An overview of Spanish history from Roman times to the modern era: The Arab invasion and the Christian reconquest, Spain's monarchy, Spain's society and identity from 1936 to the present. The role of the church, women, social classes, and nationalism will be discussed.
OBJECTIVES
The main goal in this course is to give students an overview of Spain’s history and culture, with special emphasis on events that have marked Andalusia more profoundly. On the other hand, we will also be studying and analyzing different trends and phenomena of modern day Spain, along with some traditions that still hold in our time. Field trips, projection of slides and videos, will all be key elements in this course helping the student to have a clearer perception of each period.
CLASS FORMAT
Students will come prepared to class, after working with the assigned pages from the handbook, key questions and other material supplied by the instructor. There will be a midterm exam and a final exam. Students will work on articles, books relevant for specific areas of Spanish History assigned by the instructor, and write a report on them. This report will be 2-3 pages long, using MS WORD and TIMES NEW ROMAN 12 font, and will be double-spaced. Additionally, students will give a short a oral presentation on their reports. Due dates will be announced. Key elements in class will be original documents from each period, which will be discussed every week. We will do field trips in Seville and surrounding area, in order to see in situ monuments, buildings, works of art, and places relevant to our course. They are mandatory for members of this course. Field trips will be announced with due notice.
HANDBOOK
Simon Barton (2004) A History of Spain. Palgrave Macmillan
ADDITIONAL BIBLIOGRAPHY
Carr, R. (ed., 2000) Spain: A History.
Constable, O.R. (ed.,1997) Medieval Iberia. Readings from Christian, Muslim, and Jewish Sources.
Cowans, J. (ed., 2003) Early Modern Spain. A Documentary History.
Cowans, J. (ed., 2003) Modern Spain. A Documentary History.
Domínguez Ortiz, A. (2000) España. Tres milenios de historia.
GRADING
Oral participation is very important, and every student is expected to contribute energetically and courteously. Attendance will be checked daily. The participation grade will take into account the student’s initiative and creativity during the different activities scheduled for the course.
The final grade is broken down as follows:
Participation 20%
Midterm 25%
Final exam 35%
Report & Oral Presentation 20%
SYLLABUS
Note: Pages indicated in each unit correspond to pages from our handbook A History of Spain.
Unit 0: Introduction. Cultural and geographical diversity. (pp. xii-xviii)
The land and its many shapes. The Autonomous communities (Comunidades autónomas) and the
Constitution of 1978.
Unit 1: From prehistory to the ‘ruin of Spain.’ (pp. 1-25). Iberians. Celts. Phoenicians and Greeks in the Iberian peninsula. Carthaginians. Roman Hispania. Visigothic rule.
Unit 2: The hegemony of al-Andalus. (pp. 25-52). Muslim conquest of the Iberian Peninsula. The
Umayyad emirate. ‘The other Spains.’ The Caliphate of Córdoba. Fall of the Ummayad caliphate and Almoravid invasion.
Unit 3: The Ascendancy of Christian Iberia. (pp. 52-88). ‘Europeanization’ of Christian Iberia.
Reconquest (Reconquista) and crusade. Rise and fall of the Almohad empire. An expanding
society. Land of three religions and the controversy on convivencia. Iberian politics, 1250-1350.
Kingship and government. Cultural developments. Crisis and recovery.
Unit 4: The Universal Monarchy. (pp. 89-133). The Catholic Monarchs. A new monarchy?
Reconquest completed. The advance of empire and the quest for religious unity. The Habsburg
succession. Charles V and the defense of empire. Spain and the New World. Philip II and the peak
of Spanish power. The ‘Black Legend’ and the strains of empire. Philip III and the Pax Hispanica.
Philip IV and Olivares: the defense of reputation. Social, economic, and cultural developments.
Charles II, last Habsburg.
-MIDTERM-
Unit 5: The Enlightened Despots. (pp.134-171). The War of Spanish Succession and the new
dynasty. Philip V. Ferdinand VI. Charles III. Charles IV and the crisis of ancien régime. Society
and economy in Bourbon Spain. Spain and the Enlightenment. Spain and its American empire. War of Independence. The independence of Spanish America. Revolution and reaction.
Unit 6: Liberalism and Reaction. (pp.172-209). Demographic change. Agrarian society: expansion and stagnation. A failed Industrial revolution? Cultural developments. Political change: the liberal ascendancy. Praetorian politics. The Moderate decade. The ‘Progressive Revolution’ and the Liberal Union. The ‘Glorious Revolution’ and the First Republic. The Restoration (Restauración) system. The Cuban Disaster. Other critics of the regime. Church and society. The crisis of Liberal Spain. The dictatorship of Primo de Rivera.
Unit 7: The Modern Era I. (pp. 210-230). The Second Republic: ‘the reforming years.’ The ‘two
black years.’ The road to civil war. The Spanish tragedy. The Nationalist zone. The Republican
zone.
Unit 8: The Modern Era II. (pp.230-254). The fall of the Republic. Francoism triumphant. Spain
and World War II. The ‘Sentinel of the West.’ Change and its consequences. The transition to
democracy. The triumph of PSOE in 1982 and the triumph of PP in 1996. The new Spaniards.
Class Discussion and Review
-FINAL EXAM- (to be scheduled)
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