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

Abstract

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.

Keywords

• memoirs
• diplomacy
• the russian empire
• spain
• world war i
• mediation