Europe and the Decline of Spain

First published in 1981, Europe and the Decline of Spain deals with the slow ebbing of Spanish power, its 'melancholy, long, withdrawing roar' during the 'long seventeenth century' of pre-industrial Europe. The author looks at the fortunes of Spanish European hegemony from its apogee late in the reign of Philip II to its ultimate failure and dissolution about a century later. The author examines the dynamic spiritual and material resources of Spain as a politico-military system of continental dominance and control. He places the system in a context of continuous general European war, and structures and events in Spain and its provinces are set in this context. A feature of the book is the description of changing approaches to the Spanish system by its major adversaries. This, along with a fresh look at the events themselves, has conditioned a reinterpretation of Spain's 'political' decline which stresses its centrality to an overview of the whole period.

R. A Stradling was Professor of History at University College, Cardiff. He has been researching and writing on various aspects of seventeenth century Spanish history since 1965.

Bibliographical Prologue: The Problems and Their Available Data General Introduction: The Philippine Empire and Europe, 1580-1610 1. From Little Wars to Total War, 1610 - 28 2. The Empire of Olivares, 1628-43 3. Years of Survival, 1643-56 4. Years of Defeat, 1656-78 5. Pathology of a Power System, 1678-1700 General Conclusion: Eighteenth-Century Horizons, 1700-20