Editing History of Spain

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{{History of Spain}}
The '''history of Spain''' dates to contact between the [[List of the Pre-Roman peoples of the Iberian Peninsula|pre-Roman]] peoples of the [[Mediterranean Sea|Mediterranean]] coast of the [[Iberian Peninsula]] with the [[Greeks]] and [[Phoenicians]]. During [[Classical Antiquity]], the peninsula was the site of multiple successive colonizations of Greeks, [[Punic people|Carthaginians]], and Romans. Native peoples of the peninsula, such as the [[Tartessos]], intermingled with the colonizers to create a uniquely Iberian culture. The Romans referred to the entire peninsula as [[Hispania]], from which the name "Spain" originates. As was the rest of the [[Western Roman Empire]], [[Spain]] was subject to numerous invasions of [[Germanic tribes]] during the 4th and 5th centuries AD, resulting in the end of Roman rule and the establishment of Germanic kingdoms, marking the beginning of the [[Spain in the Middle Ages|Middle Ages in Spain]].

Germanic control lasted until the [[Umayyad conquest of Hispania]] began in 711. The region became known as [[Al-Andalus]], and except for the small [[Kingdom of Asturias]], the region remained under the control of Muslim-led states for much of the [[Early Middle Ages]], a period known as the [[Islamic Golden Age]]. By the time of the [[High Middle Ages]], Christians from the north gradually expanded their control over Iberia, a period known as the [[Reconquista]]. As they expanded southward, a number of Christian kingdoms were formed, including the [[Kingdom of Navarre]], the [[Kingdom of León]], the [[Kingdom of Castile]], and the [[Kingdom of Aragon]]. They eventually consolidated into two roughly equivalent polities, the [[Crown of Castile]] and the [[Crown of Aragon]]. The [[early modern period]] is generally dated from the union of the Crowns of Castile and Aragon by royal marriage in 1469.

The joint rule of [[Isabella I of Castile|Isabella I]] and [[Ferdinand II of Aragon|Ferdinand II]] is [[historiography|historiographically]] considered the foundation of a unified Spain. The [[conquest of Granada]], and the [[Voyages of Christopher Columbus|first voyage of Columbus]], both in 1492, made that year a critical inflection point in Spanish history. The voyages of the explorers and [[conquistadors]] of Spain during the subsequent decades helped establish a [[Spanish Empire|Spanish colonial empire]] which was among the largest ever. King [[Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor|Charles I]] established the [[Spanish Habsburg]] dynasty. Under his son [[Philip II of Spain|Philip II]] the [[Spanish Golden Age]] flourished, the Spanish Empire reached its territorial and economic peak, and his palace at [[El Escorial]] became the center of artistic flourishing. However, Philip's rule also saw the destruction of the [[Spanish Armada]], a number of state bankruptcies and the independence of the [[Dutch Republic|Northern Netherlands]], which marked the beginning of the slow decline of Spanish influence in Europe. Spain's power was further tested by its participation in the [[Eighty Years' War]], whereby it tried and failed to recapture the newly independent Dutch Republic, and the [[Thirty Years' War]], which resulted in continued decline of Habsburg power in favor of the French [[Bourbon dynasty]]. Matters came to a head with the death of the last Habsburg ruler [[Charles II of Spain]]; the [[War of the Spanish Succession]] broke out between two European alliances led by the French Bourbons and the Austrian Habsburgs, for the control of the Spanish throne. The Bourbons prevailed, resulting in the ascension of [[Philip V of Spain]], who took Spain into various wars and eventually recaptured the territories in southern Italy that had been lost in the War of the Spanish Succession. Spain's late entry into the [[Seven Years' War]] was the result of fear of the growing successes of the British at the expense of the French, but Spanish forces suffered major defeats. Motivated by this and earlier setbacks during Bourbon rule, Spanish institutions underwent a [[Bourbon Reforms|period of reform]], especially under [[Charles III of Spain|Charles III]], that culminated in Spain's largely [[Spain and the American Revolutionary War|successful involvement]] in the [[American War of Independence]]. 

During the [[Napoleonic era]], Spain became a French [[puppet state]]. Concurrent with, and following, the Napoleonic period the [[Spanish American wars of independence]] resulted in the loss of most of Spain's territory in the Americas in the 1820s. During the re-establishment of the Bourbon rule in Spain, [[Spanish Constitution of 1812|constitutional monarchy]] was introduced in 1813. Spain's history during the nineteenth century was tumultuous, and featured alternating periods of republican-liberal and monarchical rule. The [[Spanish–American War]] led to losses of Spanish colonial possessions and a series of military dictatorships, during which King [[Alfonso XIII of Spain|Alfonso XIII]] was deposed and a [[Second Spanish Republic|new Republican government]] was formed. Ultimately, the political disorder within Spain led to a coup by the military which led to the [[Spanish Civil War]]. After much foreign intervention on both sides, the [[Nationalist faction (Spanish Civil War)|Nationalists]] emerged victorious; [[Francisco Franco]] led a fascist dictatorship for almost four decades. Franco's death ushered in a return of the monarchy under King [[Juan Carlos I]], which saw a liberalization of Spanish society and a re-engagement with the international community. A new liberal [[1978 Spanish Constitution|Constitution]] was established in 1978. Spain entered the [[European Economic Community]] in 1986 (transformed into the [[European Union]] in 1992), and the [[Eurozone]] in 1998. Juan Carlos abdicated in 2014, and was succeeded by his son [[Felipe VI]].

==Prehistory==
{{Main|Prehistoric Iberia}}

[[File:Ethnographic Iberia 200 BCE.PNG|thumb|Ethnology of the Iberian Peninsula c. 200 BC]]
The earliest record of ''[[Homo]]'' [[genus]] representatives living in Western Europe has been found in the Spanish cave of [[Archaeological Site of Atapuerca|Atapuerca]]; a flint tool found there dates from 1.4&nbsp;million years ago, and early human [[fossils]] date to roughly 1.2&nbsp;million years ago.<ref name="BBC2007">{{cite news|title='First west Europe tooth' found|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/6256356.stm|publisher=BBC News|date=30 June 2007|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180316120128/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/6256356.stm|archive-date=March 16, 2018}}</ref> Modern humans in the form of [[Cro-Magnon]]s began arriving in the Iberian Peninsula from north of the [[Pyrenees]] some 35,000 years ago. The most conspicuous sign of prehistoric human settlements are the [[Cave painting|paintings]] in the northern Spanish cave of [[Altamira (cave)|Altamira]], which were done c. 15,000 [[Before Christ|BC]].<ref name="britannica prehistory">{{cite encyclopedia|title=Spain – History – Pre-Roman Spain – Prehistory|url=https://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/557573/Spain/214578/History#toc=toc70344|encyclopedia=Britannica Online Encyclopedia|year=2008}}</ref>

Archeological evidence in places like [[Los Millares]] and [[El Argar]] suggests developed cultures existed in the eastern part of the Iberian Peninsula during the late [[Neolithic]] and the [[Bronze Age]].<ref>{{Cite book|last=Chapman|first=Robert|url=http://worldcat.org/oclc/495987647|title=Emerging complexity. Texte imprimé : the later prehistory of south-east Spain, Iberia and the west Mediterranean|date=1990|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=0-521-23207-4|oclc=495987647}}</ref> Around 2500 BC, the nomadic shepherds known as the [[Corded Ware culture|Corded ware culture]] conquered the peninsula using new technologies and horses while killing all local males according to DNA studies.<ref>{{Cite web|title=The invasion that wiped out every man from Spain 4,500 years ago|url=https://english.elpais.com/elpais/2018/10/03/inenglish/1538568010_930565.html|last=Ansede|first=Manuel|date=2018-10-04|website=EL PAÍS|access-date=2020-05-11}}</ref> Spanish prehistory extends to the pre-Roman [[European Iron Age|Iron Age]] cultures that controlled most of [[Iberian Peninsula|Iberia]]: those of the [[Iberians]], [[Celtiberians]], [[Tartessos|Tartessians]], [[Lusitanians]], and [[Vascones]] and trading settlements of [[Phoenicia]]ns, [[Carthaginians]], and [[Greek colonies|Greeks]] on the [[Mediterranean Sea|Mediterranean]] coast.

==Early history of the Iberian Peninsula==
{{Further|Pre-Roman peoples of the Iberian Peninsula}}

Before the [[Roman conquest of the Iberian Peninsula|Roman conquest]] the major cultures along the Mediterranean coast were the [[Iberians]], the [[Celtiberians|Celts]] in the interior and north-west, the [[Lusitanians]] in the west, and the [[Tartessos|Tartessians]] in the southwest. The seafaring Phoenicians, Carthaginians, and Greeks successively established trading settlements along the eastern and southern coast. The [[paleohispanic script|development of writing in the peninsula]] took place after the arrival of early Phoenician settlers and traders (tentatively dated 9th century BC or later).<ref>{{cite journal|page=117|title=Origin and development of the Paleohispanic scripts: the orthography and phonology of the Southwestern alphabet|first=Miguel|last=Valério|journal=Revista portuguesa de arqueologia|issn=0874-2782|volume=11|issue=2|year=2008<!--|107–138-->|url=https://dialnet.unirioja.es/descarga/articulo/3339686.pdf}}</ref>
[[File:Bronce luzaga.jpg|thumb|Illustration depicting the (now lost) [[Luzaga's Bronze]], an example of the [[Celtiberian script]].]]
The south of the peninsula was rich in archaic Phoenician colonies, unmatched by any other region in the central-western Mediterranean.{{Sfn|Aubet|2006|p=36}} They were small and densely packed settlements.{{Sfn|Aubet|2006|p=37}} The colony of [[Gadir]]—which sustained strong links with its metropolis of [[Tyre, Lebanon|Tyre]]—stood out from the rest of the network of colonies, also featuring a more complex sociopolitical organization.{{Sfn|Aubet|2006|pp=44–45}} [[Archaic Greece|Archaic Greeks]] arrived on the Peninsula by the late 7th century BC.{{Sfn|Blázquez|1988|p=}} They founded [[Greek colonies]] such as [[Empúries|Emporion]] (570 BC).{{Sfn|Blázquez|1988|p=11}}

The Greeks are responsible for the name ''Iberia'', apparently after the river Iber ([[Ebro]]). By the 6th century BC, much of the territory of southern Iberia passed to [[Ancient Carthage|Carthage]]'s overarching influence (featuring two centres of Punic influence in ''Gadir'' and ''Mastia''); the latter grip strengthened from the 4th century BC on.{{Sfn|Prados Martínez|2007|p=87}} The [[Barcids]], following their landing in Gadir in 237 BC, conquered the territories that belonged to the sphere of influence of Carthage.{{sfn|Wagner|1999|pp=263–264}} Until 219 BC, their presence in the peninsula was underpinned by their control of places such as [[Carthago Nova]] and Akra Leuké (both founded by Punics), as well as the network of old Phoenician settlements.{{Sfn|Prados Martínez|2007|p=85}}
[[File:Iberia 300BC-en.svg|thumb|left|350px|The Iberian Peninsula in the 3rd century BC]]

The peninsula was a military theatre of the [[Second Punic War]] (218–201 BC) waged between Carthage and the [[Roman Republic]], the two powers vying for supremacy in the western Mediterranean. Romans expelled Carthaginians from the peninsula in 206 BC.{{sfn|Wagner|1999|p=264}}

The peoples whom the [[Ancient Rome|Romans]] met at the time of their invasion were the Iberians, inhabiting an area stretching from the northeast part of the Iberian Peninsula through the southeast. The Celts mostly inhabited the inner and north-west part of the peninsula. To the east of the [[Meseta Central]], the [[Sistema Ibérico]] area was inhabited by the [[Celtiberians]], reportedly rich in [[precious metal]]s (obtained by Romans in the form of [[tribute]]s).{{Sfn|Lorrio|1997|p=36}} Celtiberians developed a refined technique of iron-forging, displayed in their quality weapons.{{Sfn|Lorrio|1997|p=40}}

The [[Celtiberian Wars]] were fought between the advancing [[Roman legion|legions]] of the Roman Republic and the Celtiberian tribes of Hispania Citerior from 181 to 133 BC.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia|last=Grout|first=James|title=The Celtiberian War|url=http://penelope.uchicago.edu/~grout/encyclopaedia_romana/hispania/celtiberianwar.html|encyclopedia=Encyclopaedia Romana|publisher=University of Chicago|year=2007|access-date=2008-06-08}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=Major Phases in Roman History|url=http://www.utsc.utoronto.ca/~corbett/clab42/RomChron.htm|work=Rome in the Mediterranean World|publisher=University of Toronto|access-date=2008-06-08}}</ref> The Roman conquest of the peninsula was completed in 19 BC.

==Roman Hispania (2nd century BC – 5th century AD)==
{{Main|Hispania}}
{{Further|Roman conquest of Hispania}}
{{Further|Romanization of Hispania}}

[[File:Prima tetrarchia Diocletianus.PNG|thumbnail|right|[[Roman Empire]], 3rd century]]

''[[Hispania]]'' was the name used for the Iberian Peninsula under [[Ancient Rome|Roman rule]] from the 2nd century BC. The population was gradually culturally [[Romanization (cultural)|Romanized]],<ref>Great estates, the ''[[Latifundia]]'' (sing., ''latifundium''), controlled by a land owning aristocracy, were superimposed on the existing Iberian landholding system.</ref> and local leaders were admitted into the Roman aristocratic class.<ref name="country">{{cite web|last=Rinehart|first=Robert|author2=Seeley, Jo Ann Browning|title=A Country Study: Spain – Hispania|publisher=Library of Congress Country Series|year=1998|url=http://lcweb2.loc.gov/frd/cs/estoc.html|access-date=2008-08-09}}</ref>

The Romans improved existing cities, such as [[Tarragona]], and established others like [[Zaragoza]], [[Mérida, Spain|Mérida]], [[Valencia]], [[León, Spain|León]], [[Badajoz]], and [[Palencia]].<ref>The Roman provinces of Hispania included ''Provincia Hispania Ulterior Baetica ([[Hispania Baetica]])'', whose capital was [[Córdoba, Spain|Corduba, presently Córdoba]], ''Provincia Hispania Ulterior Lusitania'' ([[Hispania Lusitania]]), whose capital was Emerita Augusta (now [[Mérida, Spain|Mérida]]), ''Provincia Hispania Citerior'', whose capital was [[Tarraco]] (Tarragona), ''Provincia Hispania Nova'', whose capital was [[Tingis]] (Tánger in present Morocco), ''Provincia Hispania Nova Citerior'' and ''Asturiae-Calleciae'' (these latter two provinces were created and then dissolved in the 3rd&nbsp;century AD).</ref> The peninsula's economy expanded under Rome. Hispania supplied Rome with food, olive oil, wine and metal. The emperors [[Trajan]], [[Hadrian]], and [[Theodosius I]], the philosopher [[Seneca the Younger|Seneca]], and the poets [[Martial]], [[Quintilian]], and [[Lucan (poet)|Lucan]] were born in Hispania. Hispanic bishops held the [[Council of Elvira]] around 306.

After the fall of the [[Western Roman Empire]] in the 5th century, parts of Hispania came under the control of the Germanic tribes of [[Vandals]], [[Suebi]], and [[Visigoths]].

The collapse of the [[Western Roman Empire]] did not lead to the same wholesale destruction of classical society as happened in areas like [[Roman Britain]], [[Gaul]] and [[Germania Inferior]] during the [[Early Middle Ages]], although the institutions and infrastructure did decline. Spain's languages, its religion, and the basis of its laws originate from this period.

==Gothic Hispania (5th–8th centuries)==
{{see also|Spain in the Middle Ages#Early medieval Spain}}
{{Further|Visigothic Kingdom|Suebic Kingdom of Galicia|Spania}}
[[File:Visigothic Kingdom.png|thumb|right|The greatest extent of the [[Visigothic Kingdom]] of [[Toulouse]], c. 500, showing Territory lost after [[Battle of Vouillé|Vouillé]] in light orange]]

The first [[Germanic peoples|Germanic tribes]] to invade Hispania arrived in the 5th&nbsp;century, as the [[Decline of the Roman Empire|Roman Empire decayed]].{{sfn|Payne|1973a|loc=[http://libro.uca.edu/payne1/spainport1.htm  Chapter 1 Ancient Hispania ] }} The [[Visigoths]], [[Suebi]], [[Vandals]] and [[Alans]] arrived in Hispania by crossing the Pyrenees mountain range, leading to the establishment of the [[Suebi#Kingdom in Gallaecia|Suebi Kingdom]] in [[Gallaecia]], in the northwest and the [[Vandal]] Kingdom of [[Vandalusia]] (Andalusia). The [[Romanization (cultural)|Romanized]] Visigoths entered Hispania in 415. After the conversion of their monarchy to [[Roman Catholicism]] and after conquering the disordered Suebic territories in the northwest and [[Byzantine Empire|Byzantine]] territories in the southeast, the [[Visigothic Kingdom of Toledo]] eventually encompassed a great part of the peninsula.<ref name="country" />{{sfn|Collins|2004}}

As Rome declined, [[Germanic tribes]] invaded the former empire. Some were ''[[foederati]]'', tribes enlisted to serve in Roman armies and given land as payment, while others, such as the [[Vandals]], took advantage of the empire's weakening defenses to plunder. Those tribes that survived took over existing Roman institutions, and created successor-kingdoms to the Romans in various parts of Europe. Hispania was taken over by the [[Visigoths]] after 410.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Carr|first=Karen Eva|url=http://worldcat.org/oclc/1110482019|title=Vandals to Visigoths : rural settlement patterns in early Medieval Spain|date=2002|publisher=University of Michigan Press|isbn=0-472-10891-3|oclc=1110482019}}</ref>

At the same time, there was a process of "Romanization" of the Germanic and [[Huns#Unified Empire under Attila|Hunnic]] tribes. The Visigoths, for example, were converted to [[Arianism|Arian Christianity]] around 360, even before they were pushed into imperial territory by the expansion of the [[Huns]].{{sfn|Smith|1965|pp=[https://archive.org/details/spainmodernhisto00smit/page/13 13]–15}}

The Visigoths, having [[Sack of Rome (410)|sacked Rome]] two years earlier, arrived in Gaul in 412, founding the Visigothic kingdom of [[Toulouse]] (in the south of modern France) and gradually expanded their influence into Hispania after the battle of Vouillé (507) at the expense of the Vandals and Alans, who moved on into North Africa without leaving much permanent mark on Hispanic culture. The [[Visigoths#Visigothic kingdom in Hispania|Visigothic Kingdom]] shifted its capital to [[Toledo, Spain|Toledo]] and reached a high point during the reign of [[Leovigild]].

=== Visigothic rule ===
{{main|Visigothic Kingdom}}
[[File:El rey Don Rodrigo arengando a sus tropas en la batalla de Guadalete (Museo del Prado).jpg|thumb|Visigothic King [[Roderic]] haranguing his troops before the [[Battle of Guadalete]]]]
The [[Visigothic Kingdom]] conquered all of Hispania and ruled it until the early 8th century, when the peninsula fell to the [[Early Muslim conquests|Muslim conquests]]. Hispania never saw a decline in interest in classical culture to the degree observable in Britain, Gaul, and Germany. The Visigoths, having assimilated Roman culture and language during their tenure as ''foederati'', maintained more of the old Roman institutions. They had a unique respect for legal codes that resulted in continuous frameworks and historical records for most of the period between 415, when Visigothic rule in Hispania began, and 711 when it is traditionally said to end.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Las fuentes del Derecho Visigodo (I)|department=Derecho UNED|url=https://derecho.isipedia.com/primero/historia-del-derecho-espanol/parte-4-la-espana-visigoda/10-las-fuentes-del-derecho-visigodo-i|access-date=2022-08-17|website=isipedia.com|archive-date=2021-09-24|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210924145828/http://derecho.isipedia.com/primero/historia-del-derecho-espanol/parte-4-la-espana-visigoda/10-las-fuentes-del-derecho-visigodo-i|url-status=usurped}}</ref> The [[Visigothic Code|''Liber Iudiciorum'']] or Lex Visigothorum (654), also known as the Book of Judges, which [[Recceswinth]] promulgated, based on Roman law and Germanic customary laws, brought about legal unification. According to the historian Joseph O'Callaghan, at that time they already considered themselves one people and together with the Hispano-Gothic nobility they called themselves the ''gens Gothorum''.<ref name="O'Callaghan2013">{{cite book|first=Joseph F.|last=O'Callaghan|title=A History of Medieval Spain|url={{google books|plainurl=y|id=cq2dDgAAQBAJ|page=176}}|date=2013|publisher=Cornell University Press|isbn=978-0-8014-6872-8|page=176}}</ref> In the early Middle Ages, the ''Liber Iudiciorum'' was known as the Visigothic Code and also as the ''[[Fuero Juzgo]]''. Its influence on law extends to the present.

The proximity of the Visigothic kingdoms to the Mediterranean and the continuity (though reduced) of western Mediterranean trade supported Visigothic culture. The Visigothic ruling class looked to [[Constantinople]] for style and technology.

Spanish Catholicism also coalesced during this time. The period of rule by the [[Visigothic Kingdom]] saw the spread of [[Arianism]] briefly in Hispania.{{sfn|Smith|1965|pp=16–17}} The [[Councils of Toledo]] debated creed and liturgy in orthodox [[Catholicism]], and the Council of Lerida in 546 constrained the clergy and extended the power of law over them with the approval of the Pope. In 587, the Visigothic king at Toledo, [[Reccared]], converted to Catholicism and launched a movement to unify the various religious doctrines in Hispania.

The Visigoths inherited from Late Antiquity a [[feudal|prefeudal]] system in Hispania,<ref name="O'Callaghan201356">{{cite book|first=Joseph F.|last=O'Callaghan|title=A History of Medieval Spain|url={{google books|plainurl=y|id=cq2dDgAAQBAJ|page=56}}|date=2013|publisher=Cornell University Press|isbn=978-0-8014-6872-8|page=56}}</ref> based in the south on the Roman [[villa]] system and in the north drawing on their vassals to supply troops in exchange for protection. The bulk of the Visigothic army was composed of slaves. The loose council of nobles that advised Hispania's Visigothic kings and legitimized their rule was responsible for raising the army, and only upon its consent was the king able to summon soldiers.

