Cruz de Oficial de la Real Orden de Isabel la Católica awarded to me by the Spanish Ambassador, José Pascual Marco, in September 2024.
Here is an extract from my speech of acceptance:
“This award is a great honour for me. I have to say that it came as something of a surprise because most of what I have published in books and articles has challenged historical narratives widely accepted in society and in official circles. It is of course the role of any historian to challenge orthodox explanations of the past.
Among other things, what I have tried to contest is the official narrative of how democracy was achieved in the 1970s. I have also sought to reveal the details of the secret use of chemical weapons by the Spanish military in the colonial war against the people of the Rif in N. Morocco in the 1920s and their epigenetic consequences. I have also tried to show how this war created a brutalised army which helped to defeat the Spanish Republic and established the Franco Dictatorship.
For me, therefore, the award is an official recognition that what I have written bears some truth and that I have contributed to a greater understanding of contemporary Spain, which is what this award is for, even where I challenge long accepted interpretations of the past.”