The Monarchy Of Spain

Before the 15th century, Spain was nothing like the Spain that it is known as today. Up until the 15th century, the way the regions in the Iberian Peninsula (Where Modern Spain is located) were structured in different kingdoms. Sometimes, these kingdoms were at war with one another, while at other times, joined together to fight a common enemy. At this time, Castile and Aragon had yet to be unified. This all changed in 1492. Most historians would agree that it wasn’t a revolt or a fight that created Spain. In fact, it was a marriage. This marriage between the heirs, Ferdinand and Isabella, of to two different thrones, Castile and Aragon (which happened to be the two greatest kingdoms in the Peninsula at the time).
PRE MODERNITY- Spain had an absolute monarchy. As tabulated by Ibañez and Sabatini (2009), beginning around 1480 and continuing throughout until about 1525, the power of the Hispanic sovereigns- the Catholic Monarchs and Charles V- “grew on an unprecedented scale” 1. The smaller crowns of Granada, Naples, and Navarre became part of either Castilian and/or Argonese rule. Spanish expansion continued throughout the 16th century, and Castile incorporated the entire Portuguese empire between 1580 and 1583. Besides this extreme territorial expansion, the stability of these territories incorporated into the monarchy was rather remarkable. Studying closely, it is obvious to notice the absence of insurrections in a particular region following military conquest or the end of a civil war, for example. The most commonly known insurrections in Spain occurred in regions where the monarch’s power had not yet been defined so much by violence during the periods of conquer. Many of the territories possessed by the Catholic king (Ferdinan...

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...few decades of the twentieth century presented a more optimistic picture. Due to the introduction of both chemical fertilizers and labor-saving machines, productivity began to increase. Along with this, the spread and use of railways and national market integration allowed for farm-specialization to expand with growing urbanization. Rural living standards improved substantially during this period following the decline that had occurred during the beginnings of industrialization in Spain around the mid 19th century. Although, the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War in 1936, which lasted 3 years, caused this positive trend to be stalled and thus began a period of economic crisis, lasting until the late 1940s. This economic crisis was due to the failure of the economic policies initially implemented by the new political regime of General Francisco Franco’s dictatorship.