The Decline of Spain - Research Paper Example

The Decline of Spain of Jesus Reyna of Introduction Around 1580, under King Philip II, Spains power as a global empire was at its peak and its territory included most of Italy, the Philipines, possessions in the Americas, Portugal and the Netherlands1. By virtue of the territories controlled by Spain in this era, it became the dominant political power of the Holy Roman Empire. Spains legitimacy was therefore justified by the Catholic Church which was under its influence. However, a century later, after Philip IV, the dominance of Spain ended. The Thirty Year War of Europe caused Spain to lose its domination as a global empire. Flynn classifies the reasons for this into two: domestic factors and external or international factors. Internal Factors The decline of Spain began a few years before the death of Philip II in 1598. The main problem linked with Philip II was that he became to much influenced by religion and he spent more of his time trying to instill religious precedence that eventually caused the downfall of the Kingdom. After the death of Philip II in September 1598and he was replaced by his son Philip III. Philip III preferred hunting and theater to ruling so he left most of his duties as the monarch to the Duke of Lerma2. The Duke of Lerma spent most of the resources of Spain on creating a comfortable life for the Philip III and his colleagues in the aristocratic class and they had little regards for the masses of Spain. This trend caused Philip III to focus more on the pleasures of life rather than the administration and full control of Spain and its dependencies. From this account, it can be identified that two trends evolved here. First the concept of absolutism became rooted in Spains ruling class. This is because as the transfer of power was shifted from the monarchy to the ruling class, they held on to power with little efforts to consolidate it. The ruling class built a hierarchy that eventually created a trend of absolutism since there was little intervention by the monarch and also by the masses. This led to a situation where the ruling class gained all the power and arrogated power. Secondly, the shift of power from the monarch to the ruling class led by the Duke of Lermas family, the Sandovals caused corruption and mismanagement of resources. This is because the ruling elite focused on their interest and without being held accountable by the masses and without being supervised by the monarchy, they instituted inefficient and subjective management principles that did not have the future of the Kingdom at hand. So Spain under the control of the Duke of Lerma and his Sandoval family did not ultimately destroy the Empire but it laid the foundation for the eventual decline. Under the advice of the Duke of Lerma and the Juan de Ribera, the Archbishop of Valencia, Philip III began the Inquisition in 1609, which sought to convert all non-Catholics into Catholicism3. This led to the expulsion of many Jews who were skilled merchants and industrialists. Aside the exodus of skilled non-Catholics, the Inquisition sought to suppress the liberal ideas that would have linked Spain with the Enlightenment that had began in the rest of Northern Europe4. This saw the institutionalization and the continuous growth of religious fanaticism which was inherent in the system of the Catholic Church at that time. In 1609, Philip II signed a peace treaty with the Dutch who had started a rebellion against the Spanish Empire which ruled that area. This treaty relinquished a high degree of autonomy to the natives but allowed some control by Spain. Also, Philip III started a trend of exterminating Moors who were then living in parts of the coast of Spain like Valencia. This extermination led to the loss of skilled farmers and industrialists which led to so many losses and failures for the Spanish Empire5 (Kamen, 1978). Thus, the establishment of an absolute monarchy, poor management of state resources and corruption as well as fanatic religious ideas like the inquisition, laid the foundation for the downfall of Spain as an Empire before the Thirty Years War which commenced in 1618. During the 30 year war, King Philip III was convinced by his advisors to intervene on the side of Ferdinand II, which formed the Spanish-Habsburg alliance of the Holy Roman Empire that became the main political and military wing of the Catholics against the Protestants in the north. After the death of Philip III in 1621, he was succeeded by his son, Philip IV. Philip IV was influenced greatly by his Olivares who became a kind of Prime Minister to him and played the role the Duke of Lerma had played to his father, Philip III. Philip IV was convinced by his advisors to continue the Thirty Year War on the side of the Habsurg alliance which formed the Holy Roman Empire. This led to the enhancement of the war effort against the Dutch who were by this time influenced by the Protestants of northern Europe6. By 1624, the Spanish Empire controlled the strategic city of Breda and other key areas of the Netherlands7. This victory became the main cause of the decline of the Spanish Empire because it led