Spain
Page 16
But once disciplined by the will of the majority, or by the inflexible command of Government, the Spanish people seem almost ideal material for dictatorship—strong, diligent, courageous, proud, patriotic, obedient, unimaginative. Autocracy is an old habit in Spain, and in Franco’s day most Spaniards fell easily enough into its rhythms; life in his republic often looked like a sequence from some totalitarian propaganda film, as the jolly workmen bounced gregariously to work in the backs of lorries, as the pretty girls in kerchiefs sang songs and waved in potato fields, as the sailors marched along the Majorca waterfront singing patriotic songs, and the schoolchildren sat attentive and respectful beneath the Generalissimo’s paternal portrait. On the other hand democracy, when they tried it between the wars, was an unsuccessful innovation, so unpractised were the people in its techniques, and so violent were the passions that its milder authority released.
Will it work better this time? It is true that Spain always seems to be yearning for some moment of fulfilment, some chance to flower, that nowadays only democracy can allow: but though the Spaniards are eagerly seizing their new opportunities, and political liberty is all the rage, somehow democracy does not yet feel natural to the place. I hope it will change—I hope I am wrong —but so far Spain seems to me one country where autocracy represents the natural order of things—organic, hereditary, bred in the bones, as much a part of the Spanish climate as the dead heat of the Castilian summer, or that knife-edge wind beneath the ribs.
The Spanish language has two words for the verb ‘to be.’ One is estar, which means to be in a particular condition, as a book is on a table, or your mother-in-law is ill. The other is ser, which means to be in a state of being, as grass is green and God’s in his Heaven. The estar of Spain is shifting today, with its new veneer of modernism, but beneath it all the essential ser remains. Our graph ends with King Juan Carlos. We can be sure of nothing further. Perhaps ours is the last generation to glimpse Spain as the world has so long known her; or perhaps our children too, as they wander this enigmatic State, will recognize it still as Philip’s disillusioned kingdom.
Some thirty miles north-west of Madrid a vast granite cross, the largest emblem of the Christian faith ever erected on earth, stands tremendously upon a ridge, visible almost from the capital itself, and surveying one of the most dismal battle-fields of the Civil War. General Franco put it there, and inside the hill on which it stands he has tunnelled a vast granite crypt, longer than the nave of St. Peter’s in Rome, and sumptuously decorated with statuary, tapestries, and bronze. Ostensibly this mausoleum is a memorial to all those, from either side, who fell in the Civil War. Actually it is a monument to Spain herself, the ser of this country, the denuded soil and the empty plateau, the snow on the mountains, the heat and the cold and the poverty, the ever-present abstractions of God, death and Inquisition.
Seven hundred men worked every day for ten years to dig this place, and many of them were political prisoners of the regime. Franco lies now in a tomb before the high altar, and all day long the monks, the nuns and the soldiers file through, the tourists whisper awestruck, and the elaborately uniformed attendants, like cinema ushers, stand with their white-gloved hands reverently behind their backs. Sometimes an organ thunders through the chapels in a constant fortissimo, playing pompous hymns and marches. A frightening air of tomb or prison haunts the vault, the music deadens the senses, and all seems swollen, tragic and endless.
A mile or two along the ridge stands the Escorial, and the Vale of the Fallen is another door to the coro of Spain. From the road that runs between them you may look out across the desolate expanse of the meseta, and see Spain lying there below—‘a cloud of dust, left in the air when a great people went galloping down the highroad of history’. There it all is, like a mirage in the morning: the space and the dust and the pride of it all, the chuffing steam trains on the high plateau, the tall golden towers beside the rivers of Spain, the storks, and the priests, and the policemen. It is the kind of high prospect that hermits look for, when they want to sit down with a skull on the table, and think about the future.
Index of Historical Events
Under Phoenician, Greek, Carthaginian, and Roman influence, Spain emerged from dim barbarism to be the most advanced of the Roman subject provinces. 11th century B.C. Phoenicians establish trading centres.
