Western Civilization II / Unit 3 WC2 0208 short lesson, about 20 seconds
Spain: The Absolutism That Failed
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The idea
Spain was bankrupt by the sixteen twenties and split into near-independent territories, its king ruling only Castile directly. Reforms on Richelieu's model failed, regional parliaments revolted, Portugal broke away in sixteen forty, and the dynasty ended with Charles II in seventeen hundred.
In practice
A small middle class; nobles barring commoners from office.
Where people slip
The witness: a second-rank power. Cervantes wrote its nostalgia.
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