to the beginning of a century of military rivalry and hostilities with France that led to serious financial challenges and military strain on Spain. The numerous wars fought between France and Spain under Philip as well as the wars fought with other international powers in the Protestant north of Europe like England led to a major shift of the focus of the government which eventually caused the downfall of the Spanish Empire. This is because, the Catholic-Protestant division between Spain and its northern neighbors created the fault-lines for future wars. These definitive structures could have been prevented if Spain had sought to use diplomacy, rather than war to resolve the conflict with Protestant Europe. Rather, under the advice of the Catholic clergy and the military advisors, Philip IV and his successors continued to raise funds from the economy and demand high military concessions from its people which led to a strain that caused components of the empire to rebel8. In 1640, the Catalonians rebelled against the government of Spain which was mainly Castille with its headquarters in Madrid9. These Catalonians, encouraged by the French, argued that they were being forced to pay too much taxes and also supply too many soldiers to fight a war they were not directly connected to10. Also, they believed that Olivares proposed change of their local laws would be carried out so they sought to break away from the Spanish Empire to safeguard their interest. The Catalonians therefore came under French protection until 1652 when Castillian control was re-established in Barcelona. Around that time, in 1640, the Portugese also rebelled under similar claims which weakened the Spanish Empire tremendously. Portugal, which had come under Spanish rule in 1580 under Philip II. The Portuguese claim for independence was based on the fact that although they were part of the Spanish Empire, little was done by Spain to protect Portuguese interests overseas (in Brazil, India and Indonesia) when it came under Dutch Attack in the Dutch-Portuguese Wars. Thus, to protect its interest, it would be much better if it became an independent nation. This caused Portugal to break away from Spain and this led to the Spanish Empire losing so many overseas territories in Brazil, India and Indonesia. The breakaway of Portugal and Catalonia (albeit temporarily) caused a loss in Spains military and treasury and this made it deficient in funding its international campaign during the final years of the Thirty Year War. This led to the decline of Spain as an international power. Thus the involvement of Spain in the Thirty Year War as a dominant Catholic power led to the creation of a serious rivalry between the Empire and emerging northern European Protestant powers that gave Spain serious military and financial challenges which caused divisions and hardships amongst the Spanish people. After the death of Philip IV in 1665, he was succeeded by Charles II who was physically and mentally challenged. This meant that the Kingdom was managed and ruled by a class of nobles who could not gain full control over the Kingdom, leading to further declines. Charles II was faced with a rebellion by his elder brother from an illegitimate union in 1676 which caused further divisions and mismanagement in Spain. External Factors In 1643, the French defeated the Spanish Army in the Battle of Rocroi. This was something that no nation in Europe had thought was possible. Richlieu and other French patriots made a strong effort to counter the political growth and expansion of the Spanish power through all means possible and this determination led to the defeat of Spain11 Additionally, the trade rivalry between Spain and England led to so many international wars and tensions that eventually led to immense damages to Spains international reputation and foreign territories. The Netherlands also sought to use its rivalry with Spain to create more problems for the Spanish Empire by fighting and sabotaging Spain and Portugal on the international front. In 1654, Spain lost Jamaica to the English and Hispaniola (Haiti and Dominican Republic) to the French in 1697. In the mid-1600s, there was the devaluation of Spains currency after copper replaced gold as a currency for trade12. This is because most nations found copper to be a cheaper and more convenient method of denominating its money to ensure that the economy could be well controlled13 (Hamilton, 1938). At the time, Spain controlled the largest reserves of gold and silver because it extracted a lot of minerals from its territories in the Americas14. However, after the mass production of copper, Spains treasury lost its monopoly and the worth of its currency was reduced drastically. Secondly, most of Spains fleets and ships from the New World carrying treasures from the Americas were attacked or seized by pirates and the dominant northern European powers at that time, England, France and the Netherlands15. This meant that Spain was deprived of the numerous treasures it made from its colonies in the New World. Most of these treasures found their way to Northern Europe which became more powerful militarily and