View source for Antonio Azarola y Gresillón

{{short description|Spanish politician}}
{{family name hatnote|Azarola|Gresillón|lang=Spanish}}
{{Infobox military person
| name          = Antonio Azarola y Gresillón
| image         = Antonio Azarola y Gresillón.jpg
| caption       =
| birth_date    = {{Birth-date|1874}}
| death_date    = {{Death date and age|1936|8|4|1874|df=y}}
| birth_place   = [[Tafalla]], [[Navarre]]
| death_place   = [[Execution by firing squad|Executed]] at [[Ferrol, Galicia|Ferrol]], [[Galicia (Spain)|Galicia]]
| placeofburial = [[Vilagarcía de Arousa]] cemetery
| placeofburial_label =
| placeofburial_coordinates = <!-- {{Coord|LAT|LONG|display=inline,title}} -->
| nickname      =
| birth_name    = Antonio Azarola y Gresillón
| allegiance    =[[Image:Flag of Spain 1931 1939.svg|25px]] [[Second Spanish Republic|Spanish Republic]]
| branch        =[[Spanish Republican Navy]]
| serviceyears  =
| rank          = [[File:Flag of the Minister of the Navy Second Spanish Republic (1931-1939).svg|30px]] Minister of the Navy (1935-36)<br>[[File:Flag of Rear Admiral of the Spanish Republic.svg|30px]] Rear Admiral of the Fleet
| servicenumber =
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}}
'''Antonio Azarola y Gresillón''' (1874{{Snd}} 4 August 1936) was a Spanish Navy officer, [[rear admiral]] of the [[Spanish Republican Navy]]. He was [[Execution by firing squad|executed by firing squad]] on 4 August 1936 at the [[Ferrol, Galicia|Ferrol]] Naval Base in [[Galicia (Spain)|Galicia]], NW Spain, by rebel Navy officers for refusing to join the [[Spanish coup of July 1936|coup of July 1936]] against the [[Second Spanish Republic|Spanish Republic]] that triggered the [[Spanish Civil War]].<ref>Marcelino Laruelo Roa, ''Muertes Paralelas. El destino trágico de los prohombres de la República'', Gijón 2004, {{ISBN|849311751X}}</ref>
Antonio Azarola had been the [[Ministry of Defence (Spain)|Minister of Defence]] of Spain between 30 December 1935 and 19 February 1936, during [[Manuel Portela Valladares]] tenure.
Along with [[Captain (naval)|Captain]] [[Juan Sandalio Sánchez Ferragut]], commander of [[Spanish cruiser Almirante Cervera|Cruiser ''Almirante Cervera'']], and [[Lieutenant]] [[Luis Sánchez Pinzón]], Azarola was one of the few top naval officers who stood steadfastly loyal to the Spanish Republic at the time of the [[Francoist]] rebellion at the Ferrol Naval base.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.elcorreogallego.es/portada/ecg-h/idEdicion-2011-08-28/idMenu-opinion/idEdicion-2011_08_28/idNoticia-696247/titulo-Tenente%20de%20nav%C3%ADo%20S%C3%A1nchez%20Pinz%C3%B3n |title=El Correo Gallego - Tenente de navío Sánchez Pinzón |access-date=2012-08-19 |archive-date=2018-07-03 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180703221401/http://www.elcorreogallego.es/portada/ecg-h/idEdicion-2011-08-28/idMenu-opinion/idEdicion-2011_08_28/idNoticia-696247/titulo-Tenente%20de%20nav%C3%ADo%20S%C3%A1nchez%20Pinz%C3%B3n |url-status=dead }}</ref>
==Biography==
Antonio Azarola was born in [[Tafalla]], [[Navarre]] in 1874. He belonged to a family of illustrious Spanish military men, part of which had emigrated to [[Uruguay]]. Along his early military career Azarola was named twice the [[adjutant]] of [[vice admiral]] [[Ricardo Fernández Gutiérrez de Celis]], whose daughter, Carmen Fernández García-Zúñiga, he married. Azarola was a man of deep [[Roman Catholic|Christian]] convictions.<ref>[http://www.ciere.org/CUADERNOS/Art%2065/Art%203.htm Las cárceles y los consejos de guerra en el Ferrol (1936-39)] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100127084721/http://www.ciere.org/CUADERNOS/Art%2065/Art%203.htm |date=January 27, 2010 }}</ref>
Azarola was second in command of the Ferrol Naval Base, the most important Spanish Navy base in northern Spain, since November 1934. He was also the commander of the Naval [[Arsenal]].
