Fernando Fernández de Córdova

Fernando Fernández de Córdova

Fernando Fernández de Córdova Valcárcel , Marquis (Marqués) de Mendigorría (born September 2, 1809 in Buenos Aires , † October 30, 1883 in Madrid ) was a Spanish lieutenant general , politician and Prime Minister of Spain ( Presidente del Gobierno ) .

biography

Military career

Fernández de Córdova, like his older brother Luis Fernández de Córdova, came from a family of officers. In 1824 he joined the army as a cadet . For a long time, however, he was militarily in the shadow of his older brother, who made him an opponent of Carlism in 1833 . In the following years he took part in the First Carlist War on the side of his brother.

In July 1843 he took part in the revolt against the regent, General Baldomero Espartero , and as a commander was responsible for the suppression of minor popular uprisings in Madrid.

After his promotion to Lieutenant General ( Teniente General ) in 1847 he was on August 31, 1847 Minister of War ( Ministro de Guerra ) in the cabinet of Florencio García Goyena . After the end of his term of office he was then from October 4 to November 3, 1847 Minister of War in the subsequent third cabinet of Ramón María Narváez . At the same time he was acting Minister of the Navy ( Ministro de Marina ) until October 24, 1847 . Finally he was appointed Senator for life ( Senador Vitalicio ) on November 5, 1847 because of his services .

In 1848 he was appointed captain general ( Capitán General ) of Catalonia . However, the repression and executions he ordered against the rebels soon led to his impeachment again in 1849. In May 1849 he was then given the command of a military expedition to protect Pope Pius IX. who fled to Gaeta after the revolution that took place during the Risorgimento and did not return to Rome until 1850.

Reign of Isabella II and Prime Minister

On July 17, 1854 he succeeded Luis José Sartorius Tapia as Prime Minister of Spain ( Presidente del Gobierno ) and at the same time took over the office of Minister of War again. In these offices he tried in vain to use military force with machine guns to put down the uprising in Madrid. However, on the following day he had to hand over the office of Prime Minister to Ángel Saavedra Ramírez De Baquedano , in whose cabinet, which was also in office for only one day, he again handed over the office of Minister of War. Then he was in the third Espartero cabinet from 19 to 20 July 1854 for one day acting Minister of War.

He then retired from politics for more than ten years before he was appointed Minister of War in his sixth cabinet by Ramón María Narváez on September 16, 1864 , to which he was a member until March 30, 1865.

Disappointed that Queen Isabella II did not appoint him prime minister after Narváez's death on April 23, 1868, he then joined the successful revolution of September 1868 ( La Gloriosa ), which ultimately led to the queen's overthrow. He also became a member of the radical party founded by Manuel Ruiz Zorrilla (Partido Radical).

On January 15, 1869 he was elected member of parliament ( Congreso de los Diputados ), in which he represented the interests of the Soria constituency for one term .

Reign of King Amadeus

After the abdication of the throne and the election of Amadeus Ferdinand Maria of Savoy as King of Spain in November 1870, he was again appointed as Minister of War in the cabinet of Ruiz Zorilla on July 24, 1871, to which he was a member until October 5, 1871. At the same time he took over the office of incumbent foreign minister ( Ministro de Estado ). On June 13, 1872, Ruiz Zorilla appointed him Minister of War in his second cabinet, to which he was a member until February 12, 1873. As the king's last war minister, he also sparked a conflict that led to the dissolution of the artillery corps . At the same time he was acting Prime Minister for the first three days as representative of Ruiz Zorilla. In the meantime, in August 1872, he was also the incumbent Colonial Minister ( Ministro de Ultramar ) .

On August 24, 1872, he was also elected again for a legislative term as a member of parliament, in which he represented the constituency of Puerto Rico . At the same time he was again a senator as representative of the province of Soria during the legislative periods from 1871 to 1873 .

Spanish Republic

After the abdication of King Amadeus and the proclamation of the First Spanish Republic on February 11, 1873, he was also taken over as Minister of War in the first cabinet of the Republic under Prime Minister Estanislao Figueras , but had to give up the ministerial office twelve days later on February 24, 1873. He then withdrew completely from political life.

His memoirs were published posthumously from 1886 to 1889 under the title "Mis memorias íntimas" (My intimate memoirs) by J. Pérez de Guzmán.

swell

Web links

• Biography on the homepage of the Spanish Prime Ministers (Spanish)
• The cabinets during the reign of Isabella II (1843–1856 - Década Moderada)
• The cabinets during the reign of Isabella II (1856–1868 - La Unión Liberal)
• The governments of the Kingdom of Spain from 1833 to 1868 ( Memento of February 24, 2012 in the Internet Archive )
• The cabinets during the reign of Amadeus (1868–1872 - L 'etapa monàrquica)
• Sexenio Revolucionaria - The Spanish Governments from 1868 to 1874 ( Memento of January 17, 2010 in the Internet Archive )

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b} The Senate between 1834 and 1923 - Senators , accessed June 7, 2017.
2. ↑ List of Members of Parliament from 1810 to 1977

predecessor	Office	successor
Luis José Sartorius Tapia	Prime Minister of Spain 1854	Ángel Saavedra Ramírez de Baquedano