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Foreign relations of Spain

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The Spanish Habsburg monarchs had large holdings across the European continent stemming from the inherited dominions of the Habsburg monarchy and from the Aragonese holdings in the Italian Peninsula. The Habsburg dynasty fought against the Protestant Reformation in the continent and achieved a dynastic unification of the realms of the Iberian Peninsula with their enthronement as Portuguese monarchs after 1580. The American colonies shipped bullion, but resources were spent in wars waged against France in Italy and elsewhere as well as in conflicts against the Ottoman Empire, England or revolts in the Spanish Netherlands, Portugal (lost after 1640) and Catalonia (lost in 1640 and recovered after 1652). Mainland Spain was the main theatre of the War of Spanish Succession (1701–1714), after which the Bourbon dynasty consolidated rule, while handing in holdings in Italy and the Netherlands. The successive Bourbon Family Compacts underpinned a close alignment with the Kingdom of France throughout the 18th century. During the Napoleonic Wars, Mainland Spain was occupied by the French Empire (which installed a puppet ruler), and became after an 1808 uprising the main theatre of the Peninsular War. Nearly all its colonies fought for and won independence in the early 19th century. From then on it kept Cuba, Puerto Rico and the Philippines, otherwise lost in 1898 after the Spanish–American War, and, in line with far-reaching efforts by other European powers, Spain began to sustain a colonial presence in the African continent, most notably in Western Sahara and Equatorial Guinea. It also intervened in Nguyễn Vietnam alongside France and involved in the affairs of former colony Santo Domingo, which briefly returned to Spanish control from 1861 to 1865. In the wake of the creation of a Spanish protectorate in Northern Morocco, the early 20th century saw a draining conflict against Riffian anti-colonial resistance. Spain stuck to a status of neutrality during World War I.

The Spanish Civil War of 1936–1939 became a proxy war between the axis powers Germany and Italy and the Soviet Union (which lost). The war ensued with the installment of a dictatorship under Francisco Franco lasting until 1975. In the aftermath of World War 2, the series of multilateral agreements and institutions configuring what it is known today as Western Europe were made apart from Francoist Spain. The 1953 military agreements with the United States entailed the acceptance of unprecedented conditions vis-à-vis the (peacetime) military installment of a foreign power on Spanish soil. Spain joined the UN in 1955 and the IMF in 1958. In the last rales of the dictator, the mismanaged decolonisation of Spanish Sahara ensued with the Moroccan invasion of the territory in 1975 and the purported partition of it between Morocco and Mauritania, spawning a protracted conflict pitting the Sahrawi national liberation Polisario Front against Morocco and (briefly) Mauritania lasting to this day. Spain joined NATO (1982) and entered the European Communities (1986).

On a wide range of issues, Spain often prefers to coordinate its efforts with its EU partners through the European political cooperation mechanisms. In addition to being represented via EU membership, Spain is a permanently invited guest to all G20 summits.

History

In 218 BC the Romans invaded the Iberian Peninsula, which later became the Roman province of Hispania. The Romans introduced the Latin language, the ancestor of both modern-day Spanish and Italian. The Iberian peninsula remained under Roman rule for over 600 years, until the collapse of the Western Roman Empire.

In the Early modern period, until the 18th century, southern and insular Italy came under Spanish control, having been previously a domain of the Crown of Aragon.

Habsburg Spain

In contrast with the purely Mediterranean focused foreign policy of the Catholic kings, during Habsburg Spain era, the foreign policy of the Spanish Empire turned more continental and was defined by the support to the Habsburg monarchy in its patrimonial conflicts and participation in the Religious wars in Europe, specially the Holy Roman Empire's struggles against the Ottomans, the German Protestants and the French–Austrian rivalry. During the Spanish Golden Age, the main objectives of its foreign policy were:

Charles V

Charles V (1500–1558) inherited vast lands across Western Europe and the Americas, and expanded them by frequent wars. Among other domains he was King of Spain from 1516, and Holy Roman Emperor and Archduke of Austria from 1519. As head of the rising House of Habsburg during the first half of the 16th century, his dominions in Europe extending from Germany to northern Italy with direct rule over the Austrian hereditary lands and the Burgundian Low Countries, and a unified Spain with its southern Italian kingdoms of Naples, Sicily, and Sardinia.

