Pablo Morillo facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Pablo Morillo y Morillo
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| Captain General of Venezuela | |
| In office 1815–1816 |
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| Monarch | Ferdinand VII |
| Preceded by | Juan Manuel Cajigal |
| Succeeded by | Salvador de Moxó |
| In office 1819–1820 |
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| Preceded by | Juan Bautista Pardo |
| Succeeded by | Miguel de la Torre |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 5 May 1775 Fuentesecas, Spain |
| Died | 27 July 1837 (aged 62) Barèges, France |
| Profession | General |
Pablo Morillo y Morillo, Count of Cartagena and Marquess of La Puerta, a.k.a. El Pacificador (The Peace Maker) (5 May 1775 – 27 July 1837) was a Spanish general. He fought against French forces in the Peninsular War. After the restoration of the Spanish Monarchy, Morillo led an expedition with the goal to restore absolutism in Spain's possessions in the Americas.
Biography
Morillo was born in Fuentesecas, Zamora, Spain. In 1791 he enlisted in the Real Cuerpo de Marina (Spanish Royal Marine Corps) and participated in the Battle of Trafalgar in which he was wounded and made prisoner by the English in 1805.
He also fought during the Peninsular War (part of Napoleonic Wars). Once the war ended and the Spanish monarchy was restored, King Ferdinand VII of Spain appointed him Expedition Commander and General Captain of the Provinces of Venezuela on 14 August 1814. He set sail with a fleet of 18 warships and 42 cargo ships and disembarked in Carupano and Isla Margarita with the mission to pacify the revolts against the Spanish monarchy in the American colonies. He travelled to La Guaira, Caracas, Puerto Cabello, Santa Marta and Cartagena de Indias (United Provinces of New Granada) in a military campaign to fight Simon Bolívar's revolutionary armies.
On 22 August 1815 Morillo put the walled city of Cartagena under siege, preventing any supplies from going in until 6 December that year, when the Spanish Royal Army entered the city. With control over Cartagena, Morillo returned to Venezuela to continue the fight against revolutionaries. In June 1820 Morillo, under Royal mandate, ordered that everyone in the colonies obey the Cadiz Constitution and sent delegates to negotiate with Bolivar and his followers. Bolivar and Morillo later met in the Venezuelan town of Santa Ana and signed a six-months' armistice followed by a second one named "War Regularization".
Morillo returned to Spain, was named General Captain of New Castile, and supported the Liberal Constitution during the Liberal Triennium. He prevented a coup against the Constitution in 1822, and fought in 1823 the French invasion under Louis-Antoine, Duke of Angoulême in the north of Spain, where he was defeated.
When King Ferdinand VII restored the absolute regime in 1823, Morillo went to France. A few years later, he returned to Spain and participated in some military operations during the Carlist Wars. He felt ill and went back to France where he died on 27 July 1837, in Barèges.
See also
In Spanish: Pablo Morillo para niños
- Spanish reconquest of New Granada
- Reconquista (Spanish America)
- Royalist (Spanish American Revolution)