The economy of the Visigothic kingdom depended primarily on agriculture and animal husbandry; there is little evidence of Visigothic commerce and industry.<ref name="Brittannica2020">{{cite encyclopedia|title=Spain – The Visigothic kingdom|url=https://www.britannica.com/place/Spain/The-Visigothic-kingdom|website=Encyclopedia Britannica|access-date=28 August 2020}}</ref>
The native Hispani maintained the cultural and economic life of Hispania and were responsible for the relative prosperity of the 6th and 7th centuries. Administration was still based on Roman law, and only gradually did Visigothic customs and Roman common law merge.{{sfn|Payne|1973a|p=[https://web.archive.org/web/20190224055703/http://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/53ae/6f5f58813a4490805f333b99e24c20e329e5.pdf Ancient Hispania, p. 7]}}

The Visigoths did not, until the period of Muslim rule, intermarry with the Spanish population, and the Visigothic language had a limited impact on the modern languages of Iberia.{{sfn|Collins|2004|p={{page needed|date=July 2021}}}} The historian Joseph F. O'Callaghan says that at the end of the Visigothic era the assimilation of Hispano-Romans and Visigoths was occurring rapidly, and the leaders of society were beginning to see themselves as one people.<ref name="O'Callaghan2013"/> Little literature in the Gothic language remains from the period of Visigothic rule—only translations of parts of the Greek Bible and a few fragments of other documents have survived.<ref name="Murdoch2004">{{cite book|first=Brian|last=Murdoch|title=[[Early Germanic Literature and Culture]]|chapter-url={{google books|plainurl=y|id=YWFIw6LZhq0C|page=149}}|editor1=William Whobrey|editor2=Brian Murdoch|editor3=James N. Hardin|editor4=Malcolm Kevin Read|year=2004|publisher=Boydell & Brewer|isbn=978-1-57113-199-7|page=149|chapter=Gothic}}</ref>

The Hispano-Romans found Visigothic rule and its early embrace of the Arian heresy more of a threat than Islam, and shed their thralldom to the Visigoths only in the 8th century, with the aid of the Muslims themselves.<ref name="Pannenberg1991">{{cite book|first=Wolfhart|last=Pannenberg|title=Systematic Theology|url={{google books|plainurl=y|id=eFTqvoic7gsC|page=512}}|year=1991|publisher=Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing|isbn=978-0-8028-3708-0|page=512}}</ref> The most visible effect of Visigothic rule was the depopulation of the cities as their inhabitants moved to the countryside. Even while the country enjoyed a degree of prosperity when compared to France and Germany, the Visigoths felt little reason to contribute to the welfare, permanency, and infrastructure of their people and state. This contributed to their downfall, as they could not count on the loyalty of their subjects when the [[Moors]] arrived in the 8th century.{{sfn|Collins|2004|p={{page needed|date=July 2021}}}}

=== Goldsmithery in Visigothic Hispania ===
[[File:Corona de (29049230050).jpg|thumb|upright|Detail of the [[votive crown]] of [[Recceswinth]] from the [[Treasure of Guarrazar]], (Toledo-Spain) hanging in Madrid. The hanging letters spell '''''[R]ECCESVINTHVS REX OFFERET''''' [King R. offers this].{{Efn|The first R is held at the [[Musée de Cluny]], Paris}} ]]
In Spain, an important collection of Visigothic metalwork  was found in [[Guadamur]], known as the [[Treasure of Guarrazar]]. This [[Archaeology|archeological]] find comprises twenty-six [[votive crown]]s and gold [[cross]]es from the royal workshop in Toledo, with signs of Byzantine influence.
* Two important votive crowns are those of [[Recceswinth]] and of [[Suintila]], displayed in the National Archaeological Museum of Madrid; both are made of gold, encrusted with sapphires, pearls, and other precious stones. Suintila's crown was stolen in 1921 and never recovered. There are several other small crowns and many votive crosses in the treasure.
* The aquiliform (eagle-shaped) [[Fibula (brooch)|fibulae]] that have been discovered in [[necropolis]]es such as [[Duratón, Segovia|Duraton]], [[Madrona (Segovia)|Madrona]] or Castiltierra cities of [[Segovia]]. These fibulae were used individually or in pairs, as clasps or pins in gold, bronze and glass to join clothes.
* The Visigothic belt buckles, a symbol of rank and status characteristic of Visigothic women's clothing, are also notable as works of goldsmithery. Some pieces contain exceptional [[Byzantine art|Byzantine-style]] [[lapis lazuli]] inlays and are generally rectangular in shape, with copper alloy, garnets and glass.{{sfn|The Metropolitan Museum of Art, "Belt Buckle 550–600"}}{{efn|Important findings have also been made in the Visigothic [[necropolis]] of Castiltierra ([[Segovia]]) in Spain.<ref>{{cite web|work=National Archaeological Museum-Museo Arqueológico Nacional of Spain|url=http://www.man.es/man/dam/jcr:eb7fea42-15c8-4b6b-b18c-4d940b2656a5/2018-castiltierra-ii.pdf|title=La necrópolis de época visigoda de Castiltierra (Segovia) Excavaciones dirigidas por E. Camps y J. M.a de Navascués, 1932–1935 Materiales conservados en el Museo Arqueológico Nacional}}</ref>}}

===Architecture of Visigothic Hispania===
{{main|Visigothic art and architecture}}
[[File:SanPedroNave1.jpg|thumb|Visigothic church, San Pedro de la Nave. Zamora. Spain]]
During their governance of Hispania, the Visigoths built several churches in the [[basilica]]l or [[cruciform]] style that survive, including the churches of  [[San Pedro de la Nave]] in El Campillo, [[Santa María de Melque]] in [[San Martín de Montalbán]], Santa Lucía del Trampal in Alcuéscar, Santa Comba in Bande, and [[Hermitage of Santa María de Lara|Santa María de Lara]] in Quintanilla de las Viñas.{{citation needed|date=July 2021}} The  Visigothic [[crypt]] (the Crypt of San Antolín) in the [[Palencia Cathedral]] is a Visigothic chapel from the mid 7th century, built during the reign of [[Wamba (king)|Wamba]] to preserve the remains of the martyr [[Antoninus of Pamiers|Saint Antoninus of Pamiers]]. These are the only remains of the Visigothic cathedral of Palencia.{{sfn|Salvador Conejo, ''Cripta visigoda de San Antolín''}}

[[Reccopolis]], located near the tiny modern village of [[Zorita de los Canes]], is an archaeological site of one of at least four cities founded in [[Hispania]] by the Visigoths. It is the only city in Western Europe  to have been founded between the fifth and eighth centuries.{{efn|According to E. A Thompson, "The Barbarian Kingdoms in Gaul and Spain", ''Nottingham Mediaeval Studies'', '''7''' (1963:4n11), the others were (i) ''Victoriacum'', founded by Leovigild and may survive as the city of [[Vitoria-Gasteiz|Vitoria]], but a twelfth-century foundation for this city is given in contemporary sources, (ii) ''Lugo id est Luceo'' in the [[Asturias]], referred to by [[Isidore of Seville]], and (iii) ''Ologicus'' (perhaps ''Ologitis''), founded using [[Basques|Basque]] labour in 621 by [[Suinthila]] as a fortification against the Basques, is modern [[Olite]]. All of these cities were founded for military purposes and at least Reccopolis, Victoriacum, and Ologicus in celebration of victory. A possible fifth Visigothic foundation is ''Baiyara'' (perhaps modern [[Montoro]]), mentioned as founded by Reccared in the fifteenth-century geographical account, ''[[Kitab al-Rawd al-Mitar]]'', cf. José María Lacarra, "Panorama de la historia urbana en la Península Ibérica desde el siglo V al X," ''La città nell'alto medioevo'', '''6''' (1958:319–358). Reprinted in ''Estudios de alta edad media española'' (Valencia: 1975), pp. 25–90.}} The city's construction was ordered by the Visigothic king [[Liuvigild]] to honor his son [[Reccared II|Reccared]] and to serve as Reccared's seat as co-king in the Visigothic province of [[Celtiberia]].{{sfn|Collins|2004|pp=55–56}}

===Religion===
{{further|History of Roman Catholicism in Spain#Visigoths}}
At the beginning of the [[Visigothic Kingdom]], [[Arianism]] was the official religion in Hispania, but only for a brief time, according to historian Rhea Marsh Smith.{{sfn|Smith|1965|pp=16–17}} In 587, [[Reccared]], the Visigothic king at Toledo, converted to Catholicism and launched a movement to unify the religious doctrines that existed in the Iberian Peninsula. The [[Councils of Toledo]] debated the creed and liturgy of orthodox [[Catholicism]], and the Council of Lerida in 546 constrained the clergy and extended the power of law over them with the approval of the pope.

While the Visigoths clung to their Arian faith, the [[Jews]] were well-tolerated. Previous Roman and Byzantine law determined their status, and already sharply discriminated against them.{{sfn|Graetz|1894|p=44}} Historian Jane Gerber relates that some of the Jews "held ranking posts in the government or the army; others were recruited and organized for garrison service; still others continued to hold senatorial rank".{{sfn|Gerber|1992|p=9}} In general, they were well-respected and well-treated by the Visigothic kings, until their transition from Arianism to Catholicism.{{sfn|Roth|1994|pp=35–40}} Conversion to Catholicism across Visigothic society reduced the friction between the Visigoths and the Hispano-Roman population.{{sfn|Waldman|Mason|2006|p=847}} However, the Visigothic conversion negatively impacted the Jews, who came under scrutiny for their religious practices.{{sfn|Collins|2000|pp=59–60}}

==Islamic ''al-Andalus'' and the Christian ''Reconquest'' (8th–15th centuries)==
{{Main|Umayyad conquest of Hispania|Al-Andalus|Spain in the Middle Ages|Reconquista}}
[[File:Hispania 700 AD.PNG|thumb|[[Visigoth]]ic Hispania and its regional divisions in 700, prior to the Muslim conquest]]
[[File:Map Iberian Peninsula 750-en.svg|thumb|[[al-Andalus]] at its greatest extent, 720]]
The [[Umayyad Caliphate]] dominated most of North Africa by 710 AD. In 711 an Islamic [[Berber people|Berber]] conquering party, led by [[Tariq ibn Ziyad]], was sent to Hispania to intervene in a civil war in the [[Visigothic Kingdom]].<ref>''[[Akhbār majmūʿa|Akhbār majmūa]]'', p. 21 of Spanish translation, p. 6 of Arabic text.</ref> Crossing the [[Strait of Gibraltar]], they won a decisive victory in the summer of 711 when the Visigothic King [[Roderic]] was defeated and killed on July 19 at the [[Battle of Guadalete]]. Tariq's commander, Musa, quickly crossed with Arab reinforcements, and by 718 the [[Muslim]]s were in control of nearly the whole [[Iberian Peninsula]]. The advance into [[Western Europe]] was only stopped in what is now north-central France by the West Germanic [[Franks]] under [[Charles Martel]] at the [[Battle of Tours]] in 732.

The Muslim conquerors (also known as "Moors") were [[Arabs]] and [[Berbers]]; following the conquest, conversion and arabization of the Hispano-Roman population took place,{{Sfn|Marín-Guzmán|1991|pp=41–42}} (''muwalladum'' or ''[[Muwallad]]'').{{Sfn|Marín-Guzmán|1991|p=43}}<ref name="Fernández-Morera2016">{{cite book|first=Darío|last=Fernández-Morera|title=The Myth of the Andalusian Paradise|url={{google books|plainurl=y|id=PJNgCwAAQBAJ|page=286}}|date=2016|publisher=Intercollegiate Studies Institute|isbn=978-1-5040-3469-2|page=286}}</ref> After a long process, spurred on in the 9th and 10th centuries, the majority of the population in Al-Andalus converted to Islam.{{Sfn|Marín-Guzmán|1991|p=47}} The Muslim population was divided per ethnicity (Arabs, Berbers, Muwallad), and the supremacy of Arabs over the rest of group was a recurrent cause for strife, rivalry and hatred, particularly between Arabs and Berbers.{{Sfn|Marín-Guzmán|1991|pp=43–44}} Arab elites could be further divided in the Yemenites (first wave) and Syrians (second wave).{{Sfn|Marín-Guzmán|1991|p=45}} Male Muslim rulers were often the offspring of female Christian slaves.<ref name="O'Callaghan152,293" /> Christians and Jews were allowed to live as subordinate groups of a stratified society under the [[Dhimmi|''dhimmah'' system]],{{Sfn|Marín-Guzmán|1991|p=46}} although Jews became very important in certain fields.{{Sfn|Marín-Guzmán|1991|p=49}} Some Christians migrated to the Northern Christian kingdoms, while those who stayed in Al-Andalus progressively arabised and became known as ''musta'arab'' ([[mozarab]]s).{{Sfn|Marín-Guzmán|1991|p=48}} Besides slaves of Iberian origin,<ref name="O'Callaghan152,293">{{cite book|first=Joseph F.|last=O'Callaghan|title=A History of Medieval Spain|url={{google books|plainurl=y|id=cq2dDgAAQBAJ|page=152}}|date=2013|publisher=Cornell University Press|isbn=978-0-8014-6872-8|pages=152, 293}}</ref> the slave population also comprised the ''[[Saqaliba|Ṣaqāliba]]'' (literally meaning "slavs", although they were slaves of generic European origin) as well as [[Sudan (region)|Sudanese]] slaves.{{Sfn|Marín-Guzmán|1991|p=50}} The frequent raids in Christian lands provided Al-Andalus with continuous slave stock, including women who often became part of the harems of the Muslim elite.<ref name="O'Callaghan152,293" /> Slaves were also shipped from Spain to elsewhere in the [[Ummah]].<ref name="O'Callaghan152,293" />

In what should not have amounted to much more than a skirmish (later magnified by [[Spanish nationalism]]),<ref>{{Cite journal|title=The Second Battle of Covadonga: The Politics of Commemoration in Modern Spain|first=Carolyn P.|last=Boyd|journal=History and Memory|volume=14|issue=1–2|year=2002|pages=37–64|doi=10.2979/his.2002.14.1-2.37|quote=The battle cannot have amounted to much more than a minor skirmish between a small band of Asturian warriors and the Muslim expeditionary force sent to crush their resistance|jstor=10.2979/his.2002.14.1-2.37}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|page=166|publisher=[[Routledge]]|year=2016|isbn=978-0-415-82494-1|url={{google books|plainurl=y|id=nIa9CgAAQBAJ}}|title=The Crusader World|editor-first=Adrian J.|editor-last=Boas|first=Luis|last=García-Guijarro Ramos|chapter=Christian expansion in medieval Iberia: ''Reconquista'' or crusade?|quote=Traditional Spanish nationalism converted a skirmish, the Battle of Covadonga (718–722) and the figure of Pelayo, reckoned as first king of Asturias (718–737), into symbols of the will to recover the Visigothic unity and reinstate Christianity only a few years after the rout of Guadalete}}</ref> a Muslim force sent to put down the Christian rebels in the northern mountains was defeated by a force reportedly led by [[Pelagius of Asturias|Pelagius]], known as the [[Battle of Covadonga]]. The figure of Pelagius, a by-product of the Asturian chronicles of [[Alfonso III of Asturias|Alfonso III]] (written more than a century after the alleged battle), has been later reconstructed in conflicting historiographical theories, most notably that of a refuged Visigoth noble or an autochthonous [[Astures|Astur]] chieftain.<ref>{{Citation|url=http://e-spacio.uned.es/fez/eserv.php?pid=bibliuned:ETF69E0AA15-BB37-F500-0A2D-47FB322D7224&dsID=Documento.pdf|pages=90–92|title=¡Pelayo vive! un arquetipo político en el horizonte ideológico del reino astur-leonés|volume=10|year=1998|journal=Espacio Tiempo y Forma. Serie III, Historia Medieval|first=Arsenio|last=Dacosta|location=Madrid|publisher=[[UNED]]|issn=0214-9745}}</ref> The consolidation of a Christian polity that came to be known as the [[Kingdom of Asturias]] ensued later. At the end of Visigothic rule, the assimilation of Hispano-Romans and Visigoths was occurring rapidly. An unknown number fled and took refuge in Asturias or Septimania. In Asturias they supported Pelagius's uprising, and joining with the indigenous leaders, formed a new aristocracy. The population of the mountain region consisted of native [[Astures]], [[Galicians]], [[Cantabri]], [[Basques]] and other groups unassimilated into Hispano-Gothic society.<ref name="O'Callaghan2013"/> In 739, a rebellion in Galicia, assisted by the Asturians, drove out Muslim forces and it joined the Asturian kingdom. In the northern Christian kingdoms, lords and religious organizations often owned Muslim slaves who were employed as laborers and household servants.<ref name="O'Callaghan152,293"/>

[[Caliph]] [[Al-Walid I]] had paid great attention to the expansion of an organized military, building the strongest navy in the [[Umayyad Caliphate]] era (the second major Arab dynasty after Mohammad and the first Arab dynasty of [[Al-Andalus]]). It was this tactic that supported the ultimate expansion to Hispania. Islamic power in Spain specifically climaxed in the 10th century under [[Abd-ar-Rahman III|Abd-al-Rahman III]].<ref>{{cite book|last=Fletcher|first=Richard|title=Moorish Spain|year=2006|publisher=University of California Press|location=Los Angeles|isbn=0-520-24840-6|page=[https://archive.org/details/moorishspain00rich/page/53 53]|url=https://archive.org/details/moorishspain00rich/page/53}}</ref> The rulers of [[Al-Andalus]] were granted the rank of [[Emir]] by the Umayyad Caliph Al-Walid I in [[Damascus]]. When the [[Abbasid Caliphate|Abbasids]] overthrew the Umayyad Caliphate, [[Abd al-Rahman I]] managed to escape to al-Andalus and declared it independent. The state founded by him is known as the [[Emirate of Cordoba]]. Al-Andalus was rife with internal conflict between the Islamic Umayyad rulers and people and the Christian Visigoth-Roman leaders and people.

[[File:506-Castile 1210.png|thumb|The Christian kingdoms of Hispania and the Islamic [[Almohad Caliphate|Almohad empire]] c. 1210|alt=]]

The Vikings invaded Galicia in 844, but were heavily defeated by [[Ramiro I of Asturias|Ramiro I]] at [[A Coruña]].<ref name=Haywood/> Many of the Vikings' casualties were caused by the Galicians' [[ballista]]s – powerful torsion-powered projectile weapons that looked rather like giant crossbows.<ref name=Haywood/> 70 Viking ships were captured and burned.<ref name="Haywood">{{cite book|last1=Haywood|first1=John|title=Northmen|url={{google books|plainurl=y|id=JGmoCgAAQBAJ|page=189}}|isbn=978-1781855225|date=2015|publisher=Bloomsbury}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|title=A History of the Vikings|url={{google books|plainurl=y|id=7Hh0DwAAQBAJ|page=207}}|isbn=978-1136242397|last1=Kendrick|first1=Sir Thomas D.|date=2018|publisher=Routledge}}</ref> Vikings returned to Galicia in 859, during the reign of [[Ordoño I of Asturias|Ordoño I]]. Ordoño was at the moment engaged against his constant enemies the Moors; but a count of the province, Don Pedro, attacked the Vikings and defeated them,<ref>{{Cite book|last=Keary|first=Charles|url=http://worldcat.org/oclc/1189372710|title=The Viking Age|date=20 April 2018|publisher=Ozymandias Press|isbn=978-1-5312-9114-3|oclc=1189372710}}</ref> destroying 38 of their ships.

In the 10th century [[Abd-ar-Rahman III|Abd-al-Rahman III]] declared the [[Caliphate of Córdoba]], effectively breaking all ties with the Egyptian and Syrian caliphs. The Caliphate was mostly concerned with maintaining its power base in North Africa, but these possessions eventually dwindled to the [[Ceuta]] province. The first navy of the Emir of Córdoba was built after the [[Viking]] ascent of the [[Guadalquivir]] in 844 when they [[Viking raid on Seville|sacked Seville]].<ref name="zum.de">{{cite web|url=http://www.zum.de/whkmla/timelines/wh/tlvikings.html|title=Timelines – Vikings, Saracens, Magyars|date=7 April 2024}}</ref>

In 942, [[Hungarian raid in Spain (942)|Hungarian raids on Spain]], especially in [[Catalonia]],<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Font|first1=Gemma|last2=Rams|first2=Josep M. Llorens i|last3=Pujadas|first3=Sandra|date=1994-01-11|title=Santa Coloma de Farners a l'Alta Edat Mitjana: La vila, l'ermita, el castell|url=https://raco.cat/index.php/AnnalsGironins/article/view/54130|journal=Annals de l'Institut d'Estudis Gironins|pages=355–377|issn=2339-9937}}</ref> took place, according to [[Ibn Hayyan]]'s work.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Elter|first=I.|year=1981|title=Remarks on Ibn Hayyan's report on the Magyar raids on Spain|journal=Magyar Nyelv|issue=77|pages=413–419}}</ref><ref name="zum.de"/> Meanwhile, a slow but steady migration of Christian subjects to the northern kingdoms in Christian Hispania was slowly increasing the latter's power.

Al-Andalus coincided with ''[[La Convivencia]]'', an era of relative religious tolerance, and with the [[Golden age of Jewish culture in the Iberian Peninsula]].<ref>{{Cite web|title=Granada – JewishEncyclopedia.com|url=https://jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/6855-granada|access-date=2022-08-17|website=jewishencyclopedia.com|first1=Richard|last1=Gottheil|first2=Meyer|last2=Kayserling|date=1906}}</ref> Muslim interest in the peninsula returned in force around the year 1000 when [[Almanzor|Al-Mansur]] (''Almanzor'') sacked Barcelona in 985, and he assaulted [[Zamora, Spain|Zamora]], [[Toro, Spain|Toro]], [[León, Spain|Leon]] and [[Astorga, Spain|Astorga]] in 988 and 989, which controlled access to [[Galicia (Spain)|Galicia]].<ref>Sánchez Candeira 1999 P. 24</ref> Under his son, other Christian cities were subjected to numerous raids.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://libro.uca.edu/rc/rc1.htm|title=Ransoming Captives, Chapter One|first=James William|last=Brodman|website=libro.uca.edu}}</ref> After his son's death, the caliphate plunged into a [[civil war]] and splintered into the so-called "[[Taifa]] Kingdoms". The Taifa kings competed in war and in the protection of the arts, and culture enjoyed a brief renaissance. The ''aceifas'' (Muslim military expeditions made in summer in medieval Spain) were the continuation of a policy from the times of the emirate: the capture of numerous contingents of Christian slaves, the ''saqáliba'' (plural of ''siqlabi'', "slave").{{sfn|Lirola Delgado|1993|p=217}} These were the most lucrative part of the booty, and constituted an excellent method of payment for the troops, so much so that many ''aceifas'' were hunts for people.
The Almohads, who had taken control of the Almoravids' Maghribi and al-Andalus territories by 1147, surpassed the Almoravides in fundamentalist Islamic outlook, and they treated the non-believer ''[[dhimmi]]s'' harshly. Faced with the choice of death, conversion, or emigration, many [[Jews]] and Christians left.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.myjewishlearning.com/history_community/Medieval/IntergroupTO/JewishMuslim/Almohads.htm|title=The Almohads|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090213223723/http://www.myjewishlearning.com/history_community/Medieval/IntergroupTO/JewishMuslim/Almohads.htm|archive-date=2009-02-13}}</ref>

By the mid-13th century, the [[Emirate of Granada]] was the only independent Muslim realm in Spain, which survived [[Granada War|until 1492]] by becoming a [[vassal state]] to Castile, to which it paid [[parias|tribute]].

=== Warfare between Muslims and Christians ===
[[File:Cantigas battle.jpg|thumb|A battle of the ''Reconquista'' from the ''[[Cantigas de Santa Maria]]'']]
[[Spain in the Middle Ages|Medieval Spain]] was the scene of almost constant warfare between Muslims and Christians.

The Taifa kingdoms lost ground to the Christian realms in the north. After the loss of Toledo in 1085, the Muslim rulers reluctantly invited the [[Almoravides|Almoravids]], who invaded Al-Andalus from North Africa and established an empire. In the 12th century the Almoravid empire broke up again, only to be taken over by the [[Almohad]] invasion, who were defeated by an alliance of the Christian kingdoms in the decisive [[Battle of Las Navas de Tolosa]] in 1212. By 1250, nearly all of Hispania was back under Christian rule with the exception of the Muslim kingdom of Granada.

===Spanish language and universities===
[[File:Antonio de Nebrija Introductiones latinae 1550.jpg|thumb|right|The title page of the ''[[Gramática de la lengua castellana]]'' (1492), the first grammar of a modern European language to be published.]]
In the 13th century, many languages were spoken in the Christian kingdoms of Hispania. These were the Latin-based [[Romance languages]] of [[Spanish language|Castilian]], [[Aragonese language|Aragonese]], [[Catalan language|Catalan]], [[Galician language|Galician]], [[Aranese language|Aranese]], [[Asturian language|Asturian]], [[Leonese language|Leonese]], and [[Portuguese language|Portuguese]], and the ancient [[language isolate]] of [[Basque language|Basque]]. Throughout the century, Castilian (what is also known today as Spanish) gained a growing prominence in the Kingdom of Castile as the language of culture and communication, at the expense of Leonese and of other close dialects.

One example of this is the oldest preserved Castilian epic poem, ''[[Cantar de Mio Cid]]'', written about the military leader ''[[El Cid]]''. In the last years of the reign of [[Ferdinand III of Castile]], Castilian began to be used for certain types of documents, and it was during the reign of [[Alfonso X of Castile|Alfonso X]] that it became the official language. Henceforth all public documents were written in Castilian.

