Historias

The bombing of the Basque town of Gernika on April 26, 1937 by the planes of Germany’s Condor Legion, fighting for Franco’s rebel forces during the Spanish Civil War, today stands in the historical memory as one of our most powerful reminders of the horrors of war, thanks in no small part to Picasso’s famous painting. But what were the Germans trying to accomplish in this terror bombing, how exactly did the events of that day unfold and did the Germans achieve their goals? In this second part of our series on Nazis in Spain, Xabier Irujo, Director of the Center for Basque Studies at the University of Nevada- Reno, answers these questions as well as addresses the aftereffects of an event that we still remember with horror more than 80 years later.

In this episode, guest A. Katie Harris delves into the elite but also secretive world of relic collecting in the in the early modern Mediterranean. She describes the at-times nefarious practices of relic dealers and thieves and grave robbers, and considers to what extent relics can be viewed as commodities in a market even though the Church prohibited their sale. We then turn to the bizarre story of the theft of the remains of San Juan de Mata in 1655 by Trinitarian monks and discuss what the complicated saga of these bones reveals about the changing way in which sacred material objects were understood in the early modern world.

This episode focuses on two recent Spanish-language films that comment on the Spanish Civil War, the Franco dictatorship and the transition to democracy: Devil’s Backbone (El espinazo del diablo) by Guillermo del Toro and Bad Education (Mala Educación) by Pedro Almodóvar. Interestingly, both films feature abused children, boarding schools for boys, strongly masculine but corrupted male characters and few female characters. How do these filmmakers’ efforts to comment on Spain’s recent past lead them to so many similar themes? What do these films reveal about not only the trauma of war and dictatorship but also Spain’s collective memories of the past? Jessica Davidson, an associate professor at James Madison University, will consider these questions as she analyzes these two disturbing but also thought-provoking films. While it is not necessary to do so, listeners will benefit from having watched the films in advance, and there are a few spoilers.

We might associate the sociolinguistic ideas of codeswitching and diglossia more with our own globalized world than with the Middle Ages, but Professor Antonio Zaldívar argues that these practices could have powerful connotations as the kings of Aragon struggled to increase their authority over the nobility in the 13th century. In discussing how these kings began to use the vernacular in responding to noble defiance letters and in requests for support, Zaldívar explores the development modern governing structures and official written communications.

UC San Diego Professor Pamela Radcliff has recently published a new history of modern Spain entitled Modern Spain: 1808 to the Present. In this episode, we discuss the challenges overcome and insights gained from this project, starting with how Radcliff developed a new framework for the history of modern Spain that neither told a narrative of failure nor presented a revisionist story that ignored the darker sides of the modernization process. Instead, she explains how she provides a history of Spanish “modernity with all its warts” even as she navigates the politically polarized historiographies of the Second Republic and Civil War periods and concludes by grappling with the current situation in Catalonia, for instance. In short, the episode provides a behind-the-scenes look at the development of a book that is sure to prove a new foundation for students and scholars of modern Spain.

When the French invaded Spain in 1808 and imprisoned the royal family, the country was thrown into chaos, with local councils, or juntas, taking governance into their own hands. Charles Nicholas Saenz discusses how these groups sought to establish supremacy, authority and legitimacy in this unprecedented situation. Even as their elite memberships sought to prevent revolution from spreading to Spain, they created new governing structures that could never be erased. They unwittingly brought Spain into the modern period while making the local an indelible force in Spanish political culture.

At the end of the Second World War, hundreds of Nazi spies remained in Spain, and the Allies feared those agents could keep Nazism alive under the Franco dictatorship. In this episode, Professor David Messenger traces the allied effort to repatriate men to Germany for denazification. How successful was the repatriation program? What was the fate of the Germans who were deported? Messenger considers these questions before concluding with the implications of his work on the repatriation program for our understanding of both the Franco regime and postwar Europe more broadly.

An association between horses and the medieval nobility is built into the Spanish language itself, and horses are frequently cited as a key factor in Spain’s conquest of the Americas. Yet what exactly was the role of the horse in Spanish warfare and society, and how did that role change over time? Kathryn Renton examines these questions in this episode of Historias, from the efforts the medieval Castilian kings to encourage horse ownership to the role of the horse not only in the American conquests but also in the European wars of the early-modern period. One common thread is clear among these wide-ranging topics: more than a military tool, the horse’s true importance lay in its role as a contested social symbol.

La economía tuvo un peso muy importante en la vida política y social de la Segunda República. La gran crisis económica derivada del Crack de 1929, se unió a otra de carácter interno en el caso español. Donde la política de obras públicas iniciada durante el Régimen de Primo de Rivera vació las arcas del estado, disparando la deuda pública. A la caída de la demanda pública, se le unió la de carácter privado como consecuencia de la falta de confianza que el capital tenía en las reformas que el nuevo gobierno quería emprender. En este sentido surgen diversas preguntas: ¿Cómo respondieron las administraciones estatales, regionales y locales ante esta situación? ¿Tenían sus medidas vínculos internacionales? Iñaki Etxaniz Tesouro intenta responder a estas preguntas, centrado en el caso del País Vasco, una de las regiones (Especialmente Bizkaia) más industrializadas de España durante este periodo.

Events in Catalonia over the past several weeks have focused international attention on the region, but few media outlets have considered the historical context in which these events take place.  In the first special edition of the podcast, historians of Catalonia James Stout and Maria Carreras discuss the origins of the Catalan nationalism in the late nineteenth century and trace evolution of the Catalanist movement over the course of the twentieth.  They also also draw on their own historical research to provide unique insights on the current situation in Catalonia.

The dream of a cultural, linguistic and racial union between Spain and its former colonies in the Americas has been a pervasive idea in the Spanish imaginary, surviving to this day. When and how did this idea of Hispanoamérica emerge, and how did it evolve over time? This month’s guest, Rodrigo Escribano Roca, explores these questions in the context of nineteenth- and twentieth-century liberalism, from the Constitution of 1812 to present-day neo-liberal and anti-colonial discourses.

En este episodio, el profesor Eduardo González Calleja habla de sus esfuerzos para documentar y categorizar cada caso de violencia política mortal de la Segunda República.  Ha publicado los resultados de sus investigaciones recientemente en el libro Cifras cruentas: las víctimas mortales de la violencia sociopolítica en la Segunda República española (1931-1936).  Consideramos los nuevos datos en su contexto historiográfico e internacional para descubrir qué pueden revelar las cifras sobre el carácter y causas de esta violencia política que fue tan devastadora para la República.

The Castilian Civil War is a classic medieval tale of shifting alliances, family intrigue and murder.  But what was the international context and significance of this conflict?  How did contemporary chroniclers tell its story?  In this episode of the Historias podcast, Bretton Rodriguez discusses how this literally fratricidal conflict changed the course of not only the Castilian monarchy but also of literature and historiography on the Iberian Peninsula and beyond.

Episode 1- The Emergence of Anarchist Hegemony in Spain’s Labor Movement by Historias Podcast