How can Spain keep its 'great power' status?

As we all know, the Spanish empire suffered a decline that culminated with the loss of their overseas empire, which plunged Spain into being the backwater of Western Europe when Franco and the fascists came around.

So, my question is: with a POD of 1700, the year the final Spanish Hapsburg died, how can Spain keep its status as a great power?
 
I think, if you can somehow avoid the Peninsular War in Spain, then Spain would be better off. Of course, this facilitates a possible Napoleonic victory, so the butterflies are endless, but if one avoids Spain getting invaded then isn't it possible that they might be able to enact much-needed reforms in their American empire?
 
Get rid of the influence of Elizabeth Farnese and her Italian adventures. The focus should have been on the empire. Also try to keep Spain out of the War of Austrian Succession and the Seven Years War. But yes the Peninsular War was the nail in the coffin.
 
They have to maintain their American colonies (Federation? Equal representation?) And they have to modernize they country - better administration, parliament for representation, secularization of the country (abolish the Spanish Inquisition), free trade...

Charles III began such a reform work - you will have to let Charles IV continue with it.
 
Is not the Battle of Rocroi (1643) considered the end of Spanish superpower status? Reversing it is hard, especially when one looks at the massive drain of the royal coffers. Yes, they were rich, but the coast were generally higher. It is basically a massively overextend state.
 
Just my thoughts

They have to maintain their American colonies (Federation? Equal representation?) And they have to modernize they country - better administration, parliament for representation, secularization of the country (abolish the Spanish Inquisition), free trade...

Charles III began such a reform work - you will have to let Charles IV continue with it.

Keep the Reconquista (Portugal), easing Continental problems. Unite Italy as its own nation. Concentrate all of the Spanish Empire on holding its New World possessions. Do away with resource extraction as a means to sustain the Empire, and go for a more mercantilist policy, depending on the economic circumstances on the ground in Latin America.

Have a stronger policy of positive emigration to the New World. Building up a better population base by spreading out settlement over a wider area. Problem: Its not likely that Britain will stand for Spain having such a successful case of empire building.

Make sure that the Spanish Inquisition answers to SPAIN, not Rome. Problem: Successive Spanish monarchs will want the domestic power the inquisitors give to them over the people and the military.

I stand now ready to be slaughtered for my ignorance. :eek:
 
Perhaps have Ferdinand VI, and Barbara of Portugal have a child instead of Carlos III getting the throne? I mean he wasn't terrible, but he got Spain way more involved in European affairs than it really needed to be, and him not being there helps avoid Spain getting entangled in Italy more, as well as avoiding Carlos IV. If you can keep the Marquis of the Ensenada from getting the boot it might help somewhat as well with a greater level of internal reforms. What you really need though, regardless of time period is

1) better agricultural practices (and if we're talking post-Spanish War of Succession a greater willingness and more vigorous attempts to adapt technological advances in agriculture)

2) A Spain that's more focused on the New World as opposed to the Mediterranean and various Hapsburg holdings. The same kind of goes for Portugal which didn't really need as extensive holdings in the Far East which were never going to keep in the long run, and weren't really worth it compared to Brazil.

Unless you're willing to start further back and avoid the Hapsburgs altogether, you do kind of need some of the wars that were painful for Spain in order to get it to lose the far flung European domain.
 
It's simple - break the composite monarchy and create a more integrated system, but don't do it during endless war. Spain at its traditional peak was basically being carried by the finances of Castile alone.

Olivares had the right idea, but he attempted it during Spain's forever war of the 1620s-1640s.
 
You need the Spanish to avoid the idea that making money is a tacky thing to do. And avoid Trafalgar and the Peninsular War.
 
And avoid Trafalgar and the Peninsular War.

Spain lost great power status long before the Napoleonic wars. Late 18th-century Spain still had a large empire but was hardly in a position to project its power in Europe. It was similar to the Ottoman Empire in that regard.
 
Spain lost great power status long before the Napoleonic wars. Late 18th-century Spain still had a large empire but was hardly in a position to project its power in Europe. It was similar to the Ottoman Empire in that regard.

Depends how broad you define the limits of 'Great Power', I guess, but it was certainly top 5 during this time. Their navy was third globally after Britain and France.
 
i'd say keep spain out of the new world. by not getting all that south american gold they'd avoid the horrible inflation which plagued spain and would have to encourage local industry to produce all the goods. not having millions of people emigrating to foreign lands is just the icing on the cake - some 230 million people claim spanish ancestry!
 
I'd spend the New World gold on development and infrastructure in Spain itself; improve ports, roads, canals, public buildings and the like. That will ensure that whatever happens to the Empire and the rest of Europe Spain itself will have the homeland in good order.
 
i'd say keep spain out of the new world. by not getting all that south american gold they'd avoid the horrible inflation which plagued spain and would have to encourage local industry to produce all the goods. not having millions of people emigrating to foreign lands is just the icing on the cake - some 230 million people claim spanish ancestry!

Ah, but isn't that a victory of sorts in any case? Spain may cease to be a great power, but the Spanish speaking world will always be an important chunk of humanity, and will become more so in the future as Latin America converges economically.

Or to put it another way, that's sort of like saying Britain would have been better off if it hadn't sent all those people to the US and Canada and Australia and so on.
 
How about avoiding war with the US? That at least keep the later Caribbean and Pacific empire intact. Of course if the Americans don't take the Phillipines it might be the Germans.
 
I'm going to outline something of a Spain wank that has various factors coming together to create an incredibly prosperous Spanish Empire. Any of these things should be a positive for the general wealth and power of a state based in the Iberian peninsula:

A more meritocratic administration of the New World both free of the Spanish caste system and one that tries to integrate the natives into the Spanish fold(more than they already were) would go a very long ways to creating a healthier Spanish economy(in the sense of Spain and her New World colonies).

Ignore Europe completely north of the Pyrenees, sign a formal treaty with France that declares the New World in its entirety to be Spanish and that Spain and France will stand in perpetual friendship to each other. In exchange, France has the right of tariff free trade in continental Spain and access to any and all New World goods at more competitive prices than any other European state.

Don't depopulate Castille in order to settle the New World, instead draw from other continental European holdings for settlement into provinces that are already Spanish-speaking. Draw from non-Spanish subjects when possible. Rely on Spanish speakers from both the Old and New world to settle new frontiers.

Ensure naval supremacy and the complete disarray of England at all costs; burn their colonies, oppose their trade missions, fund pretenders, sabotage any outre-European expansion by the English.

Fuck the Pope and ignore the reformation. Better yet embrace it and tear down the notable drain on the Spanish economy that monastic life resulted in in Iberia. Do not break commercial ties from Lisbon to Antwerp; encourage commercial missions by these individuals under the Crown much like the settlement of Madeira.

If you're going to pursue dynastic marriages pursue them with the French and the Italians; being tied down anywhere else is not going to result in anything positive for the Iberian peninsula beyond a breaking of the Spanish-French alliance.

If the Iberian Union forms either due to it being imposed or through Miguel Da Paz or some other occurrence, make Portugal as integral to the crown as possible.


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The above would result in a far more populous Spain that has been free of invasion for centuries with France as the Great Blue Buffer, has complete suzerainty over the New World, dominates the spice trade, and likely has a far more developed economy than it's OTL equivalent.
 
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