Rafael de Nogales Méndez
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Rafael Inchauspe Méndez, known as Rafael de Nogales Méndez (San Cristóba,Táchira, October 14, 1879 - Panama City, July 10, 1936) was a Venezuelan military mercenary and writer.
De Nogales studied in Germany, Belgium and Spain, and spoke various languages fluently. He took part in several conflicts in the last part of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th: in 1898 in the Spanish-American War; in 1902 in the Revolución Libertadora of Venezuela; in 1904 in the First Sino-Japanese War. He returned to Venezuela in 1908, after the military coup of Juan Vicente Gómez that overthrew the dictator Cipriano Castro. Even so, he went back to exile after making himself an enemy of the new president.
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[edit] WWI
When World War I began, after unsuccessfully attempting to join a number of European armies, he enlisted in the Ottoman Army, where he reached the rank of Bey. He directed artillery against Armenians during the Van Resistance. He later wrote a book describing his experiences with the Ottoman Army in World War I as well as witnessing the massacres of Armenians in Bitlis, Siirt and Van during the Armenian Genocide. He fought in the Turkish lines during the entire war, and was awarded the Iron Cross of first class by the hands of the Káiser Wilhelm II.
[edit] Post War
After the war ended, he worked with the Nicaraguan revolutionary Augusto César Sandino. Additionally, he spent time in Alaska during the time of the gold rush there, and also worked as a cowboy in Arizona.
He wrote several books about his experiences: Memorias del general Rafael de Nogales Méndez, Cuatro años bajo la Media Luna, about his experiences as an officer of the Ottoman Empire, and El saqueo de Nicaragua. His commentaries about the atrocitites committed against the Armenian people by the Turkish government, in the book Cuatro años bajo la Media Luna, is one of many Western testimonies about the Armenian Genocide.
[edit] Books
- De Nogales, Rafael. Four Years Beneath The Crescent. London: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1926. Most recently republished as: Four Years Under the Crescent(Sterndale Classics) ISBN 1-903656-19-2
- De Nogales, Rafael. Memoirs of a soldier of Fortune. New York: Garden City Publishing Company, Inc., 1932. Recently republished in paperback.
[edit] Bibliography
- Almarza, Pedro: Nogales Bey. San Cristóbal, Diculta, 1997. ISBN 980-330-028-8.
- Nogales Méndez, Rafael de: Memorias. Traducción y prólogo de Ana Mercedes Pérez. Caracas, Biblioteca Ayacucho, 1991. ISBN 980-276-162-1
