page_title: Foreign relations of Spain
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Foreign relations of Spain / History
caption_attribution_description: English: A map of the dominions of the House of Habsburg following the abdication of the emperor Charles V (1556).
context_page_description: Ferdinand II and Isabella united Spain, drove out the Moslems, and used Christopher Columbus and numerous conquistadors to build a large, rich colonial empire in Latin America. Spain became an international power in the 16th century, especially under the rule of kings Charles V and Philip II. They fought against the Protestant Reformation and had large holdings across Western Europe. The American colonies shipped large amount of gold and silver, but the new wealth was spent in interminable wars against France and the Netherlands, as well as the Ottoman Empire, England and others. By 1700 decline and poverty had set in and Spain played a smaller and smaller role. It became a battlefield between Britain and France in the Napoleonic Era. Nearly all its colonies fought for and won independence in the early 19th century. The remainder fell to the United States in 1898. The Spanish Civil War of 1936-1939 became a proxy war between the axis powers Germany and Italy and the Soviet Union. World leaders isolated General Franco, the ruler 1939–1975. Spain was neutral in both world wars. Democracy and a degree of normalcy followed 1975. Spain joined NATO and entered the European Community.
context_section_description: In 218 BC the Romans invaded the Iberian peninsula, which later became the Roman province of Hispania. The Romans introduced the Latin language, the ancestor of both modern-day Spanish and Italian. The Iberian peninsula remained under Roman rule for over 600 years, until the collapse of the Western-Roman Empire.
  In the Early modern period, until the 18th century, southern and insular Italy came under Spanish control, having been previously a domain of the Crown of Aragon.
caption: Dominions of the Habsburgs in 1556
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