Columbus Day had moved around several times during the various regime changes of the 20th century; establishing it on the day of the international Columbus celebration was part of a compromise between conservatives, who wanted to emphasize the status of the monarchy and Spain's history, and Republicans, who wanted to commemorate Spain's burgeoning democracy with an official holiday. Since 2000, October 12 has also been Spain's Day of the Armed Forces, celebrated each year with a military parade in Madrid. Other than this, however, the holiday is not widely or enthusiastically celebrated in Spain. There are no large-scale patriotic parades, marches or
Columbus, Georgia the Columbus Ladies Memorial Association’s call to observe a day annually to decorate soldiers’ graves inaugurated a movement first in the south and then in the north to honor the soldiers who died during the Civil War. With the expansion of the city, leaders who promoted establishing a university, founded Columbus College, a two-year institution which later was developed as Columbus State University, now a comprehensive center of higher learning. The city government became consolidated with the county in 1971, the first of its kind in Georgia (and one of only 16 in the U.S. at the time). Expanding on