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Juan Van Halen y Sartí | |
|---|---|
 Juan Van Halen y Sartí, circa 1853 | |
| Born | (1788-02-16)February 16, 1788 |
| Died | November 8, 1864(1864-11-08) (aged 76) |
| Occupation | Military officer |
Juan Van Halen y Sartí (16 February 1788 – 8 November 1864) was a Spanish military officer and Russian military officer ofFlemish origin. After fighting for the losing side in thePeninsular War, he was forced to flee toSpain. Van Halen became a military adventurer throughoutEurope and served 18 months as a colonel in the RussianCaucasus Dragoon Regiment until he was removed by TsarAlexander I of Russia.
Van Halen was born inIsla de León,Cádiz, into a family of sailing merchants who had settled there.
He studied at the School of Nobles and the School of Pages of His Majesty; classmates in 1800 include the high liberal and French officers Francisco and Mariano de Unzaga Saint Maxent, withJosé María Torrijos or with the Count of Montijo.[1] Between 1800 and 1803 Van Halen was a guardian[clarification needed] marine of the Navy School in Cadiz.
In 1803, he left Cádiz as aSpanish Navy cadet on the frigateAnfitrite headed forLa Habana,Cuba, andVeracruz,Mexico. In 1807 Van Halen was employed in the admiralty office in Madrid. He was still employed at this post during Napoleon's invasion the next year. He was wounded during the Battle of Madrid and joined thereafter the army of Galicia with General Blake. After theBattle of Corunna in January 1809, he took refuge in Ferrol. MarshalSoult obliged the few troops in Ferrol to capitulate, after which Van Halen took an oath of submission to KingJoseph Bonaparte. He remained in service to the French king of Spain, later assisting him during his retreat to France in 1813.
In 1814, Van Halen defected to the opposing army. By forging the signature of MarshalLouis-Gabriel Suchet, French commanders were advised to surrender various fortresses because the documents claimed that the war was over. Fooled by the trick, the 1,900 strong French garrisons ofLleida,Mequinenza andMonzón marched out and laid down their arms in surrender. However, Louis Benoît Robert, the commander atTortosa, was not fooled by the forged documents and continued to resist.[2]
When Captain Van Halen returned to Spain in 1815, he was investigated for his involvement in theSpanish War of Independence, first in Murcia, then in Madrid. As a result of his connections with aMasonic Lodge in Granada, he was imprisoned on 21 March 1817. Van Halen also had ties to General José María de Torrijos y Uriarte, who was later executed by a firing squad.
Escaping from imprisonment, Van Halen traveled toSaint Petersburg,Russia, in the beginning of 1819. He met with various Russian dignitaries, including PrincePyotr Mikhailovich Volkonsky, close advisor toTsar Alexander I and chief of the general staff from 1815 to 1823. Volkonsky resigned in 1824 after a conflict with War Minister CountAlexey Arakcheyev. Van Halen visited the Tsar's assistant, PrinceDmitriy Vladimirovich Golitsyn, who had fought bravely during theNapoleonic Wars and was promoted to the rank of lieutenant general, governingMoscow for 25 years. Van Halen also visited the famous Spanish engineer Agustín de Betancourt, then director, and one of the founders, of the First Engineering Academy School of Russia.
Supported by Betancourt, who was trusted by other Russian military leaders, Van Halen was appointed colonel of the Caucasus Dragoon Regiment inTbilisi,Georgia. He served under GeneralAleksey Petrovich Yermolov and Armenian princeValerian Madatov, and participated in the conquest of Josereck[where?] on 21 June 1820 against the troops of Surghai Khan (later replaced by Ashan Khan) in the Kazikoumik region ofDaghestan. For this he received the medal of the RussianOrder of St. George. In 1854, Van Halen donated the TartarYatagan long knife he had taken on 12 June 1820 to the Naval Museum of Madrid.
Van Halen's liberal convictions prompted the Tsar, who was informed by Russian secret police, to remove him from the Caucasus in December 1820 and put him on the Austrian frontier. In 1821, he returned to Spain in the middle of theTrienio Liberal until the revolution was crushed by a European kingdom absolutist coalition that included Russia. He then stayed inMatanzas,Cuba, for three years while also doing business in New York and Philadelphia.[citation needed]
In 1830, Van Halen went to fight against theNetherlands to participate in the creation of the new kingdom ofBelgium in theBelgian Revolution.
In 1831, as acondottiere in the 15th-century Italian style, he formed a military brigade of Belgian subjects to defend Portuguese liberals from the prosecutions of the absolutist KingMiguel I of Portugal. This was funded by Cadiz businessman, banker, and politicianJuan Álvarez Mendizabal.
Before and after the war against the Netherlands, Van Halen took part in theFirst Carlist War inCatalonia under Generals José María Torrijos,Francisco Milans del Bosch andFrancisco Espoz y Mina.
Van Halen returned to Spain in February 1833 after the death of KingFernando VII, but he traveled and make brief stays in Belgium and England from 1835 to 1838.
Since he was very close to GeneralBaldomero Espartero, Van Halen joined him in exile in England when Espartero fell from grace in 1843.
He returned to Madrid in 1854 and received the Great Cross of King Carlos III on 30 November that year.
Van Halen first married Maria del Carmen Quiroga y Hermida in 1821. She died on 14 February 1859. After her death, Van Halen married Clotilde Butler y Abrines, the daughter of a Spanish Navy frigate captain, who died after 1854.
Van Halen died in El Puerto de Santa María,Cadiz, Spain, at the age of 76.