6th century B.C. Greeks establish colonies.
218 B.C. Second Punic War begins Roman conquest of Spain.
The Visigothic kings, succeeding to the order of Rome, ruled Spain as a Christian nation for three centuries, with their capital at Toledo. 409 Vandals and other barbarians invade Spain from the north.
414 Visigoths enter Spain, and presently become her rulers.
589 Roman Catholicism adopted as State religion of Spain.
The Moors captured most of Spain in two years, but for the next seven centuries engaged in desultory war against the surviving Christian kingdoms of the north, which gradually fought their way southwards in the campaigns of the Reconquest. 711 Muslims invade Spain.
718 Battle of Covadonga, won by surviving Christians of north.
756 Establishment of Cordoba Caliphate.
1085 Toledo recaptured by Christians.
The end of the fifteenth century brought Spain her most spectacular moment of success. United at last under the Catholic Monarchs, she expelled the last of the Moors, sent her explorers to the New World, and reorganized her society as the champion of Catholic purity. 1479 Castile and Aragón united under Isabel and Ferdinand.
1480 Introduction of Inquisition.
1492 Fall of Granada. Columbus sails for America. Expulsion of Jews.
The accession of the Hapsburgs to the Spanish thrones, together with the activities of the conquistadores in America, made Spain for a brief period the greatest Power on earth. 1516 Charles I, the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V, succeeds to throne.
1519 Cortés lands in Mexico.
1532 Pizarro lands in Peru.
1556 Philip II succeeds to throne.
The ignominious defeat of the Armada shattered Spain’s confidence in herself, and during the next four centuries her story is one of decline: the loss of her empire, a succession of sterile wars in Europe, perpetual controversies about the succession, led at last to the ultimate catastrophe of the Spanish Civil War. 1588 Defeat of the Armada.
1609 Expulsion of the Moriscos.
1700 War of the Spanish Succession brings Bourbons to the throne.
1808 French occupation of Spain.
1811 Venezuela declares independence followed by other South American republics.
1833 First Carlist War.
1874 Second Carlist War.
1898 Spanish-American War.
1931 Republic proclaimed.
1936 Spanish Civil War.
For nearly forty years Spain, half numbed still by the aftermath of the Civil War, moved tentatively, under the dictatorship of Francisco Franco, towards the end of isolation and the triumph of cosmopolitan, materialist values over her old insular traditions. 1938 General Franco becomes head of Nationalist Government.
1939 Nationalist victory in Civil War.
1953 Treaty with United States.
1955 Spain admitted to United Nations.
With the end of Franco’s regime, the floodgates of democracy were opened and change rushed in, leaving Spain in a condition of excited but possibly perilous uncertainty. 1975 Franco dies, Juan Carlos becomes King, and a democratic State is established.
Index
Abd-er-Rahman III, 1
Adaja River, 1
Alcalá de Henares, 1
Alcalá del Ebro, 1
Alcántara, 1
Alcazar, castle, Segovia, 1
Alcazar, castle, Toledo, 1, 2, 3
Alcoy, 1
Alexander VI, Pope, 1, 2
Alfonso VIII, 1, 2
Alfonso X (the Wise), 1
Alfonso XIII, 1, 2
Algeciras, 1
Alhamb
