A Super Quick History of Spain

ol to and welcome to Mr this is Europe and here's Spain now vamos shall we the shores and hills and cliffs and cags of Spain what a story they could tell in fact our tale begins with the land telling us quite a lot within the shadowy throats of the caves of Northern Spain are some of the oldest paintings in the world ancient fingers produced these marvelous likenesses of local beasts with consumate skill and an almost reverent accuracy of form now as the centuries sauntered on by a host of tribes inhabited hispania iberians were one of these groups horse riding sword making wall building script writers who apparently sacrificed pigs with their tongues hanging out more pleasing is this Limestone lady with her opulent headdress and placidly Regal expression the Kelts also established a firm presence in the land while on the coast Phoenicians and Greeks planted colonies the grandest of Phoenician settlements was Carthage over in in Tunisia and the carthaginians carved out an Empire of their own which as you see included a good chunk of Spain the carthaginian general hamilkar Bara had expanded carthage's territory there but his son was the far more famous Hannibal both Father and Son battled the rising power of Rome but Hannibal came closest to Victory when he set out on his legendary campaign to cross the Alps and attack the Romans from the north Rome however triumphed and snatched up carthage's Holdings in Spain slowly and steadily Rome conquered the entire Iberian Peninsula and would rule it for many centuries in which time Roman culture permeated the land and the Latin language spread from which modern Spanish originates two of the greatest Roman emperors traan and hadrien were born in Spain as was theodosius the great who reaffirmed the Council of Na's decision on what true Christianity was and set about making that Faith the Empire's official religion the Apostle James is traditionally believed to be buried in Spain and James is the country's patron saint now as the Western Roman Empire shattered Spain fell to the German Visigoths who over time converted to Catholic Christianity the viig Goths were exceptional goldsmiths but fine craftsmanship can't deter Invaders and in the year 7-Eleven the Muslim Moors burst into the land and took control of most of the Iberian Peninsula the caliphate of Cordova and subsequent regimes produced remarkable achievements in the cultural and scientific spheres but slavery was rampant and Christians and Jews were second class citizens however there were rulers who were considerably tolerant something the extremist almoravids were not when they took over the almohads who followed were even worse and non-muslims were persecuted harshly but their harshness did not help them and they ended up defeated how well the answer to that lies to the north no that's too far north that's better the Islamic conquest of Spain was never completed it failed to either conquer or hold Northern Spain where the Christians immediately commenced their long epic mission of reconquest the Reconquista it was a complex geopolitical phenomenon first involving such groups as the astorians the Gans and also the bases with their ancient pre-tin pre-ind European language and the catalans to the east a time of knights and castles and of the great Commander Rodrigo diar better known as elid by the 11th century it was clear the Christians were in control of the situation with the capture of Toledo in 1085 by Alonso v 6 of Leon Galia and Castilla withstanding the resultant bber aggression the Spaniards thrashed the alah heads in 1212 and took more and more ground afterwards meanwhile the Exquisite Gothic style had entered Spain and many magnificent Cathedrals were built by the late 1200s the only Muslim region left was Granada in the South where the beautiful alumbra palace was constructed finally in the 1400s Christian Spain became a dynastic Union with the marriage of Ferdinand of Aron and Isabella of Castilla known as the Catholic monarchs now hold on to your hats because a lot of stuff is about to happen Ferdinand and Isabella instituted the so-called Spanish Inquisition to make sure people who said said they were catholic were indeed Catholic and later basically said be Catholic or get out the king and queen then relaunched the dormant Reconquista and conquered Granada and expelled the Jews and in the very same year sponsored The Voyage of Italian Navigator Christopher Columbus who set out to sail to Asia and instead found America and soon after this Spain completed its conquest of the Canary Islands yes the Spanish once a conquered and oppressed people began now to conquer and oppress others the Conquistadors explored looted and asserted Spain's dominance over the Caribbean much of South America and sway of North America though churchmen protested and fought for the rights and Humane treatment of the natives who were not having the happiest time anyway the Spanish language winged over and nestled in the new world as a Spanish Pope set in Rome and Empires toppled before Spanish steel Philip II proved as ferociously Catholic as Ferdinand and Isabella and strenuously opposed the Protestant Reformation and even prepared to invade England in order to depose Queen Elizabeth the and restore regnal Catholicism unfortunately for Philip the mighty Arad was no match for Britain's