The ambassador of Spain to the Russian Empire Anibal Morillo y Pérez del Villar and his “Memories”

The article examines the  memoirs of a Spanish diplomat Anibal Morillo and Perez del  Villar, the   Count of  Cartagena. He  held  the   post of the  Spanish ambassador in the  Russian  Empire in 1914-1916 when World War  One  broke out.  “Memories  of my Embassy in Russia”  by Morillo is a specific source that shows the  life of the  zarist court and diplomatic circles of St. Petersburg in that period. The Count of Cartagena’s activity has not been considered much  in Russian  historiography.  Based on the analysis of his memoirs, the author of the article suggests that Morillo considered the  Russian revolution to be brought in from outside. A study of the  memoirs showed that the  Spanish ambassador at St. Petersburg preferred  German diplomacy and had a peculiar notion of  the  role of Russia  in unleashing the  war.  The  author of this  article concludes that Morillo’s ideas were partly shaped by the  internal problems and the international situation of his own country at the beginning of the 20th century and that the  Spanish ambassador  was one of  the  Spanish Germanophiles. Spain maintained strict  neutrality throughout the  war. The  Spanish embassy  in Russia  carried out  important humanitarian mission  and active mediation activities, supporting Russian  citizens on enemy territory and trying to improve the  situation of Russian  prisoners of war and facilitate their return. The issue of the  personal participation of Anibal Morillo in mediation is also  touched upon in this article.

1. Witte, S.Y. Reminicencies, Memoirs. In 3 volumes. Moscow: AST, Minsk: Harvest, 2002. [In Russian]

2. España y Rusia: diplomacia y diálogo de culturas. Tres siglos de relaciones // Volosyuk, O.V., ed. Spain and Russia: Diplomacy and Dialogue of Cultures. Three centuries of relationship. Moscow: Indrik, 2018. [In Russian and Spanish]

3. Volosyuk, O.V., Camarero Bullon et al., eds. Spain and Russia: Historical Fates and the Modern Era. Moscow: Mezhdunarodniye otnosheniya, 2017. [In Russian]

4. Koval, T.B. “Dmitri Egorovich Shevich (1896-1905).” In Russian diplomats in Spain, edited by O.V. Volosyuk, 173–180, 475–482. Moscow: Mezhdunarodniye otnosheniya, 2016. [In Russian and Spanish]

5. Mednikov I.Y. “Historical Significance of the Spanish Neutrality in the First World War.” MGIMO Review of International Relations 4 (2014): 26-34. https://doi.org/10.24833/2071-8160-2014-4-37-26-34. [In Russian]

6. Volosyuk, O.V., ed. Russian diplomats in Spain. Moscow: Mezhdunarodniye otnosheniya, 2016. [In Russian and Spanish]

7. Sazonov, S.D. Vospominaniya. Minsk: Harvest, 2002. [In Russian]

8. Solovyov, Yu.Ya. Vospominaniya diplomata (1893–1922). Moscow: Izdatelstvo SEL, 1959. [In Russian]

9. Cherniavsky, S.I. “Rossiya i Ispaniya v gody Velikoi voiny.” Cuadernos Iberoamericanos 8, no. 2 (2015): 35-46. [In Russian]

10. Dávila, Luis Ricardo. “Centenario e inventario de los problemas venezolanos.” Historia Mexicana 60, no. 1 (2010): 243-299.

11. De La Torre del Río, R. “Entre 1898 y 1914: la orientación de la política exterior española.” Política española y política naval tras el Desastre (1900-1914), 7-21. Madrid: Instituto de Historia y Cultura Naval, 1991.

12. Montero Jiménez, José Antonio. “De la crisis de 1898 a la I Guerra Mundial (1898-1914). Una política exterior para el nuevo siglo.” In Historia de la política exterior española en los siglos XX y XXI, coordinated by Hernández Ruiz, Marta, José María Beneyto, and Juan Carlos Pereira Castañares, Vol. 1: 111–138. Madrid: Universidad San Pablo-CEU, CEU ediciones, 2015.

13. Morillo y Pérez, Aníbal. “Recuerdos de mi Embajada en Rusia.” Boletín de la Real Academia de la Historia 99, cuaderno II (1931): 356-414.

14. Pando Despierto, Juán. “Morillo y Pérez del Villar, Aníbal.” Diccionario biográfico español, Real Academia de la Historia, t. XXXVI (2011-2013): 451-452.

15. Pando Despierto, Juán. Un Rey para la esperanza. La España humanitaria de Alfonso XIII en la Gran Guerra. Madrid: Temas de Hoy, 2002.

16. Peris Alcantud, Fernando. “La política exterior de España en el contexto europeo, 1898-1931.” Tiempo y Sociedad 22 (2016): 137-167.

17. Ponce Marrero, Javier. “La política exterior española de 1907 a 1920: entre el regeneracionismo de intenciones y la neutralidad condicionada.” Historia Contemporánea 34 (2007): 93-115.

18. Rodríguez-Moranta, Inmaculada. “La Gran Guerra en la revista La Esfera (1914-1931): ¿Información, opinión o propaganda?” Revista de Historiografía 24 (2016): 71-97. http://dx.doi.org/10.20318/revhisto.2016.3097.