Charles V imperial ideology was based in the Universal monarchy, with influences from Dante Alighieri and Erasmus' Christian humanism, which supported Ghibelline Political theory that given the Universal power firstly to the Monarch and then to the Pope. This provoked an initial conflict between the HRE and the Papal States, as a continuation of the medieval dispute over Dominium mundi in which Spain took the side of the Empire over the Church (opposing to the Political theology of the Doctrine of Two Swords). This initial bad reputation of regalist and cripto-heretic, added to his foreign origins, provocated the initial resistance of Spaniards to join to the Charles V Empire. After the reconciliation of the HRE and Spain with the Papacy, Spain take a relevant position as the dominant power of the imperial project, overcoming the Kingdom of Germany (divided by the Protestant Reform) in the protagonism of Charles V's foreign policy (but at the cost of the resignation of Mercurino di Gattinara, main ideologue, from the Spanish Cortes).

His great enemy on land was France, on the Mediterranean Sea it was the Ottoman Empire, which at times was allied with France. England and the Papacy were sometimes part of the coalition against him. Much of his attention focused on wars in Italy. At the Diet of Augsburg (1547) he secured recognition that the Netherlands belonged to the Hapsburg domain. However Charles was intensely Catholic and the northern Netherlands was Protestant. He and his Spanish heirs fought for a century against Dutch independence; despite the enormous cost they failed.

The Anti-Islamic foreign policy was perceived as a continuation of the Reconquista, in which the main objective of Spain was the continuation of such campaign until conquering the former Roman Tingitana (modern Morocco), which was politically linked to the former Roman Hispania. Another goal was reconquering all Early Muslim conquests for the Christendom (inspired in the Crusading movement) which would end in the deposition of the Ottoman Caliphate after a crossing of North Africa and the Balkans to the Holy Land by a Holy League of all Europe led by Spain and a Habsburg–Persian alliance in a total victory. However, due to the French–Habsburg rivalry across Europe making division and debiliting Habsburg Austria, such ambitious project of a great anti-Ottoman coalition never materialized. So, the Realpolitik turned into a Spanish–Ottoman struggle for the domination over the Mediterranean Sea, specially the attempts to conquer the Barbary states and the constant defense of the Italian states from Ottoman raids.

In Oversea, Charles foreign policy was determinated by the Carreira de Indias global rivalry with the Portuguese Empire (specially in the Indonesian Archipelago and in Colonial Brazil), having to renounce some expansionist projects (like the claims of Spain over the Spice islands after the Treaty of Zaragoza) for the sake of having good relations with the Kingdom of Portugal.

Philip II, 1556–1598

During Philip II, Spain developed a big compromise as the main promotor of Catholic Counter-Reformation among Europe, defining an imperial ideology according to the teachings of the Council of Trent and Traditionalist Catholicism. Spanish foreign policy during the reign of Philip II was developed in two phases. In phase 1, between the 1560s and early 1570s, priority was given to the defense of the Mediterranean and the rivalry with the Ottoman Empire, which was resolved in favor of the Christian forces after the victory at Lepanto. In phase 2, between the late 1570s to 1590s, priority was given to consolidating Spanish control in the Atlantic and the expansion of Catholicism in the New World and the Indies (while also reacting against Protestant expansion in Western Europe).

The Anti-Islamic foreign policy of Philip II led to support a greater integration of the Italian states for the development of an Espionage system through the Spain–Turkey diplomatic envoys (being important the Ragusa Republic as an intermediary), wanting to instigate anti-Ottoman revolts in Albania or Greece and coup d'etats to the Sublime Porte, while reactivating the Habsburg–Persian alliance, to prepare the possible collapse of the Turks in the Ottoman–Venetian War (1570–1573). However the Venetian focus in its own interests in the Stato da Màr, instead of an Universitas Christianna perspective, disbanded the Holy League of 1571.

The Anti-Protestant foreign policy led to a clash with England (developing Philip II a personal enmity with Elizabeth I for betraying her Catholic sister and Philip's wife, Mary I of England) and with the Dutch, while also a Spanish intervention in the French Wars of Religion (siding with the Catholic League against Huguenots and Politiques) and other minor religious conflicts (like the Cologne War). Also it led to the biggest expansion of Spain's diplomatic area, developing alliances with pro-Habsburg Italian states and Catholic Swiss Cantons, while starting routine embassies to North Europe and East Europe for the first time (having interests in defending Holy See's interests in Denmark–Norway, Sweden and Poland-Lithuania).

Also, during this time the Polysynodial System was consolidated in the Hispanic Monarchy, largely due to the importance that acquired the foreign policy of the Spanish Empire across different Geopolitical units (and also the Foral nature of Spain as a Composite monarchy instead of a modern state, in which non-Castillian states had their own social sovereign, laws and politics). This led to the development of 13 different councils with responsibilities in the Netherlands, Italy, Portugal, America and Philippines, etc. The struggle for the control of Spanish foreign policy let to Internal conflicts in the Spanish nobility, as becoming Secretary of those Councils symbolised that their holders were very trusted by the King. Also the duty of those diplomats evolved into activities of Espionage and the development of communication networks to consolidate Spain's Sphere of influence across Europe and the World.