ra, Granada, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10
Alicante, 1, 2, 3
Ali Pasha, 1
Almería, 1, 2, 3, 4
Alpujarra Mountains, 1, 2
Altamira, 1
Andalusia, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18
Andorra, 1, 2
Aragón, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9
Aranjuez, 1
Astaires, the, 1
Astorga, 1, 2, 3
Astorga Cathedral, 1
Asturias, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6
Auden, Wystan, 1
Avila, 1, 2, 3
Avila Cathedral, 1
Aztecs, 1, 2, 3, 4
Badajoz, 1, 2, 3
Balenciaga, 1
Barcelona, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8
Barcelona Cathedral, 1, 2
Basques, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5
Bassano, Jacopo da Ponte, 1
Beecher, William P., 1
Bellini, Giovanni, 1
Belmonte, castle, Cuenca, 1
Benidorm, 1
Berbers, 1
Bilbao, 1, 2
Bizet, Georges, 1
Boabdil, 1
Bonaparte, Joseph, 1
Brenan, Gerald, 1
Browne, Sir Thomas, 1
Burgos, 1, 2, 3
Burgos Cathedral, 1, 2, 3, 4
Byron, George Gordon, Lord, 1
Cabriles railway viaduct, Zamora, 1
Cáceres, 1, 2
Cáceres Cathedral, 1
Cádiz, 1, 2, 3, 4
Calatayud, 1
Calderón, Pedro, 1
Camargo, Manuel Sánchez, 1
Canary Islands, 1, 2, 3
Cano, Melchor, 1
Cantabria, 1, 2
Carthaginians, 1
Carthusian monastery, Granada, 1,
Casa de los Picos, Segovia, 1
Casals, Pablo, 1
Castile, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15
Catalonia, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10
Cervantes, Miguel de, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6
Ceuta, 1
Charlemagne, 1
Charles I, 1, 2
Charles I of England, 1, 2
Charles II, 1
Charles III, 1
Charles IV, 1
Charles V, 1
Cid, the, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8
Cisneros, Jiménez de, Cardinal, 1
Ciudad Rodrigo, 1, 2, 3, 4
Ciudad Rodrigo, Bishop of, 1
Ciudad Rodrigo, castle, 1
Clamores River, 1
Claudel, Paul, 1
Clébert, Jean-Paul, 1
Coca, castle, Segovia, 1
Columbus, Christopher, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6
Córdoba, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9
Corella, 1
Corpus Christi, Church of, Valencia, 1
Cortés, Hernán, 1, 2
Corunna, 1, 2
Costa del Sol, 1, 2
Coto Doñana, 1, 2
Covadonga, 1, 2
Coward, Noël, 1
Cristo de la Luz, mosque, Toledo, 1
Cuba, 1, 2
Cuenca, 1, 2
Dali, Salvador, 1, 2, 3
Diego, Fray, 1
Don Carlos, 1
Don John of Austria, 1, 2
Don Pedro, 1
Don Quixote, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6
Don Quixote (Cervantes), 1, 2, 3, 4
Douglas, Sir James, 1
Duero River, 1
Ebro River, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9
Eden, Anthony, 1
Elche, 1
El Greco, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8
El Rocío, 1
Elvira, 1
Ercilla y Zúñiga, Alonso de, 1
Eresma River, 1
Erwig, King, 1, 2
Escorial, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14
Estremadura, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5
Es-Zahrâ, Córdoba, 1
Falla, Manuel de, 1
Ferdinand of Aragón, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9
Fernandez de Córdoba, 1
Finisterre, 1
Ford, Richard, 1, 2
Franco, General Francisco, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13
Galdós, Benito Pérez, 1
Galicia, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7
Galileo, 1
Ganivet, Angel, 1, 2, 3
Garcia Lorca, Federico, 1, 2
Garcilaso de la Vega, 1, 2
Gaudi, Antonio, 1, 2, 3
Gautier, Théophile, 1
