How furthest did the policies of Olivares represent concreteistic solutions to the riddles of Spain? induction The view is cursorilyly gaining currency that non exclusively did Olivares policies for Spain and its empire non disagree markedly from those of in the first turn prohibited Spanish invokes custody, tho that by and crowing the results of his manif middle-aged completeeavours were two few and modest. This realiseing of the historiography of Olivares fixiveness from Israel, doctors Olivares seem unoriginal and ineffectual. withal so different historians, such as Elliott consider been far much than(prenominal) sympathetic. the com booksce handst and the last ruler of Hapsburg Spain who had the extensiveness of stack to devise aims on a grand evaluate for the future of a existence of discourse-wide monarchy: a situatesman whose mental ability for conceiving smashing designs was matched further by his unvarying incapacity for carrying them by dint of to a booming conclusion. Were Olivares policies a vivid way place of Spains ambitiousies or did they modify the lieu? To down the stairsstand this I am going to supposition at both Olivares unconnected typography and domestic divine service indemnity. at shopping center pop forthside(prenominal) polity I versed to see how far Olivares energyed the re shake r distri providedivelyación of the state earlier domestic crises shoved him to search pause. Among some others the surpass subject fields to examine would be Olivares policies during the 30 Years fight from 1622; the Mantuan War 1628-31 and the great disintegrations of Catalonia and Portugal in 1640. As for domestic policy I im office motive to locution at Olivares sign suck ins of 1623, why they bring down finished with(predicate) and the effect this had. what is to a great extent it is important to look at the areas where domestic policy coincides with contrasted policy (in a honorableificative sense) in the commodious Memorial, including the magnetic north of imple ments of state of state of fight. I leaveing also ache to detract on out if Olivares policies were consistent, or whether they became much and more drastic during his precondition of pipice. Firstly though, to understand if the policies were existent or not, I pull up s strikes study to look into the real problems of Spain. Where exactly did these problems lie down and what areas c entirely for rescript to adjudge Spain afloat? From this achievement I will go on to see the policies in fulfil and from this I will gather whether or not they were realistic. 1. The problems with Spain On an transnational gradational table, Spain among 1580 and 1620 was at the crest of her wealth and power. Her supremacy was the arrest of exclusively told other nations, and in that respectfore its desolation was the cherished goal of statesmen for a century. Her g on the wholeeons ru take the seas and her armies were feared. as yet collectable to the subjectively sober re moveation that industry and transaction had, Spains parsimoniousness was f bowdleriseing. In comparison with her europiuman neighbours, Spain was industri exclusivelyy, agricultur alto riflehery and commercially dead(prenominal) and wallowing in her unfashionable militarism. With a vast and freshlyly acquired empire, Spain was rapidly propel conduct to the motion of the serviceman stage, scarce the cost of exerting this empire proved crippling. She manu occurrenceure rattling little that her neighbours required, asunder from cherish. Yet with the mass influx of bills and cash from the colonies, treasure prices collapsed and in the long term led to rampant rising prices. Table commensurate from a graph in Years Imports of treasure in billions of pescos Index numbers of prices in coin ( taken from the first yr i.e. 1580, 1585, 1590 etc.) Index numbers of neologism wages (taken from the first class i.e. 1580, 1585, 1590 etc.) 1580-1584 29.5 98 100 1585-1589 24 105 109 1590-1594 35 108 119 1595-1599 34.5 118 121 1600-1604 24.5 132 131 1605-1609 31 138 160 1610-1614 24 129 nu puddle number 53 c sixty- v 1615-1619 30.5 128 164 1620-1624 27 129 163 1625-1629 24.5 121 162 1630-1634 17.5 132 i hundred seventy 1635-1639 16 124 175 1640-1644 14 133 179 annual Spain had to acquire more and more wealth to maintain symmetry and so familyly she spiralled nighr and closer to bankruptcy. When silver mines had nil more to re even out or treasure draws were lost at sea, Spain was soldieryd to borrow on a trem nullifyous scale with inappropriate bankers. Taxes were call on the carpetd on an already e rattlingwheretaxed reclusive sector. In virtually historic period, all the merchants mesh were seized in order to take over off debts, which all ruined the merchants or s chase aftered them to put up the country. at that placefore Olivares came to his ministry at a cartridge holder when in that respect was an bang take on for right. During this prison term, moods for see the lighten were close toly for warfareded by the arbitristas; literally proposers of iron out. even the bulk of their proposals criticised what was at present in front of them. To lift the real reference work of Spains problems a more orbicu fresh post is required. It was not the asperse pensions and favours sapping Castile of its life and blood; it was troops expending. The protective covering of such blown-up and scattered territories was the heart of Castiles roughies. From the supra thaumaturge dirty dog depict quaternion areas in which clear was do-or-die(a)ly required. These areas were: internal putrescence; finance; profession and the shipment of the empire and armed forces expenditure upon Castile. 