Spain Persuasive Essay

To be or not to be? This is said to be the ultimate question, but maybe that’s not true. What is the outcome if it comes to be? This should be the ultimate question. Catalonia, a wealthy autonomous community located in the northeastern region of Spain, wants to become an independent sovereign state. Most recently, Catalonia made an attempt to stage an independent referendum on October 1, 2017. The referendum passed by a 90% majority, but what is to happen if the Catalans ultimately voted to succeed from Spain and declare independence. More specifically, how will Catalonian independence affect Spain and the European Union. To take a look at the Catalonian regional history would show a person that it has had many rulers and has been a part

The Catalans and Castilians also spoke different languages and practiced different political traditions. If anything, the Catalans felt they had more similarities with the French. Spain then found itself involved in three European wars in the 1620’s and 1630’s: The Thirty Year’s War, war with France, and a renewed war with the Netherlands. The Spanish needed to find a way to finance this war while also modernizing the military. So, the Chief Minister of Spain, Gaspar de Guzman the Count-Duke of Olivares, turned to the Spanish people, including Catalonians, to pay their fair share of taxes. After war broke out with France the Chief Minister tried to take more money from the Catalans so that they may keep funding the war. This didn’t go over well with the Catalans, whom felt sympathy towards the French, but they still paid their dues. In 1639, France sieged the Fort of Salses, but the Spanish eventually won the siege on January 6, 1640. The Spanish may have won the siege, but they lost Catalonia, whom was then taken in and annexed by France. As the Reapers’ war went on, the French and Catalonians fought on together against Spain, eventually defeating the Castilian army in the Battle of Barcelona. In July of 1644, King Phillip IV of Spain, was to observe the Catalan Constitution put forth by the Catalan government, the Generalitat. It wasn’t until the year of 1648 that the Dutch Revolt and the Thirty Years’ War had ended and Spain was finally able to direct its attention back to the Catalan issue at home. 1648 was also the year that the French were forced to leave Catalonia due to the Fronde breaking out in France. This left the Catalonian rebels to fight Spain by themselves, but this was to be a hard fight because a lot of Catalonians had decided to reconcile with the Spanish crown. The city of Barcelona fell to