About nationalism and grievances in Spain: French influence and the exacerbation of nationalisms

Spain is a complex country from the early stages but if an alien element comes to produce a sheer change in the institutions of such a complex country things can get even worst. The aftermath of the Succession War between the dynasties of Bourbons and Habsburg in the onset of the Eighteenth century brought the first Bourbon king to the Kingdom of Spain, Philip V.

The French had no sense of History and tried to implement the centralized French organization of State to a country where power was all but centralized. One of the victims was Catalonia, loyal to the Habsburg and what was punished for it. Catalonia lose all its privileges becoming just another region within the centralized Spain and under the rule of Castile. I suggest these type of grievances are not rancour-free and contributed to the creation of their nationalist sentiment which already had a precedent with the Habsburg and the Prime Minister Olivares and his ‘Union of Arms’ (Olivares’ ‘Union of Arms’ plan failed in the face of opposition from the provinces, in particular Catalonia, leading him to offer his resignation to the king in 1626 – it was not accepted).