Spain
THE LAST YEARS OF THE SPANISHÂ HABSBURGS
Villaviciosa, December 1710 confirmed Bourbon supremacy in Spain. Europe in 1700, at the beginning of the War of the Spanish Succession. Dynastic and governmental collapse in Spain coincided with the emergence of France as the dominant power in Europe. Louis XIV assumed full responsibility for the government of France when Mazarin died in 1661, and ruled for more than half…
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Elizabeth towards War I
European matchlock musketeers of the Elizabethan period. By the early 1570s the Puritans had grown significantly in numbers and in economic and political clout. They were not only unsatisfied, however, but increasingly discontented. At the same time that they were trying and failing to pressure the government into killing Mary…
Elizabeth towards War II
What is often depicted as the apotheosis of the Elizabethan Age, the turning point at which the wisdom of everything the queen had done was made manifest and the way was cleared for England’s emergence as the greatest of world powers, came in the third week of July 1588. It…
Fernando VI (1746–59), King of Spain
Portrait by Louis Michel Van Loo The Franco-Spanish fleet commanded by Don Juan JosĂ© Navarro drove off the British fleet under Thomas Mathews near Toulon in 1744. Fernando VI (1746–59) ascended to the throne at the age of thirty-three, mature and well trained in the business of government. As the…
Carlos III’s Reign
Portrait by Anton Raphael Mengs, c. 1761 Though Fernando VI’s reign saw the end of French tutelage, the latest intellectual currents from France and elsewhere circulated among the Spanish elite and characterized Spain’s version of the Enlightenment. Spain adopted the enlightened passion for scientific investigation, governmental reform, and social justice…
Sertorian War (80-72 B. C. E.)
Sertorius was a disaffected Roman who fought successfully against Sulla and Pompey. He was a masterly tactician specialising in surprise and ambushes exploiting wooded hills and according to Plutarch introduced Roman weapons, formations and signals. The 53 cohorts of Roman exiles under the treacherous Paperna that joined him maintained a…
Spanish arquebusier
1568. Battle of Jemmingen. Spanish arquebusiers. Angel GarcĂa Pinto for Desperta Ferro magazine Gonzalo de CĂłrdoba, (1453-1515). “el Gran Capitan.” Castilian general who reformed the tercios, reducing reliance on polearms and bringing more guns to reinforced pike formations that could operate independently because of their increased firepower. He fought in…