At the same time, Catalan and Galician became the standard languages in their respective territories, developing important literary traditions and being the normal languages in which public and private documents were issued: Galician from the 13th to the 16th century in Galicia and nearby regions of Asturias and Leon,<ref name="Paz1999">{{cite book|first=Ramón Mariño|last=Paz|title=Historia da lingua galega|url={{google books|plainurl=y|id=78x6QgAACAA }}|access-date=19 August 2013|year=1999|publisher=Sotelo Blanco Edicións|isbn=978-84-7824-333-4|pages=182–194}}{{Dead link|date=February 2023 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> and Catalan from the 12th to the 18th century in Catalonia, the Balearic Islands and Valencia, where it was known as Valencian. Both languages were later substituted in its official status by Castilian Spanish, till the 20th century.

In the 13th century many universities were founded in León and in Castile. Some, such as the Leonese [[University of Salamanca|Salamanca]] and the Castilian Palencia, were among the earliest universities in Europe.

In 1492, under the [[Catholic Monarchs]], the first edition of the ''[[Grammar of the Castilian Language]]'' by [[Antonio de Nebrija]] was published.

==Early modern Spain==
{{Main|Contemporary history of Spain|Habsburg Spain|Spanish Golden Age|Spain in the 17th century|History of Spain (1700–1810)|Enlightenment in Spain}}

===Dynastic union of the Catholic Monarchs===
[[File:Ferdinand of Aragon, Isabella of Castile (cropped).jpg|thumb|right|Wedding portrait of the Catholic Monarchs]]
In the 15th century, the most important among all of the Christian kingdoms that made up the old [[Hispania]] were the [[Kingdom of Castile]], the [[Kingdom of Aragon]], and the [[Kingdom of Portugal]].  The rulers of the kingdoms of Castile and Aragon were allied with dynastic families in Portugal, France, and other neighboring kingdoms.

The death of King [[Henry IV of Castile]] in 1474 set off a struggle for power called the [[War of the Castilian Succession]] (1475–1479). Contenders for the throne of Castile were Henry's one-time heir [[Joanna la Beltraneja]], supported by Portugal and France, and Henry's half-sister Queen [[Isabella I of Castile]], supported by the Kingdom of Aragon and by the Castilian nobility.

Isabella retained the throne and ruled jointly with her husband, [[Ferdinand II of Aragon|King Ferdinand II]]. Isabella and Ferdinand had married in 1469.{{sfn|Thomas|2003|p=18}} Their marriage united both crowns and set the stage for the creation of the Kingdom of Spain, at the dawn of the modern era. That union, however, was a union in title only, as each region retained its own political and judicial structure. Pursuant to an agreement signed by Isabella and Ferdinand on January 15, 1474,{{sfn|Thomas|2003|p=21}} Isabella held more authority over the newly unified Spain than her husband, although their rule was shared.{{sfn|Thomas|2003|p=21}} Together, Isabella of [[Crown of Castile|Castile]] and Ferdinand of [[Crown of Aragon|Aragon]] were known as the "Catholic Monarchs" ({{langx|es|los Reyes Católicos|links=no}}), a title bestowed on them by [[Pope Alexander VI]].

==== Conclusion of the Reconquista and expulsions of Jews and Muslims ====
{{Further|Reconquista|Spanish Inquisition|Black legend (Spain)}}
The monarchs oversaw the final stages of the [[Reconquista]] of [[Iberian Peninsula|Iberian]] territory from the [[Moors]] with the conquest of [[Granada]], conquered the [[Canary Islands]], and expelled the Jews from Spain under the [[Alhambra Decree]].
Although until the 13th century religious minorities (Jews and Muslims) had enjoyed considerable tolerance in Castile and Aragon – the only Christian kingdoms where Jews were not restricted from any professional occupation – the situation of the Jews collapsed over the 14th century, reaching a climax in 1391 with large scale massacres in every major city except [[Ávila, Spain|Ávila]].

The Catholic Monarchs ordered the remaining Jews to convert or face expulsion from Spain in 1492, and extended the expulsion decrees to their territories on the Italian peninsula, including [[Sicily]] (1493), [[Naples]] (1542), and [[Milan]] (1597).<ref>{{cite book|title=Religious Refugees in the Early Modern World: An Alternative History of the Reformation|date=2015|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-1107024564|page=108}}</ref>

Over the following decades, Muslims faced the same fate; and about 60 years after the Jews, they were also compelled to convert ("[[Moriscos]]") or be expelled. In the early 17th century, the converts were also expelled.

Isabella ensured long-term political stability in Spain by arranging strategic marriages for her five children. Her firstborn, [[Isabella, Princess of Asturias (1470–1498)|Isabella]], married [[Afonso, Prince of Portugal|Afonso of Portugal]], forging important ties between these two neighboring countries and hopefully ensuring future alliance, but the younger Isabella soon died before giving birth to an heir. [[Joanna of Castile|Juana]], Isabella's second daughter, married into the [[Habsburg dynasty]] when she wed [[Philip the Handsome|Philip the Fair]], the son of [[Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor|Maximilian I]], King of Bohemia (Austria) and likely heir to the crown of the [[Holy Roman Emperor]].

This ensured an alliance with the Habsburgs and the [[Holy Roman Empire]], a powerful, far-reaching territory that assured Spain's future political security. Isabella's only son, [[Juan, Prince of Asturias|Juan]], married [[Margaret of Austria, Duchess of Savoy|Margaret of Austria]], further strengthening ties with the Habsburg dynasty. Isabella's fourth child, [[Maria of Aragon, Queen of Portugal|Maria]], married [[Manuel I of Portugal]], strengthening the link forged by her older sister's marriage. Her fifth child, [[Catherine of Aragon|Catherine]], married King [[Henry VIII of England]] and was mother to Queen [[Mary I of England]].

==== Conquest of the Canary Islands, Columbian expeditions to the New World, and African expansion ====
{{See also|Conquest of the Canary Islands|Kingdom of the Canary Islands|Voyages of Christopher Columbus}}
[[File:Landing of Columbus (2) (cropped).jpg|thumb|Christopher Columbus leads expedition to the New World, 1492, sponsored by Spanish crown]]
[[File:Cisneros en la Toma de Oran Juan De Borgoña 1514 (cropped).jpeg|thumb|right|Taking of Oran by [[Francisco Jiménez de Cisneros]] in 1509.]]
The Castilian conquest of the [[Canary Islands]], inhabited by Guanche people, took place between 1402 (with the conquest of [[Lanzarote]]) and 1496 (with the conquest of [[Tenerife]]). Two periods can be distinguished in this process: the noble conquest, carried out by the nobility in exchange for a pact of vassalage, and the royal conquest, carried out directly by the Crown, during the reign of the Catholic Monarchs.<ref name="Mercer1980">{{cite book|first=John|last=Mercer|title=The Canary Islanders: Their Prehistory, Conquest, and Survival|url=https://archive.org/details/canaryislanderst00merc|url-access=registration|year=1980|publisher=Collings|isbn=978-0-86036-126-8|page=[https://archive.org/details/canaryislanderst00merc/page/214 214]}}</ref> By 1520, European military technology combined with the devastating epidemics such as bubonic plague and pneumonia brought by the Castilians and enslavement and deportation of natives led to the extinction of the Guanches.
Isabella and [[Ferdinand VII of Spain|Ferdinand]] authorized the 1492 expedition of [[Christopher Columbus]], who became the first known European to reach the [[New World]] since [[Leif Ericson]]. This and subsequent expeditions led to an influx of wealth into Spain, supplementing income from within Castile for the state that was a dominant power in Europe for the next two centuries.

Spain established colonies in North Africa that ranged from the Atlantic Moroccan coast to [[Tripoli, Libya|Tripoli]] in Libya. [[Melilla]] was occupied in 1497, [[Oran]] in 1509, [[Larache]] in 1610, and [[Ceuta]] was annexed from the Portuguese in 1668. Today, both Ceuta and Melilla still remain under Spanish control, together with smaller islets known as the ''[[presidio]]s menores'' ([[Peñón de Vélez de la Gomera]], [[Alhucemas Islands|las Islas de Alhucemas]], [[Chafarinas Islands|las Islas de Chafarinas]]).

===Spanish empire===
{{Main|Spanish Empire}}
{{See also|Habsburg Spain}}
[[File:Spanish Empire (diachronic).svg|thumb|upright=1.2|Map of territories that were once part of the Spanish Empire]]
The Spanish Empire was one of the first [[Global Empire|global empires]]. It was also one of the [[List of largest empires|largest empires]] in world history. In the 16th century, Spain and Portugal were in the vanguard of European global exploration and colonial expansion. The two kingdoms on the conquest and Iberian Peninsula competed with each other in opening of trade routes across the oceans. Spanish imperial conquest and colonization began with the Canary Islands in 1312 and 1402.{{sfn|Thomas|2003|p=58}} which began the [[Canary Islands#Castilian conquest|Castilian conquest]] of the Canary Islands, completed in 1495.
[[File:Conquista-de-México-por-Cortés-Tenochtitlan-Painting.png|thumb|right|The Conquest of Tenochtitlán]]
In the 15th and 16th centuries, trade flourished across the Atlantic between Spain and the Americas and across the Pacific between East Asia and Mexico via the Philippines. Spanish [[Conquistador]]s, operating privately, deposed the [[Aztec]], [[Inca Empire|Inca]] and [[Maya civilization|Maya]] governments with extensive help from local factions and took control of vast stretches of land.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Kamen|first=Henry Arthur Francis|url=http://worldcat.org/oclc/760583486|title=Empire : how Spain became a world power, 1492–1763|date=2004|publisher=HarperCollins|isbn=0-06-019476-6|oclc=760583486}}</ref> In the Philippines, the Spanish, using Mexican Conquistadors like [[Juan de Salcedo]], conquered the [[History of the Philippines (900–1565)|kingdoms and sultanates of the islands]] by pitting Pagans and Muslims against each other, employing the principle of "Divide and Conquer".<ref>{{cite book|last1=Guillermo|first1=Artemio|access-date=September 11, 2020|url={{google books|plainurl=y|id=wmgX9M_yETIC|page=374}}|year=2012|title=Historical Dictionary of the Philippines|publisher=The Scarecrow Press Inc.|orig-year=2012|page=374|isbn=978-0810875111|quote=To pursue their mission of conquest, the Spaniards dealt individually with each settlement or village and with each province or island until the entire Philippine archipelago was brought under imperial control. They saw to it that the people remained divided or compartmentalized and with the minimum of contact or communication. The Spaniards adopted the policy of divide et impera (divide and conquer).}}</ref> They considered their war against the Muslims of the Southeast Asia an extension of the Spanish [[Reconquista]].<ref>{{cite journal|last=Hawkley|first=Ethan|title=Reviving the Reconquista in Southeast Asia: Moros and the Making of the Philippines, 1565–1662|journal=Journal of World History|publisher=University of Hawai'i Press|year=2014|volume=25|issue=2–3|page=288|url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/276488434|doi=10.1353/jwh.2014.0014|quote=The early modern revival of the Reconquista in the Philippines had a profound effect on the islands, one that is still being felt today. As described above, the Spanish Reconquista served to unify Christians against a common Moro enemy, helping to bring together Castilian, Catalan, Galician, and Basque peoples into a single political unit: Spain. In precolonial times, the Philippine islands were a divided and unspecified part of the Malay archipelago, one inhabited by dozens of ethnolinguistic groups, residing in countless independent villages, strewn across thousands of islands. By the end of the seventeenth century, however, a dramatic change had happened in the archipelago. A multiethnic community had come together to form the colonial beginnings of a someday nation: the Philippines. The powerful influence of Christian-Moro antagonisms on the formation of the early Philippines remains evident more than four hundred years later, as the Philippine national government continues to grapple with Moro separatists groups, even in 2013.|s2cid=143692647}}</ref>

This New World empire was at first a disappointment, as the natives had little to trade. Diseases such as smallpox and measles that arrived with the colonizers devastated the native populations, especially in the densely populated regions of the Aztec, Maya and Inca civilizations, and this reduced their economic potential. Estimates of the pre-Columbian population of the Americas vary but possibly stood at 100&nbsp;million—one fifth of humanity in 1492. Between 1500 and 1600 the population of the Americas was halved. In Mexico alone, it has been estimated that the pre-conquest population of around 25&nbsp;million was reduced within 80 years to about 1.3&nbsp;million.

In the 1520s, large-scale extraction of silver from the rich deposits of Mexico's [[Guanajuato]] began to be greatly augmented by the silver mines in Mexico's [[Zacatecas]] and Bolivia's [[Potosí]] from 1546. These silver shipments re-oriented the Spanish economy, leading to the importation of luxuries and grain. The resource-rich colonies of Spain thus caused large cash inflows.<ref>{{cite book|last=Baten|first=Jörg|title=A History of the Global Economy. From 1500 to the Present.|date=2016|publisher=Cambridge University Press|page=159|isbn=978-1107507180}}</ref> They also became indispensable in financing the military capability of [[Habsburg Spain]] in its long series of European and North African wars.
[[File:La sevilla del sigloXVI.jpg|thumb|right|The Port of [[Seville]] in the late 16th century. Seville became one of the most populous and cosmopolitan European cities after the expeditions to the New World.<ref>{{Cite journal|title=Auge y decadencia del puerto de Sevilla como cabecera de las rutas indianas|first=Pablo E.|last=Pérez-Mallaína|issn=2272-9828|journal=Caravelle. Cahiers du monde hispanique et luso-brésilien|year=1997|issue=69|url=https://www.persee.fr/docAsPDF/carav_1147-6753_1997_num_69_1_2753.pdf|pages=23–24}}</ref>]]
Spain enjoyed a [[Spanish Golden Age|cultural golden age]] in the 16th and 17th centuries. For a time, the Spanish Empire dominated the oceans with its experienced [[Spanish navy|navy]] and ruled the European battlefield with its well trained infantry, the ''{{lang|es|[[tercio]]s}}''.

The financial burden within the peninsula was on the backs of the peasant class while the nobility enjoyed an increasingly lavish lifestyle. From the incorporation of the [[Portuguese Empire]] in 1580 (lost in 1640) until the loss of its American colonies in the 19th century, Spain maintained one of the largest empires in the world even though it suffered military and economic misfortunes from the 1640s. The thought that Spain could bring Christianity to the New World and protect Catholicism in Europe played a strong role in the expansion of Spain's empire.{{sfn|Carr|2000|pp= 116–172}}

===Spanish Kingdoms under the 'Great' Habsburgs (16th century)===
====Charles I, Holy Emperor====
[[File:Emperor charles v.png|thumb|[[Charles I of Spain]] (better known in the English-speaking world as the [[Holy Roman Emperor]] Charles V) was the most powerful European monarch of his day.<ref name="Patrick2007">{{cite book|first=James|last=Patrick|title=Renaissance and Reformation|url={{google books|plainurl=y|id=i6ZJlLHLPY8C|page=207}}|access-date=19 August 2013|year=2007|publisher=Marshall Cavendish|isbn=978-0-7614-7651-1|page=207}}</ref>]]
Spain's world empire reached its greatest territorial extent in the late 18th century but it was under the [[Habsburg]] dynasty in the 16th and 17th centuries it reached the peak of its power and declined. The [[Iberian Union]] with Portugal meant that the monarch of Castile was also the monarch of Portugal, but they were ruled as separate entities both on the peninsula and in Spanish America and Brazil. In 1640, the [[House of Braganza]] revolted against Spanish rule and reasserted Portugal's independence.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Lockhart|first=James|url=http://worldcat.org/oclc/1048770408|title=Early Latin America : a history of colonial Spanish America and Brazil|date=30 September 1983|isbn=978-0-521-29929-9|oclc=1048770408|page=250|publisher=Cambridge University Press}}</ref>

When Spain's first Habsburg ruler [[Charles I of Spain|Charles I]] became king of Spain in 1516 (with his mother and co-monarch Queen Juana I effectively powerless and kept imprisoned till her death in 1555), Spain became central to the dynastic struggles of Europe. Charles also became [[Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor]] and because of his widely scattered domains was not often in Spain.

In 1556 Charles abdicated, giving his Spanish empire to his only surviving son, [[Philip II of Spain]], and the Holy Roman Empire to his brother, Ferdinand. Philip treated Castile as the foundation of his empire, but the population of Castile (about a third of France's) was never large enough to provide the soldiers needed. His marriage to [[Mary I of England|Mary Tudor]] allied England with Spain.

====Philip II and the wars of religion====
[[File:Asedio de San Quintín.jpg|thumb|[[Battle of St. Quentin (1557)|Battle of St. Quentin]]]]

In the 1560s, plans to consolidate control of the Netherlands led to unrest, which gradually led to the [[Calvinism|Calvinist]] leadership of the revolt and the [[Eighty Years' War]]. The Dutch armies waged a war of [[maneuver warfare|maneuver]] and [[siege]], successfully avoiding [[pitched battle]]. This conflict consumed much Spanish expenditure during the later 16th century. Other extremely expensive failures included an attempt to invade Protestant England in 1588 that produced the worst military disaster in Spanish history when the [[Spanish Armada]]—costing 10&nbsp;million ducats—was scattered by a storm.

Economic and administrative problems multiplied in [[Castile (historical region)|Castile]], and the weakness of the native economy became evident in the following century. Rising [[price revolution|inflation]], financially draining wars in Europe, the ongoing aftermath of the [[Expulsion of Jews from Spain|expulsion of the Jews]] and Moors from Spain, and Spain's growing dependency on the silver imports, combined to cause several bankruptcies that caused economic crisis in the country, especially in heavily burdened Castile. The [[Great Plague of Seville|great plague]] of 1596–1602 killed 600,000 to 700,000, or about 10% of the population. Altogether more than 1,250,000 deaths resulted from the extreme incidence of plague in 17th-century Spain.{{sfn|Payne|1973a|loc=[http://libro.uca.edu/payne1/payne15.htm Chapter 15 The Seventeenth-Century Decline]}} Economically, the plague destroyed the labor force as well as creating a psychological blow.{{sfn|Elliott|2002|p=298}}

[[File:Europe map 1648.PNG|thumb|A map of Europe in 1648, after the [[Peace of Westphalia]]]]

===Cultural Golden Age (''Siglo de Oro'')===
{{Main|Spanish Golden Age}}
[[File:El Greco View of Toledo.jpg|thumb|''[[View of Toledo]]'' by [[El Greco]], between 1596 and 1600]]
The Spanish Golden Age (''[[Siglo de Oro]]'') was a period of flourishing arts and letters in the [[Spanish Empire]] (now Spain and the Spanish-speaking countries of Latin America), coinciding with the political decline and fall of the [[Habsburg]]s. Arts flourished despite the decline of the empire in the 17th century. The last great writer of the age, Sor [[Juana Inés de la Cruz]], died in [[New Spain]] in 1695.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Thomas|first=Hugh|url={{google books|plainurl=y|id=6uadJumfBakC}}|title=The Golden Age: The Spanish Empire of Charles V|date=2011|publisher=Penguin UK|isbn=978-0-241-96118-6}}</ref>

The [[Habsburgs]] were great patrons of art in their countries. ''[[El Escorial]]'', the great royal monastery built by King [[Philip II of Spain|Philip II]], invited the attention of some of Europe's greatest architects and painters. [[Diego Velázquez]], regarded as one of the most influential painters of European history and a greatly respected artist in his own time, cultivated a relationship with King Philip IV and his chief minister, the [[Count-Duke of Olivares]], leaving several portraits that demonstrate his style and skill. [[El Greco]], a respected Greek artist from the period, settled in Spain, and infused Spanish art with the styles of the Italian renaissance and helped create a uniquely Spanish style of painting.

Some of Spain's greatest music is regarded as having been written in the period. Such composers as [[Tomás Luis de Victoria]], [[Luis de Milán]] and [[Alonso Lobo]] helped to shape [[Renaissance music]] and the styles of [[counterpoint]] and [[polychoral]] music, and their influence lasted into the [[Baroque music|Baroque period]].

Spanish literature blossomed as well, most famously demonstrated in the work of [[Miguel de Cervantes]], the author of ''[[Don Quixote]]''. Spain's most prolific playwright, [[Lope de Vega]], wrote possibly as many as one thousand plays over his lifetime, over four hundred of which survive.

===Decline under the 'Minor' Habsburgs (17th century)===
{{See also|Decline of Spain}}
Spain's severe financial difficulties began in the middle 16th century, and continued for the remainder of Habsburg rule. Despite the successes of Spanish armies, the period was marked by monetary inflation, [[mercantilism]], and a variety of government monopolies and interventions. Spanish kings were forced to declare [[sovereign default]]s nine times between 1557 and 1666.<ref>{{Citation|last1=Fernández-Renau Atienza|first1=Daniel|last2=Howden|first2=David|title=Three Centuries of Boom-Bust in Spain|publisher=Mises Institute|date=21 January 2016|url=https://mises.org/library/three-centuries-boom-bust-spain}}</ref>

Philip II died in 1598, and was succeeded by his son [[Philip III of Spain|Philip III]]. In his reign (1598–1621) a ten-year truce with the Dutch was overshadowed in 1618 by Spain's involvement in the European-wide [[Thirty Years' War]]. Philip III was succeeded in 1621 by his son [[Philip IV of Spain]] (reigned 1621–65). Much of the policy was conducted by the [[Gaspar de Guzmán, Count-Duke of Olivares|Count-Duke of Olivares]], the inept prime minister from 1621 to 1643. He over-exerted Spain in foreign affairs and unsuccessfully attempted domestic reform. His policy of committing Spain to recapture Holland led to a renewal of the Eighty Years' War while Spain was also embroiled in the Thirty Years' War (1618–1648). His attempts to centralise power and increase wartime taxation led to revolts in Catalonia and in Portugal, which brought about his downfall.<ref name="Elliott1989">{{cite book|first=J. H.|last=Elliott|title=The Count-Duke of Olivares: The Statesman in an Age of Decline|url={{google books|plainurl=y|id=xsGfUv6l2PEC|page=601}}|date=1989|publisher=Yale University Press|isbn=978-0-300-04499-7|page=601}}</ref>

During the Thirty Years' War, in which various Protestant forces battled Imperial armies, France provided subsidies to Habsburg enemies, especially Sweden. Sweden lost and France's First Minister, [[Cardinal Richelieu]], in 1635 declared war on Spain. The open [[Franco-Spanish War (1635–59)|war]] with Spain started with a victory for the French at [[Battle of Les Avins|Les Avins]] in 1635. The following year Spanish forces based in the Southern Netherlands hit back with devastating lightning campaigns in northern France that left the economy of the region in tatters. After 1636, however, Olivares, fearful of provoking another bankruptcy, stopped the advance. In 1640, both [[Portuguese Restoration War|Portugal]] and [[Reapers' War|Catalonia]] rebelled. Portugal was lost for good; in northern Italy and most of Catalonia, French forces were expelled and Catalonia's independence was suppressed. In 1643, the French defeated one of Spain's best armies at [[Rocroi]], northern France.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Friedrich|first=Carl J.|url=http://worldcat.org/oclc/463189393|title=The age of the baroque : 1610–1660|date=1962|publisher=Harper & Row|oclc=463189393|pages=222–225}}</ref>

{{Main|Spain in the 17th century}}
[[File:Traite-Pyrenees.jpg|thumb|right|Louis XIV of France and Philip IV of Spain at the [[Meeting on the Isle of Pheasants]] in June 1660, part of the process to put an end to the [[Franco-Spanish War (1635–59)]].]]
The Spanish "Golden Age" politically ends no later than 1659, with the [[Treaty of the Pyrenees]], ratified between France and [[Habsburg Spain]].

