What is "Spain’s dilemma"?

Upvote:7

From the context of the quote, it would seem that the "dilemma" refered to relates to Spain's loss of empire. Spain became heavily dependent on trade (especially gold) from their colonies in the Americas. As Great Britain became a greater naval power, the links to Spain's possessions came under threat.

I'd guess that the dilemma they faced was about investment in their navy. Keeping a large navy up-to-date and ready for sea was (and still is) expensive, both in terms of money and manpower. So expanding their navy to protect their trade would eat into the profits from the American trade and so reduce its value to the economy. The alternative was to keep the navy small and cheap but risk the trade and communications (and, therefore, control of the colonies) in times of war.

KillingTime 4772

📝 Did medieval people wear collars with a castellated hem?
📝 Why are some New Kingdom dates quotes in pairs two years apart?
📝 What are the historical reasons for religious and political negative attitudes towards h*m*sexuality?
📝 When did the French Revolution end?
📝 Were any California presidios conquered?
📝 Why wouldn't the South make salt from seawater during the American Civil War?
📝 Did medieval kingdoms issue health related guidelines?
📝 M-1 rifle ammo and grenade invasion ration
📝 To what extent did the CPC avoid fighting with the Japanese?
📝 Were there hippies in the USA in 1930?
📝 Were naval mines an underutilized weapon in WW2?
📝 Before and during WW2, how were war games played?
📝 When was the first known international call between two heads of state or government?
📝 Did the Zapatistas actually kill anyone?
📝 Which groups of people were awake at night in antiquity?
📝 When did cultures start to emerge in ancient Peru?
📝 Was it possible for one medieval warrior to defeat several opponents?
📝 Why did the Athenian expedition to Sicily fail?
📝 How did the German royal families lose power so quickly in 1918? What happened to them afterwards?
📝 Most significant Congressional Leaders in US History?
📝 Battle of Queenston Heights, 13 Oct 1812: 23 American soldiers held as British deserters
📝 When did covered wagons disappear from America?
📝 Who really fired on Ft. Sumter - the South or Local Charleston, SC militia?
📝 Did Napoleon's coronation mantle survive?
📝 Livery and Barons
📝 Tolstoy's view of history
📝 Has Britain's 1940 invasion of Iceland been downplayed by historians?
📝 Did most major ancient cultures (e.g. the Mesopotamians) consider the heart as the main cognitive organ?
📝 How did the Japanese treat captured "Flying Tigers" in World War II?
📝 Why did really old paintings use such bizarre, unnatural perspective/proportions?

Source: stackoverflow.com

Travel Tips

Search Posts

📝 Did Adolf Hitler ever address the fact that his own appearance was almost an exact opposite of what he considered the ideal Aryan appearance?
📝 What is the origin of 3 meals a day?
📝 What is the first recorded dog name?
📝 What were paper airplanes called before there were real airplanes? (i.e. untethered winged flyers, not kites or balloons)
📝 What drugs were used in England during the High Middle Ages?
📝 What knowledge may have been lost at the Library of Alexandria?
📝 What damage did anti-tank rifles hope to inflict on tanks in WW2?
📝 What were the reasons for the Renaissance / scientific revolution in Europe?
📝 What fueled the street lights in 13th-century Cordoba?
📝 Was murdering a slave illegal in American slavery, and if so, what punishments were given for it?
📝 What do the phone number suffixes J, M, R, W in 1940 New York phone book mean?
📝 What are the factors that caused the new world civilizations to be less technologically advanced than the old world?
📝 What was the historical context of the 2nd amendment to the US Constitution?
📝 What is the significance behind "40 days" that often appears in the Bible?
📝 What did babies eat before the advent of modern blenders?
📝 During the breakup of the Soviet Union, on what basis was citizenship granted or withheld for each of the fifteen new republics?
📝 What mysterious Flemish peasant activity is depicted in this painting?
📝 What was the typical peasant's diet like in Europe during the High Middle Ages?
📝 Aside from the Pyramids, what is the tallest man-made structure still standing in Europe & the Near East from ancient times?
📝 What is a major historical event historians are deeply divided over?
📝 What did the Emancipation Proclamation exactly do?
📝 What is the logic for the map maker classifying the map this way, specifically in Canada?
📝 What do the numbers on this 1960s anti-integration sign mean?
📝 What were Hitler's religious beliefs?
📝 What is the first horse name recorded in history?
📝 What is the pre-schism Christian church called today?
📝 What is the oldest building in the world still in use?
📝 What did Germany do in World War II about the different rail gauge in the Soviet Union?
📝 What is the reason for the selections of gun caliber size in history?
📝 What led some people to (correctly) believe that there was no land under the ice cap at the North Pole?

What is "Spain’s dilemma"?

More post

Search Posts

Related post