Azarola was named undersecretary of the Naval Ministry of the Spanish Republic, {{langx|es|Ministerio de Marina}}, the bureaucratic body that governed the naval and merchant marine forces of Spain. He rose later to minister under the cabinet presided by Manuel Portela Valladares between 30 December 1935 and 19 February 1936, the last cabinet before the 1936 elections. What would be the last Naval Plan of the Spanish Republic was drawn up towards the end of his tenure in January 1936, before the Civil War. The plan envisaged the construction of two [[destroyers]] and two [[gunboat]]s, as well as other minor vessels.<ref>Second Spanish Republic, ''Plan Naval del 11 de enero de 1936''</ref>
===July 1936 coup===
In the crucial hours that followed the July 1936 coup of rebel generals, Azarola made a conscious decision to remain loyal to the Spanish Republic. When the anti-republican officers at Ferrol invited Azarola to join the rebellion he declared that his Christian principles were paramount. As the highest leader of the naval base he admonished the rebel military officers, reminding them that their rebellion was tantamount to [[high treason]], for they had made an [[oath of allegiance]] to the legally established government of Spain.<ref>[http://www.cgt.es/descargas/SalaLectura/la-escuadra-la-mandan-los-cabos.pdf La flota la mandan los cabos] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120708120513/http://www.cgt.es/descargas/SalaLectura/la-escuadra-la-mandan-los-cabos.pdf |date=July 8, 2012 }}</ref>
Baffled by a situation that he could only define as an act of treason, Rear-Admiral Azarola refused to open the doors of the Arsenal in order to arm the trade unions and leftist political parties, a measure which could have saved his life and could have spelled doom for the rebellion in that region. Finally he was arrested by rebel brothers [[Francisco Moreno Fernández (vice admiral)|Francisco]] and [[Salvador Moreno Fernández]], navy officers who were lower in rank and who would be later praised as heroes by [[General Franco]] during his dictatorship. The ''[[Et tu, Brute?]]'' style words ''"Usted también, don Francisco"'' (meaning "You too don Francisco") spoken by Rear-Admiral Azarola at the moment of his arrest to Francisco Moreno, a former close friend of his and later admiral of the rebel fleet, have become famous.<ref>Fernando Orgambides, ''Memoria en el tiempo de una familia gaditana de ida y vuelta (del escultor Fernández Guerrero al almirante Azarola Gresillón)'',  Ateneo: revista cultural del Ateneo de Cádiz, ISSN 1579-6868, Nº. 8, 2008, pages 165-181</ref>
Azarola was executed by firing squad at 6 am on 4 August against the inner wall of the Cuartel de Dolores barracks. His body was later buried at the [[Vilagarcía de Arousa]] graveyard. He was survived by his son Antonio Azarola Fernández de Celis.
Decades later Rear Admiral Azarola was included in the list of the victims of Francoism ({{langx|es|Listado de víctimas del franquismo}}) made by Spanish Judge [[Baltasar Garzón]].<ref>[http://www.publico.es/especial/memoria-publica/ficha/10241/antonio-azarola-gresillon Memoria Pública - Listado de víctimas del franquismo según la información del sumario del juez Baltasar Garzón]</ref>
==See also==
*[[Spanish Republican Navy]]
*[[Spanish coup of July 1936]]
*[[List of people executed by Francoist Spain]]
*[[Association for the Recovery of Historical Memory]]
== Bibliography ==
*Bruno Alonso González, ''La flota republicana y la guerra civil de España'', Ed. Renacimiento, México 1944 {{ISBN|84-96133-75-3}}
*José Cervera, ''Avatares de la guerra española en el mar'', Editorial Noray, 2011, {{ISBN|978-84-7486-237-9}}
*Carlos Engel  Masoliver, ''El Cuerpo de Oficiales en la guerra de España'', Ed. Quirón, {{ISBN|978-84-96935075}}
*Javier García Fernández (coord.), ''25 militares de la República; "El Ejército Popular de la República y sus mandos profesionales"'', Ed. Ministerio de Defensa, Madrid 2011
== References ==
{{reflist}}
==External links==
*[https://www.flickr.com/photos/etecemedios/234741478/ Homage to Rear Admiral Azarola (with picture)]
*[https://archive.today/20130122063716/http://lacomunidad.elpais.com/memoria-historica/2011/12/14/javier-fernandez-garcia-nos-vuelven-decir-ahora-mismas Javier Fernández García, Comunidad El Pais]
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20120309002545/http://www.asturiasrepublicana.com/muertes1.htm Asturias Republicana - Muertes paralelas]
*[https://www.theguardian.com/world/2010/apr/25/baltasar-garzon-spain-franco Charismatic judge who pursued Spain's fascist assassins finds himself on trial]
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20110904213336/http://lacomunidad.elpais.com/fernandomaria/2010/10/1/antonio-azarola- Comunidad El Pais - El Alzamiento del 36 en Galicia, Edicións do Castro, autor: Carlos Fernández Santander.]
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20130827015100/http://foroporlamemoria.org/Foro-por-la-Memoria-Cadiz.pdf Foro por la Memoria - Provincia de Cádiz]
{{DEFAULTSORT:Azarola Gresillon, Antonio}}
[[Category:1874 births]]
[[Category:1936 deaths]]
[[Category:Spanish admirals]]
[[Category:Spanish Republican Navy]]
[[Category:Executed Spanish people]]
[[Category:People executed by Francoist Spain]]
[[Category:People executed by Spain by firing squad]]
[[Category:1936 in Spain]]
[[Category:Executed military leaders]]
[[Category:Government ministers during the Second Spanish Republic]]