Letters to the King. Alfonso XIII's humanitarian mediation in the Great War

Coordination Juan José Alonso

ISBN: 978-7120-535-3

Year: 2018

Pages: 400

Illustrations: 250

Binding: Chrome cardboard binding

Size: 20 x 25.5 cm.

Published by: National Heritage and El Viso Editions

On November 11, 1918, the armistice that ended the First World War was signed. To commemorate this, the National Heritage Office has prepared an exhibition and publication entitled "Letters to the King: The Humanitarian Mediation of Alfonso XIII in the Great War." These exhibitions showcase the work carried out by Alfonso XIII's Private Secretariat, through the European War Office and the various Spanish embassies, in order to process the numerous requests for assistance received by the King. Initially, its main function was the search for missing persons, but it soon also took on the repatriation of military personnel and civilians, inspections of prisoner of war camps, and requests for pardons.

In this publication, illustrated with numerous historical photographs, maps and graphs, in addition to an in-depth study of all this work, captured in the more than two hundred thousand files preserved in the General Archive of the Palace, leading specialists give us an account of the causes, development and end of the war, and analyze the personality of the king and the various political circumstances that led Spain to opt for neutrality, which allowed it to carry out this important humanitarian work.