Civil Guard (Spain)

The Civil Guard, known in Spanish as the Guardia Civil, is one of the two national law enforcement agencies of Spain, the other being the National Police Corps. It is a national gendarmerie, military in nature, and answers to both the Ministry of the Interior for civil policing and the Ministry of Defence, which holds exclusive authority only in time of war. It was founded in 1844 under Queen Isabel II, replacing the old municipal Holy Brotherhood, and was first charged with ending banditry on the country's highways, especially in Andalusia. Modelled on the French National Gendarmerie and on the light infantry Napoleon used, it patrols rural areas, highways and ports from its casas cuartel, which are small garrisons and police stations at once, and it takes part in peacekeeping missions abroad and in the European Gendarmerie Force. In the Spanish Civil War the corps split almost evenly, with 53 percent of its members staying loyal to the Republic.