History of Spain

Catalog description

This course examines political, religious, socio-economic, and cultural developments from medieval to modern Spain. This course surveys the consolidation of the Spanish monarchy under the Trastamaras, Hapsburgs, and Bourbons focusing on the challenges Spain faced from the eighteenth to the twentieth centuries from the apogee of the enlightened absolutist state to the Franco dictatorship. Themes covered include the loss of Empire in the Americas and Asia, the struggle between conservatives and liberals, the fall of the monarchy, the First and Second Republics, the Civil War, Franquismo, the "Spanish Miracle," and Spain's integration into Europe. Students explore the origins of national identity and the challenges it faced from local and regional interests and sensibilities. Spain's international relations and continued involvement in Latin America and the Caribbean, the Spanish Republican exile, and Spanish Emigration in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries are also explored. Offered Occasionally.