispania (i.e. Spain), and the other characters refer to him as "the Spaniard".
 * Tony Montana from Scarface. Cuban (and played by an American Italian), but close enough.
 * Vasquez from Aliens - muscular, silent, 100% professional, and absolutely badass. She also carries the biggest gun in the franchise.
 * And just like Tuco, played by an American Jew.
 * Not all that silent... ("Look I only need to know one thing: Where. They. Are.")
 * LET'S ROCK!
 * While he may be a Complete Monster who crosses the Moral Event Horizon quite a few times in the film, Captain Vidal from Pan's Labyrinth is an example. Sort of.
 * Also Mercedes.
 * Tuco from The Good, the Bad and the Ugly. He was the ugly, and not just because of his looks. "When you have to shoot, shoot, don't talk." The actor, Eli Wallach, was an American Jew.
 * In The Fall, there's both the evil Emperor Odious, who is said to be a Spaniard, and the Black Bandit...at first, until he's replaced by Roy.
 * In a possible parody of this, Puss-in-Boots from the Shrek films - voiced by the latest Zorro, Antonio Banderas. Then again, for a cute kitty, he's still pretty badass.
 * Puss was originally supposed to be French, like the original tale, but Antonio Banderas couldn't do a convincing accent. He then switched to a Spanish one, and the writers realized that this way they could throw in every nod to Zorro they could think of).
 * Pretty much any character played by Salma Hayek.
 * Or Rosario Dawson: Badass Spaniard, Badass Black Chick, and bearer of large breasts.
 * Michelle Rodriguez. Has probably never done a movie where she isn't a total badass, and she looks hot doing it. She's even a badass in real life; despite being a big movie star, she chose to go to prison for her drunk driving arrest, rather than do community service.
 * Benicio Del Toro is another actor who's never not played a badass. That voice helps. Always helps when you sound like Tom Waits gargling hot asphalt.
 * El Wray in Planet Terror. Especially has a badass accent.
 * In Toy Story 3,  becomes one after
 * The Telmarine culture in the movie version of Prince Caspian is very obviously based on Golden Age Spain, so it wouldn't be much of a stretch to qualify Caspian as an example (bonus points for Ben Barnes basing his characterization on Inigo Montoya). His uncle Miraz, despite being a villain, also deserves a mention for his badassery.
 * In the fourth Pirates of the Caribbean film, the Spaniards represent one of many factions searching for the Fountain of Youth. And they are Badass. The plot focuses on Jack, Blackbeard, and Barbossa for most of the film, but in the climax
 * Penélope Cruz's character probably counts, as well.

Literature
"A killer, a racist, a fanatic; a man of his word, fearless, ready to die for king or comrade; Charlemagne dreams, tender little memories of his mother, poor and proud in Spain. Kind of humorless, but a flaming romantic."
 * Inigo Montoya from The Princess Bride: a textbook example.
 * "Hello. My Name Is Inigo Montoya. You Killed My Father. Prepare to Die."
 * Diego Alatriste y Tenorio definitely counts, either in the original novels or the film, in which he is played by Viggo Mortensen.
 * Jeronimo, otherwise known as "El Desamparado", of Neal Stephenson's The Baroque Cycle.
 * Ruy Sanchez de Casador y Ortiz, from the 1632 universe, embodies this one. One character theorizes that he was the basis for Inigo Montoya.
 * First Marshall Roque Alva from Reflections of Eterna embodies this trope as fully as Inigo Montoya above. In fact, it appears that he (and the entire series, by extension) was created exclusively out of the author's fascination with the archetype...
 * ...indirectly supported by the fact that Rafael Cerna from the author's earlier series, Arcia Chronicles, also belongs to this category, even though he is more on the Latin Lover side than the plain ol' badass side. That said, both of them are exceptionally well-written, avoiding falling into the Marty Stu zone by a large margin, despite the author's obvious bias.
 * In Greg Keyes' Kingdoms of Thorn and Bone Cazio fits this, even though he's from a Fantasy Counterpart Culture crossbreed between Spanish and Italian. Close enough, and he also deliberately stays a Badass Normal instead of using magical augmentation when he is given the option.
 * Being set largely in the Peninsular War, the Sharpe series features quite a few badass Spaniards. Among the more notable are Don Blas Vivar, who storms a city because he needs a bigger church (and to kill his traitorous brother), El Matarif, an incredibly scary Knife Nut, and Angel, a teenaged boy who has trouble keeping count of the Frenchmen he's killed. But the most important is Teresa, Sharpe's wife.
 * Rainbow Six the novel features Francisco De La Cruz (a real Spaniard), a guy who attacks a terrorist armed with an UZI with a sword.
 * Edilio from Gone is a teenage illegal immigrant from Honduras who ends up as the leader of Perdido Beach's militia once everyone over the age of 14 disappears.
 * Esteban Trueba from Isabel Allende's The House of the Spirits. As there is likely quite a bit of true-life content in that novel, Trueba and possibly Allende may be candidates for the "Real Life" section.
 * More of a Magnificent Bastard, really. Emphasis on the "bastard" part.
 * Colonel Aureliano Buendia certainly qualifies.
 * World War Z has the story of an L.A. gang member, deported to El Salvador just before the war, who fights his way north through Mexico, on foot, armed only with a machete, during the height of the Great Panic. He makes it back to the U.S., joins the army, and serves heroically,.
 * In Poul Anderson's Time Travel novella "The Year of the Ransom," Don Luis Ildefonso Castelar y Moreno, one of Pizarro's conquistadors, is captured by genetically enhanced supermen from the 31st Millennium; he gets away from them and rescues a member of the Time Patrol to pilot a timecycle. Then Don Luis quickly learns to pilot the thing himself, strands his reluctant teacher in a peaceful backwater of time, and begins making plans to revise history in favor of the Spanish Empire. A hellacious fighter with an impressive intellect; the Time Police agents regretted that his worldview wouldn't let him join them, because he'd have been a highly desirable recruit otherwise.