For 16th-century Europe, we cannot speak of states as we understand them today. In the domains of Philip II, as I have mentioned, power was structured in several councils; that is, it was organized according to a polysynodal system in which changes were even more pronounced. (...) Of all of them, the one of greatest interest in this work is the Council of State, which, among its many responsibilities, advised on relations with other princes or territories. (...) Based on these councils and the king's inner circle, the presence of the royal secretaries is noteworthy. These individuals became an institution in themselves and attained a power, in the monarch's shadow, that significantly surpassed that of some of the aforementioned councils. (...) From this centralized core emerged a second administration. This administration, following the dictates of high-ranking officials, maintained a physical presence in various foreign territories, staffed by ambassadors, secretaries, and a vast underground network of informants and spies. This is yet another example of how diplomacy during this period was a blend of foreign representation and espionage, quite unlike our understanding of it today (...) Ultimately, it was upon these two great foundations that the principal undertakings of the reign were carried out. These undertakings, by their very nature, encompassed everything from mere symbolic acts aimed at sealing marriage alliances to conspiratorial activities that sought the overthrow of sovereigns and the reinstatement of supporters aligned with Catholicism.

— Borja Oliván Aniés

On Oversea, Philip II did reforms about the Asiento de Negros in benefit of Portuguese Africans, made stronger regulations against the entrance of foreigners in the Spanish Empire (due to the Piracy at the Anglo-Spanish War) while also adopted Protectionist politics to limit the growing of Chinese economic power in the Philippines and then in Spanish America. Also was developed the Junta de Guerra de Indias to protect Spanish Empire from the Dutch empire raids and confront them around the World (turning Eighty Years' War into a global war). Another important matter was the tiny rivalry between Spain and the Portuguese Empire (and then between the Council of Castile and the Council of Portugal) about the Sphere of influence over Southeast Asia and South America, being developed inner conflicts due to the difficults to develop a common foreign policy there because differents conceptions of what was "local" policy and "global" one, becoming a struggle the assimilation of the Kingdom of Portugal in the Iberian Union due to the discussions to delimit the boundaries between inner and foreign policy there, without harming the Foral civil law.

Philip III, 1598–1621

Philip III has a poor reputation in terms of both domestic and foreign policy. He inherited two major conflicts from his father. The first of these, the long-running Dutch revolt, represented a serious challenge to Spanish power from the Protestant United Provinces in a crucial part of the Spanish Empire. The second, the Anglo–Spanish War was a newer, and less critical conflict with Protestant England, marked by a Spanish failure to successfully bring its huge military resources to bear on the smaller English military.

Philip's own foreign policy can be divided into three phases. For the first nine years of his reign, he pursued a highly aggressive set of policies, aiming to deliver a 'great victory'. His instructions to his most important advisor Duke Lerma to wage a war of "blood and iron" on his rebellious subjects in the Netherlands reflects this. After 1609, when it became evident that Spain was financially exhausted and Philip sought a truce with the Dutch, there followed a period of retrenchment; in the background, tensions continued to grow, however, and by 1618 the policies of Philip's 'proconsols' were increasingly at odds with de Lerma's policy from Madrid.

On oversea, the projects to consolidate trade routes in the Indo-Pacific became a priority over the traditional Spanish foreign policy of secure the Transatlantic crossing, becoming an urgent the defense of the Portuguese Empire (specially Portuguese Malacca and Hormuz) in the Iberian Union against the Dutch or English with their local allies, and a better integration of the Spanish Philippines with Peninsular Spain (without depending on New Spain through the Manila galleon, nor the Port of Callao in Peru, to have better benefits from the China–Spain relations) while developing a great armada to protect both Philippines and Portuguese India. Another foreign policy was to make stronger the Patronato real in the Colonial cabildos in perjudge of the Hierarchy of the Catholic Church (becoming more powerful the Spanish Crown over the Holy See in the religious policy). Also the foreign policy in the Mediterranean was deeply integrated in the main objectives of re-starting the Spanish–Ottoman wars (although in a lesser scale, focusing in the combat against Barbary corsairs and minor conquests in Algeria), the intervention in the affairs of Morocco (supporting sometimes the Republic of Salé) and the Italian states (supporting the interests of Genoa and Savoy against France, Venice and Switzerland) and attempts to consolidate Spanish Sicily-Naples Sphere of influence in the Adriatic Sea (developing a rivalry against the Venetians at the time of the 3rd Duke of Osuna's rule). Despite, also Philip III promoted the development of Flemish and German consulates in Seville, trying to integrate the Spanish economical circuits with the ones of the HRE on the eve of the Thirty Years' War.

