Franco and World War Two
Franco's traditional image has been as a canny neutral in the struggle between the Allied and Axis powers. But in 1940 his aspirations for an African empire drew him to within an ace of war with Britain.
Spain
The Politics of Futbol
Duncan Shaw looks at how the entry of Spain into the EEC in 1985 furthered its process of integration into the European community. During the Franco years, the ostracised regime used football to initiate this gradual road towards acceptance. The Catalans and the Basques, however, used football as a means of popular protest.
'A Hangdog Whom I Dearly Love' - The Third Earl of Peterborough
Charles Mordaunt, Third Earl of Peterborough, 1658-1735, is probably best remembered as the captor of Barcelona in 1705. Aram Bakshian Jr. shows that, in addition to being a soldier, he was also 'a sailor, courtier, conspirator, diplomat, wit and rake'.
The Dutch Declaration of Independence - July 26th, 1581
Geoffrey Parker looks at the moment when the representatives of certain provinces of the Netherlands met together to depose their lawful sovereign Philip II of Spain.
The Planet King: Philip IV and the Survival of Spain
In the mid-seventeenth century Spain was at the apogee of artistic and cultural achievement under the patronage of her monarch, Philip IV - but, as R.A. Stradling shows here, she was fighting for survival as a great imperial power.
Charles V and the Turks
The loss to the Turks of Constantinople, the ancient capital of the Eastern Empire, in 1453 had been a terrible blow to Christendom. It was the crusading dream of Charles V, argues Sinclair Atkins, to reconquer the Byzantine city.
The Shotgun Marriage: Spain's Annexation of Portugal
In 1580, Portugal was joined with Spain in a sixty-year long and unpopular union.