 * The San Martinos of the Honor Harrington books, Heavyworlders whose native gravity makes that of Honor's already weighty Sphinx look insignificant. Unfortunately, given that they got conquered by Haven, there are also villainous characters amongst them, such as a Black Shirt State Sec guard in In Enemy Hands.
 * Washington Irving had a great fondness for writing about Badass Spaniard s and Badass Moors killing one another in a Badass manner.

Live Action TV

 * No Heroics has Timebomb; he's a gay badass spaniard with a superpower that allows him to see 60 seconds into the future.
 * Colonel Luis Montoya, Big Bad of the Queen of Swords TV show.
 * Richard Alpert from Lost qualifies, now that we know for certain that he is Hispanic.
 * As does Ana Lucia Cortez, played by Michelle Rodriguez.
 * Hugo "Hurley" Reyes is an Egregious aversion, but he does occasionally have his moments.
 * Gonzalo de Montalvo, the main character from the tv series Aguila Roja.
 * Though not Spanish, Syrio Forel from Game of Thrones fits several requirements: badasness, accent, swordfighting style.

Professional Wrestling

 * Da Bad Guy, Razor Ramon, chico.

Theatre

 * The Cid (see Real Life) from Pierre Corneille's play of the same name.
 * Crespo, the titular hero of The Alcalde of Zalamea by Pedro Calderón de la Barca. Proud to be a commoner, he stands up to overbearing officers and noblemen, winning the respect of real-life badass general Don Lope de Figueroa.
 * The Celtiberic inhabitants of the city of Numantia. Their heroic defense against the Romans was the subject of Cervantes' posthumous verse tragedy El cerco de Numancia (The Siege of Numantia).

Video Games
""Superior training and superior weaponry have, when taken together, a geometric effect on overall military strength. Well-trained, well-equipped troops can stand up to many more times their lesser brethren than linear arithmetic would seem to indicate.""
 * Luis Fernando Lopez from Grand Theft Auto IV, or more specifically, its expansion, The Ballad of Gay Tony. Not only the Hyper Competent Sidekick to Gay Tony himself, but possibly the single most competent main character of the series, even if the most badass is still Niko (Luis comes close).
 * Luis Sera from Resident Evil 4. Pulls Leon's ass out of the fire several times during the game, and thinks that's a little rough, don't you think? We find out even later that toting guns and hitting on women isn't even his profession--he's a scientist for his day job.
 * Also Carlos.
 * Col. Corazon Santiago, of AlphaCentauri fame, leads the Spartans - a faction dedicated to survivalist tactics, guns aplenty and military discipline even in civilian life. She gets some of the most badass quotes in the game, too.


