King And Spain example essay topic

The first form of government was a monarchy known as the Visogothic Kingdom. The kingdom first started in 587 A.D. and lasted until 712 A.D. One of the rulers of this period was King Rodrigo. He was defeated at the battle of Guadalete. The total number of years for the kingdom was 125 years.

Muslim Spain was started by the Wit iza Family. They caused the down fall of the Visogothic Kingdom. By the middle of the 8th century the muslims had made a strong hold in Spain. They put king Abd al-Rahman in to power.

He feld the slaughter of 750 A.D. from Abbasid. Muslim Spain had a flushing culture with libraries and other educational materials. The new Leader was Caliph Al-Hak am. Then it broke into smaller petty kingdoms known as Ta " if as. They soon broke up and caused even more petty kingdoms. Next the Christian Reconquest took place in 718.

It lasted 774 years from 718 to 1492. During this period many new kingdoms came about such as the Basques. Much of Spain became under control of the reconquest when in 1492. It was completed by Isabel and Fernado by taking Granada. In October of that same year Columbus sailed to the West Indies. In 1469 Isabel and Fernado get married.

The Spanish Empire began in 1516 with Isabella I and Ferdinand V that the newly united country began to build an empire. Spanish expansion overseas began for a number of reasons. The monarchs wanted to secure neighboring areas for defense against Muslim raids originating from North Africa, to protect Castile's shipping activities and trade in the Mediterranean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean. The crown went to Charles I of Spain. Who united the two kingdoms of Aragon and Castile under one ruler. In 1556 Charles leaves the throne and leaves it to his two sons.

Charles dies two years later. In 1714 Spain loses the war. Philip of Anjou becomes king and Spain loses Belgium Luxemburg Milan Naples Sardinia and Minorca. This empire lasted 198 years.

In 1588 The Spanish Armada is attacked and destroyed making Spain's down fall more noticeable. The generals who rose against the Second Republic on July 17 were confident of an early victory. However, their attempt to seize power and establish a military directory throughout Spain was only partially successful. In cities that supported the Second Republic, such as Zaragoza and Seville, the insurgents quickly gained control by taking over military garrisons and other strategic facilities. This denied working-class organizations the time to mount an effective defense against the rebellion. In areas where most people already opposed the republic, enthusiastic crowds greeted the rebels.

The rebels won the support of traditionally conservative towns and villages, such as Burgos, Salamanca, and 'Avila. The military rebellion initially failed in Spain's capital, Madrid, and several other key cities, including Barcelona and Valencia. Leftist trade unions, civilian militias, and military and police forces who remained loyal to the republic successfully defended their cities against the insurgents. The rebels suffered another setback when nearly two-thirds of Spain's naval fleet declared its support for the republic. This development took the rebels by surprise. General Franco had planned to use the navy to transport his highly trained Army of Africa from Morocco to join the rebellion on the Spanish mainland.

To get his troops to Spain, Franco urgently appealed for aid from Italy and Germany. At the end of July, German dictator Adolf Hitler and Italian dictator Benito Mussolini sent transport planes that assisted Franco in the first major airlift in modern warfare. In 1939 an General Named Franco came to power declaring a dictatorship. He was a follower of Hitler. He died on November 20th 1975. He kept Spain out of WWII.

His dictatorship lasted 36 years. He passed the Law of Succession. Franco left a mixed legacy. His leadership ended the political bickering and social turmoil that had troubled Spain throughout the early 20th century.

He also helped to lay the foundations for Spain's economic modernization by moving the country toward partnership with other European nations. But Franco's human rights record remains deeply disturbing. He not only exacted harsh retribution against his opponents, he also created a political system that denied individual rights and freedoms to most Spaniards. When he died King Juan Carlos became King of Spain at a joint session of the Cortes and The Council of the Realm. In the late 1970's the government of Spain underwent a transformation from the authoritarian regime of Francisco Franco (who ruled from 1939 to 1975) to a limited monarchy with an influential parliament.

A national constitution was adopted in 1978. The Present form of Government in Spain is a Parliamentary Monarchy which has been going on for the past 26 years. The President is set to a term of 4 years in office. The stability of this government has a strong influence by the Crown of Spain. The government is a two chamber house of the Cortes. They are elected by all people over the age of 18.

The first mention of the Basques in written history was during the 1st century BC, when the Romans penetrated 'A lava in their conquest of the Iberian Peninsula. Vizcaya and Guip', however, resisted outside forces and remained isolated for several centuries. Catholicism began making inroads between the 3rd and 5th centuries AD, and by the 10th century most Basques were devout Catholics. In the 11th century, powerful nobles established a commercial association between the region and Castile, a Spanish kingdom, because Castile wanted to use Basque ports. By the 13th century, Castile was attempting to incorporate all of the Iberian Peninsula under its rule. Basque and Castile representatives met in Guernica under an oak tree to pass laws and approve extensive personal rights for the Basques.

These laws became the basis of the, or traditional laws. The oak tree, known as the Guernikako arbela, became a symbol of Basque self-rule. (The tree was destroyed in the 1800's, but the symbol survives today in a tree grown from an acorn said to be from the original oak.) In 1959 the Eus kadi Ta Askatasuna (ETA; Basque for "Basque Homeland and Liberty") began demanding that the Basque Country be allowed to secede from Spain and form an independent state that would include the Basque regions of Navarra and France; they also began to practice terrorism. Franco's death in 1975 and the succession of Juan Carlos I set the stage for democratic reform.

A new national constitution in 1978 included provisions for regional autonomy, allowing the Basque Country to achieve home rule and recognition of their language. However, Basque separatists have continued to resent any ties to Spain, resulting in violence on all sides. Spain has many political parties. Two major groups are the Spanish Socialist Workers Party and the Popular Party (a conservative party that absorbed the Christian Democrats and the Liberal Party). Other significant parties include the United Left (a coalition of left-wing parties) and the Catalan and Basque nationalist parties. The head of state of Spain is a hereditary monarch, who also is the commander in chief of the armed forces.

Executive power is vested in the prime minister, who is proposed by the monarch on the parliament's approval and is voted into office by the Congress of Deputies. Power is also vested in a cabinet, or council of ministers. There is also the Council of States, a consultative body. In 1977 Spain's unicameral Cortes was replaced by a bicameral parliament made up of a 350-member Congress of Deputies and a Senate of 208 directly elected members and 47 special regional representatives.

Deputies are popularly elected to four-year terms by universal suffrage of people 18 years of age and older, under a system of proportional representation. The directly elected senators are voted to four-year terms on a regional basis. Each mainland province elects 4 senators; another 20 senators come from the Balearic Islands, the Canary Islands, Ceuta, and Melilla. The judicial system in Spain is governed by the General Council of Judicial Power, presided over by the president of the Supreme Court. The country's highest tribunal is the Supreme Court of Justice, divided into 7 sections; it sits in Madrid. There are 17 territorial high courts, one in each autonomous region, 52 provincial high courts, and several lower courts handling penal, labor, and juvenile matters.

The country's other important court is the Constitutional Court, which monitors observance of the constitution.