During the long regency for [[Charles II of Spain|Charles II]], the last of the Spanish Habsburgs, favouritism milked Spain's treasury, and Spain's government operated principally as a dispenser of patronage. Plague, famine, floods, drought, and renewed war with France wasted the country. The Peace of the Pyrenees (1659) had ended fifty years of warfare with France, whose king, [[Louis XIV of France|Louis XIV]], found the temptation to exploit a weakened Spain too great. Louis instigated the [[War of Devolution]] (1667–68) to acquire the [[Spanish Netherlands]].

By the 17th century, the Catholic Church and Spain had a close bond, attesting to the fact that Spain was virtually free of Protestantism during the 16th century. In 1620, there were 100,000 Spaniards in the clergy; by 1660 the number had grown to about 200,000, and the Church owned 20% of all the land in Spain. The Spanish bureaucracy in this period was highly centralized, and totally reliant on the king for its efficient functioning. Under Charles II, the councils became the sinecures of wealthy aristocrats despite attempts at reform. Political commentators in Spain, known as [[arbitrista]]s, proposed a number of measures to reverse the decline of the Spanish economy, with limited success. In rural areas, heavy taxation of peasants reduced agricultural output as peasants migrated to the cities. The influx of [[silver from the Americas]] has been cited as the cause of inflation, although only the ''[[quinto real]]'' (royal fifth) actually went to Spain. A prominent internal factor was the Spanish economy's dependence on the export of luxurious [[Merino wool]], which had its markets in northern Europe reduced by war and growing competition from cheaper textiles.

The once proud Spanish army was falling far behind its foes. It did badly at [[Bergen op Zoom]] in 1622.  The Dutch won very easily at [['s-Hertogenbosch]] and [[Wesel]] in 1629. In 1632 the Dutch captured the strategic fortress town of [[Maastricht]], repulsing three relief armies and dooming the Spanish to defeat.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Kamen|first=Henry|title=The Decline of Spain: A Historical Myth?|date=1978|url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/past/81.1.24|journal=Past and Present|issue=81|pages=24–50|doi=10.1093/past/81.1.24|issn=0031-2746}}</ref>

While Spain built a rich American Empire that exported a silver treasure fleet every year, it was unable to focus its financial, military, and diplomatic power on building up its Spanish base. The Crown's dedication to destroying Protestantism through almost constant warfare created a cultural ethos among Spanish leaders that undermined the opportunity for economic modernization or industrialization. When Philip II died in 1598, his treasury spent most of its income on funding the huge deficit, which continued to grow. In peninsular Spain, the productive forces were undermined by steady inflation, heavy taxation, immigration of ambitious youth to the colonies, and by depopulation. Industry went into reverse – Seville in 1621 operated 400 looms, where it had 16,000 a century before. Religiosity led by saints and mystics, missionaries and crusaders, theologians and friars dominated Spanish culture, with the psychology of a reward in the next world. Palmer and Colton argue:
: the generations of crusading against infidels, even, heathens and heretics had produced an exceptionally large number of minor aristocrats, chevaliers, dons, and hidalgos, who as a class were contemptuous of work and who were numerous enough and close enough to the common people to impress their haughty indifference upon the country as a whole.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Palmer|first=Robert Roswell|url={{google books|plainurl=y|id=oBpHvgEACAAJ|page=127}}|page=127|title=A History of the Modern World|date=1950|publisher=Knopf}}</ref> Elliott cites the achievements of Castille in many areas, especially high culture. He finds:{{sfn|Elliott|2002|p=404}}
:A certain paradox in the fact that the achievement of the two most outstanding creative artists of Castile – Cervantes and Velázquez – was shot through with a deep sense of disillusionment and failure; but the paradox was itself a faithful reflection of the paradox of sixteenth-and seventeenth-century Castile. For here was a country which had climbed to the heights and sunk to the depths; which had achieved everything and lost everything; which had conquered the world only to be vanquished itself. The Spanish achievement of the sixteenth century was essentially the work of Castile, but so also was the Spanish disaster of the seventeenth; and it was [[José Ortega y Gasset|Ortega y Gasset]]  who expressed the paradox most clearly when he wrote what may serve as an epitaph on the Spain of the House of Austria: ‘Castile has made Spain, and Castile has destroyed it.’

The Habsburg dynasty became extinct in Spain with Charles II's death in 1700, and the [[War of the Spanish Succession]] ensued in which the other European powers tried to assume control of the Spanish monarchy. King [[Louis XIV of France]] eventually lost the [[War of the Spanish Succession]]. The victors were Britain, the Dutch Republic and Austria. They allowed the crown of Spain to pass to the [[Bourbon dynasty]], provided that Spain and France never merged.<ref>{{cite web|last1=Lesaffer|first1=Randall|title=The peace of Utrecht and the balance of power|url=https://blog.oup.com/2014/11/utrecht-peace-treaty-balance-power-europe/|website=OUP Blog|access-date=5 July 2018|date=2014-11-10}}</ref>

After the [[War of the Spanish Succession]], the assimilation of the [[Crown of Aragon]] by the [[Crown of Castile|Castilian Crown]], through the [[Nueva Planta decrees|Nueva Planta Decrees]], was the first step in the creation of the Spanish [[nation state]]. And like other European nation-states in formation,<ref>{{cite journal|year=1978|last=Connor|first=Walker|doi=10.1080/01419870.1978.9993240|journal=Ethnic and Racial Studies|issue=4|pages=377–400|title=A Nation is a Nation, is a State, is an Ethnic Group, is a...|volume=1}}</ref> it was not on a uniform [[Ethnic group|ethnic]] basis, but by imposing the political and cultural characteristics of the dominant ethnic group, in this case the Castilian, on those of the other ethnic groups, so they become [[national minorities]] to be assimilated.<ref>{{cite book|last=Sobrequés i Callicó|first=Jaume|year=2021|publisher=Departament de Justícia de la Generalitat de Catalunya|isbn=978-84-18601-20-0|language=Catalan|title=Repressió borbònica i resistència identitària a la Catalunya del segle XVIII}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|date=2006|title=L'Espill, nº 24|url=https://roderic.uv.es/handle/10550/34591|language=ca|first=Antoni|last=Simon|pages=45–46|journal=L'Espill|issue=24|publisher=Universitat de València}}</ref> Nationalist policies, sometimes very aggressive,<ref>{{cite book|first=Ferrer Gironès|publisher=Edicions 62|isbn=978-8429723632|language=Catalan|last=Francesc|page=320|title=La persecució política de la llengua catalana|year=1985}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|first=Benet|year=1995|publisher=Publicacions de l'Abadia de Montserrat|isbn=84-7826-620-8|language=Catalan|last=Josep|author-link=Josep Benet i Morell|title=L'intent franquista de genocidi cultural contra Catalunya}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|first=Lluís|publisher=Base|isbn=978-8418434983|language=Catalan|last=García Sevilla|page=300|title=Recopilació d'accions genocides contra la nació catalana|year=2022}}</ref><ref name=":03">{{cite book|first=Llaudó Avila|year=2021|edition=7th|publisher=Parcir|isbn=978-8418849107|place=Manresa|last=Eduard|title=Racisme i supremacisme polítics a l'Espanya contemporània}}</ref> and still in force,<ref>{{cite web|publisher=Plataforma per la llengua|title=Novetats legislatives en matèria lingüística aprovades el 2018 que afecten els territoris de parla catalana|url=https://www.plataforma-llengua.cat/media/upload/pdf/novetats_legislatives_en_materia_linguistic02_1571310685.pdf|date=June 2019}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|date=July 2021|title=Novetats legislatives en matèria lingüística aprovades el 2019 que afecten els territoris de parla catalana|url=https://plataforma-llengua.cat/media/upload/arxius/ambits-treball/Drets%20Ling%C3%BC%C3%ADstics/Novetats_legislatives_en_mat%C3%A8ria_ling%C3%BC%C3%ADstic-2019-ok.pdf|publisher=Plataforma per la llengua}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|date=December 2019|publisher=Plataforma per la llengua|title=Comportament lingüístic davant dels cossos policials espanyols|url=https://www.plataforma-llengua.cat/media/upload/pdf/linguisticcossospolicials_1576579756.pdf}}</ref> have been and are the seeds of repeated territorial conflicts within the state.

== Spain under the Bourbons, 1715–1808 ==
{{Main|History of Spain (1700–1810)}}
{{See also|Nation state}}
[[File:Recognition of the Duke of Anjou as King of Spain.png|thumb|right|''Recognition of the Duke of Anjou as King of Spain, under the name of Philip V, November 16, 1700'']]
[[Charles II of Spain|Charles II]] died in 1700, and having no direct heir, was succeeded by his great-nephew [[Philip V of Spain|Philip, Duke of Anjou]], a French prince. The [[War of the Spanish Succession]] (1700–1714) pitted proponents of the Bourbon succession against those for the Hapsburg.  Concern among other European powers that Spain and France united under a single Bourbon monarch would upset the [[Balance of power in international relations|balance of power]], the war pitted powerful France and fairly strong Spain against the Grand Alliance of England, Portugal, Savoy, the Netherlands and Austria.  After an extended conflict, especially in Spain, the [[treaty of Utrecht]] recognized Philip as King of Spain (as Philip V). However, Philip was compelled to renounce any right to the French throne, despite some doubts as to the lawfulness of such an act. Spain's Italian territories were apportioned.<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Church|first1=William F.|last2=Wolf|first2=John B.|date=July 1952|title=The Emergence of the Great Powers, 1685–1715|url=http://dx.doi.org/10.2307/1844260|journal=The American Historical Review|volume=57|issue=4|page=956|doi=10.2307/1844260|jstor=1844260|issn=0002-8762}}</ref>

[[File:Iberian Peninsula antique map.jpg|right|thumb|An 18th-century map of the [[Iberian Peninsula]]]]
[[File:The Battle of Cape Passaro, 11 August 1718 RMG BHC0351.tiff|thumb|The [[Battle of Cape Passaro]], 11 August 1718]]
Philip signed the ''[[Nueva Planta decrees|Decreto de Nueva Planta]]'' in 1715, which revoked most of the historical rights and privileges of the different kingdoms that formed the Spanish Crown, especially the [[Crown of Aragon]], unifying them under the laws of Castile, where the Castilian [[Cortes Generales]] had been more receptive to the royal wish.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Kamen|first=Henry|date=2017|title=Philip of Spain|url=http://dx.doi.org/10.12987/9780300184266|doi=10.12987/9780300184266|isbn=978-0-300-18426-6}}</ref> Spain became culturally and politically a follower of [[Absolutism (European history)|absolutist]] France. Lynch says Philip V advanced the government only marginally and was more of a liability than the incapacitated Charles II; when a conflict came up between the interests of Spain and France, he usually favored France.<ref name="John Lynch 1989 pp 67- 115">{{Cite book|last=John|first=Lynch|url=http://worldcat.org/oclc/638082419|title=Bourbon Spain, 1700–1808|date=1989|publisher=Basil Blackwell Scientific Publications|isbn=0-631-14576-1|oclc=638082419|pages=67–115}}</ref>

Philip made reforms in government, and strengthened the central authorities relative to the provinces. Merit became more important, although most senior positions still went to the landed aristocracy. Below the elite level, inefficiency and corruption was as widespread as ever.
The reforms started by Philip V culminated in much more important reforms of Charles III.<ref name="John Lynch 1989 pp 67- 115"/><ref>{{harvnb|Payne|1973b|p=71}} Charles III "was probably the most successful European ruler of his generation".</ref> The historian [[Jonathan Israel]], however, argues that King Charles III cared little for the Enlightenment and his ministers paid little attention to the Enlightenment ideas influential elsewhere on the Continent: "Most were first and foremost absolutists and their objective was always to reinforce monarchy, empire, aristocracy...and ecclesiastical control and authority over education."<ref>{{cite book|first=Jonathan|last=Israel|title=Democratic Enlightenment:Philosophy, Revolution, and Human Rights 1750–1790|url={{google books|plainurl=y|id=bOuSTyS2H7MC|page=374}}|year=2011|publisher=Oxford University Press|page=374|isbn=978-0191620041}}</ref>

The economy improved over the depressed 1650–1700 era, with greater productivity and fewer famines and epidemics.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Hamilton|first=Earl J.|date=1943|title=Money and Economic Recovery in Spain under the First Bourbon, 1701–1746|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/1871302|journal=The Journal of Modern History|volume=15|issue=3|pages=192–206|doi=10.1086/236742|jstor=1871302|s2cid=155025535|issn=0022-2801}}</ref>

[[Elisabeth of Parma]], Philip V's wife, exerted great influence on Spain's foreign policy. Her principal aim was to have Spain's lost territories in Italy restored. In 1717, Philip V ordered an [[Spanish conquest of Sardinia|invasion of Sardinia]]. Spanish troops then invaded Sicily. The aggression prompted the Holy Roman Empire to form a new pact with the members of the [[Triple Alliance (1717)|Triple Alliance]], resulting in the Quadruple Alliance of 1718. All members demanded Spanish retreat, resulting in war by December 1718. The war lasted two years and resulted in a rout of the Spanish. Hostilities ceased with the [[Treaty of The Hague (1720)|Treaty of The Hague]] in February 1720; Philip V abandoned all claims on Italy. Later, however, Spain reconquered [[Kingdom of Naples|Naples]] and [[Kingdom of Sicily|Sicily]] during the [[War of the Polish Succession]] (1733–35). In 1748, after the [[War of the Austrian Succession]] (1740–48), Spain obtained the duchies of [[Duchy of Parma|Parma]], [[Piacenza]] and [[Duchy of Guastalla|Guastalla]] in northern Italy.

The rule of the Spanish Bourbons continued under [[Ferdinand VI of Spain|Ferdinand VI]] (1746–59) and [[Charles III of Spain|Charles III]] (1759–88). Under the rule of Charles III and his ministers – [[Leopoldo de Gregorio, Marquis of Esquilache]] and [[José Moñino y Redondo, conde de Floridablanca|José Moñino, Count of Floridablanca]] – the economy improved. Fearing that Britain's victory over France in the [[Seven Years' War]] (1756–63) threatened the [[European balance of power]], Spain allied itself to France and [[Spanish invasion of Portugal (1762)|invaded Portugal]], a British ally, but suffered a series of military defeats and ended up having to cede [[Florida]] to the British at the [[Treaty of Paris (1763)]] while gaining [[Louisiana]] from France. Spain regained Florida with the [[Treaty of Paris (1783)]], which ended the American Revolutionary War (1775–83), and gained an improved international standing.

However, there were no reforming impulses in the reign of [[Charles IV of Spain|Charles IV]] (1788 to abdication in 1808), seen by some as mentally handicapped. Dominated by his wife's lover, [[Manuel de Godoy]], Charles IV embarked on policies that overturned much of Charles III's reforms. After briefly opposing [[Revolutionary France]] early in the [[French Revolutionary Wars]], Spain was cajoled into an uneasy alliance with France, only to be blockaded by the British.  Charles IV's vacillation, culminating in his failure to honour the alliance by neglecting to enforce the [[Continental System]], led to the invasion of Spain in 1808 under [[Napoleon I of France|Napoleon I]], thereby triggering the [[Peninsular War]], with enormous human and property losses, and loss of control over most of the overseas empire.

During most of the 18th century Spain had arrested its relative decline of the latter part of the 17th century. But despite the progress, it continued to lag in the political and mercantile developments then transforming other parts of Europe, most notably in Great Britain, the Low Countries, and France. The chaos unleashed by the Peninsular War caused this gap to widen greatly and slowed Spain's industrialisation.
[[File:El paseo de las Delicias, en Madrid (Francisco Bayeu, Museo del Prado).jpg|thumb|right|''El paseo de las Delicias'', a 1784–1785 painting by [[Ramón Bayeu]] depicting a meeting of members of the aristocracy in the aforementioned location.]]
The [[Age of Enlightenment]] reached Spain in attenuated form about 1750. Attention focused on medicine and physics, with some philosophy.  French and Italian visitors were influential but there was little challenge to Catholicism or the Church such as characterized the French [[philosophes]].  The leading Spanish figure was [[Benito Jerónimo Feijóo y Montenegro|Benito Feijóo]], a Benedictine monk and professor. He was a successful popularizer noted for encouraging scientific and empirical thought.  By the 1770s the conservatives had launched a counterattack and used censorship and the Inquisition to suppress Enlightenment ideas.{{sfn|Payne|1973b|pp=367–371}}

At the top of the social structure of Spain in the 1780s stood the nobility and the church. A few hundred families dominated the aristocracy, with another 500,000 holding noble status. There were 200,000 church men and women, half of them in heavily endowed monasteries that controlled much of the land not owned by the nobles.  Most people were on farms, either as landless peons or as holders of small properties.  The small urban middle class was growing, but was distrusted by the landowners and peasants alike.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Ford|first=Franklin L.|date=2014-01-21|title=Europe 1780–1830|url=http://dx.doi.org/10.4324/9781315836461|doi=10.4324/9781315836461|page=32|isbn=9781317870951}}</ref>

== War of Spanish Independence and American wars of independence ==
{{Main|Contemporary history of Spain}}
{{See also|History of Spain (1810–73)}}

=== War of Spanish Independence (1808–1814) ===
{{Main|Peninsular War}}
[[File:El dos de mayo de 1808 en Madrid.jpg|thumb|right|''[[The Second of May 1808]]'' was the beginning of the popular Spanish resistance against Napoleon.]]

In the late 18th century, Spain had an alliance with France, and therefore did not have to fear a land war. Its only serious enemy was Britain, which had a powerful navy; Spain therefore concentrated its resources on its navy. When the French Revolution overthrew the Bourbons, a land war with France became a threat which the king tried to avoid. The Spanish army was ill-prepared. The officer corps was selected primarily on the basis of royal patronage, rather than merit. About a third of the junior officers had been promoted from the ranks and had few opportunities for promotion or leadership. The rank-and-file were poorly trained peasants. Elite units included foreign regiments of Irishmen, Italians, Swiss, and [[Walloons]], in addition to elite artillery and engineering units. Equipment was old-fashioned and in disrepair. The army lacked its own horses, oxen and mules for transportation, so these auxiliaries were operated by civilians, who might run if conditions looked bad.  In combat, small units fought well, but their old-fashioned tactics were hardly of use against the Napoleonic forces, despite repeated desperate efforts at last-minute reform.<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Sturgill|first1=Claude C.|last2=Esdaile|first2=Charles|date=November 1989|title=The Spanish Army in the Peninsular War.|url=http://dx.doi.org/10.2307/2516106|journal=The Hispanic American Historical Review|volume=69|issue=4|page=755|doi=10.2307/2516106|jstor=2516106|issn=0018-2168}}</ref> When war broke out with France in 1808, the army was deeply unpopular. Leading generals were assassinated, and the army proved incompetent to handle command-and-control.  Junior officers from peasant families deserted and went over to the insurgents; many units disintegrated. Spain was unable to mobilize its artillery or cavalry. In the war, there was one victory at the [[Battle of Bailén]], and many humiliating defeats. Conditions steadily worsened, as the insurgents increasingly took control of Spain's battle against Napoleon.  Napoleon ridiculed the army as "the worst in Europe"; the British who had to work with it agreed.<ref>{{cite book|first1=Philip|last1=Haythornthwaite|first2=Christa|last2=Hook|title=Corunna 1809: Sir John Moore's Fighting Retreat|url={{google books|plainurl=y|id=X5c1vy_JumsC|page=17}}|year=2013|publisher=Osprey|pages=17–18|isbn=978-1472801982}}</ref> It was not the Army that defeated Napoleon, but the insurgent peasants whom Napoleon ridiculed as packs of "bandits led by monks".<ref>{{cite book|first=Russell|last=Crandall|title=America's Dirty Wars: Irregular Warfare from 1776 to the War on Terror|url={{google books|plainurl=y|id=Op1cAwAAQBAJ|page=21}}|year=2014|publisher=Cambridge UP|page=21|isbn=978-1107003132}}</ref>  By 1812, the army controlled only scattered enclaves, and could only harass the French with occasional raids. The morale of the army had reached a nadir, and reformers stripped the aristocratic officers of most of their legal privileges.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Pivka|first=Otto von|url=http://worldcat.org/oclc/2543018|title=Spanish armies of the Napoleonic Wars|date=1975|publisher=Osprey Publishing|isbn=0-85045-243-0|oclc=2543018}}</ref>

Spain initially sided against France in the [[Napoleonic Wars]], but the defeat of her army early in the war led to [[Charles IV of Spain|Charles IV]]'s pragmatic decision to align with the French. Spain was put under a British blockade, and her colonies began to trade independently with Britain, but Britain invaded and was defeated in the [[British invasions of the Río de la Plata]] in South America (1806 and 1807) without help from mainland Spain, which emboldened independence and revolutionary hopes in Spain's American colonies. A major Franco-Spanish fleet was lost at the [[Battle of Trafalgar]] in 1805, prompting the king to reconsider his difficult alliance with Napoleon. Spain temporarily broke off from the [[Continental System]], and Napoleon invaded Spain in 1808 and deposed [[Ferdinand VII of Spain|Ferdinand VII]], who had been on the throne only forty-eight days after his father's abdication in March 1808. On July 20, 1808, [[Joseph Bonaparte]], eldest brother of Napoleon Bonaparte, entered Madrid and became King of Spain, serving as a surrogate for Napoleon.<ref>{{cite book|first1=Julia Ortiz|last1=Griffin|first2=William D.|last2=Griffin|title=Spain and Portugal: A Reference Guide from the Renaissance to the Present|url={{google books|plainurl=y|id=TafGfPHuagsC|page=241}}|year=2007|publisher=Infobase Publishing|page=241|isbn=978-0816074761}}</ref>
[[File:El tres de mayo de 1808 en Madrid.jpg|thumb|right|''[[The Third of May 1808]]'', Napoleon's troops shoot hostages. Goya]]
Spaniards revolted.  Thompson says the Spanish revolt was, "a reaction against new institutions and ideas, a movement for loyalty to the old order: to the hereditary crown of the Most Catholic kings, which Napoleon, an excommunicated enemy of the Pope, had put on the head of a Frenchman; to the Catholic Church persecuted by republicans who had desecrated churches, murdered priests, and enforced a "loi des cultes"; and to local and provincial rights and privileges threatened by an efficiently centralized government.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Thompson|first=James Matthew|url=http://worldcat.org/oclc/1111461388|title=Napoleon Bonaparte : His Rise and Fall.|date=2018|publisher=Friedland Books|isbn=978-1-78912-759-1|oclc=1111461388|pages=244–245}}</ref>  ''[[Junta (Peninsular War)|Juntas]]'' were formed all across Spain that pronounced themselves in favor of Ferdinand VII. On September 26, 1808, a Central Junta was formed in the town of [[Aranjuez]] to coordinate the nationwide struggle against the French.  Initially, the Central Junta declared support for Ferdinand VII, and convened a "[[Cortes Generales|General and Extraordinary Cortes]]" for all the kingdoms of the Spanish Monarchy. On February 22 and 23, 1809, a popular insurrection against the French occupation broke out all over Spain.{{sfn|Herr|1974||pp=72–73}}
The peninsular campaign was a disaster for France. Napoleon did well when he was in direct command, but that followed severe losses, and when he left in 1809 conditions grew worse for France. Vicious reprisals, famously portrayed by Goya in "[[The Disasters of War]]", only made the Spanish guerrillas angrier and more active; the war in Spain proved to be a major, long-term drain on French money, manpower and prestige.<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Blanco|first1=Richard L.|last2=Gates|first2=David|date=October 1988|title=The Spanish Ulcer, A History of the Peninsular War.|url=http://dx.doi.org/10.2307/1988459|journal=Military Affairs|volume=52|issue=4|page=221|doi=10.2307/1988459|jstor=1988459|issn=0026-3931}}</ref>