 * Basically, "We can kick your ass with half as many troops as you." Too bad the Spartan Federation tend to be one of the first factions eradicated (when you're not playing as them), since The Believers tend to have four times as many troops as the Spartans.
 * Miguel Caballero Rojo of Tekken. Complete with Spanish accent. And a Dead Little Sister to compensate for Inigo Montoya's dead father.
 * Even though the game doesn't have voice actors for its dialogue, Matador from Shin Megami Tensei: Nocturne is a definite example when you face him. He also uses a saber and capote, as befits his status as a...well...matador.
 * Vega, the claw-wielding, wall-jumping Spanish ninja/bullfighter from the Street Fighter series.
 * While not really Spanish, Al-Cid Margrace from Final Fantasy XII has the accent, and acts really badass. His design aesthetic is very much based on the idea of the Latin lover.
 * Ramiro Cruz from Total Overdose.
 * Spanish undead pirate Cervantes from Soul Calibur.
 * And his Real Life namesake-- see below.
 * And Raphael, despite them claiming to be French, acts Spanish, has a Spanish name, dances to Flamenco music, and fences with the kind of swords Spanish noblemen had. This is a case of Did Not Do the Research, but while this may sound egregious, remember, Spain and France are right next to each other. It's basically the equivalent of mixing up Japan and China, which is extremely common in the west.
 * Given that his adopted daughter, Amy, appears more french than Raphael it is possible that he is a case of "too near" and that, while the character might be from France, he was trained by and learned from Spanish culture. It would also be an easy way of explaining their way out of this, because Amy was raised separately from Raphael.
 * Punch Out's Don Flamenco, especially in the Wii Version, which gave him a more serious-looking design, made him less of a pushover to defeat, and gave him a gruff-sounding voice and dialog in his native language (i.e. Castilian Spanish).
 * The Spanish Kingdom of Sapin pilot Alberto Lopez, Espada One, from Ace Combat Zero: The Belkan War, holds his own and can well beat the player despite using a J35J Draken starting plane to the player's usual Bigger Stick. Many a player probably aspires to be at least as good as him, the few that don't... probably Cherry Tapped him back. Like this guy (who just happens to be a Badass Spaniard himself) with an Ace Nighthawk Gunkill. On a different level, the eponymous theme of Zero has hispanic guitar and castanets and is widely regarded as one of the series' most badass tunes.
 * Just Cause has Rico Rodriguez, who can hijack helicopters in midair, drive cars off cliffs and parachute out of them before they hit the ground, counter-snipe by rappelling at high speed into a marksman's face, and deliver suave one-liners whilst retaining his perfect hairdo.
 * The developers described him as "James Bond, Mad Max, Jason Bourne, El Mariachi, Wolverine, The Punisher, Rambo, Tony Montana, Han Solo, Che Guevara all rolled into one. With a touch of Enrique Iglesias to top it all off."
 * Roberto from Onimusha Dawn of Dreams. Technically, he's only half-Spanish, but he's the strongman of the group, and while others rely on weapons to dispatch demons, he does it bare-handed.
 * You get attacked by an Inigo Montoya parody at the entrance to the palace at Arcourt in the Neverwinter Nights module The Bastard of Kosigan.
 * The elven assassin Zevran from Dragon Age: Origins. Ironically, Antiva (the country he hails from) is a "fictionalized version of a medieval Italian state, akin to Venice".
 * Also Isabela, who is (supposedly) Nevarran, though her Ferelden accent signifies otherwise.
 * Alejandro "Alex" Cortez from Quake IV.
 * Ezio Auditore Da Firenze of Assassin's Creed 2 and Brotherhood. Okay he's Italian, but still has that distinct Latin accent. Averted with the guy actually nicknamed the Spaniard, though, as a good boss fight Rodrigo Borgia does not make.
 * Spanish villagers from Age of Empires II became VERY efficient soldiers once you researched Supremacy, with one able to take out several real soldiers.
 * Atoq Navarro from Uncharted: Drake's Fortune is a rare evil example.
 * Suprisingly, Luigi becomes one of these in Mario Strikers Charged. Listen to his music and tell me you don't see women with roses in their mouths, swooning.
 * In Saints Row 2 you can play as a male or female Badass Spaniard. Their quotes are some of the most badass, Crazy Awesome in the game, and as the boss of the Saints s\he is unquestionably the hardest character in the game.
 * Mercenaries 2 gives up loads and loads of them, naturally given it's set in Venezuala.
 * Ramirez from Modern Warfare 2. He can DO EVERYTHING.
 * Many players believe the Spanish to be one of, if not THE best factions in Medieval II: Total War.
 * Eric Lecarde from Castlevania Bloodlines. Instead of a rapier, he carries the Alucard Spear.
 * Carrie Fernandez from the N64 games and Soma Cruz from the Sorrow games can be presumed such from their surnames. Possibly the entire Belnades family, if "Belnades" is actually a mistransliteration of "Fernandez".
 * Carmen Sandiego is typically of Latin descent. She's both a Memetic Badass in-series and within the fandom.
 * Isabella of Spain, in Civilization IV, is rather warlike. How badass she actually manages to be depends on the game, but, chances are, if her religion is X and yours is Y, she WILL attack you. Read her story in the Real life section of this page and you'll see why.
 * Dominic Santiago may not have the accent, but he makes up for it with a epic Badass Beard and, according to the backstory, stood up for Marcus during his court marshal knowing he'd be demoted. The fact that he lasted through the Locust invasion is also proof enough of his status of a Badass, then again anyone who could do that applies in any case.
 * Garcia Hotspur of Shadows of the Damned is a Benicio Del Toro-looking Demon Hunter who spouts a mix of Gratuitous Spanish, Cluster F Bombs and penis jokes throughout the game.
 * Even his Gratuitous Spanish is nearly 100% Magnifico (yes, just that word) or else obscene. So it's a cluster C, P, and F bomb, where the C and P don't come from English.
 * From a previous Suda 51 game, we have Killer 7's Mexican Mask de Smith, a soft-spoken man who dual-wields grenade launchers, suplexes pillars, and in one cutscene headbutts a bullet out of the air.
 * From Command and Conquer Command and Conquer Red Alert 3 we have the Allied Vindicator. One of the backbones of Allied strategy, a group of them is capable of knocking out almost anything.
 * Bleach: Shattered Blade, features Arturo Plateado, the villain of the story, and the strongest Hollow who ever existed.
 * A number of the characters in Skies of Arcadia could be considered Badass Spaniards, since many of the game's characters come from a country which is an expy of imperial Spain. Most notably the main villain, Galcian. But also Gregorio and rapier-wielding prince Enrique.
 * In Mass Effect, the creators have stated that Ashley Williams is latina.
 * The third game likewise has James Vega, who frequently peppers his conversation with Gratuitous Spanish.

Webcomics

 * Elan's teacher Julio Scoundrel in Order of the Stick.
 * Gordito the gunslinging youth from Dr. McNinja, and his former clan of velociraptor-riding banditos.

Web Original

 * Angry Joe is occasionally made of this trope.
 * Avatar: The Abridged Series inexplicably makes Haru into one of these -- but hey, Rule of Funny.

Western Animation

 * Super Cow in Cow and Chicken.
 * Raimundo Pedrosa from Xiaolin Showdown.
 * Speedy Gonzales, The Fastest Mouse in All Mexico!

