0:00:06 > 0:00:11In 1543, a father wrote a secret letter of wise advice
0:00:11 > 0:00:13for his teenage son.
0:00:13 > 0:00:16"Always follow God's will," he wrote.
0:00:16 > 0:00:19"Don't take decisions in anger,
0:00:19 > 0:00:24"and don't have too much sex. It can damage your health."
0:00:24 > 0:00:27This was no ordinary father and son.
0:00:27 > 0:00:33The father was Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor and King of Spain.
0:00:33 > 0:00:38And the son, Philip II, would be the champion of Catholicism,
0:00:38 > 0:00:41the ruler of a world empire
0:00:41 > 0:00:46and King of Spain at the very apogee of its golden age.
0:00:49 > 0:00:52Philip saw himself as more than just a ruler.
0:00:52 > 0:00:56There was no limit to his ambitions for Catholicism and Spain.
0:00:58 > 0:01:01He built this forbidding palace as the projection
0:01:01 > 0:01:03of his sacred mission.
0:01:03 > 0:01:07San Lorenzo de El Escorial - the headquarters of a king
0:01:07 > 0:01:09who married one English queen
0:01:09 > 0:01:12and sent an armada against another,
0:01:12 > 0:01:17whose enduring legacy to Spain is its capital, Madrid,
0:01:17 > 0:01:20and on whose global empire the sun never set.
0:01:22 > 0:01:25For seven centuries, Spain was a Roman province.
0:01:26 > 0:01:29For another seven centuries, it was Muslim.
0:01:29 > 0:01:35Its reconquest in the name of Christendom lasted 300 bloody years.
0:01:37 > 0:01:39In this final episode,
0:01:39 > 0:01:44I'll take you from Spain's magnificent pinnacle under Philip II,
0:01:44 > 0:01:47through its decline, to its conquest by Napoleon,
0:01:47 > 0:01:51its vicious civil war fought over by Hitler and Stalin,
0:01:51 > 0:01:56right up to General Franco's dictatorship and today's democracy.
0:01:59 > 0:02:04God, gold and glory, beauty and death.
0:02:04 > 0:02:07This is the story of how Spain was made.
0:02:18 > 0:02:20Philip II was born in 1527
0:02:21 > 0:02:25in the city of Valladolid, northern Spain.
0:02:25 > 0:02:29His parents were Emperor Charles V and Isabella of Portugal.
0:02:31 > 0:02:34Though their empire stretched across Europe and America,
0:02:34 > 0:02:37they ruled on the move with no permanent capital,
0:02:37 > 0:02:41but they often stayed in Valladolid
0:02:41 > 0:02:45in this small palace belonging to the Pimentel family.
0:02:47 > 0:02:50In 1527, in a small room upstairs,
0:02:50 > 0:02:55Empress Isabella endured 13 hours of labour.
0:02:55 > 0:02:58When a kindly lady-in-waiting suggested that she scream
0:02:58 > 0:03:02to relieve the pain, she replied regally,
0:03:02 > 0:03:06"I shall not scream. I would rather die than make any noise."
0:03:08 > 0:03:11His mother died when he was 12.
0:03:11 > 0:03:14His father was always away fighting.
0:03:14 > 0:03:18He loved dancing, painting, he loved flirting.
0:03:18 > 0:03:20Yet, Philip's vision was clear.
0:03:20 > 0:03:22He was God's vice-regent on Earth
0:03:22 > 0:03:25in the service of the monarchy and Catholicism.
0:03:25 > 0:03:30In 1554, his father, the Emperor, asked him to make a dutiful marriage
0:03:30 > 0:03:35to gain yet another kingdom for God and the Habsburgs.
0:03:35 > 0:03:36It was England.
0:03:39 > 0:03:42Philip's English bride was Queen Mary,
0:03:42 > 0:03:45the daughter of Henry VIII and Catherine of Aragon.
0:03:45 > 0:03:47She was nicknamed "Bloody Mary"
0:03:47 > 0:03:52because of her fervent execution of Protestant heretics.
0:03:52 > 0:03:55For Spain and Catholicism it was a favourable match.
0:03:57 > 0:04:00The contract was negotiated before the couple met
0:04:00 > 0:04:02and Philip was disappointed when they did.
0:04:03 > 0:04:09She was squinty, pale, paunchy and plain, and missing a few teeth,
0:04:09 > 0:04:14but she was thrilled with her gold-bearded young husband king.
0:04:14 > 0:04:16Their wedding night was so energetic
0:04:16 > 0:04:20that she spent four days afterwards resting in bed.