[[File:Cortes de cadiz.jpg|thumb|right|''The promulgation of the Constitution of 1812'', oil painting by [[Salvador Viniegra]].]]
In March 1812, the [[Cortes of Cádiz]] created the first modern Spanish constitution, the [[Spanish Constitution of 1812|Constitution of 1812]] (informally named ''La Pepa''). This constitution provided for a separation of the powers of the executive and the legislative branches of government. The Cortes was to be elected by universal suffrage, albeit by an indirect method. Each member of the Cortes was to represent 70,000 people. Members of the Cortes were to meet in annual sessions. The King was prevented from either convening or proroguing the Cortes. Members of the Cortes were to serve single two-year terms. They could not serve consecutive terms; a member could serve a second term only by allowing someone else to serve a single intervening term in office. This attempt at the development of a modern constitutional government lasted from 1808 until 1814.<ref>{{cite book|first=Jon|last=Cowans|title=Modern Spain: A Documentary History|url={{google books|plainurl=y|id=IcmrVmq0_-8C|page=26}}|year=2003|publisher=U. of Pennsylvania Press|isbn=0-8122-1846-9|pages=26–27}}</ref> Leaders of the liberals or reformist forces during this revolution were [[José Moñino, 1st Count of Floridablanca|José Moñino, Count of Floridablanca]], [[Gaspar Melchor de Jovellanos]] and [[Pedro Rodríguez, Conde de Campomanes]]. Born in 1728, Floridablanca was eighty years of age at the time of the revolutionary outbreak in 1808. He had served as Prime Minister under King Charles III from 1777 until 1792; However, he tended to be suspicious of the popular spontaneity and resisted a revolution.<ref>{{cite book|first=Jesus|last=Cruz|title=Gentlemen, Bourgeois, and Revolutionaries: Political Change and Cultural Persistence among the Spanish Dominant Groups, 1750–1850|url={{google books|plainurl=y|id=Ks4ov_eww5UC|page=216}}|year=2004|publisher=Cambridge U.P.|pages=216–218|isbn=9780521894166}}</ref> Born in 1744, Jovellanos was somewhat younger than Floridablanco. A writer and follower of the philosophers of the Enlightenment tradition of the previous century, Jovellanos had served as Minister of Justice from 1797 to 1798 and now commanded a substantial and influential group within the Central Junta. However, Jovellanos had been imprisoned by [[Manuel Godoy, Prince of the Peace|Manuel de Godoy, Duke of Alcudia]], who had served as the prime minister, virtually running the country as a dictator from 1792 until 1798 and from 1801 until 1808. Accordingly, even Jovellanos tended to be somewhat overly cautious in his approach to the revolutionary upsurge that was sweeping Spain in 1808.<ref>{{cite book|first=George F.|last=Nafziger|title=Historical Dictionary of the Napoleonic Era|url={{google books|plainurl=y|id=Dcr7Zt2FEPoC|page=158}}|year=2002|publisher=Scarecrow Press|page=158|isbn=978-0810866171}}</ref>

The Spanish army was stretched as it fought Napoleon's forces because of a lack of supplies and too many untrained recruits, but at [[Battle of Bailén|Bailén]] in June 1808, the Spanish army inflicted the first major defeat suffered by a Napoleonic army; this resulted in the collapse of French power in Spain. Napoleon took personal charge and with fresh forces, defeating the Spanish and British armies in campaigns of attrition. After this the Spanish armies lost every battle they fought against the French, but were never annihilated; after battles they retreated into the mountains to regroup and launch new attacks and raids. Guerrilla forces sprang up all over Spain and, with the army, tied down huge numbers of Napoleon's troops, making it difficult to sustain concentrated attacks on Spanish forces. The raids became a massive drain on Napoleon's military and economic resources.<ref>{{cite book|first=David G.|last=Chandler|title=The Campaigns of Napoleon|url={{google books|plainurl=y|id=hNYWXeVcbkMC|page=659}}|year=1973|publisher=Simon and Schuster|page=659|isbn=978-1439131039}}</ref> Spain was aided by the British and Portuguese, led by the [[Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington|Duke of Wellington]]. The Duke of Wellington fought Napoleon's forces in the [[Peninsular War]], with Joseph Bonaparte playing a minor role as king at Madrid. The brutal war was one of the first [[guerrilla warfare|guerrilla wars]] in modern Western history. French supply lines stretching across Spain were mauled repeatedly by the Spanish armies and guerrilla forces; thereafter, Napoleon's armies were never able to control much of the country and ending in French defeat. The war fluctuated, with Wellington spending several years behind his fortresses in Portugal while launching occasional campaigns into Spain.<ref>{{cite book|first=Todd|last=Fisher|title=The Napoleonic Wars: The Rise And Fall Of An Empire|url={{google books|plainurl=y|id=j45Rg2VBbRAC|page=222}}|year=2004|publisher=Osprey Publishing|page=222|isbn=978-1841768311}}</ref>

After Napoleon's disastrous 1812 campaign in Russia, Napoleon began to recall his forces for the defence of France against the advancing Russian and other coalition forces, leaving his forces in Spain increasingly undermanned and on the defensive against the advancing Spanish, British and Portuguese armies. At the [[Battle of Vitoria]] in 1813, an allied army under the Duke of Wellington decisively defeated the French and in 1814 [[Ferdinand VII]] was restored as King of Spain.<ref>{{cite book|first=Ian|last=Fletcher|title=Vittoria 1813: Wellington Sweeps the French from Spain|url={{google books|plainurl=y|id=Zi1wxv8M8a4C}}|year=2012|publisher=Osprey Publishing|isbn=978-1782001959}}</ref><ref name="John Michael Francis 2006 905">{{cite book|first=John Michael|last=Francis|author1-link=J. Michael Francis|title=Iberia and the Americas: Culture, Politics, and History|url={{google books|plainurl=y|id=OMNoS-g1h8cC|page=905}}|year=2006|publisher=ABC-CLIO|page=905|isbn=978-1851094219}}</ref>

===Independence of Spanish America===
{{Main|Spanish American wars of independence}}
[[File:Batalla de Ayacucho by Martín Tovar y Tovar (1827 - 1902).jpg|thumb|The pro-independence forces delivered a crushing defeat to the royalists and secured the independence of Peru in the 1824 [[battle of Ayacucho]].]]
Spain lost all of its North and South American territories, except Cuba and Puerto Rico, in a complex series of revolts 1808–26.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Lynch|first=John|url={{google books|plainurl=y|id=m3q8ngEACAAJ}}|title=Latin American Revolutions, 1808–1826: Old and New World Origins|date=1994|publisher=University of Oklahoma Press|isbn=978-0-8061-2661-6}}</ref> Spain was at war with Britain 1798–1808, and the British blockade cut Spain's ties to the overseas empire. Trade was handled by American and Dutch traders. The colonies thus had achieved economic independence from Spain, and set up temporary governments or juntas which were generally out of touch with Spain. After 1814, as Napoleon was defeated and Ferdinand VII was back on the throne, the king sent armies to regain control and reimpose autocratic rule. In the next phase 1809–16, Spain defeated all the uprising. A second round 1816–25 was successful and drove the Spanish out of all of its mainland holdings. Spain had no help from European powers. Indeed, Britain (and the United States) worked against it. When they were cut off from Spain, the colonies saw a struggle for power between Spaniards who were born in Spain (called "peninsulares") and those of Spanish descent born in New Spain (called "creoles"). The creoles were the activists for independence. Multiple revolutions enabled the colonies to break free of the mother country. In 1824 the armies of generals [[José de San Martín]] of Argentina and [[Simón Bolívar]] of Venezuela defeated the last Spanish forces; the final defeat came at the [[Battle of Ayacucho]] in southern [[History of Peru|Peru]]. After that Spain played a minor role in international affairs. Business and trade in the ex-colonies were under British control. Spain kept only Cuba and Puerto Rico in the New World.{{sfn|Carr|2008|pp= 101–105, 122–123, 143–146, 306–309, 379–388}}

== Reign of Ferdinand VII (1813–1833) ==
===Aftermath of the Napoleonic wars===
{{Main|History of Spain (1810–73)}}
The Napoleonic wars had severe negative effects on Spain's long-term economic development. The Peninsular war ravaged towns and countryside alike, and the demographic impact was the worst of any Spanish war, with a sharp decline in population in many areas caused by casualties, outmigration, and disruption of family life. The marauding armies seized farmers' crops, and more importantly, farmers lost much of their livestock, their main capital asset. Severe poverty became widespread, reducing market demand, while the disruption of local and international trade, and the shortages of critical inputs, seriously hurt industry and services. The loss of a vast colonial empire reduced Spain's overall wealth, and by 1820 it had become one of Europe's poorest and least-developed societies; three-fourths of the people were illiterate. There was little industry beyond the production of textiles in Catalonia. Natural resources, such as coal and iron, were available for exploitation, but the transportation system was rudimentary, with few canals or navigable rivers, and road travel was slow and expensive. British railroad builders were pessimistic and did not invest. Eventually a small railway system was built, radiating from Madrid and bypassing the natural resources. The government relied on high tariffs, especially on grain, which further slowed economic development. For example, eastern Spain was unable to import inexpensive Italian wheat, and had to rely on expensive homegrown products carted in over poor roads. The export market collapsed apart from some agricultural products. Catalonia had some industry, but Castile remained the political and cultural center, and was not interested in promoting industry.<ref name="PradosSantiago-Caballero">{{cite web|first1=Carlos|last1=Santiago-Caballero|first2=Leandro|last2=Prados de la Escosura|title=The Napoleonic Wars: A Watershed in Spanish History?|url=http://www.ehes.org/EHES_130.pdf|website=EHES Working Papers in Economic History No. 1|publisher=European Historical Economics Society|access-date=29 April 2018|page=1|date=April 2018|archive-date=29 April 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180429222635/http://www.ehes.org/EHES_130.pdf|url-status=dead}}</ref>

Although the ''juntas'', that had forced the French to leave Spain, had sworn by the liberal [[Constitution of 1812]], [[Ferdinand VII of Spain|Ferdinand VII]] had the support of conservatives and he rejected it.<ref>{{cite book|first=David R.|last=Ringrose|title=Spain, Europe, and the 'Spanish Miracle', 1700–1900|url={{google books|plainurl=y|id=iZUGYOoIiscC|page=325}}|year=1998|publisher=Cambridge U.P.|page=325|isbn=978-0521646307}}</ref> He ruled in the authoritarian fashion of his forebears.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Esdaile|first=Charles J.|url=http://worldcat.org/oclc/906840302|title=Spain in the liberal age : from Constitution to Civil War, 1808–1939|date=2000|publisher=Blackwell Publishers|isbn=0-631-14988-0|oclc=906840302}}</ref>

The government, nearly bankrupt, was unable to pay its soldiers. There were few settlers or soldiers in Florida, so it was sold to the United States for $5&nbsp;million. In 1820, an expedition intended for the colonies revolted in [[Cadiz]]. When armies throughout Spain pronounced themselves in sympathy with the revolters, led by [[Rafael del Riego]], Ferdinand was forced to accept the liberal Constitution of 1812. This was the start of the second bourgeois revolution in Spain, the ''trienio liberal'' which lasted from 1820 to 1823.<ref name="John Michael Francis 2006 905"/> Ferdinand was placed under effective house arrest for the duration of the liberal experiment.

=== ''Trienio liberal'' (1820–23) ===
{{Main|Trienio liberal}}
The tumultuous three years of liberal rule that followed (1820–23) were marked by various absolutist conspiracies. The liberal government was viewed with hostility by the [[Congress of Verona]] in 1822, and France was authorized to intervene. France crushed the liberal government with massive force in the so-called "[[Hundred Thousand Sons of Saint Louis]]" expedition, and Ferdinand was restored as absolute monarch in 1823. In Spain proper, this marked the end of the second Spanish bourgeois revolution.

=== "Ominous Decade" (1823–1833) ===
{{Main|Ominous Decade}}
[[File:Fusilamiento de Torrijos (Gisbert).jpg|thumb|[[Execution of Torrijos and his Companions on the Beach at Málaga|Execution of Torrijos and his men]] in 1831. Ferdinand VII took [[Ominous Decade|repressive measures]] against the liberal forces in his country.]]
[[File:Bataille de la première guerre carliste 1833-1840.jpg|thumb|Battle of the First Carlist War, by [[Francisco de Paula Van Halen]]]]
In Spain, the failure of the second bourgeois revolution was followed by uneasy peace for the next decade. Having borne only a female heir presumptive, it appeared that Ferdinand would be succeeded by his brother, [[Infante Carlos, Count of Molina|Infante Carlos]]. While Ferdinand aligned with the conservatives, fearing another national insurrection, he did not view Carlos's reactionary policies as a viable option. Ferdinand – resisting the wishes of his brother – decreed the [[Pragmatic Sanction of 1830]], enabling his daughter Isabella to become Queen. Carlos, who made known his intent to resist the sanction, fled to Portugal.

== Reign of Isabella II (1833–1868) ==
{{Main|Minority of Isabella II of Spain|Isabella II of Spain|History of Spain (1810–73)}}

Ferdinand's death in 1833 and the accession of [[Isabella II of Spain|Isabella II]] sparked the [[First Carlist War]] (1833–39). Isabella was only three years old at the time so her mother, [[Maria Cristina of Bourbon-Two Sicilies]] governed as regent. Carlos invaded the Basque country in the north of Spain and attracted support from absolutist reactionaries and conservatives, known as the "Carlist" forces. The supporters of reform and of limitations on the absolutist rule of the Spanish throne rallied behind Isabella and the regent, Maria Cristina; these reformists were called "[[Christinos]]." Though Christino resistance to the insurrection seemed to have been overcome by the end of 1833, Maria Cristina's forces suddenly drove the Carlist armies from most of the Basque country. Carlos then appointed the Basque general [[Tomás de Zumalacárregui]] as his [[commander-in-chief]]. Zumalacárregui resuscitated the Carlist cause, and by 1835 had driven the Christino armies to the [[Ebro River]] and transformed the Carlist army from a demoralized band into a professional army of 30,000 of superior quality to the government forces. Zumalacárregui's death in 1835 changed the Carlists' fortunes. The Christinos found a capable general in [[Baldomero Espartero]]. His victory at the [[Battle of Luchana]] (1836) turned the tide of the war, and in 1839, the [[Convention of Vergara]] put an end to the first Carlist insurrection.<ref name="Hodge2008">{{cite book|first=Carl Cavanagh|last=Hodge|title=Encyclopedia of the age of imperialism: 1800–1914. A – K|url={{google books|plainurl=y|id=NtEZ7Zq7s-gC|page=138}}|access-date=13 December 2012|year=2008|publisher=Greenwood|page=138|isbn=978-0313334061}}</ref>

The [[Progressive Party (Spain)|progressive]] [[Baldomero Espartero, Prince of Vergara|General Espartero]], exploiting his popularity as a war hero and his sobriquet "Pacifier of Spain", demanded liberal reforms from Maria Cristina. The Queen Regent preferred to resign and let Espartero become regent instead in 1840. Espartero's liberal reforms were then opposed by moderates, and the former general's heavy-handedness caused a series of sporadic uprisings throughout the country from various quarters, all of which were bloodily suppressed. He was overthrown as regent in 1843 by [[Ramón María Narváez]], a moderate, who was in turn perceived as too reactionary. Another Carlist uprising, the [[Matiners' War]], was launched in 1846 in [[Catalonia]], but it was poorly organized and suppressed by 1849.
[[File:Episodio de la revolución de 1854 en la Puerta del Sol (cropped).JPG|thumb|left|Episode of the [[Spanish Revolution of 1854|1854 Spanish Revolution]] in the [[Puerta del Sol]], by [[Eugenio Lucas Velázquez]].]]
[[Isabella II of Spain|Isabella II]] took a more active role in government after coming of age, but she was unpopular throughout her reign (1833–68). There was another pronunciamiento in 1854 led General [[Leopoldo O'Donnell]], intending to topple the discredited rule of [[Luis Sartorius|the Count of San Luis]]. A popular insurrection followed the coup and the [[Progressive Party (Spain)|Progressive Party]] obtained widespread support in Spain and came to government in 1854.<ref>{{cite book|first=Stanley G.|last=Payne|title=Politics and the Military in Modern Spain|url=https://archive.org/details/politicsmilitary00payn|url-access=registration|year=1967|publisher=Stanford University Press|page=[https://archive.org/details/politicsmilitary00payn/page/26 26]|isbn=978-0804701280}}</ref> After 1856, O'Donnell, who had already marched on Madrid that year and ousted another Espartero ministry, attempted to form the [[Liberal Union (Spain)|Liberal Union]], his own political project. Following attacks on Ceuta by tribesmen based in Morocco, a [[Spanish-Moroccan War (1859)|war against the latter country]] was successfully waged by generals O'Donnell and [[Juan Prim]]. The later part of Isabella's reign saw also the [[Spanish occupation of the Dominican Republic|Spanish retake of Santo Domingo]] (1861–1865), and the fruitless [[Chincha Islands War]] (1864–1866) against [[Peru]] and [[Chile]].

==Sexenio Democrático (1868–1874)==
{{Main|Sexenio Democrático}} {{See also|History of Spain (1808–1874)}}
[[File:Gobierno Provisional 1869 (J.Laurent).jpg|thumb|right|Members of the provisional government after the 1868 Glorious Revolution, by [[Jean Laurent (photographer)|Jean Laurent]].]]
In 1868 another insurgency, known as the [[Glorious Revolution (Spain)|Glorious Revolution]], took place. The ''[[progresista]]'' generals [[Francisco Serrano y Dominguez|Francisco Serrano]] and [[Juan Prim]] revolted against Isabella and defeated her ''[[moderado]]'' generals at the [[Battle of Alcolea (1868)]]. Isabella was driven into exile in Paris.<ref>{{cite book|first=William James|last=Callahan|title=Church, Politics, and Society in Spain, 1750–1874|url={{google books|plainurl=y|id=UlDsJF_mD0wC|page=250}}|year=1984|publisher=Harvard U.P.|page=250|isbn=978-0674131255}}</ref>

Two years later, in 1870, the Cortes declared that Spain would again have a king. [[Amadeus I of Spain|Amadeus of Savoy]], the second son of King [[Victor Emmanuel II of Italy]], was selected and duly crowned [[King of Spain]] early the following year.<ref>{{cite book|first=Spencer|last=Tucker|title=The Encyclopedia of the Spanish-American and Philippine-American Wars: A Political, Social, and Military History|url={{google books|plainurl=y|id=8V3vZxOmHssC|page=12}}|date=2009|publisher=ABC-CLIO|page=12|isbn=978-1851099511}}</ref> Amadeus – a liberal who swore by the liberal constitution the Cortes promulgated – was faced immediately with the incredible task of bringing the disparate political ideologies of Spain to one table. The country was plagued by internecine strife, not merely between Spaniards but within Spanish parties. Following the Hidalgo affair and an army rebellion, Amadeus famously declared the people of Spain to be ungovernable, abdicated the throne, and left the country.

===First Spanish Republic (1873–1874)===
{{Main|First Spanish Republic}}
[[File:La République à Madrid, Scènes des rues dans la soirée du 11 Février, de Vierge.jpg|thumb|right|Proclamation of the Spanish Republic in Madrid]]

In the absence of the Monarch, a government of radicals and Republicans was formed and declared Spain a republic. The [[First Spanish Republic]] (1873–74) was immediately under siege from all quarters. The [[Carlist]]s were the most immediate threat, launching a violent insurrection after their poor showing in the 1872 elections. There were calls for socialist revolution from the [[International Workingmen's Association]], revolts and unrest in the autonomous regions of [[Navarre]] and [[Catalonia]], and pressure from the Catholic Church against the fledgling republic.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Brandt|first=Joseph August|url=http://worldcat.org/oclc/939629578|title=Toward a new Spain, the Spanish revolution of 1868 and the first republic|date=1976|publisher=Porcupine Press|isbn=0-87991-607-9|oclc=939629578}}</ref>

A coup took place in January 1874, when [[Manuel Pavía y Rodríguez de Alburquerque|General Pavía]] broke into the Cortes. This prevented the formation of a federal republican government, forced the dissolution of the Parliament and led to the instauration of a unitary praetorian republic ruled by [[Francisco Serrano, 1st Duke of la Torre|General Serrano]], paving the way for the [[Restoration (Spain)|Restoration of the Monarchy]] through another ''[[pronunciamiento]]'', this time by [[Arsenio Martínez Campos]], in December 1874.

==Restoration (1874–1931)==
{{Main|Spain under the Restoration}}

=== Reign of Alfonso XII and Regency of Maria Christina ===
{{Main|Reign of Alfonso XII|Regency of Maria Christina of Austria}}
[[File:Don Quijote, 5 de octubre de 1894, cropping.jpg|thumb|right|1894 satirical cartoon depicting the tacit accord for seamless government change (''turnismo'') between the leaders of two dynastic parties ([[Práxedes Mateo Sagasta|Sagasta]] and [[Antonio Cánovas del Castillo|Cánovas del Castillo]]), with the country being lied in an allegorical fashion.]]
Following the success of a December 1874 military coup the monarchy was restored in the person of [[Alfonso XII of Spain|Alfonso XII]] (the son of former queen Isabella II). The ongoing Carlist insurrection was eventually put down.<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Payne|first1=Stanley G.|last2=Beck|first2=Earl R.|date=February 1980|title=A Time of Triumph and Sorrow: Spanish Politics during the Reign of Alfonso XII, 1874–1885|url=http://dx.doi.org/10.2307/491971|journal=The History Teacher|volume=13|issue=2|page=305|doi=10.2307/491971|jstor=491971|issn=0018-2745}}</ref> The [[Restoration (Spain)|Restoration]] period, following the proclamation of the [[Spanish Constitution of 1876|1876 Constitution]], witnessed the installment of an uncompetitive parliamentary system devised by [[Antonio Cánovas del Castillo]], in which two "dynastic" parties, the [[conservatism|conservatives]] and the [[liberalism|liberals]] alternated in control of the government (''[[turnos|turnismo]]''). Election fraud (materialized in the so-called ''[[caciquismo]]'') became ubiquitous, with elections reproducing pre-arranged outcomes struck in the Capital.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Paper Liberals: Press and Politics in Restoration Spain|publisher=Greenwood Press|location=Westport & London|chapter=Elections and the Regency Press|first=David|last=Ortiz|pages=20–21|year=2000|isbn=0-313-312-16-8|chapter-url={{google books|plainurl=y|id=-5iFXgcllXoC}}}}</ref> Voter apathy was no less important.<ref name="CESWP">{{Cite journal|journal=Center for European Studies Working Paper|issue=101|title=Ministers and Regimes in Spain: From First to Second Restoration, 1874–2001|first1=Juan J.|last1=Linz|author-link=Juan José Linz|first2=Miguel|last2=Jerez|first3=Susana|last3=Corzo|url=https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/148847781.pdf}}</ref> The [[Reign of Alfonso XII|reign of Alfonso]] was followed by that of his son [[Alfonso XIII]],<ref>{{Cite book|last=Beck|first=Earl R.|url=http://worldcat.org/oclc/892239313|title=A Time of triumph and of sorrow : spanish politics during the reign of Alfonso XII : 1874–1885|date=1979|publisher=Southern Illinois University Press|isbn=0-8093-0902-5|oclc=892239313}}</ref> initially a regency until the latter's coming of age in 1902.