Real Life

 * Miguel de Cervantes, author of Don Quixote and Badass Bookworm extraordinaire. Check out his page on the Other Wiki
 * Rodrigo Diaz De Vivar, AKA El Cid Campeador. So badass, his enemies the Moors gave him the title, which translates roughly to "The Lord Of War." No wonder why one of his most known legends in Spain is that he won his last war while dead. Other soldiers tied his body to a stick and placed him in his horse (thereby naming the El Cid Ploy). The Moors ran away when they saw him charging so soon after being shot in the side with an arrow.
 * Keep in mind, this is a guy who (if stories can be believed) dual wielded swords in real life! (And kicked some major ass doing it.)
 * Is never stated that he actually used his two swords in the battle at the same time.
 * Who cares if he used both at the same time, his main sword roughtly translates to "Firebrand" and caused any unworthy enemies to soil their pants and run away in fear. "when Ferrán González saw that, he recognized Tizona and before the expected blow said, "I am defeated!"
 * It should be noted there are theories that suggest that Tizona was made of meteorite steel (Thus it's dark color) and while no one in the moment would care about the material too much, nowadays that's bonus points for badassery.
 * While most people lost at least 1/3 of their F-104 Star Fighter planes to accident, due to it being an EXTREMELY hard plane to fly, the Spanish lost none. At all. And they had quite a few.
 * Los últimos de Filipinas, a battalion of soldiers that were left stranded in the Philipines war. Even after the end of it, the soldiers didn't leave the fort, despite the hunger, illness, and the other guys telling them the war was over. They didn't surrender until a Spanish diplomat came to retrieve them. Their former enemies even showed them utter respect when they left.
 * According to That Other Wiki they refused to believe not one but three separate uniformed Spanish officers coming over to ask them to surrender over a period of six months.
 * Cosme Damián Churruca, captain of the spanish ship San Juan Nepomuceno in the Battle of Trafalgar. He died heroically as a Badass Determinator, after having a leg blown off by a cannon shot (YEOWCH!). He was an scientist too, being also a Badass Bookworm.
 * Pietro Monte, great theorist and instructor on the martial arts of Renaissance Europe.
 * Óscar Zeta Acosta, hetero-life-mate(in the old days, anyway) of Hunter S. Thompson, and basis for the character Doctor Gonzo. He even had a bad-ass death; on a schooner somewhere on the Gulf of Mexico during a fucking hurricane. Let's see Clint Eastwood top that.
 * Hernan Cortes, the Spaniard who defeated the Aztecs. He was a vicious warlord, but anyone who can topple an empire of thousands with only a few hundred soldiers, some arquebuses and several dozen horses is a badass.
 * And pox. Don't forget the pox.
 * Pox came later. The way he manipulated the locals and motivated his troops (burning the ships to show 'em he ain't takin' no shit, for example) surely makes him a Magnificent Bastard.
 * Actually the only one on one battle between the Triple Alliance and the Spaniards with the help of their Tlaxcaltec allies was so awfully lost by the later that the so called badass broke down in tears, the tree where he leant while doing so still remains to this day.
 * The Battle of Otumba however, was quite the success. Though like the aformentioned battle, the losses for the Spaniards were quite high (only a few dozen Spaniards were left), however the result was in favor of the Spanish and Tlaxcalan forces, dealing a heavy blow to the Aztecs once they regrouped(est. 13,000 minimum out of 20,000-40,000). How? Enact a Foe-Tossing Charge onto the enemy's priests and the general himself, crushing the morale of the troops.
 * Isabella I of Castile was a fifteenth-century queen of Castile, who rode out with her soldiers against the Moors, at times while pregnant. Her daughter Catalina of Aragon did the same thing several decades later, acting as Henry VIII's regent while he was fighting in France.
 * Some argue that the real Badass Spaniard was her husband Ferdinand II (who basically revolutionized the entire military strategy of the time and inspired Machiavelli's "The Prince") while Isabella was more in the line of a Manipulative Bastard. In any case they were a textbook Battle Couple and had one of the few marriages in the Middle Ages that were based on love (although it helped that they would likely have been married anyway to unite the crowns of Castile and Aragon).
 * This last statement is incorrect, Isabella I was to be married to the king of Portugal and later to the prince of Berry. However she secretly made a pact with the then king of Aragon a marriage with his son and bam!, modern Spain was born. For more info: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isabella_I_of_Castile
 * Don't forget about Ferdinand's most awesome cousin The Great Captain. Ferdinand sent his cousin to solve a dispute with the king of France in Naples with a Redshirt Army and get him killed by the way. Something went horribly right and Gonzalo de Córdoba conquered the kingdom of Naples. Then Ferdinand asked for the bills of that military operation, and Gonzalo gave his cousin the king a document so magnificently absurd that Ferdinand decided it was time to stop trying to kill his cousin and appointed him governor of a small village fourty miles from Granada, right in the middle of nowhere. He is considered by many the Father of Trench Warfare.
 * What about Charlie Sheen? He may not have an accent, but he is one-quarter criollo (Latin-American Spanish) and in his younger days he was pretty badass.
 * Hell, his father. Got arrested at a protest when he was 60.
 * Blas De Lezo. The guy that defeated a British army of 30,000+ men and almost 200 ships with 4,000 men and 6 ships at Cartagena de Indias in 1741. He did in fact lead those 6 ships himself in a preemptive attack against the absurdly bigger enemy fleet and after all his ships were sunk he lead the defense of the city from the first line, despite being one-legged, one-armed and one-eyed. The icing on the cake? Lezo knew his would-be enemy Edward Vernon before the battle, and when the war broke out he wrote a letter to Vernon telling that if he dared to come to his city he would defeat him.
 * The Holy League Fleet at the Battle of Lepanto was full of them (including the aforementioned Miguel de Cervantes). So much so that many were assigned to Venetian ships throughout the fleet to bolster their fighting complements.
 * It might perhaps be mentioned that the fleet's commander, the famous Don Juan de Austria, though half-Flemish, half-German by blood, was raised in Spain and almost certainly considered himself a Spaniard.
 * Juan de Austria reportedly jumped from his ship to a Turkish ship in full armor and carrying two swords, crossed the whole ship killing every Turkish guy he met on that ship and returned back to the Spanish ship without suffering any big injury.
 * The Spanish Flu. Managed to rack up around ten times the body count of World War One.
 * Initially looks like a case of Did Not Do the Research. The first cases of the Spanish flu were in America. America Saves the Day? However, it was named that because the Spanish press recognized the significance of the epidemic and reported on it first.