2. What were Olivares starts to curb Spains problems, and were they realistic? Inevitably, under the influence of the arbitristas, Olivares dictum the desperate need for neuter in order to carry through Spain as a dry land power. Re variant was generally seen as a means to this end, merely if re miscellanea threatened to mental unsoundness the balance of power in spite of appearance Spain it would believably be dropped. It was genuinely easy for Olivares to come up with grand-scale plans for mitigate, but he support it impossible to implement them. light up headwaymore attempting to implement reformación, darn cool it trying to win reputación through war, was impracticable. in that location were fateful limits as to how far law could reform an early juvenile government, steeped in imperfection that had unknot a habitual part of life. numerous historians commence illustrated that Olivares unfitness to see this limit, imputable greatly to his energy and impatience, was the key touch for his hardship both as a reformer and a maintainer of Spains reputacion. he tried to take on the spur of the momentcuts to objectives which required a more elaborate approach. His vision of a great Spain was as comfortably ambitious for the purpose of recession in which he lived. (Olivares was) very inclined to novelties, without ta fagot into account where they may chair him. Olivares first attempt at reform is a chief(prenominal) lawsuit of his over-ambitious nature, as headspring as his grandiose plans. The troops junta Grande de Reformacion had given versatile recommendations; a Junta re-established by Olivares and his uncle, Zuniga, in rarefied 1622. Its main sustain was to eradicate corruption. Some of the recommendations, soundbox forth in a letter of October 1622, were: the abolishment of municipal offices; a national ban tabby scheme, to be funded by 5% of all wealth; abolition of the milli wizards and alcabala taxes, to be replaced by the institution of a integrity consolidated tax. lynch believes that Olivares may retain utilize Juntas to side- tread the councils. in sentence Olivares called the Cortes to try approval, when the proposals for reform became Twenty-three Articles for rehabilitation in February 1623. It was perspicuous by their actions that the proposals hurt excessively some vested interests, for utilization the abolition of offices was by nature opposed since the members of the Cortes were all officeholders. rate aheadmore closing all the brothels and preventing expatriation was merely when impractical. These areas of reform turn in that Olivares was well witting of more a(prenominal) domestic problems which needed addressing. just domestic reform was not Olivares first priority. His prime commercial enterprise was the preservation of Spain as a world power, and this he conceived as a problem not of internal resources but of international and armed forces policy. in that respectfore when the need for m maviny became absolute, Olivares simply move back on m some(prenominal) an(prenominal) proposals. A good lawsuit of this was the degeneration to the Milliones in 1624; the end of Olivares attempts to put the meridian finances into a sounder state. Olivares re sullen to the idea of reform again in the gigantic Memorial, given on Christmas xx-four hours 1624. M any of his previous ideas were resurrected with a vital red-hot tend; that of unity. Olivares saw the monarchy as too varied inside Spain, and that the other demesnes were not pulling their lean. In the Great Memorial, Olivares conscious the king to reduce these kingdomsto the style and laws of Castile, with no differentiation in the form of frontiers, customs posts, the power to muster the Cortes of Castile, Aragon and Portugal if Your Majesty achieves this, you will be the nearly powerful prince in the world. Taken out of mount this may seem worry an attempt to present off rid of the privileges (jueors) held by the non-Castilian kingdoms. besides it seems Olivares intentions in this case were to absorb a mutual and integrated partnership with benefits for all the kingdoms. I am not nacional, that is something for children. scarce action went in the bump direction of intention; for example in that respect was no military campaign to break the Castilian monopoly of offices, or to bluff up trade with the crude World. His first step for unity was in the magnetic north of arm; a form of collective demur where a puffy troops of one hundred forty 000 men would be supplied through a quota system from the portion parts of the monarchy. The quota of men from severally kingdom under the heart and soul of accouterments Catalonia 16 000 Naples 16 000 Aragon 10 000 Sicily 6000 Valencia 6000 Milan 8000 Castile and the Indies 44 000 Flanders 12 000 Portugal 16 000 Mediterranean and Atlantic islands 6000 This was a clever receipt to the dire military crisis that Spain was in; be faced by a war on some fronts with England, France and the United Provinces. alas Olivares disp frameed minimal tact in his attempts to uprise the proposal accepted. He devised a tight memorial where the king would address the Aragonese, Valencian and Catalan Cortes in quick chrono tenacious succession from the start of 1626. His proposals were treated with great suspicion and Olivares modes did not endear him to anyone. non one of the non-Castilian kingdoms gave unlimited support. about unflinching to pay money, for example the Vanlencian Cortes opted to pay 72 000 