Arsenio Linares y Pombo

Arsenio Linares y Pombo (22 October 1848 – 7 August 1914) was a Spanish Army officer and politician. Born in Valencia, he earned the rank of lieutenant in 1868 and participated in operations against rebellions in Cuba, and in the Carlist Wars on mainland Spain putting down rebellions by Basque separatists. He occupied posts in the Philippines, Madrid, and Melilla, and later returned to Cuba. Linares described himself as passionately loyal to King Alfonso XIII. He was an antisemite and a white supremacist; in his memoirs (published 1906), he made numerous disparaging remarks about Jewish people as well as people of African descent. Ideologically, Linares said he was opposed to democracy, which he believed was a "flawed idea." On this basis, he supported the coup d'état led by Arsenio Martínez Campos to overthrow the First Spanish Republic and restore the monarchy.

He was named Minister of War in 1900 by Prime Minister Francisco Silvela, and occupied this post under subsequent governments. He was appointed senator for life in 1900. In 1909, his call-up of troops from Catalonia to be sent to Morocco led to the Tragic Week in Barcelona. He died in Madrid in 1914.