 * Juan Pujol García. Possibly the most badass spy ever.
 * One of the few people that can boast of being given the highest condecorations from both sides of the same war.
 * Made the Germans believe he was spying from London while he was in Lisbon.
 * While Garcia's cojones can't be dismissed, the Abwehr was riddled with traitors, including its leader, Admiral Wilhelm Canaris. They likely knew the information was bogus, but passed it along to Nazi High Command anyway to sabotage the war effort. So it's really a Badass Spaniard and a Badass German working in tandem to fight fascism from the inside.
 * Had the Germans believe that he had a network of 27 spies all around the United Kingdom. Every "spy" was imaginary. Germany paid all of those "spies" a salary. They were actually giving that money straight to the British Exchequer.
 * Jerónimo Sánchez de Carranza, another Badass Bookworm. Father of Spanish Fencing. Founder of La Verdadera Destreza, a deadly duelling style based on geometry, philosophy, and biomechanics.
 * Spanish tribesmen were highly prized as allies by both Rome and Carthage in The Punic Wars. They were also a major influence on the Roman legionnary equipment and style of fighting due to their overall effectiveness. And the iconic short sword of the Roman legionnary, the "gladius", is properly named the 'gladius hispaniensis'.
 * The Balearic slingers were particularly feared amongst their enemies.
 * The Spanish tercios. 'Nuff said.
 * Francisco de Quevedo y Villegas. Spanish writer, knight of Santiago, politician, spy and Master Swordsman extraordinaire.(1580-1645). He was a Jerkass, a Warrior Poet, an Insufferable Genius and a Badass Bookworm. He was fluent in Italian, French, Greek, Latin, Arabic and Hebrew.
 * Quevedo was physically handicapped with a club foot, obesity, and myopia.
 * He became known for a disorderly lifestyle: he was a heavy smoker, a frequent visitor to brothels and taverns, and cohabited with a woman only known as "la Ledesma."
 * He made hundreds of enemies and was equally admired for his talents and despised for his nasty personality. In 1608, Quevedo dueled with the author and fencing master Luis Pacheco de Narváez. Quevedo took off Pacheco’s hat with his sword in the first encounter. They remained enemies all their lives.
 * Quevedo could be impulsive. Quevedo had been at the church of San Martín in Madrid when a woman praying there was slapped on the cheek by another man who had rushed up to her. Quevedo seized the man, dragging him outside the church. The two men drew swords, and Quevedo ran his opponent through. The man died of his wounds some time later.
 * His biggest enemy was the rival poet Luis de Góngora. They hated each other with a passion until Góngora´s death.
 * When Quevedo heard that Gongora was having economic problems, he bought Gongora's house just for having the pleasure of evicting him himself, what he did. Isn't that a good example of what a Complete Monster is?
 * He was one of the master minds behind the Spanish Conspiracy of Venice. It is said that he escaped Venice disguised as an old woman while a hundred paid decoys impersonated him.
 * In spite of his misoginy he authored some of the best love sonnets ever written, telling the story of his unrequited love for an enigmatic lady he named Lisi. He loved her deeply for at least 30 years. A case of Jerk with a Heart of Gold or Stalker with a Crush? Arturo Pérez-Reverte thinks he actually was putting up a Jerkass Facade.
 * It is said that Quevedo treasured a pair of golden spurs because he (a crippled man) wanted to wear them in his deathbed so he would walk into Heaven´s gates with dignity.
 * Francisco de Quevedo is a main character of many novels and plays including Alatriste Captain Alatriste series written by Arturo Pérez-Reverte (a Badass Spaniard himself). He is the protagonist of the play The Knight With the Golden Spurs by Alejandro Casona. He is also a main character in the alternate history novel 1635: The Cannon Law by Eric Flint and Andrew Dennis.
 * Arturo Pérez-Reverte: Spanish novelist and journalist. Author of the Captain Alatriste series and many other novels and short stories full of badasses. He worked twenty one years as a war correspondent for the newspaper Pueblo and Televisión Española (TVE). He also authored "Territorio Comanche" (1994) a novelization of his Balkan war experience. Becoming weary of the internal affairs at TVE, he resigned as a journalist. In his famous resignation letter he told Ramón Colom (Director of TVE) to fuck off ("que le den morcilla"). Arturo Pérez-Reverte is well known for telling everyone exactly what he thinks of them and using a dazzling panoply of ingenious insults.
 * He has recently achieved, thanks to a comment written by him in Twitter some degree of Chuck Norris-like status. The Spanish version of the Chuck Norris facts are the Pérez-Reverte facts.
 * Manuel Gutiérrez-Mellado. During the failed Coup d'état on February 23rd 1981, this aged man was one of only three members of the Spanish Congress of the Deputies (with recently resigning President Adolfo Suárez and the communist Santiago Carrillo) who didn't get scared by the shots of entering Guardia Civil troops and the one who actually had the cojones to physically confront the armed Guardia Civil troops led by Lieutenant Colonel Tejero. And he was 69 years old.
 * Agustina de Aragón: she was one of the most romantic Spanish heroines of the Peninsular War. She was the wife of a soldier, and when French troops unexpectedly invaded Spain in 1808, she joined the resistance. She was captured early in the invasion, but escaped, and with many other rebels, found her way to Zaragoza, a fortified city determined to oppose the French invasion, at a time when many other cities submitted without resistance. But the Spanish troops broke ranks, having suffered heavy casualties, and abandoned their posts. With the French troops a few yards away, Agustina herself ran forward, loaded a cannon, and lit the fuse, shredding a wave of attackers at point blank range. The sight of a lone woman bravely manning the cannons inspired the fleeing Spanish troops and other volunteers to return and assist her. Although dramatically outgunned by the French, the city of Zaragoza made a spectacularly heroic defense. Agustina's action became an inspiration to those opposing the French and, in latter day, to many feminists. She eventually became an officer under Wellington.
 * La Monja Alférez (the Ensign nun). Catalina de Erauso (1592-1650), was a famous Basque Butch Lesbian and a transvestite who dressed as a man and called herself with different masculine names. She enlisted as a soldier and fought against the Mapuches during the War of Arauco and was regarded as a very brave and skilled soldier. She was a master swordswoman and was involved in several fights and killed lots of men. During his stay in Italy some young girls tried to mock her asking her: "Ms. Catalina, where are you going?" and she responded: "To smack you round the neck, Mmes. Bitches, and to stab anyone who dares to come to your defense". Later on she entered a convent and her story spread across the ocean.
 * After revealing her real gender, she got a special dispensation from The Pope allowing her to wear man's clothes.
