Episode 5: Santa Cruz De Marcenado: Spain's Clausewitz

In his time, Marcenado was the most widely read Spanish author on war. He drew on his own rich experiences of the Spanish War of Succession to complement his erudition based on existing publications from antiquity to the Age of Enlightenment.

In a work comprising 11 volumes, he examined subjects ranging from the ethical question of whether it is right to go to war, to the leadership qualities required in a general, to the merits and dangers of battle or the recruitment of soldiers. Intended as guidance for practitioners, his work set standards in both erudition and the human approach to war. This applies particularly to his thoughts on how to prevent, contain or pacify insurgencies. Marcenado was also a diplomat charged with negotiating on behalf of his kingdom to end the Anglo-Spanish War of 1727. His writing on war thus transcends the merely military, and the greater political dimension behind it can already be discerned.

Dr Pelayo Fernández García of the University of Oviedo – our guest for this episode – is the greatest living expert on this Spanish thinker and practitioner, whose ideas are strikingly modern even for our times.

Excerpts of Santa Cruz de Marcenado’s Military Reflections: Beatrice Heuser (ed. & trs,): The Strategy Makers: Thoughts on War and Society from Machiavelli to Clausewitz, Chapter 7 (Santa Monica, CA: ABC Clio, 2010), pp. 124-146.

Fernández García, Pelayo: "The Military Reflections of the third marquis de Santa Cruz de Marcenado and their presence in North America", in Juan Carlos Mercado (ed.): Historical links between Spain and North America (Alcalá: Editorial Universidad de Alcalá, 2016).

Fernández García, Pelayo:"Stately Quadrille: British & Spanish contredanses around the Congress of Soissons", inManuel-Reyes García Hurtado (ed.):Beloved Enemy: United Kingdom and Spain in the 18th Century (Abingdon: Routledge, 2024), pp. 222-240.

Fernández García, Pelayo:"As in North, so in South. Swedish and Spanish diplomatic rekindling at early 18th century", in Distant Neighbours: Trade, Diplomacy and Politics between Sweden and Spain in European perspective during Early Modern Period (Uppsala: Opuscula Historica Upsaliensia, in press).

Fernández García, Pelayo:"The Congress of Soissons: languages of diplomacy toward European balance", in Translation in Early Modern Diplomacy (Abingdon: Routledge, in press).

Fernández García, Pelayo:El marqués de Santa Cruz de Marcenado (1684-1732): cultura, milicia y redes sociales,Trea (2024).