Download or read book Apogee of Empire written by Stanley J. Stein and published by JHU Press. This book was released on 2004-12-01 with total page 479 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Once Europe's supreme maritime power, Spain by the mid-eighteenth century was facing fierce competition from England and France. England, in particular, had successfully mustered the financial resources necessary to confront its Atlantic rivals by mobilizing both aristocracy and merchant bourgeoisie in support of its imperial ambitions. Spain, meanwhile, remained overly dependent on the profits of its New World silver mines to finance both metropolitan and colonial imperatives, and England's naval superiority constantly threatened the vital flow of specie. When Charles III ascended the Spanish throne in 1759, then, after a quarter-century as ruler of the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies, Spain and its colonial empire were seriously imperiled. Two hundred years of Hapsburg rule, followed by a half-century of ineffectual Bourbon "reforms," had done little to modernize Spain's increasingly antiquated political, social, economic, and intellectual institutions. Charles III, recognizing the pressing need to renovate these institutions, set his Italian staff—notably the Marqués de Esquilache, who became Secretary of the Consejo de Hacienda (the Exchequer)—to this formidable task. In Apogee of Empire, Stanley J. Stein and Barbara H. Stein trace the attempt, initially under Esquilache's direction, to reform the Spanish establishment and, later, to modify and modernize the relationship between the metropole and its colonies. Within Spain, Charles and his architects of reform had to be mindful of determining what adjustments could be made that would help Spain confront its enemies without also radically altering the Hapsburg inheritance. As described in impressive detail by the authors, the bitter, seven-year conflict that ensued between reformers and traditionalists ended in a coup in 1766 that forced Charles to send Esquilache back to Italy. After this setback at home, Charles still hoped to effect constructive change in Spain's imperial system, primarily through the incremental implementation of a policy of comercio libre (free-trade). These reforms, made half-heartedly at best, failed as well, and by 1789 Spain would find itself ill prepared for the coming decades of upheaval in Europe and America. An in-depth study of incremental response by an old imperial order to challenges at home and abroad, Apogee of Empire is also a sweeping account of the personalities, places, and policies that helped to shape the modern Atlantic world.
Download or read book King Charles III of Spain written by Charles Petrie and published by . This book was released on 1971 with total page 286 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book The Spanish Match written by Alexander Samson and published by Ashgate Publishing, Ltd.. This book was released on 2006 with total page 288 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In 1623, the young heir to the English and Scottish thrones Prince Charles slipped out of England and headed off to Madrid hoping to marry the King of Spain's daughter. That his journey to Madrid was to eventually end in failure and public humiliation, has often been cited as a major influence on the development of the young prince and many of his subsequent policies as king. In this volume leading scholars from a variety of disciplines analyze the reactions and results of Charles romantic escapade and offer their insights in to the affair. In so doing many traditional assumptions about the trip are overturned, and the inadequacy of assessing it from a single discipline is revealed.
Download or read book Philip of Spain written by Henry Kamen and published by Yale University Press. This book was released on 1997-01-01 with total page 416 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Reassesses King Philip II's reputation as narrow-minded tyrant, describes the major events of his reign, and presents a more rounded depiction of his personality
Download or read book Charles the Third of Spain written by Joseph Addison and published by . This book was released on 1900 with total page 178 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book The Golden Empire written by Hugh Thomas and published by Random House. This book was released on 2011-08-23 with total page 689 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From a master chronicler of Spanish history comes a magnificent work about the pivotal years from 1522 to 1566, when Spain was the greatest European power. Hugh Thomas has written a rich and riveting narrative of exploration, progress, and plunder. At its center is the unforgettable ruler who fought the French and expanded the Spanish empire, and the bold conquistadors who were his agents. Thomas brings to life King Charles V—first as a gangly and easygoing youth, then as a liberal statesman who exceeded all his predecessors in his ambitions for conquest (while making sure to maintain the humanity of his new subjects in the Americas), and finally as a besieged Catholic leader obsessed with Protestant heresy and interested only in profiting from those he presided over. The Golden Empire also presents the legendary men whom King Charles V sent on perilous and unprecedented expeditions: Hernán Cortés, who ruled the “New Spain” of Mexico as an absolute monarch—and whose rebuilding of its capital, Tenochtitlan, was Spain’s greatest achievement in the sixteenth century; Francisco Pizarro, who set out with fewer than two hundred men for Peru, infamously executed the last independent Inca ruler, Atahualpa, and was finally murdered amid intrigue; and Hernando de Soto, whose glittering journey to settle land between Rio de la Palmas in Mexico and the southernmost keys of Florida ended in disappointment and death. Hugh Thomas reveals as never before their torturous journeys through jungles, their brutal sea voyages amid appalling storms and pirate attacks, and how a cash-hungry Charles backed them with loans—and bribes—obtained from his German banking friends. A sweeping, compulsively readable saga of kings and conquests, armies and armadas, dominance and power, The Golden Empire is a crowning achievement of the Spanish world’s foremost historian.
