A slice of Spanish history

[kudzu]

At the height of the Spanish Empire, Spain controlled large areas of South America, large areas of Italy, Austria and the Netherlands.

Within Spain, money was poured into churches and monasteries rather than developing sustainable business or agriculture. As a result Spain had import wheat and a lot finished goods.

It was during this period (the second half of the 16th century) that the enormous palace and monastery, El Escorial, was built 50km north west of Madrid, the capital of Spain having been moved from Toledo to Madrid in 1561, a location selected because it was in the geographic centre.



In the 17th century, under a week king, Spain went downhill, with a lack of interest in commerce and industry compared to the rest of Europe. Spain was also at war with France and lost control of the Netherlands and parts of Italy.

Spain also became insular at this time, not wanting to learn from other countries, and stopping Spaniards from travelling abroad.

At the same time, less treasures were coming from America and foreign entrepreneurs controlled much of Spain's internal trade.

The beginning of the 18th century saw the end of the Habsburg line of kings - the new heir to the throne was a Bourbon, with French connections.

With the Spanish Empire still intact in south America and bringing new ideas in from other European countries, Spain began to flourish again in this "Age of Enlightenment". There was still resistance from the church however and the Inquisition still existed.

There were also wars still going on - 1805 was the year that the Spanish fleet was destroyed by Lord Nelson at Trafalgar, and in 1808, Spain was effectively occupied by France (who also occupied Portugal) and the king had been replaced by Napoleon's brother, Joseph.

The British under Lord Wellington pushed the French out of Portugal and then, with the help of the Spanish, out of Spain.

However when a Bourbon king was returned to the throne in 1814, the monarchy no longer had the same support from the people (they had been without a true king for the previous 6 years) and Spain was undergoing liberalism.

There were a number of military rebellions during the rest of the 19th century, and the colonies of south America took advantage to break away from Spain - most of the Empire was lost by 1824.

The death of King Fernando VII in 1833 saw the start of 6 years civil war known as the 1st Carlist War when supporters wanted Fernando's brother Carlos to succeed to the throne instead of his young daughter Isabel. There were two more Carlist wars to follow in the 1860's and 1870's - all three were unsuccessful.

Economic development was slow at this time and although the railway came, the development was behind that of other European countries, and in true Spanish tradition, used a different gauge to the rest of Europe.

During this period of turmoil, a republic was declared in 1873, lasting less than a year, going through 4 presidents, none of whom could form a strong enough government.


The republic came to an end with the third Carlist war though the Carlists were unsuccessful - the army installed Isabel's son, Alfonso XII to the throne instead. Seven years after the military had effectively removed a Bourbon monarch, they reinstalled one.

The new king allowed the government to deal with the real politics and there was a stable period. However he died in 1885 at the age of 27, having picked up a lung infection while visiting the cholera infested ruins of the earthquake that hit eastern Andalucia at the end of 1884. His wife continued as Queen for the next 17 years.

1898 saw Cuba taken from Spain by the United States in the 3 month Spanish-America war, with Spain also being forced to abandon Puerto Rico, the Philippines and Guam.

The Spanish Empire was no more.

https://www.spanish-web.com/history/empire.php

[Jack]

They did infect South America with the Catholic Religion, there is that.

The strict mandate against Birth Control is a Primary Cause that we have thousands of Poor Catholics at our Southern Border.

[Cypress]

@ post 1

In my opinion, no failings can ever come from learning more history.

It always seemed odd to me that two backwaters of rennassaince Europe - Spain and Portugal - nonetheless led the way in building world-wide empires.

I also need to learn more about the Spanish Civil War, which seems to be one of the pivotal events of the 20th century.

I am studying African history now, but I have a class on Spanish history waiting on deck!

[kudzu]

They did infect South America with the Catholic Religion, there is that.

The strict mandate against Birth Control is a Primary Cause that we have thousands of Poor Catholics at our Southern Border.

Jehovah's witnesses are making HUGE strides in South and Central America.


How did the gold of the new world cause the Spanish Empire to collapse?



https://history.stackexchange.com/questions/9060/how-did-the-gold-of-the-new-world-cause-the-spanish-empire-to-collapse

[kudzu]

@ post 1

In my opinion, no failings can ever come from learning more history.

It always seemed odd to me that two backwaters of rennassaince Europe - Spain and Portugal - nonetheless led the way in building world-wide empires.

I also need to learn more about the Spanish Civil War, which seems to be one of the pivotal events of the 20th century.

I am studying African history now, but I have a class on Spanish history waiting on deck!


I took a series of lectures on Spain about 6 years ago.. Spain began hoarding gold from the New World or investing in cathedrals.. They neglected the people... cause terrible inflation.

[Jack]

[QUOTE=Cypress;2770332]@ post 1

In my opinion, no failings can ever come from learning more history.

