Why was Saturnino Martín Cerezo honored by the Spanish government?
score:8
I guess the real reason is the same one which explains why there are so many movies about Vietnam in the US: when you lose a war you're in desperate need of heroes. The Spanish-Cuban-American War was a complete disaster for Spain, losing the last remnants of its former glorious empire and sending the country on a vain exercise of soul-searching that many would say it is still looking for.
In that sort of mood, the courageous resistance of a group of soldiers against all odds, no matter how futile, instilled some sort of inspiration among the general population. Just like the news of some Japanese soldier stranded in the jungle for sixty years without knowing that the WWII was over generates more respect than derision for the poor guy.
Actually, the war was (quickly and mercilessly) lost by Spain because its imperial policy wasn't a good match for its third-rate power economy and its less-than-third-rate power defense budget, all of which had generated a tradition of corruption and nepotism in the armed forces, which collapsed against a more prepared army. So they took a story about a few men becoming paranoid due to isolation and stress and turned it into a tale of heroism and resistance to the last man. It is hardly a weird thing; from Custer's charge at Little Big Horn to the Light Brigade at Balaclava, whitewashing military blunders into legends of bravery is a common thing everywhere.
Probably the main reason that made a hero of Martín Cerezo was Martín Cerezo himself. His stubbornness (and that of his superior, Lieutenant Juan Alonso Zayas) may had cost a dozen lives, but he had managed to surrender with all military honors at the end of a war that had been not just a defeat, but a complete humiliation of the country. In 1898, few days after the Maine incident, Spanish newspapers run headlines in favour of declaring war against the USA and starting funding campaigns to go to war. Just three months later Spain had lost most of its navy, a third of its army, and all its colonies beyond the sea.
The behaviour of the Spanish armed forces was a complete disaster, left and right and from top to bottom. Admiral Cervera evaded a court-martial with all the grace and panache he lacked in avoiding the US Navy at Manila Bay. The press was boiling with stories of units which surrendered at the sight of the first marine they saw, or where massacred by ragtags armed with machetes - and the latter were more respected than the former. In this situation, Martín Cerezo manoeuvred skilfully to present himself as a brave man preferring death to dishonor. He campaigned in the press for a recognition to "the heroes of Baler"; he brought the ministry of defense to trial for deserting its brave soldiers - a narrative the common Spaniard with a relative or friend who had fought in the war was eager to buy. He even tried to get the King of Spain involved in the case and wrote a book - which was quite a best-seller - "so these facts of bravery are not going to be forgotten". In other words, as a military man he wasn't maybe brilliant, but as a politician he really had qualities.
In the end, just like with Admiral Cervera, it was easier for the Spanish elites and the Armed Forces High Command to honor him and making a hero of him than starting a judicial process that was inevitably going to expose everything that was wrong in the Spanish forces. Since there was more than enough shit for everyone to share, they decided it was better for everyone - particularly themselves - to just cover it up.
Upvote:0
I disagree with the answer of Rekesoft, which doesn't give concrete historical documents supporting his thesis. Here is the second part of the decree issued by the Chief General of the region scarcely two months before the event.
Art. 2.° Serán también juzgados en juicio sumarísimo y condenados como reos del mismo delito de traición, a la pena de cadena perpetua o a la de muerte, según las circunstancias: 1.º Los que propongan la capitulación o rendición al enemigo de plaza, barco o puesto militar o de fuerzas que se encuentren sitiadas, bloqueadas o amenazadas por las enemigas. 2.º Los que viertan noticias o especies que tiendan a desalentar a los defensores de la patria. Manila, 23 de Abril de 1898.= El General en Jefe, Basilio Angustí y Dávila.
The decree leaves very clear that those that surrender to the enemy a position would face court martial. It also leaves clear that it was feared that people would give false news to the Spanish military to encourage them to surrender. Isolated from the rest of the army how would they know if the news they were receiving were true?
The rest is fertile imagination.
More post
- 📝 Did Native Americans sabotage telegraph lines running through their territory?
- 📝 Why are there 37 numbers on European roulette wheels?
- 📝 Is there a study about what would have happened if Khmer Rouge remained in power in Cambodia?
- 📝 When has the Tory party split over trade issues?
- 📝 Is there any evidence of arachnophobia in ancient history?
- 📝 Books on the history of modern China for pleasure reading?