Bourbon Spain

War of the Spanish Succession and after 1701–1759

The War of the Spanish Succession (1701–1714) saw Spain in a nearly helpless position as multiple European powers battled for control over which of three rivals would be king. At first most of the warfare took place outside of Spain. However, in 1704 Spain was invaded by the Germans (officially by the Holy Roman Empire including Habsburg Austria and Prussia, as well as other minor German states), Great Britain, the Dutch Republic, the Duchy of Savoy and Portugal. The invaders wanted to make the Habsburg candidate king instead of the incumbent Philip V who the grandson of France's powerful king Louis XIV and candidate of the House of Bourbon. Spain had no real army, but it defense was a high priority for Louis XIV who sent in his French armies and after a devastating civil war eventually drove out the invaders from Spain.

After years of warfare and changing coalitions, the final result was that Philip V remained king. In practice his wife Elisabeth Farnese ruled Spain from 1714 until 1746, and was more interested in Italy than Spain. Spain was not even invited to the peace treaties (Peace of Utrecht); they forbade any future possibility of unifying the French and Spanish crowns. Britain was the main winner; it blocked France from becoming too powerful. Britain acquired Minorca and Gibraltar from Spain, as well as the right to sell slaves to Spanish colonies. Britain also gained Newfoundland and Nova Scotia from France. Spain kept its American colonies but lost its European holdings in Italy and the Spanish Netherlands (modern Belgium), mostly to Austria. Spain briefly regained some Italian holdings until the British sank its fleet in 1718. Elisabeth Farnese succeeded in recapturing Naples and Sicily. She put her son on the throne there. He abdicated in 1759 to return to Madrid as King Charles III of Spain.

American Revolutionary War: 1775–1783

Eager to gain revenge on the British for its defeat during the Seven Years' War, France offered support to rebel American colonists seeking independence from Britain during the American War of Independence and in 1778 entered the war on their side. They then urged Spain to do the same, hoping the combined force would be strong enough to overcome the British Royal Navy and be able to invade England. In 1779 Spain joined the war, hoping to take advantage of a substantially weakened Britain. Distrustful of republics, Spain did not officially recognize the new United States of America.

A well-organised force under Bernardo de Galvez operating out of Spanish Louisiana launched repeated attacks on British colonies in the Caribbean and the Gulf of Mexico. They were easy winners against weak British garrisons, and were planning an expedition against Jamaica when peace was declared in 1783.

Spain's highest priority was to recapture Gibraltar from Britain using the Great Siege of Gibraltar. Despite a prolonged besiegement, the British garrison there was able to hold out until relieved and it remained in British hands following the Treaty of Paris. Unlike their French allies (for whom the war proved largely to be a disaster, financially and militarily) the Spanish made a number of territorial gains, recovering Florida and Menorca.

Modern Spain

20th century

After the isolationist position taken by Spain in the 19th century, in 1898 (after the Spanish–American War) it was developed a more active foreign policy, focused in the consolidation of Spanish colonial interests in North Africa, trying to correct the errors of Antonio Cánovas del Castillo's foreign policy of the late 19th century (in which the Spanish colonies were consided as something related to the purely inner policy) and also changing the pro-Triple Alliance views of Alfonso XII to a pro-Entente views in the International relations of Europe. A neutral country during World War I, Spain was not invited to take part in the 1919 Paris Peace Conference, owing to the country's relative low profile in international affairs. It was however invited to join the League of Nations as a non-permanent member and it formally did so on 14 August 1919. During the so-called Wilsonian moment in international relations, forces adversarial to the Spanish State such as the Rifis vying for international recognition of their proto-republic and the Catalan separatist movement emboldened.

After Franco's death in 1975 and the integration of democracy, its foreign policy changed. The new government ended Spain's diplomatic isolation, strengthening its relations with western Europe, normalizing connections with neighboring countries, aiming to become a ember of the European and transatlantic institutions In 1982 Spain joined NATO and in 1986 it became a member of the European Communities. During the 1990s and 2000s Spain expanded its connections and influence in Latin America and the Middle East, also participating in NATO operations. Under the government led by Prime Minister José María Aznar, Spain participated in the 1999 Kosovo war, later backing the US invasion to Iraq in 2003.

Following the 2004 Madrid train bombings and the election of José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, Spain withdrew its forces from Iraq. However it did participate in the war in Afghanistan and supporting NATO and the European Union.

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