Download or read book King Charles III written by Mike Bartlett and published by Dramatists Play Service, Inc.. This book was released on 2016-05-16 with total page 107 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: THE STORY: The Queen is dead: After a lifetime of waiting, the prince ascends the throne. A future of power. But how to rule? Mike Bartlett’s controversial play explores the people beneath the crowns, the unwritten rules of our democracy, and the conscience of Britain’s most famous family.
Download or read book The Spanish Invasion of Mexico 1519 1521 written by Charles M Robinson III and published by Osprey Publishing. This book was released on 2004-04-27 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Spanish conquest of Mexico was the most remarkable military expedition in history, and in achieving it, Hernan Cortes proved himself as one of the greatest generals of all time. This book explains the background of the Aztec Empire and of the Spanish presence in Mexico. It describes the lives of the Aztecs in their glittering capital and of the Europeans who learned to adapt and survive in an alien and often dangerous world. The invasion was a war between civilizations, pitting the fatalism and obsessive ritual of the Aztecs against soldiers fighting for riches, their lives, and eventually their souls.
Download or read book The Spanish Atlantic World in the Eighteenth Century written by Allan J. Kuethe and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2014-05-12 with total page 407 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book covers the evolution of royal policy in Spanish America as eighteenth-century Spain modernized its empire and transformed itself into a power of the first order. Tracing the interplay between war and reform, the analysis confronts the diverse realities of the Spanish Atlantic world, which stretched from the northern Mexican borderlands to Argentina and Chile. Unlike earlier studies on eighteenth-century Spain, this work incorporates the early Bourbon experience into the narrative and integrates the impressive reemergence of the Royal Armada into a fuller picture of administrative, commercial, fiscal, ecclesiastical, and military change.
Download or read book The Spanish Pioneers written by Charles Fletcher Lummis and published by . This book was released on 1912 with total page 320 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Knights of Spain Warriors of the Sun written by Charles M. Hudson and published by University of Georgia Press. This book was released on 2018 with total page 600 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Between 1539 and 1542 Hernando de Soto led a small army on a desperate journey of exploration of almost four thousand miles across the U. S. Southeast. Until the 1998 publication of Charles M. Hudson's foundational Knights of Spain, Warriors of the Sun, De Soto's path had been one of history's most intriguing mysteries. With this book, anthropologist Charles Hudson offers a solution to the question, "Where did de Soto go?" Using a new route reconstruction, for the first time the story of the de Soto expedition can be laid on a map, and in many instances it can be tied to specific archaeological sites. Arguably the most important event in the history of the Southeast in the sixteenth century, De Soto's journey cut a bloody and indelible swath across both the landscape and native cultures in a quest for gold and personal glory. The desperate Spanish army followed the sunset from Florida to Texas before abandoning its mission. De Soto's one triumph was that he was the first European to explore the vast region that would be the American South, but he died on the banks of the Mississippi River a broken man in 1542. With a new foreword by Robbie Ethridge reflecting on the continuing influence of this now classic text, the twentieth-anniversary edition of Knights is a clearly written narrative that unfolds against the exotic backdrop of a now extinct social and geographic landscape. Hudson masterfully chronicles both De Soto's expedition and the native societies he visited. A blending of archaeology, history, and historical geography, this is a monumental study of the sixteenth-century Southeast.