horrible weather Spanish Naval power triumphed against the Turks however with the resounding Victory against the ottoman Fleet at lanto Spain also took control of Portugal and conquered the Philippines which was named after Philip and amidst all this Spain basked in a golden age of culture which produced magnificent art and architecture and music and literature including the world's first modern novel and also one of its greatest and funniest donot or donot in English it was said the King was traveling through the city one day and saw a man laughing his head off and said that man is either mad or he is reading Don kote what was not so funny however was that as the years passed Spain began to be outclassed in Naval Power by the British and the Dutch who had their own Colonial Ambitions the result was that the Spanish Empire was big but it was failing its people by lack of Reform by lack of investing in them and the land of Spain now when Charles II died in 1700 without leaving an heir the question arose who gets to sit on the throne of Spain the French said Philip ofu should be king the British Dutch and the Holy Roman Empire said whoo whoa whoa wait a second there buddy boy that would make him the leader of powerful France and the massive Spanish Empire that's too much power I bet you know what happened next right right War bloody battles and dismal death ending in treaties that basically agreed that while Phil would get the throne it would not be joined with France the house of bourbon still rules Spain to this day and Britain still occupies jalter which it pinched during the aforesaid conflict anyhow the philosophical ideas of the French enlighten spil through the Spanish Empire revolutionary ideas that championed science and reason and questioned the position and authority of church and King in many respects these ideas led to the French Revolution chopping off their King's Head horrifying all the unchopped heads of Europe France then beat Spain in a war and got themselves a Napoleon who made himself Emperor and invaded Spain the French committed many evils against the Spanish but Spain and its allies Portugal and Britain made the war a nightmare for France the Spanish Guerilla tactics proving most effective in in grinding down the French War Machine Spain won but at the same time lost how well news of Napoleon's invasion of Spain crashed like a Thunderclap across its colonies in America revolts against Spanish rule erupted amongst the Mexicans Venezuelans argentines Chileans peruvians bolivians Colombians and more who succeeded in winning their independence Spain's Empire shrank prodigiously now don't say it don't say it well at least things can't get any worse I told you not at more war conservatives against liberal then both the Philippines and Cuba began itching for Independence the United States was keeping a close eye on Cuba and after the mysterious sinking of its Battleship USS Main in 1898 the media whipped up an anti-spanish frenzy and it resulted in as always War the Spaniards fought hard and well but they were defeated and lost Cuba and the Philippines and Puerto Rico and Guam Spain's humiliation left it wondering at itself and its place in the world as industrialization increased Regional nationalism intensified in Galia Catalonia and The Basque country and passions were high among conservatives workers Republicans anarchists and socialists Spain won a colonial war against the berbers of Northern Morocco but after the Municipal elections of 1931 the Kings stepped down and Spain became a republic Republicans rejoiced conservatives seed liberalism was promoted the church was stripped of much of its power and influence and autonomy was granted or promised to Catalonia Galia and The Basque Country churches were burned miners went on strike left and right- Wingers became more extreme eventually the conservative nationalists had enough and cooked up an uprising which spiraled into the Spanish Civil War Republicans versus nationalists hundreds of thousands of deaths atrocities committed on both sides and the rise of General Francisco Franco whose determined ruthless leadership saw the nationalists Victorious Franco proceeded to rule Spain as a dictator he kept Spain out of World War II and murderous and repressive as his regime was oversaw increased Industrial ization and the economic boom that was called the Spanish Miracle after Franco's death in 1975 the monarchy was restored and democracy returned in the 1980s Spain joined NATO and the EU as Basque Separatists violently sought Independence Spain was struck severely by the global financial crisis but still managed to win the World Cup and Catalonia held a referendum in which voters opted for Independence a vote the Spanish government stated was unconstitutional and invalid and then Spain's women won the World Cup as uneasy and tense as things are in much of the world at present including the country in question Spain today has attained a very high level of human development high quality of life and possesses one of the world's largest economies and is the second most visited place in the world after France and Spanish contributions to the world are simply extraordinary from art to sport to music to cinema to science to literature to food but what awaits Spain in the days and years ahead comment below but for now [Music] adios [Music]