 * Ana de Mendoza y de la Cerda, [Princess of Éboli] 1540–1592). This BadassPrincess was considered one of Spain's greatest beauties of her time. She was the lover of king Felipe II´s secretary, Antonio Pérez and it was rumoured that she was also the king´s lover. She became involved in many political intrigues and conspiracies including murder. She was a master swordswoman despite having lost an eye in a duel with a page when she was young.
 * José María Hinojosa Cabacho,"El Tempranillo": he was a bandit born during the Peninsular War. He killed his first man at the age of thirteen. El Tempranillo became famous for his charm, once telling a woman traveller 'Ah, señora! A hand so beautiful as yours does not need adornments!' while relieving the blushing traveller of her rings and other jewellery, before kissing her hand and biding her a safe journey onward. He also acquired a Robin Hood-like reputation, redistributing his ill-gotten wealth among the poor. While the king may rule Spain, El Tempranillo ruled the sierra. Indeed, his nickname was King of the Sierra Morena.
 * Women from Cádiz: There is an old popular song from the days of the Peninsular War wich is almost an hymn of the city of Cádiz. It says that women used the bombs thrown by the French as curling irons for their ringlets. The song continues: "the proud females from this land just as they are born they yell their battle-cry."
 * According to the novel by fellow Badass Arturo Pérez-Reverte (see above), this was because the pieces of shrapnel from French bombs actually looked similar to curling irons.
 * Guzmán el Bueno: During the siege of the Castle of Tarifa by the Moors, his son was captured and used as an hostage to compel the surrender of the place. He thrown his own knife down for the besiegers to use in killing his son.
 * María Mayor Fernández de Cámara y Pita a.k.a María Pita: a Galician heroine of the defense of the city of A Coruña against the English Armada in 1589. After the death of her fourth husband (an army captain), Pita killed an English soldier with a banner, who was making his way to the highest part of the wall. She appeared on the heights of the wall herself, shouting "Whoever has honour, follow me!", whereupon the English incursion was driven back by the defenders following her. The English later gave up the assault and retreated to their ships.
 * Lope de Figueroa: A spanish marine general. During the battle of Ponta Delgada he decided to fight the whole freaking French fleet (60 ships) alone. He found himself surrounded by 5 ships and repelled the aggression until the rest of the fleet (22 ships) joined him to kick some French ass, which at that point was a national sport.
 * Diego Duque de Estrada: A spanish soldier from the XVII century. He wrote his autobiography, and for a couple of centuries it was thought to be a bunch of lies because it was too awesome to be real. Until documents were found.
 * Alejandro Farnesio: Spanish general, ass kicker, bastard grandson of Charles V, stone-cold tactician. He conquered the city of Antwerp after a long siege in which he showed he was there for no bullshit. When told to retreat by the antwerpians he said "this bridge will be my way to Antwerp or my grave".
 * As the son of an Italian duke and the daughter of Charles V and a woman from Flanders, he was more Italian and Flemish than Spanish.
 * Juan de Austria: Spanish general, ass kicker, womanizer, bastard son of Charles V and uncle of Alejandro Farnesio. Uncle and nephew's victory at Gembloux was completely astonishing.
 * By pedigree he was more of a badass German, being the son of Charles V (half Spanish, one quarter each German and Burgundian) and the iron-worker's daughter Barbara Blomberg from Regensburg.
 * He was considered spanish back in the XVI century. In fact, he spoke spanish, was raised in Spain since early childhood, studied in Alcalá de Henares, and lived in Spain for good periods of time. In fact, his name until he knew he was actually the son of Charles V was Jeromín (diminutive for Jerónimo, i.e Jerome). As we say in Spain "Uno no es de donde nace sino de donde pace".(One is not from where is he is born, but from where he pastures. Get what I'm saying?)
 * Juan Prim: A spanish general in the XIX century who had enough of that monarchy bullshit, so he overthrew it, sending the queen and her son to exile. Apart from that, during the war in Morocco he personally commanded a cavalry charge, saber in hand, against those Moroccans who were firing at him. The moors crapped their pants. When someone attempted to murder him, he was shot in the chest with a shotgun from a distance of six feet. Prim was able to get to his palace and start planning his revenge. Unluckily for him, the wound got infected and he died five days after the attack.
 * The Iron Duke of Alba: Despite being a Complete Monster he was a skillfull tactician, great swordsman, and he was compared to Mars on the daily basis. As governor of the Low Countries he put down a rebellion via unnecessary violence. He was sent to conquer Portugal when he was something like 75 years old, what qualifies as a Badass Grandpa
 * Alvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca. The guy was one of the four (out of 300) of the expedition commanded by Pánfilo de Narváez in 1525, which went wrong. Very wrong. In their quest for El Dorado, they wrecked in Florida, home of the Seminola people. Massive Spaniard killing and famine ensues. The few survivors tried to get out of there in readily made sloops, as they thought Veracruz, Mexico was half the distance it really is. Another massive storm hit them: one of the craft disappeared, the one commanded by Alvar Núñez made it to current Galveston (Texas), where they slowly starved, until they eat their last horses, their belts, and finally their own dead). Meanwhile, in a desperate expedition to find help, Alvar Núñez and three men were held captive by the Tuna indians, who enslaved them. Alvar Núñez and his three men were the only survivors of 300, and finally made it to colonial Culiacán... but not before travelling ten years by foot, crossing thousand of miles of desert with a lot of Indian Tribes who didn't care too much of foreigners. By the end of the journey, his fellow Spaniards recognised him as one of them only because of his beard: he was naked and barefoot. Because the expedition was a complete disaster, he was held guilty and sent to Spain as a prisoner. His account to the King was simply titled Naufragios ("Shipwrecks"). The King pardoned him.
 * The best part: he went back to America AGAIN to set Buenos Aires for the second time, which is itself a whole What Could Have Been material. He however changed his route, presumably in another quest for El Dorado, which he didn't found AGAIN. He found the Iguazu Falls, however, which are arguably more spectacular than any city made of any material. He finally reached the colonial village of Asunción, crossing more than 1000km. of jungle full of miles wide rivers and blood-thirsty Guaranies... and imprisoned AGAIN. He made it to Spain, written his second memories, and obtained a second royal pardon. While not a swordsman himself, a Badass Determinator and Warrior Poet, as his "Naufragios" is arguably one of the best Indies Chronicles ever written. Being almost a subversion of El Conquistador trope, he can also qualify as an Iron Woobie. After pursuing El Dorado of his life, he died in complete poverty.