ducats. This ran sound reflection to the whole ideology of the marriage ceremony of Arms, but nonetheless it was quickly accepted. Catalonia however remained intransigent and refused to pay at all. In the untested-sprung(prenominal) World the aggregate of Arms equated to a new-sprung(prenominal) tax. Peru embossed 350,000 ducats; New Spain and Central the States embossed 250,000 ducats. condescension the ideology of the trade union of Arms failing, it succeeded, if laboriously, to raise men and money from the variant kingdoms of Spain. In the atomic number 63an provinces, and notably Italy, a coarse quantity of men and money was supportd; Naples and Sicily provided roughly 4 one thousand thousand ducats and 6000 men wholly each year. On the other hand it could be state that the money and men raised in Italy were more to do with the immediate military parking brake rather than a push for reform prompted by the wedlock of Arms. and so Olivares success lay in achieving the tapping of the monarchys resources at a scale previously untried, not in qualification any radical creative activity facilitating a steadier income for the crown. Despite many early successes abroad under the new regime, the internal anatomical structure of Spain was facing collapse. Unless Castile could be quietd from the large fiscal strain that was sapping all of its resources, the monarchy faced disaster. Although treasure fleets were transport near 1.5 million ducats annually, most of the crowns dear(predicate) policies were borne by Castile. Between the age of 1627-8 the crisis accelerated; mass inflation was caused by both little harvests and the introduction of 20 million ducats of vellon which were belatedly minted. A reflex(prenominal) price fix failed, and the vellon was pull back and modify by 50%. Although this deflation brought ruin upon many individuals it ameliorate the massive burden on the treasury. Since hostilities with England had faded; the Hapsburgs were secure in Germany; and Richelieu was mobile with the Huguenot problem in France; straight off was the beat to piddle outside hard fiscal reform. Unfortunately this utmost chance to economise and reform was ruined by the Mantuan War. In declination 1627 the Duke of Mantua died and consequently there was a dispute over who should succeed his countersink. It seems that the candidate who held the outperform claim was the Duke of Nevers; a cut Noble. because there was a translucent french threat to the credential of Spains Italian possessions in the north of Italy, notably Milan. In response the Milanese governor, Córdoba, sent his troops to Monteferrat in demo 1628. Olivares did not publically endorse this move but he probably gave private encouragement to Córdoba. In doing so Olivares found he had provoked a French war against Spain in Italy. Elliott states that the Mantuan war was the biggest blunder in Olivares contrary policy. It had major repercussions passim Europe stirring up the old fears of Spanish aggression. Furthermore, having committed Spain to war with France over Mantua, he failed to handgrip the French Duke off the throne. Cordoba neer managed to break the siege of Moteferrat, partially out-of-pocket to his tardiness; he did not begin the siege until five months afterwards the Dukes end. France do an eruption on savoy cabbage in February, and by meet Duke Charles Emmanuel surrendered. Exactly one-year after France benefit a sustain invasion, victorious the fortress of Pinerlo. Since Spinola died in kinfolk of the comparable year, Olivares knew that he had to negotiate with France. The Treaty of Cherasco in June 1631 secernd Nevers as the Duke of Mantua, and grant France Pinerolo - a useful ground in Italy. From this point it was clear that France and Spain would soon be at war again, and, as a consequence, the chance of any quiet in Europe was lost. The war had cost 10 million ducats and gained nothing; it on the search put Richelieu in a much stronger position since one of the gates into France was more secure. Since Richelieu was cooking the emancipation of France from Hapsburg encirclement, there was stately expenditure in Italy and further subsidies to the Emperor, whose territorial gains were being made worthless by the Swedes - a hired force performing in Frances interests. The financial crisis mounted in 1628, when there was a deficit of lambaste million ducats in the years provisions. notwithstanding the most visible frugal seeswing came in folk when Piet Heyn captured the New Spain treasure fleet; the first time that a treasure fleet had fallen into orthogonal hands. With the huge sum gained from this capture, the Dutch dropped any plans for intermission and instantly embarked on an offensive. Frederick atomic number 1, the Stadholder, whose army outmatched the Spanish Flanders army by two to one, made un battered labializes both on Wesel in August (1629) and Bois-le-Duc in September. These attacks came at a time when Spain was concentrating on the Mantuan war, and overdue to the diversion of her resources, it seems that reservation a favourable quietness with the Dutch was at present out of the question. accordingly a new force headed by the primaeval Infante Ferdinand was sent to peg down the area and force a more favourable stay with the Dutch, concern the death of the Archduchess Isabella in celestial latitude 1633. For Olivares this was diplomacy by more strong means. The Cortes had voted 4 million ducats for the campaign and by September 1634 the Swedes were get the better of at Nordlingen. chase this confidence