Spain

Carsten Humlebæk is Associate Professor of Spanish Cultural and Social Analysis in the Department of International Business Communication at the Copenhagen Business School, Denmark.

Part of the successful 'Inventing the Nation' history series, this book provides an authoritative and compelling history of Spain in the modern period. Humlebæk places a strong emphasis on the construction of the Spanish national identity and looks at how this identity has emerged and survived amidst the tensions created by the competing, distinct regional identities that exist within the country. Language and language policy, decisive factors in the development of these tensions, are thoroughly examined as Carsten Humlebæk explores the history of Spain along with the very nature of what it is to be Spanish.Beginning with the Napoleonic invasion and the annexation of Spain in 1808, Humlebæk traces Spain's political history through to the present day. He considers the impact of events like the Spanish Civil War and regimes like that of the Restoration on the Spanish sense of national identity before contemplating the future for Spain as a nation-state.This book is the ideal volume for all students of history interested in the modern history of Spain.

This book presents the development of modern Spanish national identity in a comprehensive, accessible way.

Focuses on the invention of the Spanish nation and the national tensions in the country

1. Prologue 2. Planting the Seed of the Nation in an Old State (1808-1833) 3. Spanish Liberal Nationalism in Search for a Mass Audience (1834-1875) 4. The Non-Solution to the National Problem(s): The Restoration Regime (1875-1923) 5. Military Dictatorship as Solution to the Nationalization of the Masses? (1923-1931) 6. The 2nd Spanish Republic: The Short-lived Success of the Liberal National Project (1931-1939) 7. The Civil War 1936-1939 8. The Franco Regime (1939-1975) 9. The Death of Franco as Solution and Postponement 10. The New, Democratic and European Spain: United and Divisions Forgotten? 11. The Reappearance of the Question of the Past since 2000: Memory Politics in Spain 12. Accommodating the Various Nationalist Pretensions in Spain: Is it Possible? 13. Epilogue: Crisis in Spain and its Effects on the National Tensions Index