The 1876 Constitution granted the Catholic Church control of education (particularly secondary education).<ref>{{Cite journal|url=https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/38820958.pdf|page=231|year=2001|first=Juan Antonio|last=Lorenzo Vicente|journal=Revista Complutense de Educación|volume=12|issue=1|issn=1130-2496|publisher=[[Complutense University of Madrid|Ediciones Complutense]]|location=Madrid|title=Claves históricas y educativas de la Restauración y de la Segunda República (1876–1936)}}</ref> Meanwhile, an organization formed in 1876 upon a group of [[Krausism|Krausist]]s educators, the [[Institución Libre de Enseñanza]], had a leading role in the educational and cultural renovation in the country, covering for the inaction of the Spanish State.<ref>{{Cite journal|pages=7–8|title=Educación e ideología en la España del siglo XIX|last=Teodori de la Puente|first=Renata|journal=Educación|issn=1019-9403|volume=8|issue=15|year=1999|url=https://dialnet.unirioja.es/descarga/articulo/5056788.pdf}}</ref>

===Disaster of 1898===
[[File:Maine explosion.jpg|thumb|The explosion of the {{USS|Maine|ACR-1|6}} launched the [[Spanish–American War]] in April 1898]]
In 1868, Cuba launched a [[Ten Years' War|war of independence against Spain]]. As had been the case in Santo Domingo, the Spanish government was embroiled in a difficult campaign against an indigenous rebellion. [[Dominican Restoration War|Unlike in Santo Domingo]], however, Spain initially won this struggle. The pacification of the island was temporary, however, as the conflict [[Cuban War of Independence|revived in 1895]] and ended in defeat at the hands of the United States in the [[Spanish–American War]] of 1898. Cuba gained its independence and Spain lost its remaining New World colony, Puerto Rico, which together with Guam and the Philippines were ceded to the United States for $20&nbsp;million. In 1899, Spain sold its remaining Pacific islands – the [[Northern Mariana Islands]], [[Caroline Islands]] and [[Palau]] – to Germany and Spanish colonial possessions were reduced to [[Spanish Morocco]], [[Spanish Sahara]] and [[Spanish Guinea]], all in Africa.<ref>{{Cite journal|title=An Unwanted War: The Diplomacy of the United States and Spain over Cuba, 1895–1898|url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1163/2468-1733_shafr_sim040130024|access-date=2022-08-17|website=The SHAFR Guide Online|first=John L.|last=Offner|doi=10.1163/2468-1733_shafr_sim040130024}}</ref>

The "disaster" of 1898 created the [[Generation of '98]], a group of statesmen and intellectuals who demanded liberal change from the new government. However both [[anarchism]] on the left and [[fascism]] on the right grew rapidly in the early 20th century. A revolt in 1909 in [[Catalonia]] was bloodily suppressed.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Ramsden|first=H.|date=March 1974|title=The Spanish 'Generation of 1898': I. The history of a concept|url=http://dx.doi.org/10.7227/bjrl.56.2.10|journal=Bulletin of the John Rylands Library|volume=56|issue=2|pages=463–491|doi=10.7227/bjrl.56.2.10|issn=2054-9326}}</ref> Jensen (1999) argues that the defeat of 1898 led many military officers to abandon the liberalism that had been strong in the officer corps and turn to the right. They interpreted the American victory in 1898 as well as the [[Russo-Japanese War|Japanese victory against Russia in 1905]] as proof of the superiority of willpower and moral values over technology. Over the next three decades, Jensen argues, these values shaped the outlook of [[Francisco Franco]] and other Falangists.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Jensen|first=Geoffrey|date=October 1999|title=Moral Strength Through Material Defeat? The Consequences of 1898 for Spanish Military Culture|url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1179/072924799791201489|journal=War & Society|volume=17|issue=2|pages=25–39|doi=10.1179/072924799791201489|pmid=22593976|issn=0729-2473}}</ref>

===Crisis of the Restoration system (1913–1931)===
The bipartisan system began to collapse in the later years of the constitutional part of the reign of [[Alfonso XIII]], with the dynastic parties largely disintegrating into factions: the conservatives faced a schism between ''[[Eduardo Dato|datistas]]'', ''[[Maurismo|mauristas]]'' and ''[[Ciervists|ciervistas]]''. The liberal camp split into the mainstream liberals followers of the [[Count of Romanones]] (''romanonistas'') and the followers of [[Manuel García Prieto]], the "democrats" (''prietistas'').{{Sfn|Martorell Linares|1997|p=146}} An additional liberal [[Santiago Alba|''albista'']] faction was later added to the last two.{{Sfn|Martorell Linares|1997|p=152}}

Spain's neutrality in World War I spared the country from carnage, yet the conflict caused massive economic disruption, with the country experiencing at the same time an economic boom (the increasing foreign demand of products and the drop of imports brought hefty profits) and widespread social distress (with mounting inflation, shortage of basic goods and extreme income inequality).{{sfn|Romero Salvadó|2010|pp=63–64}} [[1917 Spanish general strike|A major revolutionary strike]] was called for August 1917, supported by the [[Spanish Socialist Workers' Party]], the [[Unión General de Trabajadores|UGT]] and the [[Confederación Nacional del Trabajo|CNT]], seeking to overthrow the government. The [[Eduardo Dato|Dato]] government deployed the army against the workers to brutally quell any threat to social order, sealing in turn the demise of the cabinet and undermining the constitutional order.{{Sfn|Romero Salvadó|2010|pp=79–80}} The strike was one of the three simultaneous developments of a wider [[Spanish crisis of 1917|three-headed crisis in 1917]] that cracked the Restoration regime, that also included a military crisis induced by the cleavage in the Armed Forces between Mainland and Africa-based ranks vis-à-vis the military promotion (and ensuing formation of ''juntas'' of officers that refused to dissolve upon request from the government),{{Sfn|Bernecker|2000|p=408}} and a political crisis brought by the challenge posed by [[Catalan nationalism]], whose bourgeois was emboldened by the economic upswing.{{Sfn|Bernecker|2000|p=409}}

During the [[Rif War]], the crushing defeat of the Spanish Army in the so-called [[Battle of Annual|"Disaster of Annual"]] in the summer of 1921 brought in a matter of days the catastrophic loss of the lives of about 9,000 Spanish soldiers and the loss of all occupied territory in Morocco that had been gained since 1912.<ref>{{Cite book|page=231|chapter=The Moroccan Quagmire and the Crisis of Spain's Liberal System, 1917–23|first=Pablo|last=La Porte|title=The Agony of Spanish Liberalism. From Revolution to Dictatorship 1913–23|editor-first=Francisco J.|editor-last=Romero Salvadó|editor-first2=Angel|editor-last2=Smith|year=2010|publisher=[[Palgrave Macmillan]]|isbn=978-1-349-36383-4|doi=10.1057/9780230274648}}</ref> This entailed the greatest defeat suffered by a European power in an African colonial war in the 20th century.{{Sfn|Álvarez|1999|p=81}}{{dubious|date=August 2021}}

{{See also|Dictatorship of Primo de Rivera}}
[[File:14. La playa de Morro Nuevo en los días del desembarco.jpg|thumb|right|The successful [[Alhucemas landing|1925 Alhucemas landing]] turned the luck in the [[Rif War]] towards Spain's favour.]]
Alfonso XIII tacitly endorsed the September 1923 coup by General [[Miguel Primo de Rivera]] that installed a dictatorship led by the latter. The regime enforced the [[Martial law|State of War]] all over the country from September 1923 to May 1925.<ref name=linz /><ref>{{Cite book|chapter=La dictadura de Primo de Rivera y el franquismo ¿un modelo a imitar de dictadura liquidacionista?|author-link=Eduardo González Calleja|first=Eduardo|last=González Calleja|title=Novísima: II Congreso Internacional de Historia de Nuestro Tiempo|year=2010|isbn=978-84-693-6557-1|page=43}}</ref> Attempts to institutionalise the regime were taken, in the form of a single official party (the [[Spanish Patriotic Union|Patriotic Union]]) and a consultative chamber (the [[National Assembly (Spain)|National Assembly]]).<ref name=linz>{{Citation|page=12|journal=Center for European Studies Working Paper|issue=101|title=Ministers and Regimes in Spain: From First to Second Restoration, 1874–2001|first=Juan J.|last=Linz|year=2003|s2cid=5287840|author-link=Juan J. Linz}}</ref>{{Sfn|Bernecker|2000|p=402}}

Preceded by a partial retreat from vulnerable posts in the interior of the protectorate in Morocco,{{Sfn|Álvarez|1999|pp=82–83}} Spain (in joint action with France) turned the tides in Morocco in 1925, and the [[Abd el-Krim]]-led [[Republic of the Rif]] started to see the beginning of its end after the [[Alhucemas landing]] and ensuing seizure of [[Ajdir]],{{Sfn|Álvarez|1999|p=97}} the heart of the Riffian rebellion. The war had dragged on since 1917 and cost Spain $800&nbsp;million.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Chandler|first=James A.|date=April 1975|title=Spain and Her Moroccan Protectorate 1898–1927|url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/002200947501000205|journal=Journal of Contemporary History|volume=10|issue=2|pages=301–322|doi=10.1177/002200947501000205|issn=0022-0094|jstor=260149|s2cid=159817508}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|first=Douglas|last=Porch|title=Spain's African Nightmare|journal=MHQ: The Quarterly Journal of Military History|year=2006|volume=18|issue=2|pages=28–37}}</ref> The Spanish officers of the war ended up taking the brutality of the colonial military practices to the mainland.<ref>{{Cite journal|url=https://revistaayer.com/sites/default/files/articulos/76-1-Ayer76_RetaguardiaCulturaGuerra_Rodrigo.pdf|pages=42–43|title=Experiencia en combate. Continuidad y cambios en la violencia represiva (1931–1939)|first=Eduardo|last=González Calleja|author-link=Eduardo González Calleja|journal=Ayer|volume=76|year=2009|issue=4<!--|pages=37–64-->|issn=1134-2277|access-date=2021-07-30|archive-date=2021-12-02|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211202095944/https://revistaayer.com/sites/default/files/articulos/76-1-Ayer76_RetaguardiaCulturaGuerra_Rodrigo.pdf|url-status=dead}}</ref>

The late 1920s were prosperous until the worldwide [[Great Depression]] hit in 1929. In early 1930 bankruptcy and massive unpopularity forced the king to remove Primo de Rivera.

{{See also|Dictablanda of Dámaso Berenguer}}
Primo de Rivera was replaced by [[Dámaso Berenguer]]'s so-called ''[[dictablanda]]''. The later ruler was in turn replaced by Admiral [[Juan Bautista Aznar-Cabañas|Aznar-Cabañas]] in February 1931, soon before the scheduled [[Spanish local elections, 1931|municipal elections of April 1931]], which were considered a plebiscite on the Monarchy. Urban voters had lost faith in the monarch and voted for republican parties. The king fled the country and a republic was proclaimed on 14 April 1931.{{sfn|Carr|2008|pp= 564–591}}{{sfn||Romero Salvadó|1999|p=[{{google books |plainurl=y |id=lE5dDwAAQBAJ|page=69}} 69]}}

==Second Spanish Republic (1931–36)==
{{Main|Second Spanish Republic|Provisional Government of the Second Spanish Republic}}
[[File:Bundesarchiv Bild 102-11543, Madrid, Ausrufung der Zweiten Spanischen Republik.jpg|thumb|Celebrations of the proclamation of the 2nd Republic in Barcelona.]]
A provisional government presided by [[Niceto Alcalá Zamora]] was installed as the Republic, popularly nicknamed as "''la niña bonita''" ('the pretty girl'),{{Sfn|Romero Salvadó|1999|p=70}} was proclaimed on 14 April 1931, a democratic experiment at a time when democracies were beginning to descend into dictatorships elsewhere in the continent.{{Sfn|Romero Salvadó|1999|p=70}}<ref>{{Cite book|first=Wayne H.|last=Bowen|title=Spain During World War II|year=2006|publisher=[[University of Missouri Press]]|location=Columbia|isbn=0-8262-1658-7|url={{google books|plainurl=y|id=Yp8PflGFt0wC|page=11}}|page=11}}</ref> A [[1931 Spanish general election|Constituent election was called for June 1931]]. The dominant bloc emerging from the election, an alliance of liberals and socialists, brought [[Manuel Azaña]] (who had undertaken a decisive reform as War minister in the provisional government by trying to democratize the Armed Forces){{Sfn|Jackson|1959|p=290}} to premiership, heading from the on a number of coalition cabinets.{{Sfn|Jackson|1959|pp=282–300}} While the Republican government was able to easily quell the [[Sanjurjada|first 1932 coup d'etat]] led by [[José Sanjurjo]], the generals, who felt humiliated because of the [[Military reform of Manuel Azaña|military reform]] privately developed a strong contempt towards Azaña.{{Sfn|Jackson|1959|p=290}} The new parliament drafted a [[Spanish Constitution of 1931|new constitution]] which was approved on 9 December 1931.

Political ideologies were intensely polarized. Regarding the crux of the role of the Church, within the Left people saw the former as the major enemy of modernity and the Spanish people, and the right saw it as the invaluable protector of Spanish values.{{sfn|Herr|1974|pp=162–163}}

Under the Second Spanish Republic, [[Women's suffrage|women were allowed to vote]] in general elections for the first time. The Republic devolved substantial self-government to [[Catalonia]] and, for a brief period in wartime, also to the Basque Provinces.

The first cabinets of the Republic were center-left, headed by [[Niceto Alcalá-Zamora]] and [[Manuel Azaña]]. Economic turmoil, substantial debt, and fractious, rapidly changing governing coalitions led to escalating political violence and attempted coups by right and left.

Following the 1933 election, the right-wing [[Spanish Confederation of the Autonomous Right]] (CEDA), based on the Catholic vote, was set to enter the radical government. An armed rising of workers in October 1934, which reached its greatest intensity in [[Asturias]], was forcefully put down. This in turn energized political movements across the spectrum, including a revived anarchist movement and new reactionary and fascist groups, such as the [[Falange Española|Falange]] and a revived [[Carlism|Carlist]] movement.{{sfn|Herr|1974|pp=154–187}}

A devastating 1936–39 civil war was won in 1939 by the rebel forces under [[Francisco Franco]]. It was supported by Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy. The rebels (backed among other by traditionalist [[Carlist]]s, Fascist [[falangism|falangists]] and Far-right [[alfonsism|alfonsists]]) defeated the Republican loyalists (with variable support of Socialists, Liberals, Communists, Anarchists and Catalan and Basque nationalists), who were backed by the Soviet Union.

==Spanish Civil War (1936–39)==
{{Main|Spanish Civil War}}

The Spanish Civil War was started by a [[1936 Spanish coup d'etat|military coup d'etat in 17–18 July 1936]] against the Republican government. The coup, intending to prevent social and economic reforms carried by the new government, had been carefully plotted since the electoral right-wing defeat at the [[1936 Spanish general election|February 1936 election]].{{sfn|Romero Salvadó|1999|p=94}} The coup failed everywhere but in the Catholic heartland (Galicia, Old Castile and Navarre), Morocco, [[Zaragoza]], Seville and Oviedo, while the rest of the country remained loyal to the Republic, including the main industrial cities (such as [[Madrid]], [[Barcelona]], [[Valencia]] and [[Bilbao]]), where the putschists were crushed by the combined action of workers and peasants.{{Sfn|Romero Salvadó|1999|p=95}}
[[File:Attack on Rebel Position, Somosierra, Madrid - Google Art Project.jpg|thumb|left|People's militias attacking on a Rebel position in Somosierra in the early stages of the war.]]
The Republic looked to the Western democracies for help, but following an earlier commitment to provide assistance by French premier [[Léon Blum]], by 25 July the latter had already backtracked on it, as to the mounting inner division within his country the British opposition to intervention added up, as the sympathies of the UK lied in the [[Spanish Civil War|Rebel faction]].{{Sfn|Romero Salvadó|1999|p=96}}

The Rebel faction enjoyed direct military support from [[Fascist Italy (1922–1943)|Fascist Italy]] and [[Nazi Germany]], while since the very beginning they also enjoyed the support of [[Estado Novo (Portugal)|Salazarist Portugal]], the power-base of one of the leading rebels, [[José Sanjurjo]]. The [[Soviet Union]] sold weapons to the Republican faction and [[Mexico]] sent in monetary aid as well as giving Republican refuges the option to seek refuge in Mexico,<ref>{{Cite book|last=Beevor|first=Antony|title=The Battle for Spain: The Spanish Civil War 1936–1939|date=2006|publisher=Weidenfeld & Nicolson.|isbn=0297848321|location=London|pages=139–140}}</ref> while left-wing sympathizers around the world went to Spain to fight in the [[International Brigades]], set up by the [[Communist International]]. The conflict became a worldwide ideological battleground that pitted the left and many liberals against Catholics and conservatives. Worldwide there was a decline in pacifism and a growing sense that another world war was imminent, and that it was worth fighting for.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Payne|first=Stanley G.|url=http://worldcat.org/oclc/132223|title=The Spanish revolution|date=1970|publisher=Weidenfeld & Nicolson|isbn=0-297-00124-8|oclc=132223|pages=262–276}}</ref>

After the Spanish Civil War, the active agrarian population began to decline in Spain, the provinces with latifundia in Andalusia continued being the ones with the greatest number of day laborers; at the same time this was the region with the lowest literacy share.<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Pérez-Artés|first1=Mari Carmen|last2=Baten|first2=Joerg|date=2021|title=Land inequality and numeracy in Spain during the seventeenth and eighteenth century|journal=Historia Agraria|issue=83|pages=7–39|doi=10.26882/histagrar.083e08p|s2cid=233531248|doi-access=free|hdl=10234/194230|hdl-access=free}}</ref>

===Political and military balance===
[[File:Bundesarchiv Bild 183-P0214-516, Spanien, Schlacht um Guadalajara.jpg|thumb|right|Advance of Italian [[tankette]]s during the [[Battle of Guadalajara]].]]
The Spanish Republican government moved to Valencia, to escape Madrid, which was under siege by the Nationalists. It had some military strength in the Air Force and Navy, but it had lost nearly all of the Army.  After opening the arsenals to arm local militias, it had little control over the Loyalist ground forces.  Republican diplomacy proved ineffective, with only two useful allies, the Soviet Union and Mexico.  Britain, France and 27 other countries had agreed to an arms embargo on Spain, and the United States went along. [[Nazi Germany]] and [[Kingdom of Italy|Fascist Italy]] both signed that agreement, but ignored it and sent supplies and vital help, including a powerful air force under German command, the [[Condor Legion]]. Tens of thousands of Italians arrived under Italian command.  Portugal supported the Nationalists, and allowed the trans-shipment of supplies to Franco's forces. The Soviets sold tanks and other armaments for Spanish gold, and sent well-trained officers and political commissars.  It organized the mobilization of tens of thousands of mostly communist volunteers from around the world, who formed the [[International Brigades]].

In 1936, the Left united in the Popular Front and were elected to power. However, this coalition, dominated by the centre-left, was undermined both by the revolutionary groups such as the [[anarchist]] [[Confederación Nacional del Trabajo]] (CNT) and {{lang|es|[[Federación Anarquista Ibérica]]}} (FAI) and by anti-democratic far-right groups such as the [[Falange Española de las JONS|Falange]] and the [[Carlists]]. The political violence of previous years began again. There were gunfights over strikes; landless labourers began to seize land, church officials were killed and churches burnt. On the other side, right wing militias and hired gunmen assassinated left-wing activists. The Republican democracy never generated the consensus or mutual trust between the various political groups. As a result, the country slid into civil war. The right wing of the country and high ranking figures in the army began to plan a coup, and when Falangist politician [[José Calvo-Sotelo]] was [[The Assassination of José Calvo Sotelo|shot by Republican police]], they used it as a signal to act while the Republican leadership was confused and inert.<ref name=abspc>{{Cite book|last=Beevor|first=Antony|url={{google books|plainurl=y|id=QdQOAAAACAAJ|page=49}}|title=The Spanish Civil War|date=2001|publisher=Penguin Books|isbn=978-0-14-100148-7|pages=49–50}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|first=Stanley G.|last=Payne|title=Spanish Civil War, the Soviet Union, and Communism|url={{google books|plainurl=y|id=xAolA_AgCG4C|page=106}}|year=2004|publisher=Yale University Press|page=106|isbn=0300130783}}</ref>

===Military operations===
[[File:Women at the Siege of the Alcázar in Toledo - Google Art Project.jpg|thumb|upright|left|Two women and a man during the siege of the Alcázar]]
The Nationalists under Franco won the war, and historians continue to debate the reasons. The Nationalists were much better unified and led than the Republicans, who squabbled and fought amongst themselves endlessly and had no clear military strategy. The Army went over to the Nationalists, but it was very poorly equipped – there were no tanks or modern airplanes.  The small navy supported the Republicans, but their armies were made up of raw recruits and they lacked both equipment and skilled officers and sergeants.  Nationalist senior officers were much better trained and more familiar with modern tactics than the Republicans.<ref>{{Citation|last=Alpert|first=Michael|title=The Clash of Spanish Armies: Contrasting Ways of War in Spain, 1936–1939|date=2017-05-15|url=http://dx.doi.org/10.4324/9781315234335-14|work=Warfare in Europe 1919—1938|pages=341–362|publisher=Routledge|doi=10.4324/9781315234335-14|isbn=9781315234335|access-date=2022-08-17}}</ref>

On 17 July 1936, General [[Francisco Franco]] brought the colonial army from Morocco to the mainland, while another force from the north under General Mola moved south from [[Navarre]]. Another conspirator, General Sanjurjo, was killed in a plane crash while being brought to join the military leaders.  Military units were also mobilised elsewhere to take over government institutions. Franco intended to seize power immediately, but successful resistance by Republicans in the key centers of Madrid, Barcelona, Valencia, the Basque country, and other points meant that Spain faced a prolonged civil war. By 1937 much of the south and west was under the control of the Nationalists, whose [[Spanish Army of Africa|Army of Africa]] was the most professional force available to either side. Both sides received foreign military aid: the Nationalists from Nazi Germany and Italy, while the Republicans were supported by organised far-left volunteers from the Soviet Union.

[[File:Bundesarchiv Bild 183-H25224, Guernica, Ruinen.jpg|thumb|right|Ruins of [[Guernica (town)|Guernica]]]]
The [[Siege of the Alcázar]] at [[Toledo (Spain)|Toledo]] early in the war was a turning point, with the Nationalists successfully resisting after a long siege. The Republicans managed to [[Siege of Madrid|hold out in Madrid]], despite a Nationalist assault in November 1936, and frustrated subsequent offensives against the capital at [[battle of Jarama|Jarama]] and [[battle of Guadalajara|Guadalajara]] in 1937. Soon, though, the Nationalists began to erode their territory, starving Madrid and making inroads into the east. The North, including the [[Basque Country (autonomous community)|Basque country]] fell in late 1937 and the Aragon front collapsed shortly afterwards. The [[bombing of Guernica]] on the afternoon of 26 April 1937 – a mission used as a testing ground for the German [[Luftwaffe]]'s [[Condor Legion]] – was probably the most infamous event of the war and inspired [[Guernica (painting)|Picasso's painting]]. The [[Battle of the Ebro]] in July–November 1938 was the final desperate attempt by the Republicans to turn the tide. When this failed and [[Barcelona]] fell to the Nationalists in early 1939, it was clear the war was over. The remaining Republican fronts collapsed, as civil war broke out inside the Left, as the Republicans suppressed the Communists. Madrid fell in March 1939.<ref name=ppscw>{{Cite book|last=Preston|first=Paul|url=http://worldcat.org/ocltrc/1017857283|title=The Spanish Civil War : reaction, revolution and revenge|year=2006|isbn=978-0-00-723207-9|oclc=1017857283|pages=266–300|publisher=Harper Perennial}}{{Dead link|date=October 2022 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref>

The war cost between 300,000 and 1,000,000 lives. It ended with the total collapse of the Republic and the accession of Francisco Franco as dictator. Franco amalgamated all right wing parties into a reconstituted fascist party [[FET y de las JONS|Falange]] and banned the left-wing and Republican parties and trade unions.  The Church was more powerful than it had been in centuries.<ref name=ppscw/>{{rp|301–318}}

The conduct of the war was brutal on both sides, with widespread massacres of civilians and prisoners. After the war, many thousands of Republicans were imprisoned and up to 150,000 were executed between 1939 and 1943.  Some 500,000 refugees escaped to France; they remained in exile for years or decades.

