Spanish Empire

Spain was the center of one of the first Global Empires. During the 16th century and the next one, Spain established itself as a superpower with globe-spanning reach. Castille, along with Portugal, was in the vanguard of European global exploration and colonial expansion and the opening of trade routes across the oceans, with trade across the Atlantic between Spain and the Americas and across the Pacific between

The Empire of the last Spanish Habsburgs (1643 – 1713)

Traditionally, historians mark the Battle of Rocroi (1643) as the end of Spanish dominance in Europe. Supported by the French, the Catalonians, Neapolitans, and Portuguese rose up in revolt against the Spanish in the 1640s. With the Spanish Netherlands effectively lost after the Battle of Lens in 1648, the Spanish made peace with the Dutch and recognized the independent United Provinces in the Peace of Westphalia that ended both the Eighty Years' War and the Thirty Years' War.

Related Topics:
Battle of Rocroi - Catalonia - Neapolitans - Portuguese - Battle of Lens - 1648 - Peace of Westphalia - Eighty Years' War - Thirty Years' War

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War with France continued for eleven more years. Although France suffered from a civil war from 1648-1652 (see Wars of the Fronde) the Spanish economy was so exhausted that they were unable to effectively cope. Naples was retaken in 1648 and Catalonia in 1652, but the war came effectively to an end at the Battle of the Dunes (1658) where the French army under Vicomte de Turenne defeated the remnants of the Spanish army of the Netherlands. Spain agreed to the Peace of the Pyrenees in 1659 that ceded to France Roussillon, Foix, Artois, and much of Lorraine.

Related Topics:
1648 - 1652 - Wars of the Fronde - Catalonia - Battle of the Dunes (1658) - Turenne - Peace of the Pyrenees - 1659 - Roussillon - Foix - Artois - Lorraine

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Portugal had rebelled in 1640 under the leadership of John IV of Portugal, a Braganza pretender to the throne. He had received widespread support from the Portuguese people, and the Spanish – who had to deal with rebellions elsewhere, along with the war against France – were unable to respond, and the Spanish and Portuguese had existed in a de facto state of peace from 1644 to 1657. When John IV died in 1657, the Spanish attempted to wrest Portugal from his son Alfonso VI of Portugal, but were defeated at Ameixial (1663) and Monte Claros (1665), leading to Spain?s recognition of Portugal?s independence in 1668.

Related Topics:
1640 - John IV of Portugal - 1644 - 1657 - Alfonso VI of Portugal - Ameixial - Monte Claros - 1668

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Spain did have a huge overseas empire, but France was now the superpower in Europe, and the United Provinces in the Atlantic.

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Charles II and his regency were incompetent in dealing with the War of Devolution that Louis XIV of France prosecuted against the Spanish Netherlands in 1667-1668, losing considerable prestige and territory, including the cities of Lille and Charleroi. In the Nine Years' War Louis once again invaded the Spanish Netherlands. French forces led by the Duke of Luxembourg defeated the Spanish at Fleurus (1690), and subsequently defeated Dutch forces under William III, who fought on Spain's side. The war ended with most of the Spanish Netherlands under French occupation, including the important cities of Ghent and Luxembourg. The war revealed to Europe how vulnerable and backward the Spanish defenses and bureaucracy were, but the ineffective Spanish Habsburg government took no action to improve them.

Related Topics:
War of Devolution - Louis XIV of France - 1667 - 1668 - Lille - Charleroi - Nine Years' War - Duke of Luxembourg - Fleurus - William III - Ghent - Luxembourg

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The final decades of the seventeenth century saw utter decay and stagnation in Spain; while the rest of western Europe went through exciting changes in government and society - the Glorious Revolution in England and the reign of the ?Sun-King? in France - Spain remained adrift. The Spanish bureaucracy that had built up around the charismatic, industrious, and intelligent Charles I and Philip II demanded a strong and hardworking monarch; the weakness and lack of interest of Philip III and IV contributed to Spain?s decay. Charles II was retarded and impotent, dying without a heir and leading to the war of succession. As his final wishes, the childless king of Spain desired that the throne pass to the Bourbon prince Philip of Anjou, rather than to a member of the family that had tormented him throughout his life.

Related Topics:
Glorious Revolution - Charles II - Philip of Anjou

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