The Most Famous

MILITARY PERSONNELS from Spain

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This page contains a list of the greatest Spanish Military Personnels. The pantheon dataset contains 2,058 Military Personnels, 32 of which were born in Spain. This makes Spain the birth place of the 13th most number of Military Personnels behind Ukraine, and Turkey.

Top 10

The following people are considered by Pantheon to be the top 10 most legendary Spanish Military Personnels of all time. This list of famous Spanish Military Personnels is sorted by HPI (Historical Popularity Index), a metric that aggregates information on a biography’s online popularity. Visit the rankings page to view the entire list of Spanish Military Personnels.

Photo of Roland

1. Roland (736 - 778)

With an HPI of 73.71, Roland is the most famous Spanish Military Personnel.  His biography has been translated into 53 different languages on wikipedia.

Roland (French pronunciation: [ʁɔ.lɑ̃]; Old Frankish: *Hrōþiland; Medieval Latin: Hruodlandus or Rotholandus; Italian: Orlando or Rolando; died 15 August 778) was a Frankish military leader under Charlemagne who became one of the principal figures in the literary cycle known as the Matter of France. The historical Roland was military governor of the Breton March, responsible for defending Francia's frontier against the Bretons. His only historical attestation is in Einhard's Vita Karoli Magni, which notes he was part of the Frankish rearguard killed in retribution by the Basques in Iberia at the Battle of Roncevaux Pass. The story of Roland's death at Roncevaux Pass was embellished in later medieval and Renaissance literature. The first and most famous of these epic treatments was the Old French Chanson de Roland of the 11th century. Two masterpieces of Italian Renaissance poetry, the Orlando Innamorato and Orlando Furioso (by Matteo Maria Boiardo and Ludovico Ariosto, respectively), are even further detached from history than the earlier Chansons, similarly to the later Morgante by Luigi Pulci. Roland is poetically associated with his sword Durendal, his horse Veillantif, and his oliphant horn. In the late 17th century, French Baroque composer Jean-Baptiste Lully wrote an opera titled Roland, based on the story of the title character.

Photo of Pedro de Alvarado

2. Pedro de Alvarado (1485 - 1541)

With an HPI of 64.59, Pedro de Alvarado is the 2nd most famous Spanish Military Personnel.  His biography has been translated into 44 different languages.

Pedro de Alvarado (Spanish pronunciation: [ˈpeðɾo ðe alβaˈɾaðo]; c. 1485 – 4 July 1541) was a Spanish conquistador and governor of Guatemala. He participated in the conquest of Cuba, in Juan de Grijalva's exploration of the coasts of the Yucatán Peninsula and the Gulf of Mexico, and in the conquest of the Aztec Empire led by Hernán Cortés. He is considered the conquistador of much of Central America, including Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, and parts of Nicaragua. During his life, Alvarado developed a reputation for greed and cruelty, and was accused of various crimes and abuses by natives and Spaniards alike. In 1541, while attempting to quell a native revolt, Alvarado was accidentally crushed by a horse, dying a few days later.

Photo of Pedro de Valdivia

3. Pedro de Valdivia (1497 - 1553)

With an HPI of 64.51, Pedro de Valdivia is the 3rd most famous Spanish Military Personnel.  His biography has been translated into 46 different languages.

Pedro Gutiérrez de Valdivia or Valdiva (Spanish pronunciation: [ˈpeðɾo ðe βalˈdiβja]; April 17, 1497 – December 25, 1553) was a Spanish conquistador and the first royal governor of Chile. After serving with the Spanish army in Italy and Flanders, he was sent to South America in 1534, where he served as lieutenant under Francisco Pizarro in Peru, acting as his second in command. In 1540, Valdivia led an expedition of 150 Spaniards into Chile, where he defeated a large force of indigenous warriors and founded Santiago in 1541. He extended Spanish rule south to the Biobío River in 1546, fought again in Peru (1546–1548), and returned to Chile as governor in 1549. He began to colonize Chile south of the Biobío and founded Concepción in 1550. He was captured and killed by Mapuche Indians during the Arauco War in 1553. The city of Valdivia in Chile is named after him.

Photo of Juan Pujol García

4. Juan Pujol García (1912 - 1988)

With an HPI of 64.26, Juan Pujol García is the 4th most famous Spanish Military Personnel.  His biography has been translated into 28 different languages.

