page_title: Tirso de Olazábal, 1st Count of Arbelaiz
section_title: La Octubrada
hierarchical_section_title: Tirso de Olazábal, 1st Count of Arbelaiz / La Octubrada
caption_attribution_description: Español: Los supervivientes del destacamento de Baler fotografiados el 2 de septiembre de 1899 en el patio del cuartel Jaime I de Barcelona (actualmente uno de los campus de la Universidad Pompeu Fabra) a su llegada a la península.
context_page_description: Tirso de Olazábal y Lardizábal, 1st Count of Arbelaiz, 1st Count of Oria, was a Spanish noble and Carlist politician.
context_section_description: In September 1896 Olazábal travelled to Madrid and signed Manifiesto de las minorías carlistas. The declaration followed Carlist withdrawal from the parliament and was preconfiguration of the 1897 program, conceived by the movements’ leaders gathered in Venice and known as Acta de Loredán. Both declared non-belligerency but considered the Restoration system unacceptable and included mild pro-social tones.
  Already the 1896 manifesto made references to problems overseas; since the conflict evolved into war with the United States, Olazábal declared that Carlists planned no trouble and their priority remained integrity of Spain. However, the government kept a close watch on him, and in July 1898 his Saint-Jean-de-Luz residence was again reported as Carlist operations centre; despite his continuous denials, wild rumors related to Carlist war preparations started to circulate. At that point Olazábal was already engaged in fund-raising campaign, with the same sources as 30 years earlier; Carlist leaders suggested he should control all party funds and co-ordinate all party foreign activities.
  Though early 1899 Olazábal declared there was no reason to postpone the wedding of his daughter, he was already busy trafficking arms. He bought 53,000 Gras rifles, arranging later for their industrial recalibration to fit the Spanish cartridge standard. He delivered a portion across the Pyrenees with his own network of smugglers, though it is not clear whether arms were directed to Vascongadas or to Catalonia. There were also plans to use Cap Higuer as a marine disembarkation point. In midst of his hectic activities Olazábal engaged in planning Guipuzcoan electoral alliances of 1899, though it is unclear whether he engineered them or simply approved them ex-post. When de Cerralbo was rumored to resign, the press speculated it would be Olazábal replacing him.
  As Sûreté reported arms purchases in London, Brussels, Paris and Switzerland, early 1900 Olazábal delivered 300 rifles from Bayonne across the Pyrenees before the French government bowed to pressure from Madrid and in February ordered him to settle North of the Loire. Olazábal moved to Paris but appealed; the Spanish embassy demanded rejection, though eventually they concluded he would be better watched in Saint-Jean-de-Luz. In October the embassy changed their mind and demanded Olazábal's internment. Though the French indeed interned other Carlist conspirators, the Minister of Foreign Affairs Delcassé considered such action against a longtime legal inhabitant too violent. As the Spanish government feared diplomatic conflict in wake of the Deroulede affair, they backtracked.
  When a series of minor Carlist insurrections rocked Catalonia in October 1900, Olazábal together with many Carlist bigwigs stayed in Paris and declared himself utterly surprised. Whether he was indeed remains unclear; though he contributed to military buildup and harbored political hopes related to potentially rebellious Spanish generals, scholars tend to assume that the rebels acted on their own and with no official order, if not clearly against it. Some partisan versions claimed that the affair was aimed at causing Madrid stock exchange perturbations.
caption: Los Últimos de Filipinas
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