 * Viriathus. Despite probably being from current Portugal, he qualifies by being one of the biggest enemies the Roman Empire ever faced, getting several hundreds of Iberian tribes to join him by means of charisma and military prowess, losing only once against the Roman army. The Romans themselves held him as a man who served as the ideal of the ancient virtues. The only way the Romans were able to kill him was to bribe some ambassadors. Viriathus is said to be the model of guerrilla warfare.
 * The 9th Armoured Company of the Régiment de marche du Tchad of the Free French Forces, nicknamed "La Nueve" (The Nine). Nearly entirely comprised of Republican Spanish veterans from the Spanish Civil War. Was the first Allied unit to enter Paris.
 * And, their Axis Counterpart, the División Azul.
 * The Blue Division might be more appropriately described as having their collective ass frozen off, rather than badass. While they fared better than other non-German Axis regiments, they largely distinguished themselves by being killed a lot.
 * Hitler apparently considered the Blue Division to be "equal to the best German ones", according to The Other Wiki (the specific quote, however, does not have a citation to back it up).
 * Antonio Salas, an undercover documentary filmmaker who covered the Basque ETA guerrillas, a ring of human traffickers, and infiltrated Islamic fundamentalist terrorists. For FIVE YEARS he was with them, even being joined by the younger brothers of THE legendary Carlos The Jackal, constantly in danger of being killed by those he was with and those trying to stop them, all to write one single book that offered groundbreaking insights into organized terrorism....which he even had the balls to pen under his real name with on the cover.
 * The entire Spanish national football team. Their previous Woobie status (they hadn't won an international title in 44 years before Euro 2008) also qualifies them for Took a Level In Badass.
 * Going on with football, the smaller version (futsal) national team has a pretty impressive record. Getting into seven finals of the European Championship (out of eight), having won six, the last four of them, in a row. And four World Cup Finals in a row, winning two. They don't impress anyone anymore.
 * The Spanish Civil War was very nasty because it pitted Spanish Badasses against each other. On the Republican side were the defenders of Madrid, who held out under siege from 1936 to 1939 while enduring the first full-scale aerial bombardment of a major city in world history. On the Nationalist side there was the Siege of the Alcázar of Toledo. A garrison held out in a single fortress for two months, repelling constant attacks, artillery fire, and tunnels full of explosives under the foundations. At one point they'd been forced out of the Alcázar itself and into its courtyard, but they still managed to drive the Republican forces out again. By the time they were rescued by direct order of Francisco Franco, more than half the building was rubble.
 * During the civil war there was a general known for his badassery named Varela. That guy had received two Laureate Crosses of Saint Ferdinad, the spanish highest military decoration. BTW, the Laureate is incredibly difficult to earn. In fact, the last time it was awarded was in 1958.
 * The Spanish Civil War, what with the Republicans accepting women into its militias to fight alongside men, also gave badass women opportunities to show off their bad-assedness; my favorite is Rosario Sánchez Mora, or Rosario la Dinamitera -- Rosie the Dynamiter. Kinda makes our Rosie the Riveter look a little lame in comparison.
 * Is it just me or in Spain, history teaches badassery? No, seriously. The Real Life list is way longer than any of the others.
 * As a Spanish citizen, I would say that it's more a matter of cockiness, vanity and machismo being essential parts of the Spanish national identity. Devoted Spanish tropers can't resist to add more and more cases, which causes long lists like this.
 * As a Spaniard myself, more than a half of the people on this list were NEVER mentioned in History class when I was a student, and I'm sure they mention even less people on it now. But I know the rest of Europe was scared of us. I think this list shows the reasons why.
 * Well, it's complicated. Unlike our beloved Briton and French peers, who are comfortably far from Africa and therefore could afford to be just attackers, Spaniards had to be badasses or the brand new province of Morocco. We are basically in the frontier and people's of the frontier get nasty out of pure necessity, look at the eastern frontier (Greece) who had to invent Western Civilization and became badasses for a long long time just to avoid being swallowed by the east.
 * Unlike other nations, who had relatively long periods of peace, the peninsula never got peace for too long, and its wars sometimes had a do or die nature. Most of the time the Reconquista wasn't like this, but from time to time there were really important battles like against the almohads, or some of the worse attacks from the caliphate.
 * The Reconquista wasn't like this? The border was in continuous skirmishes and the muslims in the South sent sacking expeditions every single Spring during 700 years...even when they were fighting each other at the same time.
 * Even after that, the Spanish empire got by, being the scariest bunch in the continent, fighting like dogs and making each victory counts, and each defeat paid dearly. Maybe compensating the fact that there wasn't a single good leader during centuries after Philip II. Without the badassery, Spain would have fallen low long before it did, and actually some colonies claimed independence, angered by political changes to liberalism, more than from a true desire of independence.
 * Some victories, like Cartagena de India, avoided what could have been massive losses of territory, or even the complete economical collapse of the empire. The thing is, we're not talking about massive battles with thousands of spaniards fighting on equal ground against enemy forces, but direly outnumbered troops, sometimes without the smallest hope of survival, just resisting because they call kill another enemy before dying, and saved by pure determination, the anti-heroes who made proud their ungrateful country leading them, and sometimes enough good luck, or bad decisions of the enemy.
 * Almogavars. sXII-XIV Light infantry which used to fight in Reconquista for the Realm of Aragon, they used to shout before the fight "Desperta ferro!" (Catalan for "Awake iron!!") They fought across all the Mediterranean in Aragonese territories, and hired as mercenaries several times. In one of those, they formed the "Gran Companyia Catalana", the Great Catalan Company, to fight for the Bizantine Empire against the turks. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catalan_Company Bassically, this rude and insubordinate, after being for two years kicking otoman's asses, having several victories over an ennemy greater in number, and having fights with all other mercenary companies. Despite of that, the son of the emperor, later Michael IX Palaiologos, ordered to kill all of them, some (as the leader, Roger de Flor) in a banquet he offered, and some others in different points, in a Jedi-like extermination, fearing the power they were getting.

