Felipe Alfau Mendoza

Felipe Alfau Mendoza (c. 1845/1848 – 1937) was a Spanish military officer. He served as the first Spanish High Commissioner in Morocco and as Captain-General of Catalonia.

Felipe Alfau Mendoza
Photographed by Christian Franzen
Born	1845 or 1848 Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic
Died	1937 Casablanca, French Morocco
Service / branch	Spanish Army

Biography

Born in Santo Domingo,^{[1][note 1]} son to the Dominican trinitario Felipe Alfau y Bustamante and Rosa Josefa Mendoza Pineda.^[2] Leader of the first brigade of Jägers of Melilla, he was promoted to division general in 1910.^[3]

After the 1912 Treaty of Fes and the entry in Tétouan of the Spanish forces commanded by Alfau on 19 February 1913,^[4] he became the first High Commissioner of the newly created Spanish protectorate in Morocco on 5 April 1913.^[5] He left the post on 15 August 1913, when he was replaced by José Marina Vega.^[5]

Later, he was appointed as Captain General of Catalonia,^[3] in 1915.^[6] Alfau—who, according Francisco J. Romero Salvadó did not take the Defence Juntas seriously—^[7] was fired on 27 May 1916 in the context of the 1917 military crisis, and was replaced again by the General Marina.^[8]

He died in Casablanca in 1937.^[9]

Decorations

• Grand Cross of the Royal and Military Order of Saint Hermenegildo (1908)^[10]
• Grand Cross of the Order of Military Merit (1910)^[11]
• Grand Cross of the Military Order of María Cristina (1910)^[12]

References

Informational notes

1. Sources mention either 1845^[2] or 25 September 1848^[1][3] as birthdate.

Citations

1. Cencillo de Pineda 1951, p. 6.
2. Heras y Borrero 2012, p. 311.
3. "Actualidades barcelonesas". La Ilustración Artística (1777). Barcelona: 54–55. 17 January 1916. ISSN 1889-853X.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: date and year (link)
4. Blanco Núñez 2014; Heras y Borrero 2012.
5. Ladreit de Lacharrière 1937, p. 32.
6. "Capitans Generals a Catalunya (1800-2003)". Base Documental d' Història Contemporànea de Catalunya.
7. Romero Salvadó 1999, p. 59.
8. Lacomba 1965; González Calleja 1998.
9. Heras y Borrero 2012, p. 312.
10. Ministerio de Guerra: "Reales decretos concediendo la Gran Cruz de la Real y militar Orden de San Hermenegildo á los Generales de Brigada D. Joaquín Carrasco y Navarro, D. Pedro de la Brena y Trevilla y D. Felipe Alfau Mendoza, y la Intendente de División D. José Fenech y Codornié" (PDF). Gaceta de Madrid (39): 554–555. 8 February 1908.
11. Ministerio de Guerra: "Real decreto concediendo la Gran Cruz de la Orden del Mérito Militar pensionada, al General de brigada D. Felipe Alfau Mendoza" (PDF). Gaceta de Madrid (20): 136. 20 January 1910.
12. Ministerio de Guerra: "Reales decretos concediendo la Gran Cruz de la Orden Militar de María Cristina al General de división D. Antonio Tover y Marcoleta, y á los de brigada D. Ricardo Morales Yagüero y D. Felipe Alfau Mendoza" (PDF). Gaceta de Madrid (81): 633-634. 22 March 1910.

Bibliography

• Blanco Núñez, José María (2014). "El desembarco de Alhucemas" (PDF). XXXIX Congreso Internacional de Historia Militar (Turín, 2013): Operaciones conjunto combinadas: 27–50. ISBN 978-84-9781-979-4.
• Cencillo de Pineda, Manuel (22 June 1951). "Los Alfau y la República Dominicana". ABC: 6.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: date and year (link)
• González Calleja, Eduardo (1998). La razón de la fuerza: orden público, subversión y violencia política en la España de la Restauración (1875-1917). Madrid: Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas. ISBN 84-00-07778-4.
• Heras y Borrero, Francisco M. de las (2012). "Felipe Alfau y Bustamante: un trinitario contradictorio" (PDF). Boletín del Archivo General de la Nación. 37 (133). Santo Domingo: Archivo General de la Nación. ISSN 1012-9472. Archived from the original (PDF) on 25 July 2015. Retrieved 6 December 2015.
• Lacomba, Juan Antonio (1965). "La crisis militar de 1917, Maura y las Juntas de Defensa" (PDF). Saitabi: Revista de la Facultat de Geografia i Història (15). Universidad de Valencia: 73–101. ISSN 0210-9980.
• Ladreit de Lacharrière, Jacques (1937). "La zone espagnole du Maroc et la guerre civile". Politique étrangère. 2 (1): 28–44. doi:10.3406/polit.1937.5578.
• Romero Salvadó, Francisco J. (1999). Spain, 1914-1918: Between War and Revolution. London & Nueva York: Routledge. ISBN 0-415-21293-6.