Roberto Mazza, a History professor at Western Illinois University and a Middle East scholar who specializes in the period lasting from the Ottoman Empire to the British Mandate, will be focusing his conference on the figure of Antonio de la Cierva, the Count of Ballobar.

The Count of Ballobar was the Consul of Spain in Jerusalem from 1913 to 1919 and at one time became the only foreign consul in the city. He was therefore responsible for safeguarding the interests of all the countries involved in the worldwide conflict. But above all, he was the liaison between the Ottoman and British authorities until Allenby's arrival at the front where the British troops were located in December of 1917.

This historical figure, relatively unknown in our country, described these and other events in his diary. They will be analyzed by historian Roberto Mazza.