Spanish History – Page 13 – General History

Spain: Pyrrhic Victories

In Spain the regional community, town hall and city mayoral elections were recently celebated right across the country. It would be true to say that the elections again prove that Spain must radically reform her regional electoral system, or fall into the dustbin of European history, for lack of attention to detail, if for nothing else.
In case you keep a watch on your local and national newspapers, but have failed to grasp the nub of what they have been saying since May 22, I shall try to sum up what happens in these Spanish regional elections, and how the constitutional laws regarding ‘Pacts’ affect them. (more…)

By Dean Swift| 2011-06-13T12:08:08+00:00 June 13th, 2011|Spanish History|1 Comment

Every head in the trough

Mariano Rajoy recently promised a long list of reforms that he will implement, he says, when he becomes President of the Government. Most thinking Spaniards hope he is being truthful. The cost of running modern Spain is ruinous, and has been ruining the state for long enough. The problem started with the coming of democracy and a Constitution. A group of politicians sagely decided to divide the country into seventeen ‘autonomous communities’. Roughly speaking, these invented communities were once known as ‘regions’, Cataluña, Madrid, Galicia etc. Though each community has its own Parliament, and an Assembly running its capital town, and is able to press taxation on its citizens, it is the extraordinarily high cost of running these communities which makes them apply for more, much more, from Spain’s coffers as an added subsidy. What this is worth per community can be found on the Internet. The sum per annum varies according to geographical size and population as well as other factors. (more…)

By Dean Swift| 2011-06-05T21:41:40+00:00 June 5th, 2011|Spanish History|0 Comments

Unemployed youth in Spain

Spain’s President of the Government, was recently loose (but sadly not lost) in China trying to sell a chunk of Spain’s debt to the canny Chinese. This must be the nth mistake in his disastrous seven years in power – without a majority. It is possibly his worst. He has broken all his promises to the young people of Spain, to whom he offered the world, and who are left with nothing but a useless degree or pair of hands. There are no jobs for Spain’s young people – qualified or not.
43+% of young men and women fit and able for work have no jobs. There is nothing on the horizon for them, short or long-term. Besides, the phantasy of the Dole is forcing them to leave Spain altogether, seeking work in other countries which, if and when they find it, will be guaranteed to make them have no wish to return. (more…)

By Dean Swift| 2011-05-12T12:00:29+00:00 May 12th, 2011|Spanish History|2 Comments

History of the Bible

The Bible is the sacred book of Christianity. There are many Christian churches, but all accept the two sections of it: the Hebrew scriptures, which we know as the Old Testament, and the Christian writings, known as the New Testament. Roman Catholics, among other Christian churches, accept a third section known as the Apocrypha. This was included in the Greek version of the Old Testament (the Septuagint).

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By Dean Swift| 2011-01-31T11:44:53+00:00 January 31st, 2011|African History, Asian History, Czech History, English History, French History, German History, Greek History, Italian History, Jewish History, Russian history, South American History, Spanish History, US History, World History|0 Comments

Spanish Airports: Castles in the Air?

When we were very young, we occasionally heard adults sigh and say, “Of course it would be very nice to have a cottage in the country, but I fear it’s just a castle in the air.” We then knew that what our older and betters were dreaming of would never happen. In Spain, however, those dreamy castles in the air have become airports. And they have ‘happened’; forty-six of them. You name the city or large town, and you can be sure it either has a super-modern airport, or is in the process of building one.

In the Community of the Canary Islands there are eight airports, two of them on the island of Tenerife, north and south. La Gomera has a quite beautiful example of this monstrous public spending. In December, 2010, the Gomera airport processed 1,891 passengers, or an average of 67 passengers per day. In that month there were 121 ‘operations’ (landing or takeoffs). In terms of the whole year, there were 1,776. Freight to a total weight of 621 kilos was handled at La Gomera in December. During the year – 9,199 k. One airline uses Gomera Airport: Binter Canarias. The seagoing ferries, nationally-owned or private, whose executives may have been bothered by the building of an airport in La Gomera, need not have been. The sea ferries are just as packed with passengers, but go much faster, as they were and did before the airport was opened.

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By Dean Swift| 2019-03-29T20:06:01+00:00 January 22nd, 2011|Spanish History|0 Comments

Sir Francis Drake: Pirate or Patriot?

