End of the Habsburgs in Spain: Brief Summary

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Throughout the 16th and 17th centuries, the Habsburg dynasty he reigned in the Hispanic Monarchy under the name of the House of Austria. Under his reign, the period of greatest splendor of the Spanish monarchy was lived, but also the beginning of the decadence that would lead them to lose an enormous amount of territories. Due to the importance of this dynasty for the history of Spain, in this lesson from a PROFESSOR we are going to talk about the decadence of this House, that is, the end of the Habsburgs in Spain.

Index

1. The arrival to the throne of the Habsburgs
2. The decline of the Hispanic Monarchy
3. The last Austria
4. Causes of the end of the Habsburgs

At the end of the 15th century, the House of Trastamara, represented by the Catholic kings, was the ruling dynasty of the Hispanic Monarchy. They decided to marry two of their children, Juan and Juana, with the children of Archduke Maximiliano, a measure included in the strong marriage policy that the Catholic Monarchs used to forge alliances against power French.

Juan's death, made the successor to the throne was Philip of Habsburg, husband of Juana and son of Maximiliano. The reign of Felipe was only in Castile, keeping the throne of Aragon King Fernando el Católico. After the death of both, the throne passed into the hands of the son of Felipe and Juana, Carlos I.

Carlos I took the throne of the Hispanic Monarchy, being the first Austria to rule over both Castile and Aragon. Carlos I married his cousin Isabel de Portugal, beginning a trend towards marriage between relatives who would continue his children, since the three children of Carlos and Isabel married relatives.

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The reigns of Carlos I and Felipe II established Spain as a world power, maintaining its dominions and expanding the power of Spain. But already in the last years of the reign of Felipe II we can see the beginning of the end of the Habsburgs, an important date being the defeat of the Invincible Armada in 1588 against the British.

The successor of Felipe II was his son, Philip III, who little interested in political affairs gave all the power to the valid of him. This led to an increase in the corruption of the kingdom, which brought with it a economic and social crisis that would last throughout the seventeenth century. If the reign of Felipe III had something good, it was his peaceful alliances. The valid of the king agreed peace agreements with territories such as Holland, France or the states of the Italian Peninsula.

The successor of Felipe III was Felipe IV, another weak king who gave all his power to the valid. In this reign it is worth highlighting the appearance of one of the most important authority figures in the history of Spain, the Count-Duke of Olivares, the valid of the king, who sought to restore to Spain the glory that he had lost in recent years. The Hispanic Monarchy faced an alliance of European kingdoms, which defeat the Spanish thirds at the Battle of Rocroi.

Because of this defeat Spain signed the Peace of Westphalia, recognizing the independence of Holland, and a little later the Peace of the Pyrenees, where Spain gave Roussillon and Sardinia to France. These treaties entailed an enormous loss of power, and evidenced the decline of the Hispanic Empire.

Continuing with this lesson of the end of the Habsburgs in Spain, we must talk about the last Austria in Spain, Carlos II, the so-called Bewitched.

Felipe IV's successor was Carlos II, a very weak person who hardly anyone expected to survive his childhood. The consanguinity of the Habsburgs had resulted in Charles II being incapacitated for power, with numerous psychological and physical problems. His weakness caused the economic and social crisis of the Hispanic kingdom will increase, further accentuating the Spanish decline against other European powers.

These diseases caused him to be unable to have an heir, which caused French and Austrian candidates to fight for his crown. After the death of Charles II, the War of succession, which ended with the victory of the Bourbons of France, thus ending the Habsburg dynasty in the Hispanic crown.

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The end of the Habsburgs It comes from various causes, very diverse factors that caused the power of the Habsburgs to be reduced until they were unable to maintain their dynasty in the Hispanic monarchy. Some of these causes were:

• Military defeats in the seventeenth century. This led to the loss of territories and the increase in the power of other powers, such as the Bourbon dynasty.
• The increase in power of the valid ones, who, before the kings' disabilities, were what truly ruled.
• The indebtedness with the Treasury that caused a strong economic crisis.
• The inability to maintain so many territories and so disparate at the same time.
• The inbreeding it caused that the descendants of the kings were increasingly weak, and ended up making Carlos II incapable of having descendants.

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