Valeriano Weyler

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Valeriano Weyler

Valeriano Weyler y Nicolau ( Catalan : Valerià Weyler i Nicolau ) (born September 17, 1838 in Palma , † October 20, 1930 in Madrid ) was a Spanish general and governor.

Career

Weyler was born to a Spanish mother and a Prussian military doctor Fernando Weyler y Laviña (1808–1879). He graduated from the Toledo Infantry School at the age of 20 and began his career as a lieutenant . He served in Cuba from 1868 to 1872 , where he set up a volunteer unit ( Voluntarios ). In 1878 Weyler became a general .

For his services in leading the Spanish troops in the Philippines from 1888 onwards, he received the order La Cruz Grande de Maria Cristina . During his service in the Philippines he amassed great fortunes, mostly gifts from Chinese businessmen.

After the beginning of the Cuban War of Independence in 1895 he was Governor General of Cuba from 1896 to 1897 . In the fight against the insurgents, he had the civilian population crammed into so-called campos de reconcentración ( concentration camps ) within a very short time , without, however, ensuring their supply of food and water. This practice claimed "more than 100,000" deaths. The camps he set up are considered the first forerunners of the concentration camps of the 20th century and served the British colonial power in South Africa as a model in the Second Boer War .

Weyler's brutal actions against both the insurgents and the civilian population of Cuba earned him the nickname “The Butcher” in the Anglo-Saxon media and served the USA as a pretext for the Spanish-American War . In the further course of his career, Weyler sought political offices and was briefly Spanish Minister of War.

In his honor, central squares in Palma de Mallorca and Santa Cruz de Tenerife are named Plaza Weyler . In view of Weyler's controversial work in Cuba, there have been repeated initiatives since 2008 to rename these places, which have so far been unsuccessful.

Web links

Commons : Valeriano Weyler  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Fernando Weyler y Laviña. Biografías y Vidas, 2004-2016
  2. ↑ Jürgen Osterhammel: The transformation of the world. A story of the 19th century. Munich 2009, p. 699
  3. ↑ Ylenia Lorenzo: Santa Cruz: Los herederos de Weyler. In: La Opinión of May 20, 2012, accessed on March 19, 2014 (Spanish)
  4. ↑ Ciudadanos Cubanos piden a municipios españoles cambiar de nombre las plazas que honran a Valeriano Weyler. In: Cuba Encuentro, December 8, 2008, accessed March 19, 2014 (Spanish)
personal data
SURNAME Weyler, Valeriano
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Weyler i Nicolau, Valerià; Weyler y Nicolau, Valeriano
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Spanish general and captain general in Cuba
DATE OF BIRTH September 17, 1838
PLACE OF BIRTH Palma
DATE OF DEATH October 20, 1930
Place of death Madrid