History

Spain has a prominent position in world history, mainly known for its role in the discovery of the Americas. However, other pivotal events happening inside the Iberian Peninsula have also had profound impact in shaping Spain’s unique cultural identity.

Roman Theatre in Mérida, 15 BC

The first notable of such was the Roman invasion and subsequent conquest. The invasion lasted from 220 BC to 19 AD, but Rome’s presence in the peninsula lasted for 700 years with tremendous impact on Spain’s cultural identity. The Romans brought tremendous influence on language, Spanish being a derivative of Latin. They also brought with them the Catholic faith, constructed infrastructure, architecture and shaped the government. Ruins from the Roman presence are abundant throughout Spain. 

Another pivotal event was the Arab invasion, especially in the south of Spain. Arabs ruled Spain for another 700 years until the year 1492, when Spain rose to prominence, first in declaring its independence and subsequently with the discovery of the Americas.

After the Roman demise, a Germanic people, the Visigoths entered the Iberian Peninsula in 415 AD and gradually gained dominance. The Visigoths were sympathetic to the Romans, and wanted to reestablish Roman order. The Visigoths established a kingdom comprising modern south-western France and the Iberian Peninsula. They perpetuated rule over Spain for another 200 years until the Arab incursion.

Alhambra, Granada, Ca. 1250 AD

An ostracised clan, the Witiza, effectively ended Visigoth rule by appealing for help to Arab tribes. The Arabs consolidated their power in Spain, especially in the south with the Caliphate of Al-Andalus. Arab dominion over Spain lasted for almost 800 years although, unlike the Romans, the Arabs never controlled all of Spain. Their dominance was always strongest in the South and for the last 244 years they only controlled the Kingdom of Granada. This period of Arab influence is also visible in the architecture of Andalusia in landmarks such as the Mosque of Cordoba, and Alhambra in Granada.

The period from 1492 until the Napoleonic in 1807 was a period of relative calm and prosperity for Spain. Art found new expressions in this period with notable painters such as Velazquez, Goya and El Greco as the most prominent. Many of these paintings are on display at the Prado National Museum in Madrid. It was also the time of Miguel de Cervantes, William Shakespeare's contemporary, who wrote Spanish literature's most iconic work, the two-part Don Quixote in 1605 and 1615 respectively. Spain exerted its dominion over the new world and brought home many treasures from the Americas, which, in turn, can be contemplated at the Americas Museum in Madrid.

The Napoleonic invasion caused a political crisis and although the state functions were repaired with the constitution of 1812, the years of war with France had taken its toll. Spain had become too weakened to exert its control over its overseas territories. In the decade to come, most Latin American countries proclaimed their independence from Spain in yet another expensive war for the aging imperial might.

Don Quixote and Sancho Panza, 
Plaza de España, Madrid

The 19th century was for the most part a time when Spain was left behind, not modernising as quickly as other European countries in the midst of the industrial revolution. The country found itself in a difficult situation of self-reflection between past glory and present misery. The landed gentry and aristocracy still enjoyed a privileged life, but most Spaniards were impoverished peons. Politically, the tension was evident in a series of liberal revolutions, as Spain tried to strike an acceptable balance between liberalism and conservatism.

Spain entered the 20th century with profound social problems. The rise of a working class protested the privileges of the aristocracy and the landed gentry. A brief attempt at establishing a republic (1873-1874) had been unsuccessful, but had spurred new ideas of federalism and socialism. PSOE was established as a new socialist political party as a result of a conference with a trade union in 1879.

Lack of international recognition stooped to a new low point when Spanish troops were massacred in a war against Morocco in 1921. The defeat brought about a change of power as Primo de Rivera staged a coup d’état that same year. He held traditional views favouring Catholicism and monarchism, but failed to address the needs of the rising proletariat to ease tension. His administration did not survive the ripples of the Wall Street crash hitting Spain in 1930. A new monarchist government failed to gain a foothold and called for municipal elections within two months. To their dismay, and that of the regent, the republicans won the election. The king, Alfonso XIII, fled the country.

After general elections in June 1931, the second republic was proclaimed. The government enacted an agrarian reform to appease the disenfranchised peasants, but failed to address other needs for religious and military reforms. The political tide turned again within two years, and a new right-wing government revoked the agrarian reform.

Street mural copy of Picasso's 
famous painting in Guernica.

In the elections of 1936, the left won again and reinstated the agrarian reforms as well as autonomous concessions to the Basque Country and Catalonia. These measures became the cause for the Spanish civil war as the political climate of uncertainty became too much to bear for the right-wing conservatives. A three-year war ensued, until the Republicans finally surrendered their last stronghold, Madrid, on 28 March 1938.  Audacious artists, such as Pablo Picasso depicted the atrocities of warfare, most exemplary in his painting Gernica on display at the Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofia in Madrid.  

The Civil War had ended, just as World War II was about to begin. Spain became isolated, an era of forced regression to conservative ideas was met with condemnation by the United Nations. Spain was effectively cut off from the outside world from 1939 to 1955, when the United Nations again allowed Spain to have diplomatic representation in its forum. Although Spain opened its borders to tourism from the outside world in the 1950s as a result of desperate need for foreign currency, the Spanish remained politically and culturally repressed until Franco’s death in 1975.

King Felipe of Spain
and Sultan Haitham ibn Tariq
in Muscat, Oman

The democratic reopening was facilitated by the then prince Juan Carlos, who, despite Franco’s intentions of making him his supreme successor, supported the claims for reinstating democracy in Spain. Spain received its new constitution in 1978, which is still effective today. Since the return to democracy Spain has modernised tremendously in terms of political stability, democratic representation, infrastructure, etc. The relatively smooth and consensual return to democratic representation with its ensuing freedom of speech has led to a creative resurgence in artistic expression. Despite the positive outlook in terms of democratic representation, the scars from a troubled past remain visible, especially as economic hardship persist.

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