It always seemed odd to me that two backwaters of rennassaince Europe - Spain and Portugal - nonetheless led the way in building world-wide empires.

I think the Knowledge of the Ancient World came through Spain via the Moors/Muslims. Medieval Europe was cloaked in 'Christianity' and the Wisdom of the Past was either destroyed or locked away in Monasteries.

Dark Ages:
"The term employs traditional light-versus-darkness imagery to contrast the era's "darkness" (lack of records) with earlier and later periods of "light" (abundance of records).[3] The concept of a "Dark Age" originated in the 1330s with the Italian scholar Petrarch, who regarded the post-Roman centuries as "dark" compared to the light of classical antiquity.[3][4] The phrase "Dark Age" itself derives from the Latin saeculum obscurum, originally applied by Caesar Baronius in 1602 to a tumultuous period in the 10th and 11th centuries.[5] The concept thus came to characterize the entire Middle Ages as a time of intellectual darkness between the fall of Rome and the Renaissance; this became especially popular during the 18th-century Age of Enlightenment.[3]

Christopher Columbus sailed from the 'backwaters'.

[iolo]

@ post 1

In my opinion, no failings can ever come from learning more history.

It always seemed odd to me that two backwaters of rennassaince Europe - Spain and Portugal - nonetheless led the way in building world-wide empires.

I also need to learn more about the Spanish Civil War, which seems to be one of the pivotal events of the 20th century.

I am studying African history now, but I have a class on Spanish history waiting on deck!

George Orwell's 'Homage to Catalonia' makes an interesting start, written before he spent five years working for Churchill. Some of the very interesting stuff is Anarchist, but difficult to get hold of.

[kudzu]

This is a good accounting of the decline of Spain.

THE SPANISH EMPIRE

http://thelatinlibrary.com/imperialism/notes/spanishempire.html

[Cypress]

George Orwell's 'Homage to Catalonia' makes an interesting start, written before he spent five years working for Churchill. Some of the very interesting stuff is Anarchist, but difficult to get hold of.

Thanks for the intel.

I always recommend to my liberal minded and erudite friends, the college level video courses from the Teaching Company.


The History of Spain: Land on a Crossroad
Course No. 8286

Professor Joyce E. Salisbury, Ph.D.
University of Wisconsin, Green Bay

Across 5000 years, from its prehistory and ancient Roman rule to the glory of Moorish al-Andalus, and from its empire building to its religious passions and kingly dynasties, Spain’s history has been extraordinarily dramatic, colorful, poignant, inspiring, and heartrending.

And yet, Spain’s remarkable role has not always been detailed in standard history curricula, at times overshadowed by the high profile of other European powers. But to understand the unfolding of Spain’s epic history is to come to terms with one of the West’s great civilizations, and to grasp its enduring presence and influence on the world stage. Consider these singular features of Spanish history:

The Renaissance began in Spain 15 years before the rest of Europe:

Spain was both the instigator and the catalyst for the opening of the New World, spanning North, Central, and South America—leaving Spanish as the world’s second most widely spoken language, following only Chinese;
Spain was a primary player in the vast commercial revolution that changed the world in the 17th century;
The collapse of Spain’s great empire both prefigured and sheds light upon the later disintegration of other European empires;
Spain’s 20th century history reveals much about the rise and fall of fascism in Europe.

In The History of Spain: Land on a Crossroad, Professor Emerita Joyce E. Salisbury of the University of Wisconsin unfurls a broad and fascinating panorama of Spanish history, spanning the centuries from the first Neolithic settlement of the peninsula to Spain’s 20th century Civil War.

[Cypress]

I took a series of lectures on Spain about 6 years ago.. Spain began hoarding gold from the New World or investing in cathedrals.. They neglected the people... cause terrible inflation.

Obviously, television entertainment is generally a terrible way to learn history. But I watch this series called El Ministerio del Tiempo on Netflix, a Spanish science fiction series that dovetails with stories about Spanish History.

I really did not have a clear idea of who El Cid was until I watched that show, nor did I really know what the Peninsular War was.

So, I have to say that an obscure Netflix science fiction series sort of peaked my interest pursuing Spanish history, which is not a bad outcome from the perspective of TV entertainment.

[bhaktajan]

[QUOTE=Cypress;2770332]@ post 1

In my opinion, no failings can ever come from learning more history.

It always seemed odd to me that two backwaters of rennassaince Europe - Spain and Portugal - nonetheless led the way in building world-wide empires.

I think the Knowledge of the Ancient World came through Spain via the Moors/Muslims. Medieval Europe was cloaked in 'Christianity' and the Wisdom of the Past was either destroyed or locked away in Monasteries.