0:04:23 > 0:04:27She wept when Philip finally left England for the Continent.
0:04:28 > 0:04:32Philip, now King of England, spent months there encouraging
0:04:32 > 0:04:35Mary's restoration of Catholicism,
0:04:35 > 0:04:37her persecution of the Protestants
0:04:37 > 0:04:41and trying to father a Catholic heir.
0:04:41 > 0:04:44Both knew that they needed a child of this marriage who would then
0:04:44 > 0:04:46inherit England.
0:04:46 > 0:04:49Finally, she believed that she was pregnant.
0:04:49 > 0:04:53Her belly swelled, but tragically it was a false pregnancy
0:04:53 > 0:04:57and probably the beginning of the cancer of the stomach
0:04:57 > 0:04:59that later killed her.
0:05:01 > 0:05:04Mary died in 1558.
0:05:04 > 0:05:08According to their marriage contract, Philip ceased to be King of England
0:05:08 > 0:05:11and the throne passed to Mary's half-sister,
0:05:11 > 0:05:12the Protestant Elizabeth.
0:05:14 > 0:05:18For Philip, England was unfinished business.
0:05:20 > 0:05:23Yet, his focus was already global.
0:05:23 > 0:05:29He ruled Spain as regent until in 1556 his father, Charles V,
0:05:29 > 0:05:32gout-ridden and weary, abdicated.
0:05:33 > 0:05:37At 29, Philip became Philip II of Spain,
0:05:37 > 0:05:42the Netherlands, Milan, Sicily, Naples and the New World.
0:05:42 > 0:05:45It was the greatest empire on Earth.
0:05:47 > 0:05:50This burden lay heavy on Philip's shoulders.
0:05:50 > 0:05:52Yet, his ambitions were limitless.
0:05:52 > 0:05:55He called himself the Prudent King,
0:05:55 > 0:05:58and was determined to rule in his own way.
0:06:01 > 0:06:05I'm travelling a few miles from Philip's birthplace
0:06:05 > 0:06:07to the castle of Simancas.
0:06:11 > 0:06:14Behind its ancient stone walls,
0:06:14 > 0:06:17Philip preserved the means by which a prudent king
0:06:17 > 0:06:19should rule a great empire.
0:06:20 > 0:06:22With paper.
0:06:24 > 0:06:26Philip ruled from his desk.
0:06:27 > 0:06:32As one chronicler wrote, "He could make the world spin from his seat."
0:06:34 > 0:06:38Today, Simancas houses 14 miles of royal documents.
0:06:41 > 0:06:45The archive director, Julia Rodriguez de Diego,
0:06:45 > 0:06:48has pulled out some of Philip's personal papers.
0:06:48 > 0:06:53They reveal his driving obsession to control an empire so vast
0:06:53 > 0:06:57that it might spin out of control at any time.
0:06:57 > 0:06:59It's truly awesome to be here in the presence
0:06:59 > 0:07:02of some actual letters of Philip II.
0:07:02 > 0:07:07So, you know him so well. What sort of man was he?
0:07:07 > 0:07:09IN SPANISH
0:07:28 > 0:07:31Philip also crossed things out in these letters,
0:07:31 > 0:07:33corrected spelling mistakes,
0:07:33 > 0:07:37and in this case here, he's actually cut out a section.
0:07:37 > 0:07:38What's going on in this letter?
0:07:56 > 0:07:59So what do you think this naughty young priest had done?
0:08:13 > 0:08:18Micromanagement was one way that Philip kept a tight control
0:08:18 > 0:08:21on the sinews of so many kingdoms.
0:08:21 > 0:08:25In 1561, this sensible manager saw that his government
0:08:25 > 0:08:28needed a centre, just like other monarchs in Europe.
0:08:32 > 0:08:33Madrid...
0:08:36 > 0:08:40..now a grand European city and Spain's capital.
0:08:43 > 0:08:46It's Philip's most enduring legacy
0:08:46 > 0:08:49and for him, a permanent seat of government.
0:08:51 > 0:08:56Until Philip, the capital of Spain had really been where the King was,
0:08:56 > 0:09:00but now he decided Madrid should be the capital,
0:09:00 > 0:09:03a formal capital in the middle of the country,
0:09:03 > 0:09:05just as a heart is located in the middle of the body.
0:09:08 > 0:09:13At the time, Madrid was a provincial backwater of narrow, squalid lanes.
0:09:15 > 0:09:19Yet, for Philip, its very insignificance was its strength.
