"Spain has never had a significant role in Europe"
oh. my. god.
Have you ever read a history book?
oh. my. god.
Have you ever read a history book?
Anyone into Czech?
Slavs are natural subservients. For years they had Russian masters, now they have American masters.
//
European Union does not have American masters.
Go read a geography book, you stupid Vladivostok pig-faced brat!
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European Union does not have American masters.
Go read a geography book, you stupid Vladivostok pig-faced brat!
<< Have you ever read a history book?
>>
According to my History book Spain was the hegemonic country in Europe in the XVI century.
>>
According to my History book Spain was the hegemonic country in Europe in the XVI century.
Well, the poster was talking about "never". And one century is more than never. All powerful nations rise and decline. Look at France now for example.
Spanish posessions in Western Europe:
http://www.solarnavigator.net/geography/geography_images/spain_dominions_of_habsburg_map_europe_1547.jpg
http://www.solarnavigator.net/geography/geography_images/spain_dominions_of_habsburg_map_europe_1547.jpg
Of course, everyone brings up the Empire of Charles V (who was actually more of Austrian Hapsburg background than actual Spanish). And that was a golden age, but it didn't last all that long. Also, can we please stop Fucking talking about Spain for one post? This thread was about Czech.
The empire of Charles V was increased by Philip II. Despite Spain declined as hegemonic power after the XVI century ,the peak of the Spanish empire in terms of territory took place in the XIX century with the purchase of Louisiana to the French.
Charles V, despite being culturally a Frenchman (his mother tongue was French) loved Spain so much because he decided to rest and die in Yuste, central Spain, instead of other parts of his vast empire.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yuste
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yuste
<< Of course, everyone brings up the Empire of Charles V (who was actually more of Austrian Hapsburg background than actual Spanish).
>>
Not at all, most of the European territories comprised Spain and Southern Italy which did belong to Spain before the Hapsburgs. Not to mention huge Spanish posessions in America. The Hapsburgs only gave to Spain the Netherlands which turned into being more a headache than anything for Spain and the Spanish people who had to pay the taxes to to maintain the Hapsburg's empire, not the Italians, the Belgians, Flemish, German, etc...
Also Charles V telecontrolled all his posessions from Madrid, so it was clearly an Iberian empire.
>>
Not at all, most of the European territories comprised Spain and Southern Italy which did belong to Spain before the Hapsburgs. Not to mention huge Spanish posessions in America. The Hapsburgs only gave to Spain the Netherlands which turned into being more a headache than anything for Spain and the Spanish people who had to pay the taxes to to maintain the Hapsburg's empire, not the Italians, the Belgians, Flemish, German, etc...
Also Charles V telecontrolled all his posessions from Madrid, so it was clearly an Iberian empire.
By the way, France was interested in controlling the Spanish Netherlands for a long time and waged a war with Spain for this region. Despite the military competence over there, Spain almost only lost terrain to France for this (the Walloons didn't mind that, the Flemings in today's French Flanders liked it far less), because the Motherland had too many problems elsewhere and didn't send enough support to the Netherlands.
Also, a plan was been made to divide the Spanish Netherlands to France and the United Provinces, but the leadership in Amsterdam didn't agree, their answer was 'Gallia amica, non vicina!'. They didn't want to have France as their neighbour and prefered the Spanish Netherlands as a bufferzoe between them and France. Also were they suspicious toward having Antwerp (my hometown) in their territory, because it might've changed the epicentre of the Netherland back to the South (Brabant) instead of to the North-West (Holland). They decided on that that having control over North Brabant was just good enough.
In the late Spanish Succession War, the Netherlands were united for a short time, in some Anglo-Dutch union, only to use the Spanish Netherlands to trade them for Bavaria with the Habsburgers. After this the Southern Netherlands weren't Spanish anymore, but Austrian. This also meant the beginning of the Frenchification of Flemish elite, because changements had been made to the administration of the Southern Netherlands during the war.
Also, a plan was been made to divide the Spanish Netherlands to France and the United Provinces, but the leadership in Amsterdam didn't agree, their answer was 'Gallia amica, non vicina!'. They didn't want to have France as their neighbour and prefered the Spanish Netherlands as a bufferzoe between them and France. Also were they suspicious toward having Antwerp (my hometown) in their territory, because it might've changed the epicentre of the Netherland back to the South (Brabant) instead of to the North-West (Holland). They decided on that that having control over North Brabant was just good enough.
In the late Spanish Succession War, the Netherlands were united for a short time, in some Anglo-Dutch union, only to use the Spanish Netherlands to trade them for Bavaria with the Habsburgers. After this the Southern Netherlands weren't Spanish anymore, but Austrian. This also meant the beginning of the Frenchification of Flemish elite, because changements had been made to the administration of the Southern Netherlands during the war.
By the way, France used to have short control of Luxembourg, but lost it again to Spain later. Nowadays propaganda is being used to keep Luxemburgers docile and use French as often as possible as their cultural language, despite them speaking German. This is because in the eyes of France it was seen as a 'natural part of France' for ages, maybe also today.
You will notice that older Luxembourgers seem to despise German, just because they've been taught to do so, successfully apparently, thanks to WWII, naive plebs and their educational system.
Hollandophobia is also something which is quite common among older and very low class Flemings. If you read old history books, it becomes clear how it was accomplished.
You will notice that older Luxembourgers seem to despise German, just because they've been taught to do so, successfully apparently, thanks to WWII, naive plebs and their educational system.
Hollandophobia is also something which is quite common among older and very low class Flemings. If you read old history books, it becomes clear how it was accomplished.
Okay, thanks for the history lesson, guys. Only you guys can make three full posts in a row about Spain from a small comment. You seem to love rambling on about your own history but not really caring about others. And please, let's get it back on topic.
Czech is a nice language to learn, probably more useful than its close relative Slovakian, and Prague is a nice city. As for it being just another Russian satellite, I don't know if I'd go that far. It's true that their culture and commercial power as well are spreading in Central Europe and other Slavic states recently, but there is resistance against it. I remember reading something about all these stores in Cz Rep that were in Russian or owned by them, and that caused some anger. But yes, outside of simply broadening your cultural horizon and out of interest, it might not be the most useful language ever.
Czech is a nice language to learn, probably more useful than its close relative Slovakian, and Prague is a nice city. As for it being just another Russian satellite, I don't know if I'd go that far. It's true that their culture and commercial power as well are spreading in Central Europe and other Slavic states recently, but there is resistance against it. I remember reading something about all these stores in Cz Rep that were in Russian or owned by them, and that caused some anger. But yes, outside of simply broadening your cultural horizon and out of interest, it might not be the most useful language ever.