Mirrors and Myths: An Introduction to Spain's Past

How to untangle the present.........

Today’s Spain faces a wide range of challenges. From separatist movements to rapidly changing demographics, there are both static and dynamic pressure points that seem to threaten the stability of Spanish democracy. Honestly, some of these pressure points are closely related to the challenges we face here in the United States. I am occasionally asked to write about a specific Spanish issue such as the Catalan Independence Movement or the re-emergence of extreme political parties. I think that would be a bad idea. First of all, these issues are complex, dynamic, and emotionally loaded. To pretend that I understand them thoroughly in a modern context would be fallacious. Furthermore, while I think that a foreigner’s objective commentary (De Tocqueville’s Democracy in America for example) can be insightful when examined historically, the same commentary by a foreigner, related to immediate problems and delivered via keystroke could be considered inflammatory. Things are inflamed enough as they are (on both sides of the Atlantic). 

So how do we proceed? Rather than give you my own flawed opinions on current events and recent history, I want to provide you with a blueprint for your own analysis. Is the Catalan independence movement justified? Who really held the moral high ground in the Spanish Civil War? Should Spain still be a constitutional monarchy? These and questions like them are difficult, but they are all connected to the same history. In this context, I intend to take you on a journey that begins before the Roman Empire arrived on the Peninsula. We must go back if we are to move forward and draw fair conclusions about the present.

The Flag of Spain flies over the flag of Asturias, one of Spain's 17 Autonomous Communities.

Spain, like our own country, is a nation-state. It’s easy to take this for granted but it is one of the most fundamental truths that shape our perception of ourselves and of others. This strange new form of political organization that began emerging slowly as part of the “Westphalian system” in the West, required occasional contortions of the historical record, as well as the repression of cultural heterodoxy. Did you know that at the time of the French Revolution (1789) it is estimated that less than half of the population of what we know as France actually spoke French? And only about 10% spoke a French dialect that would be recognizable today. Modern France, like many western nations, is a construct arguably shaped in great part by myth. As Americans, we have our own myths ranging from the Pilgrim experience to the western expansion of the 19thCentury. By using the term “myth” or “legend”, I am not implying that the stories that bind us are devoid of truth. Legends are often based on truths. I am implying, however, that these stories and the truths that they contain are co-opted over time to shape whatever causes are convenient to those that benefit from partisan interpretation. Trying to follow these tangled narratives back in time and untie them is often daunting; Not only because history is complicated, but more importantly because history can be a cloudy mirror that we often prefer not to peer into. 

Modern Spain is a remarkably diverse melting pot of cultures, ethnicities, and legends. Like many modern nations, the glue that binds the body politic is thicker in some places than others. Over the next several months, I will be writing a series of posts on Spain’s roots. Although I intend to follow the plan below, I may deviate from time to time in the interests of painting a clearer picture. 

Part 1: Before the Romans

Who were the original Iberians? Where did they come from and what do we know about these foundational cultures that the Greeks, Carthaginians, and Romans would influence so deeply? 

Part 2: The Classical Invasion

Most of this section will focus on the Roman influence. We’ll look at how the Romans organized the Peninsula, influenced culture, and introduced certain institutions that would be directly related to the Spanish Civil War two millennia later. 

Part 3: The Visigoths

As Roman influence receded, it was replaced by new powers. We discuss the new ruling class, and how they shaped Peninsular culture in lasting ways?

Part 4: Al-Andalus

The Umayyad invasion and subsequent political influence would shape the Peninsula in ways that are still evident in daily life and would set the stage for a struggle that continues to define Spain today, for better or worse. 

Part 5: The Reconquest

Fact and fiction come together to create a unified Spain. Here in the kiln of struggle against Islamic occupation was born the spiritual vigor and energy that would carry Spain into its emergence as a global power. 

Part 6: The Golden Age

Spain builds an Empire but struggles to heal its own cultural divides and inequities. In a land of plenty, discontent brews. 

Part 7: Keeping A Lid on the Bottle

As the rest of Europe experiences, the benefits of the Renaissance, and subsequent Enlightenment, Spain and its institutional power structure lags behind. 

Part 8: The Peninsular War

Napoleonic France may have been defeated on the Peninsula by a newly awakened Spanish unity, but the ideas and changes that the invasion brings will launch us towards resurgent civil conflict.

Part 9: The Civil War

The historical apex of the divisions that have grown for centuries, the Civil War (1936-1939) produces an imposed peace. 

Part 10: The Dictatorship

Franco’s peace comes with a price, and reminders that nation-states are often constructed without the cultural glue required to form a truly durable nation-state. 

Part 11: Democracy Arrives (Again)

We will explore the transition to a constitutional monarchy in the 1970s and the consequences of this change. Now it will be up to you to answer the hard questions. 

When our journey is complete I suspect we will find that although the events that shape Spanish history were unique, the lessons that can be taken away are universal; themes that shape our common experience as humans. I look forward to sharing this experience with you and thank you as always for reading.