Juan Pujol García (Spanish: [ˈxwam puˈʝol ɣaɾˈθi.a]; 14 February 1912 – 10 October 1988), also known as Joan Pujol i García (Catalan: [ʒuˈam puˈʒɔl i ɣəɾˈsi.ə]), was a Spanish spy who acted as a double agent loyal to Great Britain against Nazi Germany during World War II, when he relocated to Britain to carry out fictitious spying activities for the Germans. He was given the codename Garbo by the British; their German counterparts codenamed him Alaric and referred to his non-existent spy network as "Arabal." After developing a loathing of political extremism of all sorts during the Spanish Civil War, Pujol decided to become a spy for Britain as a way to do something "for the good of humanity." Pujol and his wife contacted the British Embassy in Madrid which rejected his offer. Undeterred, he created a false identity as a fanatically pro-Nazi Spanish government official and successfully became a German agent. He was instructed to travel to Britain and recruit additional agents; instead he moved to Lisbon and created bogus reports about Britain from a variety of public sources including a tourist guide to Britain, train timetables, cinema newsreels, and magazine advertisements. Although the information would not have withstood close examination, Pujol soon established himself as a trustworthy agent. He began inventing fictitious sub-agents who could be blamed for false information and mistakes. The Allies finally accepted Pujol when the Germans expended considerable resources attempting to hunt down a fictitious convoy. Following interviews by Desmond Bristow of Section V MI6 Iberian Section, Juan Pujol was taken on. The family were moved to Britain and Pujol was given the code name "Garbo." Pujol and his handler Tomás Harris spent the rest of the war expanding the fictitious network, communicating to the German handlers at first by letters and later by radio. Eventually the Germans were funding a network of 27 agents, all fictitious. Pujol had a key role in the success of Operation Fortitude, the deception operation intended to mislead the Germans about the timing, location, and scale of the invasion of Normandy in 1944. The false information Pujol supplied helped persuade the Germans that the main attack would be in the Pas de Calais, so that they kept large forces there before and even after the invasion. Pujol had the distinction of receiving military decorations from both sides of the war – being awarded the Iron Cross and becoming a Member of the Order of the British Empire.

Photo of John of Austria the Younger

5. John of Austria the Younger (1629 - 1679)

With an HPI of 61.70, John of Austria the Younger is the 5th most famous Spanish Military Personnel.  His biography has been translated into 24 different languages.

John Joseph of Austria or John of Austria (the Younger) (Spanish: Don Juan José de Austria; 7 April 1629 – 17 September 1679) was a Spanish general and political figure. He was the only illegitimate son of Philip IV of Spain to be acknowledged by the King and trained for military command and political administration. Don John advanced the causes of the Spanish Crown militarily and diplomatically in Naples, Sicily, Catalonia, the Netherlands, Portugal, Dunkirk, and other fronts. He was the governor of the Spanish Netherlands from 1656 to 1659. He remained a popular hero even as the fortunes of Imperial Spain began to decline. His feuds with his father's widow, Queen Mariana of Austria, led to a 1677 palace coup through which he exiled Mariana and took control of the monarchy of his half-brother Charles II of Spain. However, he proved far from the saviour Spain had hoped he would be. He remained in power until his death in 1679.

Photo of José Sanjurjo

6. José Sanjurjo (1872 - 1936)

With an HPI of 61.04, José Sanjurjo is the 6th most famous Spanish Military Personnel.  His biography has been translated into 31 different languages.

José Sanjurjo y Sacanell (Spanish: [saŋˈxuɾxo]; 28 March 1872 – 20 July 1936) was a Spanish military officer who was one of the military leaders who plotted the July 1936 coup d'état that started the Spanish Civil War. He was endowed the nobiliary title of "Marquis of the Rif" in 1927. A monarchist opponent of the Second Spanish Republic proclaimed in 1931, he led a coup d'état known as la Sanjurjada in August 1932. The authorities easily suppressed the coup and initially condemned Sanjurjo to death, then later commuted his sentence to life imprisonment. The government of Alejandro Lerroux – formed after the 1933 general election – eventually amnestied him in 1934. He took part, from his self-exile in Portugal, in the military plot for the 1936 coup d'état. Following the coup, Sanjurjo, expected by some to become the commander-in-chief of the Nationalist faction, died in an air crash on the third day of the war, when travelling back to Spain. He had chosen to fly in a small, overloaded plane, because the pilot was a friend of his. Sabotage was suspected, but never proven.

Photo of Gonzalo Fernández de Córdoba

7. Gonzalo Fernández de Córdoba (1453 - 1515)

With an HPI of 60.52, Gonzalo Fernández de Córdoba is the 7th most famous Spanish Military Personnel.  His biography has been translated into 29 different languages.

