He was born in Madrid, the son of an officer who went on to become a General and the High Military Commissioner of Spain in Morocco. Gómez-Jordana enrolled as a student at Spain's Academia General Militar in Zaragoza in 1892.
Early career
During the Cuban War of Independence, he went to Cuba as a second lieutenant, where he was wounded on 23 November 1896. After returning to Spain, he became a captain at the Escuela Superior de Guerra in Madrid. In 1911, he went to Melilla, a historical Spanish stronghold in North Africa since 1497, where he joined his father, Colonel Francisco Gómez Jordana. The younger Gómez-Jordana became a lieutenant colonel in 1912 and a colonel in 1915. From 9 July 1915 to 27 January 1919, he served his first of two terms as High Commissioner of Spain in Morocco, the third registered since April 1913. He became General of Brigade in 1922. On 13 September 1923, General Miguel Primo de Rivera orchestrated a military coup, inspired in part by Benito Mussolini's March on Rome in the Kingdom of Italy during October 1922. King Alfonso XIII of Spain was obliged to accept General de Rivera as prime minister, without calling for constitutional elections. At the time of the coup, Gómez-Jordana was a member of the Military Directory; Primo de Rivera conferred upon him wide powers to deal with colonial initiatives in Africa, including the "peacemaking resorts" within the Spanish Protectorate of Morocco. Spain had established colonial rule over this area of Morocco under the Treaty of Fez in 1912. , 1912–1956, about 5% of the French North African Protectorate
Action in Morocco
On 8 September 1925, General Leopoldo Saro Marín, along with French Commanders Colonel Billot and Colonel Freydenberg, enacted a joint naval-landing attack at Al Hoceima, Rif, in what is now referred to as the Al Hoceima Landing. The attack was directed against rebel Kabilas in the north of Morocco. The landing featured the first naval deployment of tanks. The naval forces employed air gunfire support, directed by spotting personnel with communication devices. Following the success of the attack, the King awarded Marín the title of 1st Count of La Playa de Ixdain, and General Gómez-Jordana the title of 1st Count of Jordana. These titles were awarded on 19 July 1926 at the town of Úbeda, province of Jaén. Alfonso later honored Africanist General José Sanjurjo y Sacanell, for the "peacemaking actions" in the Rif, investing him as 1st Marqués del Rif in 1927. The military actions led to the exile of Rif independence leader Muhammad Ibn 'Abd al-Karim al-Khattabi, commonly known as Abd el-Krim, from Ajdir, a locus of the resistance movement. Abd el-Krim had been known as the creator of the Confederal Republic of the tribes of the Rif, in Amazigh: Tagduda n Arif, since 1921. Between November 1928 and 19 April 1931, Gómez-Jordana served another term as High Commissioner. Among other Africanist military men was Spanish General Dámaso Berenguer y Fusté. In 1927, Dámaso had been awarded the title of Count of Xauen for his military actions in the conquest of Xauen, North Morocco, in 1920. Dámaso acted as the second "soft" dictator from 30 January 1930 to 18 January 1931. His term as Minister for War coincided with Jacobo Fitz-James Stuart, 17th Duke of Alba's term as Minister of State and Public Instruction.
Struggle within the Army
Broadly speaking, the XVIII and XIX Military Academies in Spain had been located traditionally at Toledo, Infantry, 1850, Segovia, Artillery, 1764, Alcalá de Henares, Engineers, 1803, Valladolid, Cavalry, 1852. One joint, basic General Military Academy, Academia General Militar was created during the times of King Alfonso XII, 20 February 1882, at Zaragoza. On 17 August 1930, the so-called Pact of San Sebastián, was led on one side by Conservative Right leaders Miguel Maura, son of Majorcan conservative prime minister of Spain, and a Duke, Antonio Maura and Niceto Alcalá-Zamora. They bunched together with members of other rather small liberal and regionalist republican parties calling also for action to support modern civil liberties and progress in Education. On 14 April 1931 the Second Spanish Republic was approved by the masses after the earlier municipal elections and the dissolution of the royally approved Military Directorate. A civil law notaryManuel Azaña and a specialist in Chemistry, Prof. of Chemistry at the University of SalamancaJosé Giral were founding members of the same group Republican Action Spain from the Pact of San Sebastián. While Infantry officers won quick promotions to General through the Morocco actions and aristocratic Cavalry Officers also progressed fairly rapidly, Engineering and Artillery Officers did not flourish. Strong tensions, emerged between the groups. Minister of War Manuel Azaña closed access to the General Military Academy at Zaragoza on 30 June 1931. The Director of the Institution at this time was "Africanist" General Francisco Franco. The ruling military was critical of this decision.
