Ventura García-Sancho
Marquess of Aguilar de Campoo
Ventura García-Sancho e Ibarrondo, 1st Count of Consuegra (20 April 1837, in Mexico City, Mexico – 20 July 1914, in Madrid, Spain) better known by his spouse's title Marquess of Aguilar de Campoo, was a Mexican-Spanish nobleman and politician who served twice as Minister of State and as Mayor of Madrid between 1899 and 1900. Ventura Crisóforo Domingo Ignacio García-Sancho e Ibarrondo was born in Mexico City on 20 April 1837, the son of don José Marcial García-Sancho y Sánchez-Leñero, knight of the Ilustre Solar de Tejada, and of doña María de la Trinidad de Ibarrondo y Maruri, both from Guadalajara (México) and members of well-stablished families of Spanish origin. During his youth, don Ventura and his family moved to Bordeaux, France, where decades before his maternal grandparents (the Basque don Domingo de Ibarrondo y Urraza, and the Mexican-criolla doña María Ignacia de Maruri y Berrueco) had lived. After his mother's death in 1846, don Ventura began to spend lengthy stays in Spain in the company of his paternal grandfather, don José Ventura García-Sancho y Moreno de Tejada (who was from Lumbreras, Spain). He married in Madrid on 2 June 1861 María del Pilar de Zavala, 20th Marchioness of Aguilar de Campoo, daughter of Juan de Zavala, 1st Marques of Sierra Bullones and María del Pilar de Guzmán, 24th Duchess of Nájera. Through his marriage, he became Grandee of Spain.
The Federal Army (Spanish: Ejército Federal), also known as the Federales (English: Federals) in popular culture, was the army of Mexico from 1876 to 1914 during the Porfiriato, the rule of President Porfirio Díaz, and during the presidencies of Francisco I. Madero and Victoriano Huerta. Under President Díaz, a military hero against the French Intervention in Mexico, the Federal Army was composed of senior officers who had served in long ago conflicts. At the time of the outbreak of the Mexican Revolution most were old men and incapable of leading men on the battlefield. When the rebellions broke out against Díaz following fraudulent elections of 1910, the Federal Army was incapable of responding. Although revolutionary fighters helped bring Francisco I. Madero to power, Madero retained the Federal Army rather than the revolutionaries. Madero used the Federal Army to suppress rebellions against his government by Pascual Orozco and Emiliano Zapata. Madero placed General Victoriano Huerta as interim commander of the military during the Ten Tragic Days of February 1913 to defend his government. Huerta changed sides and ousted Madero's government. Rebellions broke out against Huerta's regime. When revolutionary armies succeeded in ousting Huerta in July 1914, the Federal Army ceased to exist as an entity, with the signing of the Teoloyucan Treaties. The Federal Army in Mexico had long been an interventionist force in Mexican politics, with notable generals becoming Presidents of Mexico. After the
War of the Reform and the successful ouster of the French empire in Mexico in 1867, the soldiers who defeated them were adherents of the liberalism. General Porfirio Díaz rose through the ranks without formal military training, and was a hero of the Battle of Puebla on 5 May 1862. He came to power by coup in 1876, ousting the civilian President Sebastián Lerdo. Díaz knew the power and the danger of a strong military and once he became President of Mexico, he sought to curtail the power of the generals, who held provincial power and were not under control of the central government. It took him "nearly fifteen years to achieve full military control." He did so by a combination of bribes and other economic lures for those he could not confront militarily. He divided Mexico into eleven military zones, whose boundaries did not correspond to state boundaries. To prevent collusion between the state governors, whom he appointed, and military commanders, he rotated commanders on a regular basis so that they could not build a local power base. By a variety of means, he reduced the officer corps by 500, including 25 generals. Díaz also sought to professionalize the army. He moved the Mexican Military Academy back to Chapultepec Castle, the Presidential residence. In 1847, cadets at the academy resisted the invading U.S. forces, in their deaths called the Niños Héroes, but the academy was relocated and lost prestige. Díaz revived it, with cadets to be sons of "good families" (code for "white"). They were taught the arts of modern warfare. By 1900, some 9,000 graduates were officers in the Federal Army. Military training prepared cadets for war with foreign invaders, when the reality was the army dealt with internal order, along with the rural police force. By early 1900, the majority of generals in the military were not trained at the military academy, but had participated in the war against the French, that had ended some 35 years previously. The generals were old. The Federal Army was overstaffed, with far more officers commanding too few recruits, with 9,000 officers and ostensibly 25,000 enlisted men. Many who were counted as enlisted men did not exist, but were on the muster rolls because the officers received a stipend to provide food for their men. Officers pocketed the difference between the 25,000 enrolled and the 18,000 or so who actually served.
The Marquisate of Aguilar de Campoo is a Spanish noble title created by the Catholic Monarchs on March 25, 1482 in favor of Garci V Fernández Manrique de Lara, III Count of Castañeda, V lord of Aguilar de Campoo and chancellor mayor of Castile. It boasts the immemorial greatness of Spain granted in 1520 by King Carlos I to Luis Fernández Manrique de Lara y de Almada-Noronha, II Marquis of Aguilar de Campoo. Its name refers to the Spanish municipality of Aguilar de Campoo in the province of Palencia, autonomous community of Castilla y León. The origin of this title dates back to the lordship granted by King Alfonso XI of Castile to his natural son Tello of Castile by privilege granted on January 10, 1339 and confirmed, upon his death, to his son Juan Téllez of Castile on February 18, 1371 by his uncle Henry II of Castile. After the death of Juan Téllez de Castilla in the Battle of Aljubarrota in 1385, the lordship of Aguilar passed to his daughter Aldonza de Castilla, who married Garcí IV Fernández Manrique, of the powerful House of Lara, majordomo mayor of the infante Enrique
and captain general of the border of Jaén, being III lords of Aguilar de Campoo and I counts of Castañeda; the succession continued in his first-born Juan Fernández Manrique de Lara, II count of Castañeda and IV lord of Aguilar de Campoo, and his second wife Catalina Enríquez de Ribera. In 1480 he received royal authorization to found, for his eldest son, an extensive mayorazgo whose head was the villa of Aguilar de Campoo with the title of marquis. Throughout history, the Marquises of Aguilar de Campoo have held important positions at the service of the crown, viceroys, ministers, members of the Councils of State and War, captains general and ambassadors and belonged to the prestigious orders of the Order of the Golden Fleece and Santiago.
Awards: Collar, sash and star of the Imperial Order of the Mexican Eagle (Orden Imperial del Águila Mexicana), insignia of the Sovereign Military Hospitaller Order of Saint John of Jerusalem, of Rhodes and of Malta (Supremus Militaris Ordo Hospitalarius Sancti Ioannis Hierosolymitani, Rhodiensis et Melitensis), stars of the Imperial Order of Guadalupe (Orden Imperial de Guadalupe), the Royal and Much Distinguished Order of Charles III (Real y Muy Distinguida Orden de Carlos III) and the Royal Order of Isabella the Catholic (Real Orden de Isabel la Católica).