However, a thousand and a half of them survived, and they devastated during the two following years the bizantinian territories, in what was known as the "Catalans' Vengeance", and at the end they ended up conquering Athens and some other greek territories and declaring themselves lords of that land as vassals of the King of Aragon.
 * In Greece, still nowadays you can hear, as a curse "May you feel the Catalans' Vengeance"
 * Gonzalo Fernandez de Cordoba was perhaps the first great commander of the Renaissance and spearheaded Spain's ascent to power during the Italian Wars. According to The Other Wiki, he was known as the father of trench warfare and influenced the conquistadores that came after him.
 * Apparently, he was badass enough to merit being mentioned twice on this list (see El Gran Capitán above)
 * Don't forget the conqueror of the Incas, Francisco Pizarro. Basically, he did what Cortes did, only with less men and farther away from "home base" (the Spanish Caribbean). He brought with him only 106 foot-soldiers and 62 horsemen against Incan emperor Atahualpa's 80,000-man army. Like Cortes, he was a ruthless bastard but nonetheless a badass. Furthermore, when Pizarro was assassinated in his palace, he managed to kill two of his attackers and ran through a third before being stabbed to death.
 * The Celtiberic citizens of Numantia (see Theatre) which resisted continuous attacks from Romans from 153 to 133 a.C. before general Scipio, with 60,000 men (against a defending force of around 2,500) sieged the town. After 15 months of siege, most of the starving population prefered to kill themselves to be slaves of the romans
 * The Napoleonic Wars were a zig-zag. The Spanish regular forces got soundly splattered in every regular battle. In sieges and partisan war, however, their sheer determination made them a terror.
 * Don't forget Bailén, the first defeat of the Napoleonic Imperial Army and the one that convinced the rest of Europe the French could be beaten, even though they kicked our asses badly afterwards.