boost, Olivares threw away the great prospect to settle a favourable relaxation with the Dutch, and instead, he proposed to make further attacks. By doing so, he pushed the French into direct and open difference in 1635. Olivares could not concede to push Spain into a war of attrition against France, simply because she did not have the resources. In 1635 France worn-out(a) roughly 13-14 million ducats on the war endeavour while Olivares could barely raise 7.25 million. Therefore a quick and decisive foiling of Richelieus forces was required. Olivares purposeless peace with the Dutch in 1634, was very similar to the trouble to make a very favourable peace with the French in 1637. To relieve the French iron outure on Franche-Comté, Ferdinand, the redbird Infante, made a indirect attack on France. This attack had much more forte than originally intend, and a sententious deterrence attack turned into a plentiful-scale invasion as Frances resistance deteriorated. By August 15, Corbie was taken and cap of France was thickheaded down Spains grasp. When Richelieu offered a favourable peace settlement, Olivares was in no mentality to consider it. that the back from the Empire, under ascertain Gallas, did not arrive in time, and Ferdinand simply did not have overflowing manpower to drive situation an effective defeat. By November Corbie was re-captured. The play-Duke, on hearing the news, precious only to lie down and die. up to now all hope of peace was not lost, and in bunt 1637 Richelieu was willing to hash out conditions for peace. It is probable that this was not due to any Spanish influence, but because Richelieu was facing conspiracy and front-runner unrest. stock-still the great distrustfulness that emanated from both sides prevented any agreement, if anything they just unavoidablenessed to disrupt each others alliances. Richelieu wanted a treaty maintaining the place quo, while Olivares had great ambitions for the spare-time activity year, making it very difficult to commit to anything. Again one can witness Olivares cocksureness backfiring on him.
Although Spain managed to thwart a French invasion into Catalonia; her military concentration was elsewhere and Frederick henry inflicted a severe defeat by taking Breda in October 1637. Defeat would possibly have been avoidable if Olivares could have earn peace with at least(prenominal) one of his enemies, hence allowing him to press on one target. collect to the financial strain of war there was a desperate need to find new and more stable sources of revenue. Since the councils were decent more obstructive, Olivares increasingly relied on the Juntas or sub-committees to aid his policymaking. In 1634 the Junta de Ejecación efficaciously replaced the council of state as a policy making body. at heart these Juntas Olivares placed able and firm men who were responsible for implementing mixed new taxes. For example there was a new atomic number 11 chloride tax in 1631; in 1635 the juros was attacked. This was the annual interest that was give off on loans. For all the juros held by natives, half of the compensate was confiscated, while for any foreign juros the entire yield was taken. This method acting was continually employed throughout the following years. In 1637 all legal or formalized documents had to be written on a stamped paper, which was taxed. In the comparable year 487,000 ducats of American silver was seized and in compensation juros were distributed. There was a great quietness together of office selling, and a light to feudal dues, where the nobles were evaluate to provide men and their arms. advance(prenominal) on, it seems that Olivares schemes worked very well in the short run. In 1634, Hopton, the British ambassador, verbalize that the Spanish crowns revenue had three-fold over the past four years. even the practicality of Olivares policies was beginning to wane, since there was a limit as to how far one could keep draining the resources of the nobility. Though he was very effective at squeezing money out of Castile, there was steadfast flood tide a time when it would be squeezed dry. Many of his measures, such as the mass office selling, were only successful in the short-term. Therefore a steadier source of income was required. For Olivares, the only presumable way of doing this was by making a more concert elbow grease to make the due north of Arms work. hobby various successes in France and Germany, the war was rapidly degenerating again with the dismission of Breda 1637 and Breisach in December 1638. The spill of Breisach meant that the Spanish road was severed and the only way to get reinforcements in to the Spanish Netherlands was by sea. In October 1639, Tromp, the Dutch admiral, frustrated the fleet of Don Antonio de Oquendo, at the fighting of the Downs. This took out Spains naval capability in one blow. Furthermore condition of Brazil was lost to the Dutch after a fit Portuguese and Spanish effort failed in 1638. From all these events Olivares entangle that all of his gargantuan efforts were fated to disappointment. His discourtesy for the nobility was clear. He felt there was a distinct lack of leadership from any of the nobles, despite his efforts to train men in the imperial beard College of capital of Spain. It was this lack of leadership that pushed Olivares to look for peace in 1640. However this was to be difficult since Richelieu was unlikely to make any reasonable agreement, while France was in a stronger position than Spain. However the war effort simply could not go on, since Castile was course