Gonzalo Fernández de Córdoba (1 September 1453 – 2 December 1515) was a Spanish general and statesman. He led military campaigns during the Conquest of Granada and the Italian Wars, after which he served as Viceroy of Naples. For his extensive political and military success, he was made Duke of Santángelo (1497), Terranova (1502), Andría, Montalto and Sessa (1507), and earned the nickname El Gran Capitán ("The Great Captain"). Held as one of the greatest generals in history, he became the first European to decisively employ firearms on the battlefield, and among the first to reorganize the infantry with pikes and firearms in effective defensive and offensive formations. He developed them as part of a combined arms doctrine including fields as disparate as cavalry, artillery, fortifications, guerrilla, siegecraft and diplomacy. The changes implemented by Fernández de Córdoba, which led to the formation of the tercios, were instrumental in making the Spanish army the dominant land force in Europe for over a century and a half. He has been credited with marking the transition between medieval and modern warfare. Córdoba rose to international prestige during his career, maintaining active relationships not only with the crowns of Castile and Aragon, but also with France, the Papal States, the Italian city-states and the Holy Roman Empire, all of which sought out his services. Chronicler Jerónimo Zurita went to consider him "...the most esteemed person that lived in these times, for such princes, either desired to have him for a friend, or were wary that he might become their enemy."

Photo of Antonio Tejero

8. Antonio Tejero (b. 1932)

With an HPI of 58.72, Antonio Tejero is the 8th most famous Spanish Military Personnel.  His biography has been translated into 27 different languages.

Antonio Tejero Molina (born 30 April 1932) is a Spanish former lieutenant colonel of the Guardia Civil, and the most prominent figure in the failed coup d'état against the newly democratic Spanish government on 23 February 1981.

Photo of Inés Suárez

9. Inés Suárez (1507 - 1580)

With an HPI of 57.63, Inés Suárez is the 9th most famous Spanish Military Personnel.  Her biography has been translated into 20 different languages.

Inés Suárez, (Spanish pronunciation: [iˈnes ˈswaɾes]; c. 1507 – 1580) was a Spanish conquistadora who participated in the Conquest of Chile with Pedro de Valdivia, successfully defending the newly conquered Santiago against an attack in 1541 by the indigenous Mapuche.

Photo of Álvaro de Bazán, 1st Marquess of Santa Cruz

10. Álvaro de Bazán, 1st Marquess of Santa Cruz (1526 - 1588)

With an HPI of 57.45, Álvaro de Bazán, 1st Marquess of Santa Cruz is the 10th most famous Spanish Military Personnel.  His biography has been translated into 21 different languages.

Álvaro de Bazán y Guzmán, 1st Marquis of Santa Cruz (12 December 1526 – 9 February 1588), was a Spanish admiral and landlord. He took part, among others, in the seizure of the rock of Vélez de la Gomera (1564), the relief to the besieged during the Great Siege of Malta (1565), the quelling of the Alpujarras Rebellion (1569), the Battle of Lepanto (1571), the conquest of Tunis (1573), the incorporation of Portugal to the Hispanic monarchy (1580), and the conquest of Terceira (1582). A leading admiral in both the Mediterranean and the Atlantic, Bazán has been considered the prime naval commander in the history of Spain. He pioneered amphibious warfare and strategic usage of several kinds of ships, refining the design of existent vessels and popularizing galleons as warships, ultimately making possible many of the successes of the Spanish Empire since the 16th and 17th centuries. He was reputed to have never lost a battle under his command, a remarkable achievement in a fifty-year-long career. For his leadership and influence, Bazán was celebrated by Miguel de Cervantes as el Padre de los Soldados ("the Father of the Soldiers"). He was a grandee of Spain and a patron of the arts. He built the Palace of the Marquis of Santa Cruz in Viso, Spain, which currently houses the General Archive of the Spanish Navy.

People

Pantheon has 36 people classified as Spanish military personnels born between 300 BC and 1932. Of these 36, 1 (2.78%) of them are still alive today. The most famous living Spanish military personnels include Antonio Tejero. The most famous deceased Spanish military personnels include Roland, Pedro de Alvarado, and Pedro de Valdivia. As of April 2024, 5 new Spanish military personnels have been added to Pantheon including Gonzalo Guerrero, José Millán-Astray, and Valentín González.

Living Spanish Military Personnels

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Deceased Spanish Military Personnels

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Newly Added Spanish Military Personnels (2024)

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Overlapping Lives

Which Military Personnels were alive at the same time? This visualization shows the lifespans of the 19 most globally memorable Military Personnels since 1700.