Barbara H. Stein and Stanley J. Stein. Crisis in an Atlantic Empire: Spain and New Spain, 1808–1810.
2017; Oxford University Press; Volume: 122; Issue: 1 Linguagem: Inglês
10.1093/ahr/122.1.262
ISSN1937-5239
Autores Tópico(s)Historical Studies in Latin America
ResumoWith Crisis in an Atlantic Empire: Spain and New Spain, 1808–1810, the final installment of a tetralogy on the rise and fall of the Bourbon Spanish imperial state, Barbara and Stanley Stein explore the erosion of the colonial system in New Spain. They forgo a detailed introduction and choose throughout the text not to wade into theoretical or historiographical debates. Rather, they begin with the politics and diplomatic intrigue surrounding the Escorial affair, precisely where volume 3 left off, and then proceed to examine in depth the economic dimensions of the crisis of the Spanish Monarchy. The convoluted machinations of the Spanish grandes (prominent men), designed to bring down the king’s prime minister, Manuel Godoy y Álvarez de Faria, and elevate Prince Ferdinand to power, damaged an already weakened monarchy and tarnished its reputation at home and abroad. A further effort to stave off French occupation—a proposed marriage between Ferdinand and Empress Josephine’s niece—failed as well. The Steins essentially argue that Spanish elites inadvertently forced Napoleon Bonaparte’s hand because of the coup in March 1808 and the abdication of the more pliable King Charles IV. With a laser-like focus on high politics in the first chapters of part I, titled “Metropole,” the authors primarily draw on diplomatic correspondence as well as the accounts penned by Juan de Escoiquiz and Foreign Minister Pedro Cevallos Guerra, two influential advisors from the court. Many of the quotes remain in the original French and Spanish, making the prose stilted in certain sections. On the other hand, a tremendous amount of primary source documentation is brought to bear on the issues examined. Chapters often include brief biographical sketches of ministers, intellectuals, and civil servants such as Gaspar Melchor de Jovellanos and Manuel Pedro Quintana, as regional rivalries and personal enmities fueled the rise and fall of factions that seized power in the wake of the power vacuum in peninsular Spain.
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