== Francoist Spain (1939–1975) ==
{{Main|Francoist Spain}}
[[File:Visita de Francisco Franco a la localidad de Tolosa (15 de 21) - Fondo Car-Kutxa Fototeka.jpg|thumb|Franco visiting [[Tolosa, Gipuzkoa|Tolosa]] in 1948]]
The Francoist regime resulted in the deaths and arrests of hundreds of thousands of people who were either supporters of the previous Second Republic of Spain or potential threats to Franco's state. They were executed, sent to prisons or [[concentration camps]]. According to Gabriel Jackson, the number of victims of the White Terror (executions and hunger or illness in prisons) between 1939 and 1943 was 200,000.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Jackson|first=Gabriel|url={{google books|plainurl=y|id=MpKXyAEACAAJ}}|title=The Spanish Republic and the Civil War, 1931–1939|date=1965|publisher=Princeton University Press|isbn=978-0-691-00757-1|page=539}}</ref> Child abduction was also a wide-scale practice. The [[lost children of Francoism]] may reach 300,000.<ref name="bbc111018">{{cite news|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-15335899|title=Spain's stolen babies and the families who lived a lie|first=Katya|last=Adler|publisher=[[BBC News]]|date=18 October 2011}}</ref><ref name="guard110127">{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2011/jan/27/spain-alleged-stolen-babies-network|title=Victims of Spanish 'stolen babies network' call for investigation|first=Giles|last=Tremlett|work=[[The Guardian]]|date=27 January 2011}}</ref>

During [[Francisco Franco|Franco]]'s rule, Spain was officially [[Spain in World War II|neutral in World War II]] and remained largely economically and culturally isolated from the outside world. Under a military dictatorship, Spain saw its political parties banned, except for the official party (Falange). Labour unions were banned and all political activity using violence or intimidation to achieve its goals was forbidden.
[[File:Generaal Franco (rechts) en Prins Juan Carlos, Bestanddeelnr 254-9762.jpg|thumb|right|[[Francisco Franco]] and his appointed successor Prince [[Juan Carlos I of Spain|Juan Carlos de Borbón]].]]
Under Franco, Spain actively sought the return of [[Gibraltar]] by the United Kingdom, and gained some support for its cause at the [[United Nations]]. During the 1960s, Spain began imposing restrictions on Gibraltar, culminating in the closure of the border in 1969. It was not fully reopened until 1985.

Spanish rule in [[Morocco]] ended in 1967. Though militarily victorious in the 1957–58 [[Ifni War|Moroccan invasion of Spanish West Africa]], Spain gradually relinquished its remaining African colonies. Spanish Guinea was granted independence as [[Equatorial Guinea]] in 1968, while the Moroccan enclave of [[Ifni]] had been ceded to Morocco in 1969.  Two cities in Africa, [[Ceuta]] and [[Melilla]], remain under Spanish rule and sovereignty.

The latter years of Franco's rule saw some economic and political liberalization (the [[Spanish miracle]]), including the birth of a tourism industry. Spain began to catch up economically with its European neighbors.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Payne|first=Stanley G.|url=http://worldcat.org/oclc/262432271|title=Franco and Hitler : Spain, Germany, and World War II|date=2009|publisher=Yale University Press|isbn=978-0-300-15122-0|oclc=262432271}}</ref>

Franco ruled until his death on 20 November 1975, when control was given to [[Juan Carlos I of Spain|King Juan Carlos]].<ref>{{Cite book|first=Jean|last=Grugel|url=http://worldcat.org/oclc/850535104|title=Franco's Spain|date=2002|publisher=Arnold|isbn=0-340-56169-6|oclc=850535104}}</ref> In the last few months before Franco's death, the Spanish state was paralyzed. This was capitalized upon by King [[Hassan II of Morocco]], who ordered the '[[Green March]]' into [[Western Sahara]], Spain's last colonial possession.

==History of Spain (1975–present)==
{{Main|History of Spain (1975–present)}}

===Transition to democracy===
{{Main|Spanish transition to democracy}}

The Spanish transition to democracy or new Bourbon restoration started with Franco's death on 20 November 1975, while its completion is marked by the electoral victory of the socialist [[Spanish Socialist Workers' Party|PSOE]] on 28 October 1982.

Under its current (1978) constitution, Spain is a [[constitutional monarchy]]. It comprises 17 [[autonomous communities of Spain|autonomous communities]] ([[Andalusia]], [[Aragon]], [[Asturias]], [[Balearic Islands]], [[Canary Islands]], [[Cantabria]], [[Castile and León]], [[Castile–La Mancha]], [[Catalonia]], [[Extremadura]], [[Galicia (Spain)|Galicia]], [[La Rioja (Spain)|La Rioja]], [[Community of Madrid]], [[Region of Murcia]], [[Basque Country (autonomous community)|Basque Country]], [[Valencian Community]], and [[Navarre]]) and two autonomous cities ([[Ceuta]] and [[Melilla]]).

Between 1978 and 1982, Spain was led by the ''[[Union of the Democratic Centre (Spain)|Unión del Centro Democrático]]'' governments.
In 1981 the [[23-F]] coup d'état attempt took place. On 23 February [[Antonio Tejero]], with members of the [[Guardia Civil (Spain)|Guardia Civil]] entered the Congress of Deputies, and stopped the session, where [[Leopoldo Calvo Sotelo]] was about to be named prime minister. Officially, the [[coup d'état]] failed thanks to the intervention of King [[Juan Carlos of Spain|Juan Carlos]]. Spain joined [[NATO]] before Calvo-Sotelo left office.
Along with political change came [[Spanish society after the democratic transition|radical change in Spanish society]]. Spanish society had been extremely conservative under Franco,<ref>{{Cite book|last=Martín-Estudillo|first=Luis|url=https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctv1675bt7|title=The Rise of Euroskepticism|date=2018|publisher=Vanderbilt University Press|isbn=978-0-8265-2196-5|doi=10.2307/j.ctv1675bt7}}</ref> but the transition to democracy also began a liberalization of values and social customs.
[[File:Felipe González firma el Tratado de Adhesión de España a la Comunidad Económica Europea en el Palacio Real de Madrid. Pool Moncloa. 12 de junio de 1985.jpeg|thumb|right|[[Felipe González]] signing the treaty of accession to the European Economic Community on 12 June 1985.]]
[[File:1986 OTAN NO NATO Duque de Lerma Valladolid España (TIF) 02.tif|thumb|right|Valladolid in 1986. A ''OTAN NO'' ({{translation|'No to NATO'}}) banner can be read on the highrise building]]
After earning a sweeping majority at the [[1982 Spanish general election|October 1982 general election]], the [[Spanish Socialist Workers' Party]] (PSOE) governed the country, with [[Felipe González]] as prime minister. On 1 January 1986, Spain [[1986 enlargement of the European Communities|joined the European Economic Community]] (EEC). [[1986 Spanish NATO membership referendum|A referendum on whether Spain should remain in NATO was held in March 1986]]. The ruling party, the PSOE, favoured Spain's permanence (a turn from their anti-NATO stance back in 1982).{{Sfn|Muñoz Soro|2016|p=48}} Meanwhile, the Conservative opposition ([[People's Coalition (Spain)|People's Coalition]]), called for abstention.{{Sfn|Muñoz Soro|2016|pp=19–21}}

The country hosted the [[1992 Summer Olympics]] in Barcelona and [[Seville Expo '92]].

===Spain within the European Union (1993–present)===
{{Main|Accession Treaty of Spain to the European Economic Community}}
{{Further|Spanish property bubble|2008–14 Spanish financial crisis|Eurozone crisis}}

In 1996, the centre-right ''Partido Popular'' government came to power, led by [[José María Aznar]]. On 1 January 1999, Spain exchanged the ''[[Spanish peseta|peseta]]'' for the new [[Euro]] currency. The peseta continued to be used for cash transactions until January 1, 2002. On 11 March 2004 a number of [[March 11, 2004 Madrid attacks|terrorist bombs exploded on busy commuter trains in Madrid]] by Islamic extremists linked to [[Al-Qaeda]], killing 191 and injuring thousands.
The election, held three days later, was won by the PSOE, and [[José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero]] replaced Aznar as prime minister. As [[José María Aznar]] and his ministers at first accused [[ETA (separatist group)|ETA]] of the atrocity, it has been argued that the outcome of the election has been influenced by this event.

In the wake of its joining the EEC, Spain experienced an economic boom, cut painfully short by the [[2008–14 Spanish financial crisis|financial crisis]] of 2008.
During the boom years, Spain attracted a large number of [[immigration to Spain|immigrants]], especially from the United Kingdom, but also including unknown but substantial [[illegal immigration]], mostly from Latin America, eastern Europe and north Africa.<ref>{{Cite web|date=2006-07-26|title=Spain attracts record levels of immigrants seeking jobs and sun|url=http://www.theguardian.com/world/2006/jul/26/spain.gilestremlett|access-date=2022-08-17|website=[[The Guardian]]|first=Giles|last=Tremlett}}</ref> Spain had the fourth largest economy in the [[Eurozone]], but after 2008 the global economic recession hit Spain hard, with the bursting of the housing bubble and unemployment reaching over 25%, sharp budget cutbacks were needed. The GDP shrank 1.2% in 2012.<ref>{{cite news|first=Moran|last=Zhang|title=Spanish Economy Sinks Further Into Recession, Q4 GDP Down 0.6% Quarterly: Bank of Spain|url=http://www.ibtimes.com/spanish-economy-sinks-further-recession-q4-gdp-down-06-quarterly-bank-spain-1034002|work=International Business Times|date=January 23, 2013}}</ref>
<ref>{{Cite web|first=Moran|last=Zhang|date=2013-01-23|title=Spain's Recession Deepens, Bailout 'Inevitable'|url=https://www.ibtimes.com/spanish-economy-sinks-further-recession-q4-gdp-down-06-quarterly-bank-spain-1034002|access-date=2022-08-17|website=International Business Times}}</ref> Although interest rates were historically low, investments were not encouraged sufficiently by entrepreneurs.<ref>{{cite book|last=Baten|first=Jörg|title=A History of the Global Economy. From 1500 to the Present.|date=2016|publisher=Cambridge University Press|page=66|isbn=9781107507180}}</ref> Losses were especially high in real estate, banking, and construction. Economists concluded in early 2013 that, "Where once Spain's problems were acute, now they are chronic: entrenched unemployment, a large mass of small and medium-sized enterprises with low productivity, and, above all, a constriction in credit."<ref>{{Cite news|title=Rajoy unconfined?|newspaper=The Economist|date=February 2, 2013|url=https://www.economist.com/free-exchange/2013/02/13/rajoy-unconfined|access-date=2022-08-17|issn=0013-0613}}</ref>
With the financial crisis and high unemployment, Spain is now suffering from a combination of continued illegal immigration paired with a massive emigration of workers, forced to seek employment elsewhere under the EU's "[[Free movement of people#European Union|Freedom of Movement]]", with an estimated 700,000, or 1.5% of total population, leaving the country between 2008 and 2013.<ref>{{cite journal|url=http://www.falternativas.org/laboratorio/libros-e-informes/zoom-politico/la-nueva-emigracion-espanola-lo-que-sabemos-y-lo-que-no|title=La nueva emigración española. Lo que sabemos y lo que no|journal=Fundación Alternativas|volume=2013|issue=18|access-date=2014-04-11|archive-date=2015-04-05|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150405201224/http://www.falternativas.org/laboratorio/libros-e-informes/zoom-politico/la-nueva-emigracion-espanola-lo-que-sabemos-y-lo-que-no|url-status=dead}}</ref>

Spain is ranked as a [[middle power]] able to exert modest [[regional power|regional influence]]. It has a small voice in international organizations; it is not part of the [[G8]] and participates in the [[G20]] only as a guest. Spain is part of the [[G6 (EU)]].
<!--
==Spanish statehood and secessionism==
{{off topic|date=June 2015}}
{{Further|Crown of Spain|National and regional identity in Spain}}
Although it had been used in treaties as far back as the seventeenth century, it was not until [[Spanish Constitution of 1812|the constitution of 1812]] that the name "Españas" became the official name for the Spanish kingdom and "King of the Spains" became the official title of the head of state.<ref>{{cite web|lay-url=http://bib.cervantesvirtual.com/servlet/SirveObras/c1812/12260843118006070754624/ima0138.htm|title=Constitución política de la Monarquía Española Promulgada en Cádiz a 19 de Marzo de 1812[Precedida de un Discurso preliminar leido en las Cortes al presentar la Comisión de Constitucion el proyecto de ella]|author1=Joaquín del Moral Ruiz|author2=Juan Pro Ruiz|author3=Fernando Suárez Bilbao|url=http://www.uca.es/recursos/doc/AUI/Recursos/Constitucion_1812/1084144089_2082010122916.pdf}}</ref> It was not until the promulgation of the [[Spanish Constitution of 1876|constitution of 1876]] that the singular form of the name, "España" (Spain), became the official name of the Spanish state.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OdBCMQAACAAJ|title=Estado y territorio en España, 1820–1930: la formación del paisaje nacional|first1=Joaquín del Moral|last1=Ruiz|first2=Juan Pro|last2=Ruiz|first3=Fernando Suárez|last3=Bilbao|date=6 July 2018|publisher=Los Libros de la Catarata}}</ref>

Although colloquially and literally the expression "King of Spain" or "King of the Spains" was already widespread,<ref>{{cite web|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4aYgR5YFEtAC&pg=PA137|title=Felipe IV: el hombre y el reinado|first=José N.|last=Alcalá-Zamora|date=6 July 2018|publisher=CEEH}}</ref> and although the two crowns, Aragonese and Castilian, were held by the same monarch, and although the different kings had the long-term shared intention of uniting the peninsula under a single kingdom to restore the Visigoth unity,<ref>{{cite journal|title=Conceptos de España en tiempos de los Reyes Catolicos|author=José Manuel Nieto Soria|issn=0213-375X|volume=19|year=2007|pages=105–123|journal=Norba. Nueva Revista de Historia|publisher=Universidad de Extremadura|url=http://dialnet.unirioja.es/descarga/articulo/2566415.pdf}}</ref> they were never proclaimed officially as a single kingdom until the enactment of the [[Spanish Constitution of 1812]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://digital.csic.es/bitstream/10261/9858/1/1812Cadiz.pdf|last=Peña|first=Lorenzo|title=Un puente jurídico entre Iberoamérica y Europa:la Constitución española de 1812|publisher=Instituto de Filosofía del CSIC}} {{Quote|The first thing to understand is that for the most part, the Courts of Cadiz created a new state, the Spanish state. This is neither totally true nor totally false. The Spanish monarchy had never stopped being officially a new juxtaposition of kingdoms and crowns converging on the person of the sovereign. Of course this vision purely of paper reflected neither the authentic political reality nor the social culture and not even fully the juridical, which happened in a background of de facto unity. The fact remains, however, that ... there had never been a proclamation of a Kingdom of Spain, so that difficulties always arose over the legal meaning of the very frequent references to 'Spain' in the legal texts of the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries.
The Spanish sovereigns had always refused the advice... in the sense of establishing a United Kingdom of Spain, preferring to see themselves as vertices of converging scattered kingdoms,  at least in theory.
Even the Napoleonic Bayonne Constitution of 1808 did not proclaim a kingdom of Spain, but a 'Crown of Spain and the Indies'. On the other hand, 'Spain' was merely a geographical name, a simple Romance version of 'Hispania', whereby its use, in principle, should not have to go beyond the Latin designations 'Gallia' and 'Germania'. Except that, of course, there was in fact a political union of most of that Hispania, and under it there were the very similar Romance languages of the spanned territories, in addition to very close historic, cultural and commercial links.}}</ref> Portugal was also [[Iberian Union|ruled by the House of Habsburg]] with Castile and Aragon but this came to an end with a revolt after sixty years.

The statehood of Spain is generally accepted by the population of Spain as the Spanish Constitution of 1978<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.tribunalconstitucional.es/es/constitucion/Paginas/ConstitucionIngles.aspx|title=Archived copy|access-date=2013-06-08|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130620064544/http://www.tribunalconstitucional.es/es/constitucion/Paginas/ConstitucionIngles.aspx|archive-date=2013-06-20}}</ref> was massively approved by universal referendum.<ref>{{cite journal|url=http://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/28295/stanley-meisler/spains-new-democracy|title=Spain's New Democracy|first=Stanley|last=Meisler|date=1 October 1977|journal=Foreign Affairs}}</ref> The vigor of the constitutional regime and tacit support by the Spanish population has been repeatedly confirmed ever since through periodical national elections to configure the Spanish Parliament. This constitutional bicameral organ represents all the Spanish territories and people, where the national sovereignty is vested.

Still, there are some nationalist movements and political parties of regional scope (i.e. in Aragon, the Canaries, Catalonia, Euskadi (the Basque country), Galicia), mostly with seminal ideologies born in the late 19th century,  some enjoying relatively important yet wavering support from local population.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.cis.es/cis/opencms/ES/index.html|title=·CIS·Centro de Investigaciones Sociológicas·Página de inicio|website=cis.es}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.fairobserver.com/region/europe/basque-and-catalan-nationalism-evolution|title=Basque and Catalan Nationalism: An Evolution – Fair Observer|website=fairobserver.com}}</ref> Traditional nationalist parties' claims range from increasing transfer of competencies and new financing and tax regime arrangements with the Central Government to sovereign rights and secession from Spain.

Spain is ranked among the best democracies in the world by reputed, independent analysts.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://freedomhouse.org/report/freedom-world/2014/spain-0#.VG67dktZH18|title=Spain|website=freedomhouse.org}}</ref> As the Spanish Constitution's legal framework guarantees civil rights, including the freedom of speech, some of the regional nationalist parties have openly promoted and pursued secession from Spain, by arguing most notably language, cultural and historic reasons and in some cases, also justified by alleged race issues.

Economic reasons are also a recurrent argument of separatists.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.cnbc.com/2012/10/18/catalonia-independence-is-a-myth-report.html|title=Catalonia Independence Is a Myth: Report|first=Liza|last=Jansen|date=18 October 2012}}</ref> The ongoing Catalan campaign for independence includes the motto "Spain robs us" ("España nos roba"), an argument claimed to be simply propaganda for nationalist and secessionist interests.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/08/opinion/a-threat-to-spanish-democracy.html?_r=0|title=Opinion – A Threat to Spanish Democracy}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.jmaznar.es/en/news/518/p-strong-em-20-answered-questions-on-catalonia-s-secession-em-strong-p|title=JOSÉ MARÍA AZNAR – 20 Answered Questions on Catalonia's secession|website=jmaznar.es}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.thespainreport.com/4366/catalonia-independence-debate-live-blog|title=Archived copy|access-date=2014-11-21|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141202123549/https://www.thespainreport.com/4366/catalonia-independence-debate-live-blog/|archive-date=2014-12-02|url-status=dead}}</ref> Secessionists claim that an independent Catalan State, released from its financial contribution to the rest of Spain, would grow prosperous and solve the difficulties currently faced by the autonomous region, an already self-governed economy, in particular local unemployment and Catalan public debt issues.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.cnbc.com/2012/07/25/spanish-region-of-catalonia-using-debt-to-get-rich.html|title=Spanish Region of Catalonia: Using Debt to Get Rich|first=Carolin|last=Roth|date=25 July 2012}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.econweekly.com/2012/11/the-case-for-and-against-catalonias.html|title=The case for and against Catalonia's independence|website=econweekly.com}}</ref>

In parallel to the democratic arena and political activism, some terrorists groups (i.e., Terra Lliure (Catalan for "Free Land"), and [[ETA (separatist group)|ETA]] (Basque acronym for "Basque Homeland and Freedom")) engaged in criminal activities (assassinations, indiscriminate bomb attacks on civilians, extortion, and kidnappings) in an attempt to reach their secessionist goals and counter Franco's heavy handedness and the planned forced migration of non-indigenous workers in these regions. An increasing extremism in Catalonia has been recently noticed in the form of attacks, boycotts and even death threats to those not supporting secessionist movement, and events<ref>{{Cite web|title=Amenazas de muerte a la directora de un instituto de Barcelona que no abrió el 9-N: “No cedí porque no quiero que me utilicen” – Alerta Digital|url=https://www.alertadigital.com/2014/11/11/amenazas-de-muerte-a-la-directora-de-un-instituto-de-barcelona-que-no-abrio-el-9-n-no-cedi-porque-no-quiero-que-me-utilicen/|access-date=2022-08-17|website=alertadigital.com}}</ref> like the so-called consultation on independence organized by the Catalan government and some civil organisations held in November 2014 despite the manifest illegality of the process as it was previously deemed by the Spanish Constitutional Court.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/9d434a66-643d-11e4-bac8-00144feabdc0.html#axzz3JfRICCXA|archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/HI6QG|archive-date=2022-12-10|url-access=subscription|title=Catalans to defy Spanish court on regional vote|website=Financial Times}}</ref> Some analysts believe this extremism could lead some secessionist groups and individuals to undertake terrorist activities.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.geopoliticalmonitor.com/catalan-independence-and-a-tumultuous-2014-for-spain-4910|title=Catalan Independence and a Tumultuous 2014 for Spain – Geopolitical Monitor|date=30 January 2014}}</ref>

The Spanish Constitution configures and enables a modern democratic system with its own procedures to create, modify and derogate any law, including the Constitution itself, or even the adoption of a completely new one as may be decided by the people of Spain. Any such legitimate initiative must comply with the corresponding legal procedures as stated in the Constitution.  Integrity and unity of the Spanish territory are therefore not irremovable principles, and secessionism would then be possible but subject to the law and to the sovereignty of the whole Spanish population as it is proclaimed by the constitutionalists.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.eurasiareview.com/30092014-spain-pm-rajoy-issues-statement-catalonia-referendum|title=Archived copy|access-date=2014-11-22|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141130035046/http://www.eurasiareview.com/30092014-spain-pm-rajoy-issues-statement-catalonia-referendum/|archive-date=2014-11-30|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.constitutionnet.org/news/spain-catalonia-problem-needs-constitutional-fix-psoe|title=Spain: Catalonia problem needs constitutional fix: PSOE}}</ref>

The [[Spanish Constitution of 1978]], in its second article, recognizes  "[[nationalities and regions of Spain|nationalities]]"(a carefully chosen word in order to avoid the more politically charged "nations") and "regions", within the context of "the Spanish nation". Taking account of this rich variety of cultures, Spain has enabled one of the most decentralized systems in the world in terms of decision-making power.<ref>{{Cite book|last=León-Alfonso|first=Sandra|url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/234104792|title=The political economy of fiscal decentralization : bringing politics to the study of intergovernmental transfers|date=2007|publisher=Institut d'Estudis Autonòmics (Catalonia)|isbn=978-84-393-7467-1|location=Barcelona|oclc=234104792}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://localdemocracy.net/countries/europe/spain|title=Spain|date=12 August 2013}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|ur=https://wcd.coe.int/ViewDoc.jsp?id=2041471&Site=Congress|title=Local and regional democracy in Spain|date=20 March 2013|first=Marc|last=Cools|first2=Leen|last2=Verbeek}}</ref> Its Autonomous Regions enjoy the highest rates of both political and fiscal competencies from an international comparative law viewpoint.<ref>"Until the end of the dictatorship of Franco, Spain had a very centralized political system. In 1978, a decentralization process started after the creation of the current constitution. The constitution established a complex framework that combines the concept of Spain as a single political nation with the existence of autonomy statutes granted to all seventeen regions. The degree of autonomy for a number of regions is fairly high; these are the ‘historical’ regions. In 1983, all seventeen autonomous communities had adopted a statute. Although differences exist in the level of autonomy between ‘historical’ and ‘ordinary’ regions, all communities have experienced an increase in their level of autonomy. The group of the ‘historical’ communities consists of Catalonia, the Basque Country and Galicia. This group was joined later by Andalusia. The group of ‘ordinary’ regions consists of the rest of the autonomous communities (Aragon, Asturias, Balearic Islands, the Canary Islands, Cantabria, Castilla de La Mancha, Castilla-Leon, Extremadura, Madrid, Murcia, Navarra, La Rioja, and Valencia). The autonomous communities have wide legislative and executive autonomy, with their own parliaments and regional governments. The distribution of powers is different for every community, as laid out in the autonomy statutes. The ‘ordinary’ regions, which always had fewer powers, have slowly caught up with the ‘historical’ regions. In 1992, for example, the regional autonomy pact extended the power of the autonomous communities in areas of education and health, especially for the ‘ordinary’ autonomous communities. Decentralization in Spain can be characterized as asymmetrical devolution." http://www.fnp.nl/downloads/decentrilization_and_economic_growth_per_capita_in_europe.pdf</ref><ref>Spain ranks 8 according to the research paper http://www.urv.cat/creip/media/upload/arxius/wp/WP2012/DT.15-2012-850-DIAZ%20i%20MEIX.pdf</ref><ref>[http://www.lse.ac.uk/europeanInstitute/LEQS/LEQSPaper55.pdf LEQSPaper55 ] {{Dead link|date=February 2022}}</ref>