0:09:19 > 0:09:23Away from the vested interests of conspiring grandees,
0:09:23 > 0:09:26he would rule through his own ministers.
0:09:26 > 0:09:30This map is the first map ever made of Madrid from 1656,
0:09:30 > 0:09:32almost a century later.
0:09:32 > 0:09:34I'm here in the Plaza Mayor.
0:09:34 > 0:09:37Planned by Philip and built by his son,
0:09:37 > 0:09:40it's still right at the heart of the Spanish capital.
0:09:43 > 0:09:47Less than a century after the last of the Islamic rulers
0:09:47 > 0:09:49were driven out of Spain,
0:09:49 > 0:09:55Philip possessed the political acumen fit for the king of a golden age.
0:09:55 > 0:10:00And now he wished to create a palace that radiated his faith and power.
0:10:02 > 0:10:06He chose a site at the foot of the Guadarrama mountains,
0:10:06 > 0:10:07north-west of Madrid.
0:10:12 > 0:10:16And this is it - San Lorenzo de El Escorial.
0:10:19 > 0:10:22This place is called Philip's Seat,
0:10:22 > 0:10:24and the king actually used to come up here
0:10:24 > 0:10:28and oversee the construction of his beloved Escorial.
0:10:28 > 0:10:31He wanted it to be the eighth Wonder of the World,
0:10:31 > 0:10:35and, being Philip, he micromanaged every detail,
0:10:35 > 0:10:39writing hundreds of memos to his poor architects.
0:10:39 > 0:10:43In one case, he started to worry about where the lavatories would be.
0:10:43 > 0:10:46"I wonder if bad smells will emanate from these holes,"
0:10:46 > 0:10:48he wrote to the architect.
0:10:48 > 0:10:51"Are they too close to the kitchens? Send me the plans again."
0:10:51 > 0:10:56For Philip, the Devil was in the details, God even more so.
0:11:01 > 0:11:04El Escorial was simultaneously political headquarters,
0:11:04 > 0:11:08dynastic mausoleum, personal library
0:11:08 > 0:11:11and cathedral monastery,
0:11:11 > 0:11:15its design a vast gridiron, to commemorate the one
0:11:15 > 0:11:20on which Philip's favourite saint, San Lorenzo, was martyred,
0:11:20 > 0:11:24its splendour to emulate the Temple of Solomon.
0:11:26 > 0:11:29Its magnificence embodies Philip's role
0:11:29 > 0:11:31as champion of Catholicism on Earth.
0:11:33 > 0:11:36"God's work and mine," he said, "are the same thing."
0:11:36 > 0:11:39If there's one building that came to symbolise
0:11:39 > 0:11:42the glory of Imperial Spain, it's this one.
0:11:53 > 0:12:00Philip II's Hall of Battles really gives you an idea of his world-view,
0:12:00 > 0:12:05his need for magnificence, his Catholic mission.
0:12:05 > 0:12:10Looking at this, you get a grasp of how Philip saw himself
0:12:10 > 0:12:12and how he saw the world.
0:12:12 > 0:12:15Although he only saw battle once, as a young prince,
0:12:15 > 0:12:20Philip was a supreme warlord, commanding the best armies in Europe.
0:12:22 > 0:12:26In his 42-year reign, there was just six months of peace.
0:12:26 > 0:12:30Now the empire reached its greatest extent,
0:12:30 > 0:12:32including the Philippines, named after him,
0:12:32 > 0:12:36and through his mother, he added Portugal and its far-flung empire.
0:12:36 > 0:12:41This painting here in the Hall of Battles shows his fleet
0:12:41 > 0:12:43taking the Portuguese Azores.
0:12:43 > 0:12:48He now had 50 million citizens under his control.
0:12:48 > 0:12:55Truly, one could say, that "Non sufficit orbis," his motto -
0:12:55 > 0:12:58a world is not enough.
0:13:01 > 0:13:04As his armies marched across the globe
0:13:04 > 0:13:07he committed himself to war on several fronts.
0:13:07 > 0:13:10His first duty was to fight the infidel.
0:13:10 > 0:13:14In 1571, Philip put together a holy alliance,
0:13:14 > 0:13:19which annihilated the Ottoman fleet in the Battle of Lepanto.
0:13:19 > 0:13:22Yet, the biggest threat didn't come from Islam.
0:13:22 > 0:13:24It came from within Christendom itself...
0:13:26 > 0:13:30..the tide of Protestantism sweeping Europe.
0:13:30 > 0:13:34The greatest crisis, the weeping sore of his entire reign,
0:13:34 > 0:13:37was the revolt of the Protestant Dutch.
