Sunday, October 19, 2008

Prompt # 3

I believe that main thing that was the downfall of Spain and their economy was, as we've talked about in class, the intolerance of certain religions; or maybe to put it in better words, the way that the Spanish let their emotions and hardcore beliefs get in the way of the real things that were of importance. And all of those real things pertained to the economy, which was hurt badly when the Spanish kicked out the Jews and of course the Moriscos (Muslims). Yes of course the Spanish Armada was a big dent in the whole picture, but to me this just seems like something that could've been much more easily avoided. I mean, it's hard to give suggestions on how they could have "won" that battle in the water, but it's much more easy to see the blatant faults of intolerance. As one can see, other economies such as the Dutch Republic were flying high as the Spanish one crumbled to the ground, and that has a lot to do with the difference of intolerance in both societies.

5 comments:

Atticus said...

I think i more or less dissagree with you benny bro. I think the fact that Spain was the only county totally evading the War of Relegions was their strong point. the fact that through their inquisition and rejection of other religions helped them early on establish a unified stability. however i agree to the fact that it contributed to the downfall because they totally depopulated when they forced muslims and jews to leave the country.

Denali said...

I think the important thing about the intolerance bit in Spain was that it did work, but only for a while. Once the Inquisition stopped being an effective way to keep order without damaging Spain, then it became a very negative part of Spanish society. How did Spain avoid the religious wars? They were they people that all Catholics asked for help.

SamStewart said...

I agree with you Jenny. Its always the same in history, if people were just tolerant of others opinions/religions/cultures we'd be much better off. Spain paid the price

Laxgoalie21 said...

i agree with atticus on both of the points he made, Spain benifited by keeping their noes out of the war. and depopulation for a county is never a good thing to do, especially if you are expelling the more intellegent and hard working race/relegion.

Anonymous said...

I agree with you Ben. Intolerance of other ideas always seem to be a huge problem when a strong nation declines.