Dark Ages:
"The term employs traditional light-versus-darkness imagery to contrast the era's "darkness" (lack of records) with earlier and later periods of "light" (abundance of records).[3] The concept of a "Dark Age" originated in the 1330s with the Italian scholar Petrarch, who regarded the post-Roman centuries as "dark" compared to the light of classical antiquity.[3][4] The phrase "Dark Age" itself derives from the Latin saeculum obscurum, originally applied by Caesar Baronius in 1602 to a tumultuous period in the 10th and 11th centuries.[5] The concept thus came to characterize the entire Middle Ages as a time of intellectual darkness between the fall of Rome and the Renaissance; this became especially popular during the 18th-century Age of Enlightenment.[3]

Christopher Columbus sailed from the 'backwaters'.

While the so-called "Dark Age" transpired [as coined by some intellectual raconteur of the era] ...the guilds that built these where Heavy Industry of the time:

Galley Ships
A galley is a type of ship that is propelled mainly by rowing. ... Galleys were the warships used by the early Mediterranean naval powers, including the Greeks, Phoenicians and Romans. They remained the dominant types of vessels used for war and piracy in the Mediterranean Sea until the last decades of the 16th century.

The zenith of galley usage in warfare came in the late 16th century with battles like that at Lepanto in 1571, one of the largest naval battles ever fought. By the 17th century, however, sailing ships and hybrid ships like the xebec displaced galleys in naval warfare. They were the most common warships in the Atlantic Ocean during the Middle Ages, and later saw limited use in the Caribbean, the Philippines and the Indian Ocean in the early modern period, mostly as patrol craft to combat pirates. From the mid-16th century galleys were in intermittent use in the Baltic Sea, with its short distances and extensive archipelagoes. There was a minor revival of galley warfare in the 18th century in the wars among Russia, Sweden and Denmark.

"The zenith of galley usage in warfare came in the late 16th century" is the Beginning of the Renaissance.


Show me a revolution in speech, ideas, politics etc ---and I'll show you a small clique.

[bhaktajan]

DYI:

Maritime classicist historian Lionel Casson used the example of Homer's works to show that
seaborne raiding was considered a common and legitimate occupation
among ancient maritime peoples.
The later Athenian historian Thucydides described it as having been "without stigma" before his time.


The first warships
The earliest use for galleys in warfare was to ferry fighters from one place to another, and until the
middle of the 2nd millennium BC had no real distinction from merchant freighters. Around the 14th
century BC, the first dedicated fighting ships were developed, sleeker and with cleaner lines than
the bulkier merchants. They were used for raiding, capturing merchants and for dispatches.[25]
During this early period, raiding became the most important form of organized violence in the
Mediterranean region. Maritime classicist historian Lionel Casson used the example of Homer's
works to show that seaborne raiding was considered a common and legitimate occupation among
ancient maritime peoples. The later Athenian historian Thucydides described it as having been
"without stigma" before his time.[26]
The development of the ram sometime before the 8th century BC changed the nature of naval
warfare, which had until then been a matter of boarding and hand-to-hand fighting. With a heavy
projection at the foot of the bow, sheathed with metal, usually bronze, a ship could incapacitate
an enemy ship by punching a hole in its planking. The relative speed and nimbleness of ships became
important, since a slower ship could be outmaneuvered and disabled by a faster one. The earliest
designs had only one row of rowers that sat in undecked hulls, rowing against tholes, or oarports,
that were placed directly along the railings. The practical upper limit for wooden constructions fast
and maneuverable enough for warfare was around 25-30 oars per side. By adding another level of oars,
a development that occurred no later than c. 750 BC, the galley could be made shorter with as many
rowers, while making them strong enough to be effective ramming weapons.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galley

[kudzu]

Obviously, television entertainment is generally a terrible way to learn history. But I watch this series called El Ministerio del Tiempo on Netflix, a Spanish science fiction series that dovetails with stories about Spanish History.

I really did not have a clear idea of who El Cid was until I watched that show, nor did I really know what the Peninsular War was.

So, I have to say that an obscure Netflix science fiction series sort of peaked my interest pursuing Spanish history, which is not a bad outcome from the perspective of TV entertainment.


I wouldn't dismiss all TV shows about history. Do you speak Spanish? That has got to be an advantage.

[Cypress]

I wouldn't dismiss all TV shows about history. Do you speak Spanish? That has got to be an advantage.

I watch all Netflix foreign content programs with English subtitles.

The main problem I have observed with television documentaries, is that National Geographic, History Channel, Netflix documentaries are basically selling infotainment. Their productions tend to emphasize the most dramatic and titillating elements of the historical content. So I try to take it for what it is.

What I get from more academic and scholarly presentations is a balanced presentation, a more deeply textured presentation, and more information about the nature and type of evidence (or lack of) supporting the historical narrative.