José Gómez de Arteche y Moro de Elexabeitia (13 March 1821 – 26 January 1906) was a Spanish military officer, historian and

senator A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or Legislative chamber, chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the Ancient Rome, ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior ...

, best known for his 14-volume ''Guerra de la Independencia. Historia Militar de España de 1808 a 1814'', the first volume of which was published in 1868.. Herrero Fernández-Quesada, María Dolores
"José Gómez de Arteche y Moro de Elexabeitia". ''Historia Hispánica''. Real Academia de la Historia
. Retrieved 15 March 2025. Gómez de Arteche was elected a member of Spain's Royal Academy of History in 1871. In the preface to Volume II (1903) of his ''A History of the Peninsular War'', Charles Oman acknowledges Arteche's personal contribution to Oman's work. Oman, Charles (1902)
''A History of the Peninsular War'', Vol. II, p. vii.
''Project Gutenberg''. Retrieved 15 March 2025.

Early career

Having enlisted as a cadet at the Artillery Academy in 1836, he was promoted to lieutenant in 1843 and over the next few years was commissioned to draw plans of several towns, before being transferred to the

General Staff A military staff or general staff (also referred to as army staff, navy staff, or air staff within the individual services) is a group of officers, Enlisted rank, enlisted, and civilian staff who serve the commanding officer, commander of a ...

where, in 1847, he was promoted to major.

Later career

In 1862, a royal order commissioned Gómez de Arteche to write the history of Spain's War of Independence (known in English-language

historiography Historiography is the study of the methods used by historians in developing history as an academic discipline. By extension, the term ":wikt:historiography, historiography" is any body of historical work on a particular subject. The historiog ...

as the

Peninsular War The Peninsular War (1808–1814) was fought in the Iberian Peninsula by Kingdom of Portugal, Portugal, Spain and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, United Kingdom against the invading and occupying forces of the First French ...

). The first volume of the 14-volume work, ''Guerra de la Independencia. Historia Militar de España de 1808 a 1814'', was published in 1868. From 1877 to September 1878, he was aide-de-camp to King

Alfonso XII Alfonso XII (Alfonso Francisco de Asís Fernando Pío Juan María de la Concepción Gregorio Pelayo de Borbón y Borbón; 28 November 185725 November 1885), also known as ''El Pacificador'' (Spanish: the Peacemaker), was King of Spain from 29 D ...

. In 1885 he was named senator for

Guipúzcoa Gipuzkoa ( , ; ; ) is a province of Spain and a historical territory of the autonomous community of the Basque Country. Its capital city is Donostia-San Sebastián. Gipuzkoa shares borders with the French department of Pyrénées-Atlantique ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gómez de Arteche, José 1821 births 1906 deaths Spanish generals Spanish historians Historians from Madrid Military personnel from Madrid