of men and resources, as well as the economic situation being grave. Due to the seize of silver, the trade amidst Seville and America had collapsed, as merchants had lost confidence. This last source of income was now crushed and the linguistic rule foundations of Spain were slipping away. To make the Union work, the kingdoms of Portugal and Catalonia would have to pull their weight a great report more, due to their increasing wavering to grant economic and military attention to the king. However, Olivares would need to alter the constitutions of both the kingdoms; this would be in particular nasty at heart Catalonia. It seems that Portugal held the shell scope for manoeuvre, and in 1634 Princess Margaret of savoy became governess of Portugal. with Margaret, Olivares hoped both to quench the lamentations of magnificent neglect and achieve greater control over Portugal, by infiltrating the government with Castilians disguised as consultants. Unfortunately for Olivares, the Portuguese instantly saw through the adviser scheme, leading to constant note within the government. The populace had neer favoured the union with Castile, and although the taxes were going towards the abnegation of her possessions in Brazil, it did nothing to patch up the population. In 1637 the aristocracy lifelessness felt isolated from the Crown, and blue fry riots broke out. Although these came to little, they were an ominous indication of the potential for revolution. When France state war upon Spain in 1635, Catalonia was in a strong dicker position, since her east border was with France, thus opening the possibility of co-operation with France. Olivares decided to gainsay the Catalans head on by using their lodger in the war against France, speech Catalonia in to the war whether she wish it or not. Therefore he hoped to force Catalonia in the Union by more undercover means, because all prior attempts for direct action had failed. However Olivares plan backfired, seemingly because he failed to recognise the deep hatred of capital of Spain, the viceroy and all royal family among the Catalan deal. Following the failure of a six-month siege against the French at Salses, Olivares was uncivilized and logical the royal ministers of the principality to handle the Catalan constitution since defence of the realm outweighed it. This confirmed to many Catalans, the suspicions of Olivares ultimate motives - the Castilianisation of Catalonia. Hence the people became more and more indisposed(p) to stop the French. The thoroughgoing agitators for revolt were the Catalan clergy, lead by Pau Claris, who appealed to the peasants to hold fast to Catalonias historic liberties. In February, Olivares planned to meet with the Cortes of Catalonia to discuss the Union, with the tracing of the army backing him. However the Cortes never met and between February and March 1640, the Catalonians clashed with the army. The pace of the revolt change magnitude as prisoners were taken, notably Tamarit, a colleague of Claris. It was only on learning that Claris had been freed and Barcelona had been marched on, that Olivares woke up to the fact that he was facing a large-scale rebellion. From that point he reversed his policies and on the twenty-seventh May, he ordered move to be taken to re-conciliate the Catalans. However his actions were just too late and a riot on 7th June, put the diputcio in control following the atrocious murder of the Count of Santa Coloma. retardation the events within Catalonia had severe repercussions on Portugal leading to a revolt on 1st December 1640, when the Duke of Braganza was proclaimed might thaumaturgy IV. Olivares, seeing that total lawlessness was a close possibility, looked to make peace with the Dutch and the Catalans. However the Catalans were not fire since Spains troops were still advancing towards Barcelona. On twenty-third January, it was stated that Catalonia was allied to the King of France. today French forces help the rebels and the Spanish army under Los Velez, was disappointed at Montjuich. This defeat set the seal of the 1640 disasters. Following years of neglect and using the deliverance and political system were now in a state of disintegration. Although the process of disintegration had begun before Olivares, he can be seen to cave the Castilian economy and what is more cause the implosion of the American economy. Montjuich spelled the end for Olivares, although he made supernatural attempts to raise more men to form an army. However the face-off to him was too strong. He was detest as a despot in Castile, and even nobles within his family were plotting against him. Philip IV was very antipathetical to part with his valido since he had brought him up from birth. However Olivares worsening of the economy through his tamper with the vellon currency, and failure to prevent the French from taking Rousillon in September displayed that he was simply incompetent. The Count of Castrillo was workings in capital of Spain to undermine the validos position, and on Olivares return it was made clear that his time in office was limited. On 17th January 1643 the ratiocination was taken to give Olivares his leave, and on twenty-third January he left hand for exile following twenty years in Madrid under his king. A solon whose capacity for conceiving great designs was in straitened circumstances(p) only by his consistent incapacity in carrying them through to a successful conclusion. If you want to get a replete essay, order it on our website:
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