Download or read book Royal Splendor in the Enlightenment written by Bridget Marx and published by . This book was released on 2010 with total page 296 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Spain s Photovoltaic Revolution written by Pedro A. Prieto and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2013-01-04 with total page 142 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Energy Return on Energy Invested (EROI or EROEI) is the amount of energy acquired from a particular energy source divided by the energy expended, or invested, in obtaining that energy. EROI is an essential and seemingly simple measure of the usable energy or “energy profit” from the exploitation of an energy source, but it is not so easy to determine all of the energy expenditures that should be included in the calculation. Because EROI values are generally low for renewable energy sources, differences in these estimates can lead to sharply divergent conclusions about the viability of these energy technologies. This book presents the first complete energy analysis of a large-scale, real-world deployment of photovoltaic (PV) collection systems representing 3.5 GW of installed, grid-connected solar plants in Spain. The analysis includes all of the factors that limit and adjust the real electricity output through one full-year cycle, and all of the fossil fuel inputs required to achieve these results. The authors’ comprehensive analysis of energy inputs, which assigns energy cost estimates to all financial expenditures, yields EROI values that are less than half of those claimed by other investigators and by the solar industry. Sensitivity analysis is used to test various assumptions in deriving these EROI estimates. The results imply that the EROI of current, large-scale PV systems may be too low to seamlessly support an energy and economic transition away from fossil fuels. Given the pervasiveness of fossil fuel subsidies in the modern economy, a key conclusion is that all components of the system that brings solar power to the consumer, from manufacturing to product maintenance and life cycle, must be improved in terms of energy efficiency. The materials science of solar conversion efficiency is only one such component. Sunny Spain represented an ideal case study as the country had the highest penetration of solar PV energy at 2.3 percent of total national demand as well as state-of-the-art expertise in solar power including grid management of intermittent, modern renewable systems. This book, written by a uniquely qualified author team consisting of the chief engineer for several major photovoltaic projects in Spain and the world’s leading expert on the concept and application of EROI, provides a comprehensive understanding of the net energy available to society from energy sources in general and from functioning PV installations under real-world conditions in particular. The authors provide critical insight into the capacity of renewable energy sources to fill the foreseeable gap between world energy demand and depletion rates for fossil fuels. · Presents the first comprehensive study of the EROI of large-scale solar PV systems in a developed country · Uses real-world operational data rather than laboratory approximations and extrapolations · Describes the dependence of one alternative energy source on the goods and services of a fossil-fueled economy · Has global implications for the potential of renewable energy sources to replace dwindling reserves of fossil fuels · Written with the first-hand knowledge of the chief, on-site engineer for many solar installations in Spain together with the leader in the development and application of the concept of EROI
Download or read book The Spanish Game written by Charles Cumming and published by St. Martin's Press. This book was released on 2010-02-22 with total page 290 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Introduced in A Spy by Nature, Alec Milius returns in The Spanish Game, a compelling, modern espionage novel from Charles Cumming, widely acclaimed as a modern master of the form. "A worthy successor to masters of the spy novel like John le Carre and Len Deighton." --Chicago Sun-Times. Six years ago, after working for the British Secret Intelligence Service, Alec Milius got out of the spy game after being drummed out by MI6. His retirement came at unbearably great personal cost. But just because he's walked away from the life, it doesn't mean that that life has walked away from him. Now living in exile in Madrid, quietly and as far under the radar as possible, Milius keeps a constant eye out for the enemies he made, hoping to avoid any future involvement. Yet when a prominent Basque politician goes missing under suspicious circumstances, Milius soon finds himself embroiled in another international conspiracy.
Download or read book Infidels and Empires in a New World Order written by David M. Lantigua and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2020-06-18 with total page 373 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Examines early modern Spanish contributions to international relations by focusing on ambivalence of natural rights in European colonial expansion to the Americas.
Download or read book The Golden Age written by Hugh Thomas and published by Penguin UK. This book was released on 2011-11-24 with total page 819 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Charles V, Emperor of Europe and the New World, is the central figure in the second volume of Hugh Thomas's great history of the Spanish Empire. It begins with the return of the remnants of Magellan's expedition around the world in 1522 and ends with Charles's death in 1558. In the decades between, the Spaniards conquer Guatemala, Yucatan, Columbia, Venezuela, Peru and Chile, and control the banks of the mighty River Plate; the audacious conquistador Francisco de Orellana journeys down the Amazon, Cabeza de Vaca walks from Florida to Mexico, Juan Vazquez Coronado pioneers into New Mexico and Hernando de Soto vainly pursues worldly riches in Florida, Mississippi and Georgia. Hugh Thomas writes vividly, conveying the conquerors' almost disbelieving sense of what they were achieving. The discovery and subjugation of so many native peoples raised enormous controversy within Spain about how they should be treated, a debate Thomas explores perceptively, with an eye for resonances have lasted centuries. Hugh Thomas brings alive one of the most extraordinary and influential moments in High Renaissance and world history.
Download or read book Mary and Philip written by Alexander Samson and published by Manchester University Press. This book was released on 2020-01-22 with total page 469 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The co-monarchy of Mary I and Philip II put England at the heart of early modern Europe. This positive reassessment of their joint reign counters a series of parochial, misogynist and anti-Catholic assumptions, correcting the many myths that have grown up around the marriage and explaining the reasons for its persistent marginalisation in the historiography of sixteenth-century England. Using new archival discoveries and original sources, the book argues for Mary as a great Catholic queen, while fleshing out Philip’s important contributions as king of England. It demonstrates the many positive achievements of this dynastic union in everything from culture, music and art to cartography, commerce and exploration. An important corrective for anyone interested in the history of Tudor England and Habsburg Spain.