Distinct traditional regional identities within Spain include the [[Basque people|Basques]], [[Catalan people|Catalans]], [[Galician people|Galicians]], [[Cantabrian people|Cantabrians]] and [[Castilian people|Castilians]], among others.<ref>{{cite web|title=Kingdom of Spain: People|url=https://2009-2017.state.gov/r/pa/ei/bgn/2878.htm|access-date=13 August 2008|publisher=US Department of State}}</ref>
-->

== Historical population ==
{{Historical populations
|footnote = Source: [[Instituto Nacional de Estadística (Spain)|INE]]
|1833| 12286941
|1846| 12162872
|1857| 15464340
|1877| 16622175
|1887| 17549608
|1900| 18616630
|1910| 19990669
|1920| 21388551
|1930| 23677095
|1940| 26014278
|1950| 28117873
|1960| 30582936
|1970| 33956047
|1981| 37683363
|1991| 38872268
|2001| 40847371
|2011| 46815916
|2021| 47385107
}}

== See also ==
*[[Black Propaganda against Portugal and Spain]]
* [[Demographics of Spain]]
* [[Economic history of Spain]]
* [[Foreign relations of Spain]]
* [[List of missing landmarks in Spain]]
* [[Monarchy of Spain]]
* [[Politics of Spain]]

==Notes==
{{Notelist}}

==References==
===Citations===
{{Reflist}}

===Bibliography===
{{refbegin|30em}}
* {{Cite journal|title=Between Gallipoli and D-Day: Alhucemas, 1925|first=José E.|last=Álvarez|journal=[[The Journal of Military History]]|volume=63|issue=1|year=1999|jstor=120334|doi=10.2307/120334|page=97}}
* {{Cite journal|title=El sistema colonial fenicio y sus pautas de organización|first=María Eugenia|author-link=María Eugenia Aubet|last=Aubet|journal=Mainake|issn=0212-078X|issue=28|year=2006<!--|pages=35–47-->|page=36|url=https://dialnet.unirioja.es/descarga/articulo/2582158.pdf}}
* {{Cite book|chapter=Spain: The Double Breakdown|last=Bernecker|first=Walter L.|year=2000|title=Conditions of Democracy in Europe, 1919–39. Systematic Case Studies|editor-first=Dirk|editor-last=Berg-Schlosser|editor-first2=Jeremy|editor-last2=Mitchell|publisher=[[Macmillan Publishers|Macmillan Press Ltd]]|isbn=0-333-64828-5}}
* {{Cite book|url=http://www.cervantesvirtual.com/descargaPdf/los-griegos-en-la-pennsula-ibrica-siglos-viiv-ac-analogas-con-la-colonizacin-griega-en-el-mar-negro-clquida-0/|via=[[Biblioteca Virtual Miguel de Cervantes]]|chapter=Los griegos en la Península Ibérica, siglos VII-V a.C. Analogías con la colonización griega en el Mar Negro (Cólquida)|title=Homenaje a García y Bellido 5. Anejos de Gerión|issue=1|year=1988<!--|pages=9–18-->|first=José María|last=Blázquez}}
* {{Cite book|editor-last=Carr|editor-first=Raymond|url=https://archive.org/details/spain1808197502edcarr|title=Spain: A History|date=2000|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-280236-1}}, 900pp; a standard scholarly history 
** {{Cite book|last=Carr|first=Raymond|url=http://worldcat.org/oclc/1025648814|title=España, 1808–1975|date=2008|publisher=Ariel|isbn=978-84-344-6615-9|oclc=1025648814}}
* {{Cite book|last=Casey|first=James|url=http://worldcat.org/oclc/449906085|title=Early modern Spain : a social history|date=2003|publisher=Routledge|isbn=0-415-13813-2|oclc=449906085}} [https://www.amazon.com/dp/0415206871 excerpt and text search]
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* {{cite book|last=Collins|first=Roger|year=2004|title=Visigothic Spain, 409–711|place=Oxford|publisher=Blackwell Publishing|isbn=0-631-18185-7}}
* {{cite book|first=J. H.|last=Elliott|title=Imperial Spain 1469–1716|url={{google books|plainurl=y|id=0DoY6VKNSC0C|page=404}}|year=2002|orig-year=1970|publisher=Penguin|page=404|isbn=978-0141925578}}
* {{cite book|last=Gerber|first=Jane|year=1992|title=The Jews of Spain: A History of the Sephardic Experience|place=New York|publisher=Free Press|isbn=978-0-02911-573-2|url=https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780029115732}}
* {{cite book|last=Graetz|first=Heinrich|year=1894|title=History of the Jews|url=http://www.gutenberg.org/files/43337/43337-0.txt|volume=3|place=Philadelphia|publisher=The Jewish Publication Society of America|asin=B000JRBM60}}
* {{cite book|first=Richard|last=Herr|title=Modern Spain: An Historical Essay|url={{google books|plainurl=y|id=--nxWSoFH2cC|page=72}}|year=1974|publisher=U. of California Press|isbn=978-0520025349}}
* {{Cite journal|title=The Azaña Regime in Perspective (Spain, 1931–1933)|author-link=Gabriel Jackson (Hispanist)|journal=[[The American Historical Review]]|volume=64|issue=2|last=Jackson|first=Gabriel|issn=0002-8762|year=1959|pages=282–300|doi=10.2307/1845444|jstor=1845444}}
* {{cite book|last=Lirola Delgado|first=Jorge|title=El poder naval de Al-Ándalus en la época del califato omeya.|year=1993|publisher=Granada: Universidad de Granada|isbn=978-84-338-1797-6}}
* {{Cite book|url=https://rua.ua.es/dspace/bitstream/10045/19629/12/8.pdf|page=36|title=Los celtíberos|year=1997|isbn=84-7908-335-2|first=Alberto J.|last=Lorrio|publisher=Universidad de Alicante}}
* {{Cite journal|last=Marín-Guzmán|first=Roberto|date=1991|title=Ethnic groups and social classes in Muslim Spain|jstor=20840024|journal=Islamic Studies|volume=30|issue=1/2|pages=37–66|issn=0578-8072}}
* {{Cite journal|last=Martorell Linares|first=Miguel Ángel|title=La crisis parlamentaria de 1913–1917. La quiebra del sistema de relaciones parlamentarias de la Restauración|location=Madrid|publisher=[[Centro de Estudios Políticos y Constitucionales|Centro de Estudios Constitucionales]]|journal=Revista de Estudios Políticos|issue=96|year=1997|page=146}}
* {{cite web|author=Metropolitan Museum of Art|title=Belt Buckle 550–600|url=https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/466162|website=The Metropolitan Museum of Art|ref={{sfnRef|The Metropolitan Museum of Art, "Belt Buckle 550–600"}}}}
* {{Cite journal|url=https://revistaayer.com/sites/default/files/articulos/103-1-ayer103_OTAN.pdf|title=El final de la utopía. Los intelectuales y el referéndum de la OTAN en 1986|first=Javier|volume=103|year=2016|journal=Ayer|last=Muñoz Soro|pages=19–21|access-date=2021-10-25|archive-date=2021-10-25|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211025200458/https://revistaayer.com/sites/default/files/articulos/103-1-ayer103_OTAN.pdf|url-status=dead}}
* {{Cite book|last=Payne|first=Stanley G.|url={{google books|plainurl=y|id=Do9-7xYWIycC}}|title=A History of Spain and Portugal|date=1973|publisher=University of Wisconsin Press|isbn=978-0-299-06270-5|volume=1 Before 1700|ref={{sfnref|Payne|1973a}}}} [http://libro.uca.edu/payne1/index.htm Full text]
* {{Cite book|last=Payne|first=Stanley G.|url={{google books|plainurl=y|id=f6jYvgEACAAJ}}|title=A History of Spain and Portugal|date=1973|publisher=University of Wisconsin Press|isbn=978-0-299-06270-5|volume=2 After 1700|ref={{sfnref|Payne|1973b}}}} [http://libro.uca.edu/payne2/index.htm Full Text]
* {{Cite journal|title=La presencia neopúnica en la Alta Andalucía: a propósito de algunos referentes arquitectónicos y culturales de época bárquida (237–205 a.C.)|first=Fernando|last=Prados Martínez|journal=Gerión|issn=0213-0181|volume=25|issue=1|year=2007|<!--pages=83–110|-->page=85|url=https://rua.ua.es/dspace/bitstream/10045/16689/1/gerion2008prados.pdf}}
* {{Cite book|first=Francisco J.|last=Romero Salvadó|chapter=Spain's Revolutionary Crisis of 1917: A Reckless Gamble|title=The Agony of Spanish Liberalism. From Revolution to Dictatorship 1913–23|editor-first=Francisco J.|editor-last=Romero Salvadó|editor-first2=Angel|editor-last2=Smith|isbn=978-1-349-36383-4|doi=10.1057/9780230274648|year=2010}}
* {{Cite book|url={{google books|plainurl=y|id=lE5dDwAAQBAJ|page=69}}|page=69|last=Romero Salvadó|title=Twentieth-Century Spain: Politics and Society, 1898–1998|publisher=[[Macmillan Publishers|Macmillan Press]]|year=1999|isbn=978-0-333-63697-8|first=Francisco J.}}{{Dead link|date=February 2023 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}
* {{cite book|last=Roth|first=Norman|year=1994|title=Jews, Visigoths, and Muslims in Medieval Spain: Cooperation and Conflict|place=Leiden, New York, Köln|publisher=Brill|isbn=978-9-00409-971-5}}
* {{Cite journal|url=https://revistas.ucm.es/index.php/UNIS/article/view/37825/36602/0|title=El referendum sobre la permanencia de España en la OTAN|first=Juan Antonio|last=Martínez Sánchez|journal=UNISCI Discussion Papers|issue=26|year=2011|volume=26|issn=1696-2206|page=306|doi=10.5209/rev_UNIS.2011.v26.37825|doi-access=free}}
* {{cite book|first=Rhea Marsh|last=Smith|title=Spain: A Modern History|url=https://archive.org/details/spainmodernhisto00smit|url-access=registration|year=1965|publisher=University of Michigan Press}}
* {{cite web|last=Salvador Conejo|first=Diego|url=https://www.rutasconhistoria.es/loc/cripta-visigoda-de-san-antolin|title=Cripta visigoda de San Antolín|website=Rutas con historia|access-date=April 19, 2020|ref={{sfnRef|Salvador Conejo, ''Cripta visigoda de San Antolín''}}}}
* {{cite book|last=Thomas|first=Hugh|author-link=Hugh Thomas, Baron Thomas of Swynnerton|title=Rivers of Gold|year=2003|publisher=Random House|location=New York|isbn=978-0375502040}}; the first book in a trilogy about the Spanish Empire.
** ''The Golden Age: The Spanish Empire of Charles V'' (2010); the second book in the trilogy Published in the United States as ''The Golden Empire: Spain, Charles V, and the Creation of America'' (2011).
** ''World Without End: The Global Empire of [[Philip II of Spain|Philip II]]'' (2014); the third volume in the trilogy
* {{Cite journal|year=1999|title=Los Bárquidas y la conquista de la península ibérica|location=Madrid|publisher=[[Complutense University of Madrid|Ediciones Complutense]]|journal=Gerión|volume=17|url=https://revistas.ucm.es/index.php/GERI/article/view/GERI9999110263A/14383|first=Carlos G.|last=Wagner|pages=263–264}}
* {{cite book|author1-last=Waldman|first1=Carl|author2-last=Mason|first2=Catherine|title=Encyclopedia of European Peoples|year=2006|location=New York|publisher=Facts on File|isbn=978-0816049646}}
{{refend}}

==Further reading==
{{div col}}
* [[Ida Altman|Altman, Ida]]. ''Emigrants and Society, Extremadura and America in the Sixteenth Century''. U of California Press 1989.
* Barton, Simon. ''A History of Spain'' (2009) [https://www.amazon.com/dp/0230200125 excerpt and text search]
* Bertrand, Louis and Charles Petrie. ''The History of Spain'' (2nd ed. 1956) [https://archive.org/details/ost-history-historyofspain008182mbp online]
* Braudel, Fernand ''The Mediterranean and the Mediterranean World in the Age of Philip II'' (2 vol; 1976) [https://archive.org/details/mediterraneanthe01brau vol 1 free to borrow]
* Cortada, James W. ''Spain in the Twentieth-Century World: Essays on Spanish Diplomacy, 1898–1978'' (1980)
* Edwards, John. ''The Spain of the Catholic Monarchs 1474–1520'' (2001) [https://www.amazon.com/dp/0631221433 excerpt and text search]
* Elliott, J.H. ''The Old World and the New''. Cambridge 1970.
* Esdaile, Charles J.  ''Spain in the Liberal Age: From Constitution to Civil War, 1808–1939'' (2000) [https://www.amazon.com/dp/0631219137 excerpt and text search]
* Gerli, E. Michael, ed. ''Medieval Iberia: an encyclopedia''. New York 2005. {{ISBN|0-415-93918-6}}
* Hamilton, Earl J. ''American Treasure and the Price Revolution in Spain, 1501–1650''. Cambridge MA 1934.
* [[Clarence Haring|Haring, Clarence]]. ''Trade and Navigation between Spain and the Indies in the Time of the Hapsburgs''. (1918). [https://archive.org/details/cu31924006054153 online  free]
* Israel, Jonathan I. "Debate—The Decline of Spain: A Historical Myth," ''Past and Present'' 91 (May 1981), 170–85.
* Kamen, Henry. ''Spain. A Society of Conflict'' (3rd ed.) London and New York: Pearson Longman 2005. {{ISBN?}}
* Lynch, John. ''The Hispanic World in Crisis and Change: 1598–1700'' (1994) [https://www.amazon.com/dp/0631193979 excerpt and text search]
* Lynch, John C. ''Spain under the Habsburgs''. (2 vols. 2nd ed. Oxford UP, 1981).
* [[Roger Bigelow Merriman|Merriman, Roger Bigelow]]. ''The Rise of the Spanish Empire in the Old World and the New''. 4 vols. New York 1918–34. [https://archive.org/search.php?query=Spanish%20%20Merriman online free]
* Norwich, John Julius. ''Four Princes: Henry VIII, Francis I, Charles V, Suleiman the Magnificent and the Obsessions that Forged Modern Europe'' (2017), popular history; [https://www.amazon.com/Four-Princes-Suleiman-Magnificent-Obsessions/dp/0802126634/  excerpt]
* Olson, James S.  et al. '' Historical Dictionary of the Spanish Empire, 1402–1975'' (1992)
* O'Callaghan, Joseph F. ''A History of Medieval Spain'' (1983) [https://www.amazon.com/dp/0801492645 excerpt and text search]
* Paquette, Gabriel B. ''Enlightenment, governance, and reform in Spain and its empire, 1759–1808''.  (2008)
* Parker, Geoffrey. ''Emperor: A New Life of Charles V'' (2019) [https://www.amazon.com/Emperor-New-Life-Charles-V/dp/0300196520/  excerpt]
* Parker, Geoffrey.  ''The Grand Strategy of Philip II'' (Yale UP, 1998). [https://web.archive.org/web/20070310203214/http://www.history.ac.uk/reviews/paper/macpherson.html online review]
* [[J.H. Parry|Parry, J.H.]] ''The Spanish Seaborne Empire''. New York 1966.
* Payne, Stanley G. ''Spain: A Unique History'' (University of Wisconsin Press; 2011) 304 pages; short scholarly history
* Payne, Stanley G. ''Politics and Society in Twentieth-Century Spain'' (2012)
* Phillips, William D. Jr. ''Enrique IV and the Crisis of Fifteenth-Century Castile, 1425–1480''. Cambridge MA 1978
* Phillips, William D. Jr., and Carla Rahn Phillips. ''A Concise History of Spain'' (2010) [https://www.amazon.com/Concise-History-Spain-Cambridge-Histories/dp/0521607213/ excerpt and text search]
* Phillips, Carla Rahn. "Time and Duration: A Model for the Economy of Early Modern Spain," ''[[American Historical Review]]'', Vol. 92. No. 3 (June 1987), pp.&nbsp;531–562.
* Pierson, Peter. ''The History of Spain'' (2nd ed. 2008) [https://www.amazon.com/dp/0313360731 excerpt and text search]
* Pike, Ruth. ''Enterprise and Adventure: The Genoese in Seville and the Opening of the New World''. Ithaca 1966.
* Pike, Ruth. ''Aristocrats and Traders: Sevillan Society in the Sixteenth Century''. Ithaca 1972.
* Preston, Paul. ''The Spanish Civil War: Reaction, Revolution, and Revenge'' (2nd ed. 2007)
* Reston Jr, James. ''Defenders of the Faith: Charles V, Suleyman the Magnificent, and the Battle for Europe, 1520–1536''  (2009), popular history.
* Ringrose, David.  ''Madrid and the Spanish Economy 1560–1850''. Berkeley 1983.
* Shubert, Adrian. ''A Social History of Modern Spain'' (1990) [https://www.amazon.com/dp/0415090830 excerpt]
* Thompson, I.A.A. ''War and Government in Habsburg Spain, 1560–1620''. London 1976.
* Thompson, I.A.A. ''Crown and Cortes. Government Institutions and Representation in Early-Modern Castile''. Brookfield VT 1993.
* Treasure, Geoffrey. ''The Making of Modern Europe, 1648–1780'' (3rd ed. 2003). pp 332–373.
* [[Javier Tusell|Tusell, Javier]]. ''Spain: From Dictatorship to Democracy, 1939 to the Present'' (2007) [https://www.amazon.com/dp/0631206159 excerpt and text search]
* Vivens Vives, Jaime. ''An Economic History of Spain'', 3d edn. rev. Princeton 1969.
* Walker, Geoffrey. ''Spanish Politics and Imperial Trade, 1700–1789''. Bloomington IN 1979.
* Woodcock, George. "Anarchism in Spain" '' History Today'' (Jan 1962) 12#1 pp 22–32.
{{div col end}}

===Historiography===
* {{cite book|editor=Boyd, Kelly|title=Encyclopedia of Historians and Historical Writing vol 2|url={{google books|plainurl=y|id=0121vD9STIMC|page=1130}}|year=1999|publisher=Taylor & Francis|pages=1124–1136|isbn=978-1884964336}}
* Cabrera, Miguel A. "Developments in contemporary Spanish historiography: from social history to the new cultural history." ''Journal of Modern History'' 77.4 (2005): 988–1023.
* Cortada, James W. ''A Bibliographic Guide to Spanish Diplomatic History, 1460–1977'' (Greenwood Press, 1977) 390 pages
* Feros, Antonio. "Spain and America: All is One”: Historiography of the Conquest and Colonization of the Americas and National Mythology in Spain c. 1892–c. 1992." in Christopher Schmidt-Nowara and John M. Nieto Phillips, eds. ''Interpreting Spanish Colonialism: Empires, Nations, and Legends'' (2005).
* García-Sanjuán, Alejandro. "Rejecting al-Andalus, exalting the Reconquista: historical memory in contemporary Spain." ''Journal of Medieval Iberian Studies'' 10.1 (2018): 127–145. [https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/17546559.2016.1268263 online]
* Herzberger, David K. ''Narrating the past: fiction and historiography in postwar Spain'' (Duke University Press, 1995).
* Herzberger, David K. "Narrating the past: History and the Novel of Memory in Postwar Spain." ''Publications of the Modern Language Association of America'' (1991): 34–45.  [https://www.jstor.org/stable/462821 in JSTOR]
*  Jover, José María. "Panorama of current Spanish historiography" ''Cahiers d'Histoire Mondiale''. 1961, Vol. 6 Issue 4, pp 1023–1038.
* [[Linehan, Peter]]. ''History and the historians of medieval Spain'' (Oxford UP, 1993)
* Luengo, Jorge, and Pol Dalmau. "Writing Spanish history in the global age: connections and entanglements in the nineteenth century." ''Journal of global history'' 13.3 (2018): 425–445. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/S1740022818000220
* Payne, Stanley G. “Jaime Vicens Vives and the Writing of Spanish History.” ''Journal of Modern History'' 34#2 (1962), pp.&nbsp;119–134. [https://www.jstor.org/stable/1875175 online]
* Viñao, Antonio. "From dictatorship to democracy: history of education in Spain." ''Paedagogica Historica'' 50#6 (2014): 830–843.

==External links==
* {{Cite web|title=History of Spain: Primary Documents – EuroDocs|url=https://eudocs.lib.byu.edu/index.php/History_of_Spain:_Primary_Documents|access-date=2022-08-17|website=eudocs.lib.byu.edu}}
* {{Cite web|title=Spanish History Sources & Documents|url=http://www.straatvaart.com/|access-date=2022-08-17|website=straatvaart.com}}
* {{Cite web|date=2006-04-26|title=The Decline of Spain: A Historical Myth?|url=http://www.art.man.ac.uk/SPANISH/courses/sp2490/Kamen_decline.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060426201637/http://www.art.man.ac.uk/SPANISH/courses/sp2490/Kamen_decline.html|archive-date=2006-04-26|access-date=2022-08-17|first=Henry|last=Kamen}}
* {{Cite web|last=Martin|first=Iñaki Lopez|date=1999-09-15|title=WWW-VL History – Spanish History Index – VL Historia – Indice de Historia de España|url=http://vlib.iue.it/hist-spain/Index.html|access-date=2022-08-17|website=vlib.iue.it|archive-date=2022-11-11|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221111012852/http://vlib.iue.it/hist-spain/Index.html|url-status=dead}}
* Pereira-Muro, Carmen ''Culturas de España''. Boston and New York: Houghton Mifflin Company 2003. {{ISBN?}}
* {{Cite journal|last1=Olalde|first1=Iñigo|last2=Mallick|first2=Swapan|last3=Patterson|first3=Nick|last4=Rohland|first4=Nadin|last5=Villalba-Mouco|first5=Vanessa|last6=Silva|first6=Marina|last7=Dulias|first7=Katharina|last8=Edwards|first8=Ceiridwen J.|last9=Gandini|first9=Francesca |last10=Pala |first10=Maria|last11=Soares|first11=Pedro|last12=Ferrando-Bernal|first12=Manuel|last13=Adamski|first13=Nicole|last14=Broomandkhoshbacht|first14=Nasreen|last15=Cheronet|first15=Olivia|date=2019-03-15|title=The genomic history of the Iberian Peninsula over the past 8000 years|journal=Science|volume=363|issue=6432|pages=1230–1234|doi=10.1126/science.aav4040|issn=0036-8075|pmc=6436108|pmid=30872528|bibcode=2019Sci...363.1230O}}
* {{Cite web|last=Pueyo|first=Tomas|title=A Brief History of Spain|url=https://unchartedterritories.tomaspueyo.com/p/a-brief-history-of-spain|access-date=2022-08-17|website=unchartedterritories.tomaspueyo.com}}
{{History of Europe}}
{{European history by country}}
{{Spain topics|state=collapsed}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:History Of Spain}}
[[Category:History of Spain| ]]