Juan Ruiz de Apodaca

Juan Ruiz de Apodaca

Signature of Juan José Ruiz de Apodaca y Eliza

Juan José Ruiz de Apodaca y Eliza , Count (Spanish: Conde) of Venadito , (born February 3, 1754 in Cádiz , Andalusia , Spain ; † January 11, 1835 in Madrid , Spain) was a Spanish officer who served as governor of Cuba and Viceroy of New Spain officiated.

Life

Military career in Europe

Juan Ruiz de Apodaca was born into a wealthy merchant family from the Basque Country . At the age of 13 he joined the Spanish Navy as a midshipman. At 18 he was promoted to lieutenant in 1772, and in 1774 moved to Peru, where he carried out cartographic surveys.

When the Spaniards entered the war against England , he returned to Europe, was promoted to frigate captain in 1781 and took part in the siege of Gibraltar . He then served on the escort ships in transatlantic shipping.

After crossing a convoy to the Philippines , he was promoted to captain; in the First Coalition War he fought at the siege of Toulon (1793) .

In the following period he took part repeatedly in military actions, such as the siege of the Ciutadella de Roses , in expeditions against the Berbers and again against England. In 1802 he was promoted to brigadier general and fleet commander. From 1803 to 1807 he commanded the facilities of the Arsenal de La Carraca near Cádiz .

He married Rosa Gastón de Iriarce y Navarrete, who came from Navarre.

Operations in the war against Napoleon Bonaparte

When Napoléon Bonaparte occupied Spain in 1808 in order to make his brother Joseph Bonaparte king instead of Ferdinand VII , Juan Ruiz de Apodaca was the commanding general of the Spanish ocean fleet, which was greatly decimated after the Battle of Trafalgar and barely able to act. In the Bay of Cadiz there was a sea battle with the French fleet under Admiral François Étienne de Rosily-Mesros , which the French won. A few days later, the Spaniards won the decisive victory against the Bonapartists on land at the Battle of Bailén . Despite the defeat, Apodaca was promoted to lieutenant general shortly thereafter.

In June 1808 the Junta Suprema Central sent him as envoy to London. There he prepared the peace and assistance treaty between England and Spain, which was loyal to Ferdinand, and was represented by George Canning on the British side . He stayed in London until 1812; During this time he managed to end the embargo on Spanish goods and to bring the troops established in Denmark back to Spain under the command of Pedro Caro y Sureda , marqués de la Romana .

Term of office as governor of Cuba

In February 1812 he went to Cádiz and was appointed governor and captain general of Cuba. He proclaimed the Constitution of Cadiz, which had been enacted by the Cortes of Cádiz in 1812 and implemented its specifications in Cuba.

Together with the New Spanish Viceroy Félix María Calleja del Rey and the Spanish Ambassador to the United States , Luis de Onís , he tried to stop foreign support for the rebels in Mexico from Texas, Arizona and New Mexico.

When Ferdinand VII returned to Spain from exile in France in 1814 and Spain again ruled absolutistically, Juan Ruiz de Apodaca followed the new guidelines and repealed the liberal laws.

Trade and economy flourished in Cuba under Apodaca's rule; government revenues rose and both sugar cultivation and shipbuilding increased. Apodaca opposed closing the port of Havana to foreign ships.

In 1816 he passed power in Cuba to his successor, José Cienfuegos, and set about returning to Europe when he received royal orders to replace Félix Calleja as viceroy in Mexico. Apodaca reached Veracruz in early September 1816.

Tenure as Viceroy of New Spain

The military successes of his predecessor weakened the rebels in the War of Independence , their leader José María Morelos dead and the Congress in dissolution. Apodaca took the opportunity to pacify the colony and in January 1817 issued a comprehensive pardon while receiving new troops from Europe.

In April 1817 the Spanish liberal Francisco Javier Mina landed in Mexico with around 300 volunteers. He allied himself in the north of the colony with insurgents under Pedro Moreno and marched south. Apodaca sent an army under the command of Field Marshal Pascual Liñán to stop the rebels. In November the royalists managed to capture Mina; he was shot dead.

Apodaca was ennobled as Count of Venadito by the king in thanks; Venadito was the name of the hacienda where Mina had been seized. The name of the count's title caused amusement in Mexico. Apodaca received further honors, he was in the order of Calatrava and the order of Charles III. and received the Order of the Golden Fleece .

With the end of the Napoleonic threat, the coalition in which Spain had found support also collapsed. England, France and the United States had no interest in strengthening Spanish colonial interests in Latin America. There were repeated attacks by the Americans in the Spanish territories in Texas and Florida . In 1819 Spain ceded Florida to the USA in the Adams-Onís Treaty and waived its claims in Oregon ; in return, the United States left Texas to the Spaniards.

Liberal revolution in Spain and the fall of Apodacas as viceroy

In January 1820 liberal constitutionalists revolted against the absolutist king in Spain. Ferdinand VII was forced to reinstate the 1812 constitution; a three-year liberal interlude, the Trienio Liberal, began . Viceroy Apodaca was due to proclaim the constitution in New Spain, but hesitated until August to re-establish the local councils and other constitutional institutions.

This turn gave the independence movement new impetus. Vicente Guerrero went on the attack in the south, the Spanish upper class had become unstable, since the conservative-absolutist current no longer experienced any support from the mother country. Apocada ordered Colonel Agustín de Iturbide to fight the insurgents in the south. This ran over with his men to the rebels and formulated with Guerrero in February 1821 the Iguala plan , according to which Mexico should be an independent constitutional monarchy. Viceroy Apodaca was supposed to take over the crown, but he refused.

Despite his clear stance, the royalists did not see Apodaca as the man Iturbide and Guerrero would adequately meet. In a coup, a group of officers deposed the viceroy. Francisco Novella was to take over the leadership of the colony on an interim basis .

Return to Europe

Apodaca traveled back to Spain after a brief stop in Cuba. After the end of liberal rule and the return to Ferdinand's absolutism, he was appointed commander of the engineering corps of the Spanish Navy in 1824. From 1824 to 1826 he was Viceroy of Navarre . In 1830 he was appointed Commander in Chief of the Navy. He died in Madrid in 1835.

literature

• Fernando Orozco: Gobernantes de México . 3. Edition. Panorama Editorial, Mexico City 2004, ISBN 968-38-0260-5 , p. 191–192 ( books.google.de ).
• Juana Vázquez Gómez: Dictionary of Mexican Rulers, 1325–1997 . Greenwood Publishing Group, Westport, CT, USA 1997, ISBN 0-313-30049-6 , pp. 53 ( books.google.de ).

Web links

Commons : Juan Ruiz de Apodaca  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• Biography (spanish)
• Short biography (Spanish)
• History of his tenure (Spanish)

predecessor	Office	successor
Félix María Calleja del Rey	Viceroy of New Spain 1816–1821	Francisco Novella