- 📝 Why is there a difference in ordinal numbers of UK General Elections and Parliaments? Was a UK Parliament ever formed without an election?
- 📝 How did agricultural productivity change in Italy with the fall of the Roman Empire and through the early Middle Ages?
- 📝 What is the earliest known reference to the phrase 'water of life'?
- 📝 What made India pull out troops and return the captured territory at the end of 1971 Indo-Pak war?
- 📝 How can I identify this silver kitchen fork?
- 📝 How did communist authorities decide who is "German" and who is "Polish" when expelling Germans from recovered territories?
- 📝 How was 19th century ship tonnage reported?
- 📝 What does a "wage" mean in the time of 'The Odyssey'?
- 📝 How do archaeologists date cave paintings?
- 📝 What were the demographics of the ancient Greek colonies of Cyprus (any population estimates from 500BCE to 1BCE will do)?
- 📝 Was there hostile contact between deployed US forces and Sandinista forces during Operation Golden Pheasant?
- 📝 Were the Gestapo & SS voluntary organisations?
- 📝 Why did Stalin keep the famine of 1932 a secret?
- 📝 Why would some nations want to force Japan to end their isolation?
- 📝 Can a country only have one indigenous population?
- 📝 Why weren’t the Dutch and Belgian borders fortified with wire, trenches, mines, etc., as it became clear Germany would invade during WW2?
- 📝 When the king was away, did their queens sign Acts of Parliament on their behalf?
- 📝 Why do the bases of these pillars have grooves in them?
- 📝 How were city government and law enforcement authorities organized in Northern Italy in the 17th century?
- 📝 Are there any books solely about the Umayyad Invasion of Gaul?
- 📝 Why was the North willing to go to war over Slavery?
- 📝 What documented criteria (if any) did the CIA use to determine targets for political assassination during the Cold War?
- 📝 Were there universities that treated socioeconomic status as a major factor in college admissions?
- 📝 When were marching bands last used in warfare?
Source: stackoverflow.com
Search Posts
Related post
- 📝 Why was Saturnino Martín Cerezo honored by the Spanish government?
- 📝 Why was the Spanish kingdom in America called New Spain if Spain didn't exist as a country back then?
- 📝 Why was the Republican government of Spain so slow to react to the Nationalist revolt?
- 📝 Why was the government expenditures of the Roman Empire very low compared to modern governments?
- 📝 What was the attitude of Brazil's government towards the Spanish Civil War?
- 📝 Why was the Imre Nagy government deported to Romania?
- 📝 Why did the Spanish government award a decoration to Chiang Kai-Shek?
- 📝 In the 1920's, why did the German government fire working women if their husband was employed?
- 📝 Why did Hitler attack the Soviet Union when he was still busy fighting the United Kingdom?
- 📝 Why did archery not make a comeback when armor was phased out in the 18th century?
- 📝 Why was Poland spared from the Black Death?
- 📝 Why was Africa colonized last of the continents in the Age of Discovery?
- 📝 Why was Spanish Fascist dictatorship left in power after World War II?
- 📝 Why was the Scout movement so successful?
- 📝 Why was the Council of Nicea held in Nicea rather than Rome or Constantinople?
- 📝 Why was World War I ended on Nov 11 11:00, rather than immediately upon signing the armistice?
- 📝 In the Soviet Union, why was the Cheka renamed so many times?
- 📝 Why was "leaping into the river" a valid trial outcome to prove one's innocence?
- 📝 Why was the Japanese Army's fatalities inflicted:suffered ratio so low in the Pacific theatre?
- 📝 Why was capturing the south of Okinawa necessary?
- 📝 Why were the drawings of Colossus burnt after WW2 and why was its very existence "of course" kept secret?
- 📝 Why was there a surge in the US incarceration rate during the 1990s?
- 📝 Why was the Treaty of Versailles so harsh?
- 📝 Why were British ships not of the same quality as French and Spanish ships until the latter part of the 18th century?
- 📝 If the Ch’in dynasty was so short-lived, why was China named for it?
- 📝 Why was Switzerland not attacked during the two World Wars?
- 📝 Why was sugar cultivation more profitable in the Caribbean/Brazil than West Africa?
- 📝 Why was PTSD not written about as much before the 20th century?
- 📝 Why was Kaliningrad placed under the Russian SFSR rather than the Lithuanian SSR?
- 📝 Why was the Roman Empire considered an empire rather than a kingdom (again)?