Generalife gardens, Granada, 1
Gerona, 1, 2
Gibraltar, 1, 2, 3, 4
Gijón, 1
Giner, Francisco, 1
Goya, Francisco de, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5
Granada, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15
Granada Cathedral, 1, 2, 3, 4
Gran Capitán, see Fernandez de
Cordoba
Greeks, 1
Guadalest, castle, 1
Guadalquivir River, 1, 2
Guadarrama Mountains, 1
Guadiana River, 1, 2
Guadix, 1
Guernica, 1, 2
Guzmán, Alonso de, 1
Hadrian, 1
Hare, Augustus, 1, 2, 3
Hitler, Adolf, 1
Hostal de Los Reyes Católicos,
Santiago, 1
Huelva, 1, 2
Huesca, 1
Hunza, 1
Hutting, Henry, 1
Iberians, 1, 2, 3
Icaza, De, 1
Incas, 1, 2, 3
Irving, Washington, 1
Isabel of Castile, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10
Isabel II, 1
Isle Barataria, 1, 2, 3
Jaca, 1
Jaén, 1, 2
Jaén Cathedral, 1, 2
Jebir, 1
Jerez de la Frontera, 1, 2
Jijona, 1
Joan (the Mad), 1
John of Gaunt, 1
John XXIII, Pope, 1
Juan, Prince, 1
Juan II, 1
Juan Carlos, 1, 2
La Alberca, 1
La Mancha, 1, 2, 3, 4
La Rábida monastery, 1, 2
La Seo Cathedral, Saragossa, 1
Las Batuecas monastery, Castile, 1
Las Hurdes, 1
León, 1, 2, 3, 4
León, Luis de, 1
León Cathedral 1, 2, 3, 4
Lepanto, 1
Lérida, 1
Levante, 1
Levi, Samuel, 1
Livy, 1
Logroño, 1
Lorca, see Garcia Lorca, Federico
Louisiana, 1
Loyola monastery, 1
Lugo, 1, 2
Machado, Antonio, 1
Madariaga, Salvador de, 1
Madrid, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27
Madrid Cathedral, 1, 2
Madrigal, Alfonso de, Bishop, 1
Majorca, 1, 2, 3
Málaga, 1, 2, 3, 4
Málaga Cathedral, 1, 2
Manrique, Jorge, 1
Manzanares River, 1
Maragatos, 1
Marcus Aurelius, 1
Maria Christina, 1
Martial, 1
Mateo, Maestro, 1, 2
Mauger, John, 1
Melilla, 1, 2
Mendoza, Cardinal, 1
Mérida, 1, 2, 3, 4
Mérimée, Prosper, 1
Mexico, 1, 2, 3
Miraflores monastery, Burgos, 1, 2
Miró, Joan, 1, 2
Montezuma, 1
Montserrat, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5
Moors, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21
Morocco, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5
Morton, H. V., 1
Moscardó, Colonel Ituarte, 1, 2
Móstoles, 1
Murcia, 1, 2, 3, 4
Murcia Cathedral, 1
Murillo, Bartolomé, 1,
2
Navarre, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6
Nelson, Horatio, 1
Nicodemus, 1
Órbigo River, 1
Orgaz, Count, 1
Ortega y Gasset, José, 1, 2
Our Lady of Guadalupe monastery,
Estremadura, 1
Oviedo, 1, 2
Oviedo Cathedral, 1, 2
Palma, 1, 2, 3
Palma Cathedral, 1, 2
Palos de la Frontera, 1
Pamplona, 1, 2, 3
Pedro (the Cruel), 1
Pedro I, 1
Pelayo the Visigoth, 1
Peñíscola, castle, Valencia, 1
Peru, 1, 2, 3, 4
Philip II, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7,8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17
Philip IV, 1, 2
Phoenicians, 1, 2, 3
Picasso, Pablo, 1,2, 3, 4
Picos de Europa, 1
Pizarro, Francisco, 1, 2, 3, 4
Place of the Sirens, Segovia, 1
Portocarrero, Cardinal-Archbishop, 1
Prado Museum, Madrid, 1, 2
Priego de Córdoba, 1
Primo de Rivera, General, 1
Puente de Segovia, Madrid, 1
Pyrenees, 1, 2, 3, 4
Ramiro II, 1
Ribalta, Francisco, 1
Rio Tinto, 1
Roland, 1
Romans, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8
Roncesvalles, pass, 1, 2, 3, 4
Ronda, 1, 2, 3
Royal Palace, Madrid, 1
Rubens, Peter Paul, 1
Sacromonte gypsies, 1
Sagrada Familia, Church of the,
Barcelona, 1, 2
Sagunto, 1, 2
St. Anthony, 1, 2