History of Spain
Brief historical facts about Spain
Back in Roman times during the Punic Wars the Carthaginians
invaded the Iberian peninsular conquering and eventually occupying
vast areas of land including the Island of Ibiza. Later the
Romans defeated the Carthaginians in Ibiza and went on to
conquer the whole of Spain which then became an important
part of the Roman empire known as the province of Hispania.
Traian and Hadrian who grew up to be Roman emperors were
both born in Spain. In fact the entire population was very
much influenced by the Roman culture and adopted many of their
ways and traditions. Even today the Spanish language reflects
strong links to this period.
The Roman Empire began to crumble in the years preceding
409 until ten years later Gothic tribesmen invaded the peninsula
and formed their own kingdom. King Roderic ruled until he
in turn was defeated in 711 by the Muslim army who had crossed
the straights to Gibraltar from North Africa.
The Moors quickly gained control of much of the country bringing
with them new ideas and agricultural methods which brought
great prosperity to Spain, particularly in the Andalusia region.
The Christian kingdoms in the northern part of the country
were quite small, but steadfast and always managed to resist
the moors advances. In the meantime the Moorish culture was
prospering in the rest of the country.
During the tenth century the Muslim dominated Spain gained
independence from the Arabian empire and Cordoba became a
very important cultural centre in the this part of the world.
During the 11th century the Arabian aristocracy began to squabble
and fall out amongst themselves which resulted in Andalusia
being divided into small communities. This proved to be a
very costly error for the Moors as the Christians from the
North took advantage of the situation and began to take over
the occupied Moors territority.
In 1469 Ferdinand of Aragon married Isabel of Castilia reuniting
two of the largest and most important of the Christian communities.
This was the turning point of the re conquering of Spain by
the Christians. The Muslims were gradually overcome and in
1492 were totally defeated having lost their last remaining
strong hold namely the city of Granada.
Eventually King Ferdinand and Queen Isabel united the whole
country and began the process of converting the people to
Christianity. And so began the Spanish inquisition, thousands
of Jews and Muslims who refused to convert were either executed
or expelled from the country.
In 1492 Christopher Columbus discovered the New World and
Spain became one of the most powerful nations of this period.
During this period known as the Golden Age, ship loads of
gold jewels and other treasures were brought to the country
from the American continent. In 1504 Isabel died and her daughter
Joan, who had married Philip the German emperor’s son
succeeded to the throne. Thanks to the trade with its colonies
in America Spain continued to prosper until it became involved
in war with France. This was followed by wars with Holland
and finally England which resulted in the spectacular defeat
of the legendary Spanish Armada in 1558.
King Charles II was the last Habsburg king and when he died
Philip of Borbon came to the throne. He was the nephew of
King Louis XIV of France. Then, after the French Revolution
in 1808 Spain suffered further defeat having declared war
on the new French republic. This time it was Napoleon who
sent his armies to victory.
Napoleon’s brother Joseph then became the new Spanish
king, but despite this, the Spanish continued for the next
five years to resist their advances until the famous Battle
of Salamanca which was the turning point in 1815 when the
French were defeated by the British and its allies.
King Ferdinand VII was next to reign and it was he who changed
the law of succession to allow his daughter Isabel to be established
as queen. Ferdinand’s brother Charles disagreed with
the change resulting in a rebellion known as the Seven Year
War. During this period Spain became totally politically unstable,
suffered a major recession and lost most of its colonies.
Only Puerto Rico, the Philippines and Cuba remained.
In 1886, Isabel II was forced by the revolution to renounce
the throne and Spain became a republic for the first time.
However it was short lived, within a year her son Alphonse
XII pulled off a coup dètat to restore the kingdom
once again.
1895 saw the Cuban war against the USA which resulted in Spain
losing all its overseas colonies and led to the economic crisis
of the early 1920’s. Much civil unrest followed and it
was during this period a military dictatorship was established
led by General Primo de Ribera. Ten years later democratic
elections were held which gave and overwhelming majority to
the political left wing forcing Alphonse XIII to go into exile.
Clashes between the Nationalist opposition and the Republican
government led to the Spanish Civil War (1936- 1939). Led
by General Franco, the Nationalists were supported by the
Italian fascists and Nazi Germany, together they were able
to succeed against the Republicans.
Lack of involvement in World war II saw Spain as a neutral
country. Franco’s military dictatorship kept out of the
conflict but it did lead the country into both economic and
political segregation. After the war great efforts were made
to improve relations between Spain, its European neighbours
and the rest of the world, until by the mid sixties the economy
had recovered.
In 1969 the grandson of Alphonse XIII, Juan Carlos de Borbon
was proclaimed by Franco as his successor with the title of
King and when Franco died in 1975, a new constitution was
formed and the monarchy was re established. In 1981 a group
of military leaders failed to over throw the government with
a military coup which led to national elections resulting
in the socialist party, headed by Felipe Gonzalez gaining
power.
Spain became a full member of NATO in 1985 and the following
year joined the European Community. Since then Spain has impressed
the world when it hosted the 1992 Olympic Games in Barcelona
and in the same year opened the world trade exhibition EXPO
92 in Seville.
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