How far does the disaster of 1898 account for the growth of Catalan and Basque nationalism?
The humiliating defeat of Spain to America during the Spanish-American War of 1898 dealt a catastrophic blow to the Spanish nation. In the subsequent Treaty of Paris signed on December 10th 1898, Spain relinquished its remaining colonial territories in the Caribbean and the Pacific. The disaster evoked heavy criticism of the Restoration government and its inherent corruption amongst many groups within Spanish society and served as a catalyst for the emergence of new political forces seeking to contest against the ruling oligarchy, most notably Catalan and Basque nationalism. This essay will argue that the disaster of 1898 was largely accountable
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As such, Catalonian regionalist demands tended to assume a subordinate position in relation to the greater demands of Spain and its profitable empire. However, the crisis of 1898 engendered the breaking down of Catalan acquiescence with the Restoration system. The loss of Spain’s colonial territories brought with it the loss of colonial markets that had existed as prime export outlets for Catalan industry. In the last decade of the nineteenth century Spanish exports to its colonies had more than doubled from 146.1 million pesatas in 1891 to 365.4 million in 1897, with the value of Catalonian produce to the colonies reaching a peak of 124 million pesatas in 1895. For the region’s major textile industry, the markets of Cuba and Puerto Rico accounted for one-fifth of the entire output of its cotton mills. In surrendering control, by 1902 the territories of Cuba, Puerto Rico and the Philippines now received just 6.2% of Catalan textile produce, a decline from 22% in 1896. Within Catalonia, a feeling that defeat had been caused by years of faulty centralism by a corrupt administration ended any trust Catalan business had placed in the Restoration system to protect its interests. In the spirit of the Regeneracionismo movement, Catalan business interests represented by organisations such as the Fomento del Trabajo proposed a number of reforms designed to regenerate the region in order to compensate for the loss of its vital export outlets. Yet, the
The Spanish American War was caused by many occasions. America strongly supported Cuba and disputed Spain’s actions. The main causes of The Spanish American war was the yellow journalism, the blowing up of “The maine”, and the de lome letter. This essay will be discussing the causes and effects of the Spanish American War.
To what extent was Mexico’s independence from Spain a “full-scale assault on dependency”? This essay will investigate how the Mexican independence from Spain was only slightly a “full-scale assault on dependency”, due to several political and social conflicts. Firstly, Mexico remained a monarchy (but not under the control of Spain) after the insurgency. Secondly, there was still an official state religion in Mexico. Another reason is because social conflicts reduced the desire for independence .On the other hand, it assaulted dependency because there were some changes within the social hierarchy, and because Mexico was free from Spain.
Any student of history has come to recognize the fact that history is written by the victor and in lieu of this, research becomes essential to uncover where the truth lies. The True History of the Conquest of New Spain, so ironically named, is a personal account for historical events leading up to the conquest of New Spain, formerly known as the City of Mexico. The author, Bernal Diaz, was a soldier of the conquering army who composed the document well after the events took place sometime between 1552 and 1557. Though the document did provide insight in regards to the victor’s perspective, it also served as a tool to rewrite the account of the conquered people.
Throughout history, as we study Spain we can clearly recognize high and low points in their success. In the fifteen hundreds Spain had no influence on European affairs, Spain essentially vanished out of Europe. However, within one complete century Spain had become not only a leading power but they also had a great sense of effectiveness in Europe. Spain experienced a Golden age with many social, economic, political aspects. On the other hand, within
The evidence that supports the idea that the Nationalists won the Spanish Civil War because of their strength is abundant. The unity of the Nationalists was obvious and meant that there was both great organisation and co-ordination, meaning there was no ambiguity in the goals set by those fighting for the Nationalists. Franco’s plans for a long term war meant that he was able to ensure the defeat of the Republic by slowly squeezing the life out of the Republic war effort, which already was heavily reliant on Soviet aid, by securing Republican strong holds throughout Spain. The contrasting lack of unity on the Republic as well
In the late 18th century, the Spanish monarchy decided to improve the defenses of its empire because of its many military losses in Europe. Because of this, the Spanish Crown was forced to increase revenues. Between 1765 and 1771, Spain sent José de Gálvez on an official tour of inspection of New Spain. He restructured the current taxes and their collection methods..
During the 15th century, many considered Spain insignificant. However, within a century it became a world-dominant power in Europe. Although Spain only took a brief time to rise, it was also short-lived. The rise of Spain was due to its flourishing culture, stable political system and successful voyages to the New World. On the other hand, its decline was due to religious control, resistance from other countries and inflation.