0:13:37 > 0:13:39He tried to crush them
0:13:39 > 0:13:42but everything failed and the revolt went on.
0:13:42 > 0:13:47Ultimately, the war against the Dutch Protestants would lead
0:13:47 > 0:13:49to a greater war against England.
0:13:52 > 0:13:55In the island kingdom where he'd once been king,
0:13:55 > 0:13:59Queen Elizabeth defiantly undid all Mary's work.
0:13:59 > 0:14:03She promoted Protestantism in growing opposition to Philip.
0:14:03 > 0:14:08She funded his rebellious Protestant subjects in the Low Countries.
0:14:08 > 0:14:10Her ships plundered Spanish colonies and fleets.
0:14:12 > 0:14:16Philip had suggested marrying Elizabeth of England
0:14:16 > 0:14:19but now he decided to kill her.
0:14:19 > 0:14:23He declared her a tyrant and ordered her assassination or capture
0:14:23 > 0:14:28and her replacement by her Catholic cousin, Mary Queen of Scots.
0:14:28 > 0:14:32For almost 20 years he planned to send an armada, a fleet,
0:14:32 > 0:14:38to conquer England, and then in 1587 his mind was made up.
0:14:38 > 0:14:41Elizabeth executed Mary. That was the last straw.
0:14:47 > 0:14:51Now Philip excitedly ordered the building and provisioning
0:14:51 > 0:14:53of the greatest fleet in history.
0:14:53 > 0:14:57His secretary noted, "I've never seen the King so animated
0:14:57 > 0:15:00"by any other piece of business."
0:15:03 > 0:15:06And this is the desk where the Prudent King
0:15:06 > 0:15:12came up with his reckless master plan to conquer Protestant England.
0:15:12 > 0:15:17He ordered that the Duke of Medina Sidonia would sail from Spain
0:15:17 > 0:15:21with 130 ships, 20,000 men, along the English Channel
0:15:21 > 0:15:26and join up with the 30,000 men of the Duke of Parma,
0:15:26 > 0:15:29waiting at Dunkirk in the Low Countries.
0:15:29 > 0:15:32Both commanders hated this plan.
0:15:32 > 0:15:36How on Earth would you coordinate the two forces joining hands
0:15:36 > 0:15:40at the mercy of the hostile English Navy?
0:15:41 > 0:15:44But Philip swept aside all objections.
0:15:44 > 0:15:47"Human prudence may suggest uncertainties," he said,
0:15:47 > 0:15:53"but God will remove them. After all," he added, "I do God's work."
0:15:55 > 0:16:01As Spain waited, the royal family knelt in prayer, night and day.
0:16:03 > 0:16:07By 6th August 1588, Medina Sidonia
0:16:07 > 0:16:10and the armada were moored off Calais.
0:16:10 > 0:16:14At the same time, the Duke of Parma and his men
0:16:14 > 0:16:17were embarked on ships at Dunkirk,
0:16:17 > 0:16:21but fatally and predictably the message hadn't reached him in time.
0:16:21 > 0:16:24It was too late and the armada were sitting ducks.
0:16:27 > 0:16:30Many of them were attacked by English ships.
0:16:30 > 0:16:32GUNFIRE
0:16:33 > 0:16:37A storm scattered them and some of them had to sail
0:16:37 > 0:16:40all the way around Scotland and Ireland to get back to Spain.
0:16:40 > 0:16:45It was disaster. A third of the ships never made it home.
0:16:45 > 0:16:4815,000 men died.
0:16:49 > 0:16:54God had not smiled on Philip's divine enterprise.
0:16:56 > 0:16:59After the failure of the armada, Philip's health deteriorated.
0:16:59 > 0:17:02The man in black retreated to his rooms,
0:17:02 > 0:17:07exhausting himself on his paperwork, while devoting himself to prayer.
0:17:07 > 0:17:11As he lay here, priests would bring in his beloved relics
0:17:11 > 0:17:16and lay them on his aching limbs and open sores.
0:17:16 > 0:17:18As he sunk into unconsciousness,
0:17:18 > 0:17:21the only way his daughter had to rouse him
0:17:21 > 0:17:25was to pretend that someone was near those relics and might touch them.
0:17:25 > 0:17:29"Don't touch the relics," she'd say, and he'd suddenly wake up.
0:17:31 > 0:17:34But people in the kingdom started to say,
0:17:34 > 0:17:38"If the King of Spain doesn't die soon, the kingdom will."