The ‘pirate’ Drake knighted by the Queen after circumnavigating the world / elpaid.com.uy

Drake (1540 – 1596) was an English admiral and explorer, the first Englishman to circumnavigate the world. He was unpopular, to say the least, in Spain, where he was known as a corsair, an adventurer or simply a pirate. The Spanish called him El Draco and hated him.

When he was twenty-seven he sailed with his cousin, John Hawkins on a slave-trading voyage to Africa, and spent the following years engaged in privateering raids on what was called then, The Spanish Main, meaning whatever parts of the Spanish Empire he could successfully assault. England was at war with Spain at the time.

In 1577 he formed a syndicate headed by Queen Elizabeth I (the idea was principally hers) to undertake a voyage of circumnavigation of the world. At least that was the official view. The hidden agenda was the launching of a series of punitive attacks on Spanish-owned ports, where rich plunder awaited the brave or foolhardy.

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By Dean Swift| 2014-04-01T14:26:04+00:00 January 12th, 2011|English History, Spanish History|3 Comments

Winter of discontent followed by glorious summer?

We are now well launched into the year two thousand and eleven – eleven years after a change of century. As the infamous 20th gradually diminishes in our memory, with its two World Wars, the tentacles of Socialism and the mostly blind grasp of Capitalism dulling our minds, it is satisfying to know that according to U.N. statistics, 200,000 persons will be lifted out of extreme poverty during each day of 2011. What is classified as extreme poverty? Living on $1.25 or equivalent per day. Which is all very well for the rest of Europe and the world, but what about a country where more than a million and half people have no income whatsoever?

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By Dean Swift| 2011-01-11T13:24:42+00:00 January 11th, 2011|African History, Asian History, English History, French History, German History, Greek History, Spanish History, US History, World History|2 Comments

The Battle of Arnhem 1944

General Browning, husband of novelist Daphne de Maurier / homeusers.brutele.b

Arnhem is the sixth largest city in the Netherlands. It was the scene of fierce and remorseless fighting between 17 and 26 September, 1944, following the successful invasion of Normandy in June, by allied troops, ships and airforces.

The idea for a parachute/glider-mounted attack in the Dutch Netherlands is said to have been General Montgomery’s, though it was backed by General Eisenhower, supreme commander of the allied forces, and Winston Churchill, Britain’s prime minister. The idea was a very good one, strategically speaking, but it failed to take heed of local advice about cleverly hidden German tank regiments between Nijmegen and Arnhem. In fact the allies decided to take no notice whatever of clear and accurate intelligence. Clearly, in the minds of the planners lay the idea that if Arnhem should prove successful, it would raise the morale of the inading allies tremendously – as indeed it would have – had the Arnhem plan worked.

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By Dean Swift| 2014-04-01T14:24:38+00:00 January 3rd, 2011|African History, Asian History, Czech History, English History, French History, German History, Greek History, Italian History, Jewish History, Russian history, South American History, Spanish History, US History, World History|0 Comments

Anticlericalism

Anti-clericalism is not the same as anti-Christian movements. Most Roman emperors tried to stamp out Christianity from the death of Christ under Tiberius until Constantine the Great decided to adopt Christianity as an official religion within the Empire, thus ceasing the practice of pitting Christians against lions and other wild animals, such as hyenas, in the ring.

The name anti-clericalism applies in modern times to any policy bent on destroying the moral and political power of the Christian Church, and subordinating its non-spiritual functions within the State. Though there have been many instances of anti-clericalism at the expense of the Orthodox Church (Russia and Turkey), and even now in Moslem countries (see recent massacres of Christians in Iraq and Afghanistan), the term is usually restricted to aggressive hostility towards the Roman Catholic Church, its Pope, bishops, priests, monks and nuns. (more…)

By Dean Swift| 2011-01-03T12:07:38+00:00 January 3rd, 2011|African History, Asian History, Czech History, English History, French History, German History, Greek History, Italian History, Jewish History, Russian history, South American History, Spanish History, US History, World History|0 Comments

The Ancien Régime: what was it and did it work?

Countless times as you read books and learned pamphlets on history, you will meet the French words Ancien Régime. It is an easy bet that many of us only half know what these two simple words signify. The translation is easy: in English – traditional method of government by royalty; in Spanish – el antiguo regimen.

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By Dean Swift| 2010-12-16T13:32:43+00:00 December 16th, 2010|African History, Asian History, Czech History, English History, French History, German History, Greek History, Jewish History, Russian history, South American History, Spanish History, US History, World History|0 Comments