Pedro Pablo Abarca de Bolea, Count of Aranda

Don Pedro Pablo Abarca de Bolea y Jiménez de Urrea, 10th Count of Aranda (Siétamo, Huesca, 1718 – Épila, Saragossa 1798), was a Spanish statesman and diplomat.

He began ecclesiastical studies in the seminary of Bologna but when he was 18 he changed to the Military School of Parma. In 1740, he was captain in the Spanish Army and fought in the War of the Austrian Succession. As he had been severely wounded in combat in 1743 (he was left for dead on the battlefield), he temporarily left the military and traveled through Europe. He studied the Prussian Army and lived in Paris, where he met Diderot, Voltaire and D'Alembert and studied the Encyclopédie and Enlightenment movements. He briefly visited London in September 1754.

Due to Prime Minister Ricardo Wall's sponsorship, Ferdinand VI appointed him in 1755 ambassador to Portugal and in 1757 director general of Artillery. In 1760, Charles III appointed him ambassador to Poland and on his return he was sent to Portugal to supersede Nicolás de Carvajal, Marquis of Sarriá in the command of the Spanish army then invading Portugal. His forces managed to capture the key border town of Almeida but were then forced to retreat following the intervention of British troops led by John Burgoyne at the Battle of Valencia de Alcántara and the war was brought to an end shortly afterwards by the Treaty of Paris.

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