economically. Also, it can be pointed out that Spain was involved in too many expansion drives around the globe. Between 1620 and 1670, Spain had been involved in conflicts in the North and South America, Africa, India, Indonesia, France, Netherlands, Italy and with the English. These wars were simply too expensive for the treasury of Spain and the collective efforts of these international campaigns led to so many problems that eventually contributed to the decline of Spain as a dominant global empire. The use of diplomacy in some of these campaigns would have prevented so much financial and military losses which led to the eventual collapse of the Spanish Empire. Additionally, Darby points out that Spain did not have a policy for the development of its colonies around the world to sustain the economic benefits it was taking from these colonies16. Spain was only interested in the extraction of gold and treasures from its colonies. It had no concept of setting up a system a sustainable colony that would bring in revenue at regular intervals. Some of Spains actions in the far-away colonies were inhumane and it led to the extermination of natives like the American Indians who could have otherwise been encouraged to support the Spanish Empire positively. Internationally, Spain came into direct confrontation with the Protestant Northern Europe which was more progressive in terms of democracy and the enlightenment that was being enhanced in Europe. This trend led to the Northern Europeans embracing more sophisticated systems and methods of managing their economies and fighting their battles. This led to a chain of defeats that hit Spain in its military campaigns against the Northern European powers. In summary, the downfall of the Spanish Empire after the Thirty Years War in Europe can be attributed to internal factors which include: 1. The absolutism of the Spanish Monarchy after Philip II 2. The mismanagement of resources by the ruling class that was close to the Spanish Monarchs of the 1600s. 3. The destruction of productive sectors of the economy viz industry and agriculture through the Inquisitions which led to the expulsion of Jews and Moors who were actively involved in these sectors. 4. The economic and military pressures that were felt by the Catalonians and the Portuguese due to the Castillian led Spanish military campaigns against Northern European powers in the Catholic-Protestant Wars of the 1600s. 5. The interference of France and the Dutch in Spains local politics which led to the eventual breakaway of Portugal. 6. Poor leadership after the death of Philip IV which led to an internal revolution. Aside these major internal issues, there were also pressing external matters that ultimately led to the fall of the Spanish Empire. These include: 1. The French defeat of Spain in 1643, which made other European powers believe that the Spaniards can be defeated. 2. Trade rivalry between Spain and other European powers set the stage for many proxy wars fought outside Europe and on the Seas throughout most of the second half of the 17th Century. 3. The loss of vital territories held by Spain in the New World like Jamaica, Haiti and Dominican Republic to France and England caused Spain to lose the power and authority it wielded globally in the past. 4. Spain had too many commitments to maintain around the globe which led it to become bankrupt in financial and military matters. 5. The use of copper as a medium of exchange in lieu of gold, caused Spain, which controlled lots of gold to lose economic power. 6. The breakaway of Portugal led to Spains loss of vital international colonies around the world. 7. The superior social, economic and military power being used by the Northern European powers made them more productive than Spain and this caused them to overcome Spain which was steeped in strong religious values and systems. Endnotes Clark, G.N.. The New Cambridge Modern History. IV, The Decline of Spain and the Thirty Year War. J.P. Cooper. Cambridge University Press: Great Britain, 1970. Darby, J Spain in the Seventeenth Century SAGE: London. 1994. Elliott , John H.. "Decline of Spain" 20 (1964), 52-75, http://www.jstor.org/stable/650136. (accessed June 26, 2011). Elliott ,J.H.. The Revolt Of The Catalans: A Study in the Decline of Spain. London: Cambridge At The University Press, 1963. Dunn, Richard S.. The Age Of Religious Wars, 1559-1715. Second ed. New York: W.W.Norton & Company, Inc., 1979. Flynn, Dennis O.. "Fiscal Crisis and the Decline of Spain (Castile)" 42. 1 (1982), 139-147, http://www.jstor.org/stable/2120508. (accessed June 26, 2011). Kamen, Henry. "The Decline of Spain: A Historical Myth?" 81 (1978), 24-50, http://www.jstor.org/stable/650362. (accessed June 26, 2011) Hamilton, Earl J.. "Revisions in Economic History: VIII.-The Decline of Spain" 8. 2 (1938), 168-179, http://www.jstor.org/stable/2590823. (accessed June 26, 2011). Maltby,William S.. The Rise And Fall Of The Spanish Empire. London: Palgrave Macmillan, 2009. Stradling,R.A.. Europe And The Decline Of Spain. J.H. Shennan. London: George Allen & Uwin Ltd., 1981. Wedgwood, C.V.. The Thirty Years War. Garden City: Anchor Books, 1961. Read More