According to Spain then and now, (2011), “In contrast to Spain’s startling growth of political power and prestige during the 16th century, the 17th century is commonly seen as one of decline.” Not merely historical hindsight, this view was already articulated in the early 17th century by a group of writers known as arbitristas. They lamented the deterioration of the country, and offered suggestions for both political and especially economic reform. Who recognised the stark contrast between the appearance of imperial greatness and the reality of social and economic problems in their country. Events of the 17th century confirm the foresight of the best of these early political economists. Since then there has been general consensus that Spain
In Imperial Spain, J.H. Elliot examines the history of early modern Spain from the reign of the Catholic Monarchs, Isabella and Ferdinand, to the reformation of the Spanish government by the first member of the Bourbon dynasty. According to the author, at the start of the 15th century, Spain was internally weak, hopelessly divided and isolated from the continent by the Pyrenees. Yet, by 1492, Spanish society experienced a tremendous transformation which allowed Isabella and Ferdinand to unify the country, secure the largest transoceanic empire the world has ever known, and for a
Assess the importance of TWO of the following in the US decision to declare war against Spain in 1898: yellow journalism, sinking of the Maine, US business interests, Cuban revolution
The Spanish-American War served to epitomize the imperialist sentiments inherent to American society of the late 19th century, as it was driven nearly entirely by jingoism and a large degree of sensationalism. When examining this war, many often conclude that it was the result of the pressure placed on McKinley by multiple expansionists within Washington - that such men as Theodore Roosevelt and Henry Cabot Lodge were, perhaps, the primary cause for this imperialist endeavour. However, upon deeper inspection it appears to be that such men can not be noted as the sole, or even most responsible, factors in initiating the conflict. For it seems that the evidence is more supportive towards the notion that the general attitudes of the public were mostly to blame, and therefore, the cause of the war must lay with the sensationalistic “yellow-journalism” - which had grown rampant in that period - as the underlying cause of the Spanish-American War. Basically, as shall soon be demonstrated, it appears to be illogical for one to deduce that the pressure expressed onto President McKinley by his imperialist counterparts should be held accountable for the Spanish-American War.
The Spanish-American war was brought on by Cuba struggling to gain independence from Spain. U.S newspapers used propaganda to lead citizen’s sentiments to side with Cuba. Spain had been portrayed as brutal and repressive against the Cuban rebels with their use of concentration camps and such. American opinion of Spain was already low, and this further enhanced that opinion. To make matters worse, a letter written by Spanish Minister Enrique Dupuy de Lome that spoke of President McKinley in an unfavorable way was published in U.S Newspapers. These events swayed public opinion of Spain in a very bad direction. On February 15th, 1898, the U.S.S Maine was blown up in the Havana Harbor killing over 200 men. Though it was never determined what actually caused the sinking of the ship, blame was placed on the Spanish. Newspapers used stories and drawing to enrage the American public even
However, the story of the Aztec defeat and the successful resolution of the Spanish mission against incredible odds raises many questions. Regardless of more advanced technology and weapons, the Spanish force was vastly outnumbered and began a military campaign poorly supplied within an unknown territory against an unknown enemy. This paper explores the possibility that other key factors were at play, which provided the Spanish with a several of advantages and facilitated the successful resolution of their campaign. Furthermore, these factors allowed for an incredibly quick and effective subjugation of millions of people – considering that by comparison it took hundreds of years to expel the Muslim armies from southern Spain, a war ending in 1492 and in which many conquistadores fighting in the new world took part of. This paper will argue that internal religious quarrels, unsustainable tax obligations, and continuing military conflicts weakened the Aztec social fabric by increasing resentment among subjugated towns and cities and diminishing trust among Aztec citizens in their highly centralized government.
The Spanish civil war of 1936-1939 was an important conflict in Spain’s history. This war was initiated by a military revolt led by General Francisco Franco on the 17 July 1936 and ended with Franco’s victory on the 1 April, 1939. This victory resulted in the replacement of the Second Spanish Republic with the conservative dictatorship of Franco. This conflict triggered the clash of the various cultures and ideologies within Spain. One important example of an ideological clash was that of Communism versus Fascism. This clash was so important that, based on an analysis of the level of involvement of Fascist and Communist factions in said clash, one must concede that the conflict between Communism and Fascism was represented to a great
The Spanish Civil War is the name given to the struggle between loyalist and nationalist Spain for dominance in which the nationalists won and suppressed the country for the following thirty nine years. However, because of the larger political climate that the Spanish Civil War occurred in, it is impossible to view the war as a phenomenon contained within one nation. Despite its obvious domestic orientation as a civil war it was a major international conflict. The reason for this, I would maintain, is the political dogma which surrounded the war. This essay takes the form of a political survey of the