Spain

Forty Years of ETA

John Sullivan charts the fortunes of the radical Basque nationalist movement in its attempts to gain independence from Spain.

The Spanish Civil War: If the Republic Had Won

It is often said that the 'ifs of history' are fascinating but fruitless. Here, Rob Stradling shows that a counter-factual consideration of what might have happened allows us new insights into the significance of what did happen.

The Pirate, the Ambassador and the Map-Maker

When in 1681 pirate Bartholomew Sharpe captured a Spanish ship and with it a detailed description of the west coast of the Americas, he gave English cartographers a field day and won himself an unexpected acquittal. James Kelly explains.

Masaniello's Naples Revolt Against Spain

The son of a fisherman's revolt against Spanish taxes on fruit in Naples, on 7 July 1647, was part of a wider challenge to Spanish overlordship throughout the Habsburg domains.

Zamora's Nuns in the Oven

Sexual improprieties and rows between religious orders - not 1990s scandal sheet headlines about the Catholic Church, but a tale from 13th-century Spain, unravelled here by Peter Linehan.