Los militares de la Ilustración y la construcción del Este de Europa en España

Abstract

Throughout the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries Spanish relationship with Eastern Europe was marked by geographical distance, diplomatic discontinuity and cultural prejudices. From the beginning of the eighteenth century, the Eastern frontier began to awaken an unusual interest, especially since the ascension to the throne Charles III of Spain (1759-1788). The historiography interpreted this ‘rediscovery’ in diplomatic terms: Eastern Europe could allow Spain to develop an autonomous foreign policy, independent from the Bourbon Pactos de Familia, the Franco-Spanish alliance. The sending of army officers belonging to high military ranks to the embassies in Warsaw and Saint Petersburg, the supplies and the needs of the Spanish Navy and the missions of military observers, allow us to introduce the military perspective in this new scenario. The following pages consider the role of the Spanish armed forces in the construction of a new mental, cultural, strategic, scientific, and technological space. The conclusion suggests that military pragmatism was crucial in the Enlightened ‘rediscovery’ of Eastern Europe in Spain.