Damaso Berenguer

Dámaso Berenguer Fusté (San Juan de los Remedios, Cuba, August 4, 1873-Madrid, May 19, 1953), Count of Chefchaouen, was a Spanish military and politician who He presided over the penultimate government of the monarchy of Alfonso XIII known by the name of dictablanda.

Biography

Early Years

Dámaso Berenguer Fusté was born in San Juan de los Remedios, Cuba, on August 4, 1873. The son of Dámaso Berenguer Benimeli, a native of Callosa de Ensarriá (Alicante) and Dolores Fusté Ballesteros, from Havana (Cuba), in 1889 he moved to the peninsula to enter the General Military Academy. After finishing his studies at the Cavalry Academy, in 1893 he was promoted to the rank of second lieutenant. In 1894 he returned to his native land to participate in the campaign against the Cuban independence fighters and, from that moment, his life was involved in military combat. He was promoted to first lieutenant in July 1895 and to captain in February 1896, at age 22, due to his bravery in combat. He was promoted to commander in August 1898. He married Ana Elizalde in February 1899. After the end of the war in Cuba, he was an aide-de-camp to the Captain General of Andalusia and was stationed in the Almansa and Reina regiments. In 1906 he became a professor at the Riding School and participated in the drafting of a regulation of tactical instruction, within the Tactics Commission. He was promoted to lieutenant colonel in June 1909.

Successes and failures

In 1911 he was entrusted with the direction of the regular indigenous forces of Melilla, in which he undertook a profound reorganization process. At his post in North Africa, he intervened militarily on numerous occasions: at Mount Arruit, at Taurit Narrich, at Beni Sidel, etc. In all the combats he demonstrated skill and ability, for which he was awarded the rank of colonel (February 1912), also obtaining numerous honorary decorations, such as the crosses of María Cristina and San Hermenegildo. After being promoted to brigadier general "for merit and service in the campaign" (June 20, 1913) and with great prestige in the military sphere, he was appointed Military Governor of Malaga (February 1916) and, two years later, he was promoted to division general and was first entrusted with the Undersecretary of War (July 1918) and immediately after the Ministry of War, in the two successive governments presided over by García Prieto and the Count of Romanones (November 1918-January 1919).

At the end of January 1919, he was appointed high commissioner of Spain in Morocco, and from that position he designed an ambitious plan aimed at the definitive pacification (read submission) of the territory of the protectorate. He obtained some initial successes, such as the taking of Chefchaouen in October 1920, for which King Alfonso XIII would grant him the title of Count of Chefchaouen in 1929. He was named senator for life on January 3, 1921.

Map of 1920 of the "Spanish zone in Morocco", with images of González Tablas, Berenguer and Silvestre.

However, the entire operation commanded by Berenguer collapsed with the disaster of Annual (1921). The poorly planned and somewhat reckless action of the army (insufficient troops; outdated weapons and in poor condition; ignorance of the enemy's strength) led to defeat at the hands of the Rifian harkas, led by Abd el-Krim. Prosecuted and separated from service for his responsibilities, he was amnestied and rehabilitated after Primo de Rivera's coup d'état in September 1923. Specifically, during the Military Directorate of the Primo de Rivera dictatorship, he was amnestied by decree for the crimes of negligence and shortly after he would also be promoted to lieutenant general. He would also be appointed head of the King's Military House (1924).

The fall of the monarchy

In January 1930, Primo de Rivera resigned when the support of the army was withdrawn and the king entrusted Berenguer with the formation of the government and the normalization of the political situation altered by six years of dictatorship. On January 30, the new government is formed in which, in addition to the presidency, it also assumes the portfolio of War. The hopes placed in this government, for a return to constitutional normality, which would be popularly known as the "dictablanda ", crumble in the supporters of the republic and even in the monarchist groups that were marginalized for the dictatorship. These seek a broad review of the legislation emanating from it as well as the reinstatement of deputies, councilors and professors dismissed by it.

In order to calm things down, Berenguer affirms that the new government wants the pacification of the country and a return to constitutional normality, promising, among other things, the calling of general elections, to which the traditional parties oppose, dismasted after the dictatorial parenthesis. The labor movement freed after years of repression increases its protests and there is an increase in public disorder. The republican parties unite to bring about the fall of the monarchy and sign in August 1930 the so-called Pact of San Sebastián and in December of the same year a military uprising tries to establish the Republic in Jaca, its leaders being shot, captains Galán and García Hernández, after the attempt failed.

In view of so many difficulties, Berenguer called general elections for the month of March 1931, but the political representatives answered that they would never participate in those elections, asking for abstention. Not even monarchists such as the Count of Romanones paid attention to this proposal: the vast majority only wanted Berenguer and Alfonso XIII to leave their posts. Thus, Berenguer and his government resign en bloc on February 14, 1931, which causes Alfonso XIII to desperately seek a replacement, receiving the refusals of his unconditional friends —the Duke of Maura, the Count of Romanones and the Marquis of Alhucemas—who advised other men they considered more appropriate. Thus, the first consulted was José Sánchez Guerra, who, in principle, refused. Then he tried it with Melquíades Álvarez, who also refused. However, Alfonso XIII had better luck in the next attempt with Sánchez Guerra, after accepting his request to integrate republicans and moderate socialists, but they refused to establish any type of pact with the Monarchy, and after this rejection, the conservative leader definitely declined the royal offer. Therefore, finally, after an emergency meeting in the Ministry of War, Berenguer was replaced as President of the Government by Admiral Aznar, who presided over a government of monarchical concentration, in which Berenguer himself continued to serve as Minister of war.

The new government established a gradual path to establish the return of «constitutional normality» in Spain: municipal elections would be held on April 12, provincial elections on May 3, and elections to be held in June generals to Constituent Cortes to draft a new Constitution to replace the Constitution of 1876.

Nevertheless, the monarchy did not even withstand the first electoral test and fell before the republican victory in the main Spanish cities. It has been said that this was the case because the electoral caciquismo that controlled rural areas could not take place there. It is known that the municipal elections of 1931 led to the proclamation of the Second Spanish Republic on April 14, 1931, but in that The political maneuver of Miguel Maura played a more important role, as he himself relates in his memoirs (Así caió Alfonso XIII, 1962). According to said author, the members of what hours later would be the provisional government of the new regime, ruled out his rise to power shortly and thought about the general elections that were to be held months later or about Constituent Cortes that would come out of those. The story by Josep Plà (Madrid. The advent of the Republic, 1933) coincides with that version.

Last years

After the establishment of the Republic, Berenguer was imprisoned by the Republican authorities for his role during the Dictatorship. The circumstance occurs that Berenguer appeared in Madrid before the General Director of Security, Carlos Blanco Pérez, who refused to sign the order for him to enter prison; it was the prosecutor of the Republic, Ángel Galarza, who finally signed his entry into prison. He was the last prisoner held in the Alcázar de Segovia. 1934. Since then he remained withdrawn from public life and his participation in the military coup of July 1936 was not relevant. He published a memoir entitled From the Dictatorship to the Republic (1946) and died in Madrid in 1953.

Works by Damaso Berenguer

• The War of Morocco. Madrid. Libr. Fernando Fe. 1918.
• Campaigns in the Rif and Yebala. Notes and Documents. Years 1921-22 Madrid. Successors of Regino Velasco. 1923.
• Campaigns in the Rif and Yebala (2 vols) Madrid. Ed. Arés. 1948.
• From the Dictatorship to the Republic. Madrid. Ed. Plus Ultra. 1946 (Reissued: Thebes, 1975 ISBN 84-7273-063-8)