The Rise and Fall of the Spanish Empire

by William S. Maltby

At its peak the Spanish empire stretched from Italy and the Netherlands to Peru and the Philippines. Its influence remains very significant to the history of Europe and the Americas. Maltby provides a concise and readable history of the empire's dramatic rise and fall, with special emphasis on the economy, institutions and intellectual movements.

Genres: History, Spain, Spanish History

248 pages, Hardcover

First published January 20, 2008

About the author

William S. Maltby, Professor of History Emeritus at the University of Missouri-St Louis. He has written widely on the subject of Spain and the Spanish Empire in the sixteenth century and related topics.

Reviews

[Anton Tomsinov · Rating 3 out of 5]

This attempt to squeeze more than three hundred years of imperial and colonial history into two hundred pages is a success but not a triumph. The narrative is a balanced one with due attention to wars, internal politics and economics. The author is very competent and provides a lot of sage generalizations that help this book to win an otherwise uncertain battle for readers against Wikipedia articles. It is truly a worthy example of structuring vast amounts of information into a concise form. The only problem is that there is a far better book: Imperial Spain by Elliott that is only a bit more complex but is superior in every way except some obsolete details.

[Ariadna73 · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a very interesting viewpoint about how can a country with all the opportunities that Spain had; waste all and every penny in absurd and lost wars; and be now in a precarious economic situation. It is like it doesn't just happen to celebrities: whole countries also suffer from some rare disease driven by greed and the desire of having it all and having it all right now. Spain had it all: an endless flow of gold; silver; goods; species and human workforce enough to be the world greatest power for many centuries. And what did they do? They engaged in ridiculous wars; pursuing to invade all the European territories; and in the end; they ended up broke and alone.

[David Frazer · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very concise, with the adequate amount of detail for a broad overview. The coverage of the decline of Spain in economic and fiscal terms was very well done. Highly recommended for a reader looking for an introduction into the incredible personalities of 16th century Spain.

[Marc Barqué · Rating 4 out of 5]

Buen libro de divulgación historiográfica en el que el autor, William S. Maltby, hace un repaso a las principales características políticas, económicas y sociales del Imperio Español, desde su génesis en la unión de las dos Coronas (Castilla y Aragón) y la colonización de los nuevos territorios americanos en el siglo XV, hasta su desintegración en el siglo XIX en el marco de las guerras napoleónicas.

El experto o versado en Historia encontrará un buen repaso a esta parte de la historia española y el neófito tendrá la oportunidad de conocer los aspectos más importantes de lo que se llamó una vez el Imperio donde nunca se ponía el Sol.

Pese a que el autor es inglés, en sus páginas podemos ver una valoración positiva de algunos aspectos del Imperio Español que desmiente en buena parte la Leyenda Negra, desde el trato moderno y avanzado a su época que la monarquía daba a sus súbditos indígenas hasta la relativa estabilidad que el Imperio aportó a sus virreinatos americanos, cuyo proceso independentista se inició más por dejadez de la monarquía durante la Guerra de la Independencia contra Napoleón y los subsiguientes años convulsos por los enfrentamientos entre liberales y conservadores que por un genuino rechazo a la administración española de las Indias.

Todos los hechos mencionados, además del auge imperial durante la era de Carlos V, la decadencia a partir de las guerras que tuvo que librar Felipe II, las reformas borbónicas y otros procesos destacados, se narran de forma amena, clara y precisa, aunque no por ello sacrificando la profundidad, aunque ésta siempre ajustada al carácter divulgativo de este libro.

En conclusión, una obra muy recomendable para conocer bien lo que fue el Imperio Español.

[Александър Стоянов · Rating 3 out of 5]

A good overview with some to the point observation. Yet the lack of detail is signifficant

[Santi Perez · Rating 5 out of 5]

A pasar de su brevedad es un libro conciso actual , ideal para iniciarse en el estudio del imperio español.

[Eugene Kernes · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pretty good coverage of Spain's history. Gives accounts from before Spain was born and all the benefits and problems that happened during the empire era. Political unions seems to sum up the politics of Spain. Maltby did such a great job at representing the growth of the empire to the point that it was hard to understand how Spain sustained an empire for so long. The New and Old World colonies were more expensive than they were worth. Battles on various theaters contemporaneously. Having a monarchy may sound like the monarch can do what the monarch wants, but in Spain they sought advice of the subjects because they had to prove their right to rule. Overall, the writing was pretty good when given time describe the events. The major problem of reading the book was that it was easy to get lost at what was happening when the junctures the author mentioned but did not specify as to why it happened and the results in any great detail.