0:17:38 > 0:17:44And finally, on 13th September 1598, he did.
0:17:50 > 0:17:54As he took his final breath, the choristers were singing Morning Mass
0:17:54 > 0:17:57in the monumental basilica next to his bedroom.
0:18:00 > 0:18:05Philip II left the monarchy still at the zenith of its power,
0:18:05 > 0:18:09the achievement of a ruler of impressive diligence and acumen.
0:18:10 > 0:18:15There were failures, like the armada, yet, after Philip,
0:18:15 > 0:18:19every Spanish ruler would try to emulate his greatness.
0:18:23 > 0:18:26The challenge now was for Philip's heirs to maintain
0:18:26 > 0:18:29the power of this expensive empire,
0:18:29 > 0:18:34an empire so vast, even the gold of the Americas couldn't cover it.
0:18:34 > 0:18:38It was constantly teetering on the edge of bankruptcy.
0:18:38 > 0:18:40And there was another problem.
0:18:40 > 0:18:43In 1621, Philip IV inherited the throne.
0:18:43 > 0:18:47He was 16 but he lacked the talent to rule in his own right.
0:18:47 > 0:18:52Instead, he needed to choose a trusted courtier to rule for him.
0:18:52 > 0:18:56These favourites were called the validos.
0:18:56 > 0:19:00The validos were hated for their power and corruption.
0:19:00 > 0:19:04They were compared to mushrooms that grew up suddenly overnight
0:19:04 > 0:19:06out of a bed of excrement.
0:19:06 > 0:19:10But the greatest of them all was Gaspar de Guzman,
0:19:10 > 0:19:13the Count of Olivares.
0:19:13 > 0:19:19Olivares knew that to rule Spain he needed to rule Philip IV.
0:19:20 > 0:19:23I've come to the Prado Museum in Madrid
0:19:23 > 0:19:25to find out about Philip and his favourite,
0:19:25 > 0:19:30through the work of THE court painter of the day, Diego Velazquez.
0:19:32 > 0:19:36Here's Philip IV painted astride a rearing horse.
0:19:36 > 0:19:40More than anything, he wanted to be seen as a soldier king,
0:19:40 > 0:19:45though his real hobbies were hunting duck and chasing actresses.
0:19:46 > 0:19:50Velazquez's assessment of the young Philip was that he
0:19:50 > 0:19:54"mistrusts himself, and defers to others too much".
0:19:56 > 0:19:59But when you look at his face in this portrait,
0:19:59 > 0:20:02there's something in the eye, something in the face
0:20:02 > 0:20:04that shows how nervous he was.
0:20:05 > 0:20:09He wanted to be a great king but he wasn't quite sure how.
0:20:13 > 0:20:16Right next to Velazquez's Philip IV
0:20:16 > 0:20:19is his portrait of the Count-Duke of Olivares.
0:20:19 > 0:20:23The compositions complement each other, yet here the eyes betray
0:20:23 > 0:20:25no hint of doubt.
0:20:25 > 0:20:28On Philip's accession to the throne,
0:20:28 > 0:20:32Olivares declared, "Now everything is mine."
0:20:33 > 0:20:38This is the man who taught Philip IV how to be a great king.
0:20:38 > 0:20:44He was larger than life, swaggering, flamboyant, neurotic,
0:20:44 > 0:20:48hypochondriacal, hysterical, explosive,
0:20:48 > 0:20:50but also brilliant. He was eccentric.
0:20:50 > 0:20:54He wandered the corridors of power late into the night
0:20:54 > 0:20:59with documents stuffed into his hat, his pockets, even his boots.
0:20:59 > 0:21:02But he was a supreme courtier too.
0:21:02 > 0:21:04Once, when a young Philip was annoyed with him
0:21:04 > 0:21:06and shouted that he was sick of him,
0:21:06 > 0:21:11Olivares simply kissed the brimming royal chamber pot and withdrew.
0:21:11 > 0:21:16He would take the young king on boisterous male escapades
0:21:16 > 0:21:18in the backstreets of Madrid,
0:21:18 > 0:21:21but really Olivares was all about business.
0:21:21 > 0:21:23This is how he saw himself,
0:21:23 > 0:21:25international strategist
0:21:25 > 0:21:30and supreme commander of the greatest power on Earth.
0:21:33 > 0:21:36Olivares was in power for just two years before his statesmanship
0:21:36 > 0:21:42was dramatically tested by the arrival of visitors from London.
0:21:42 > 0:21:46It was the start of one of the strangest diplomatic crises
0:21:46 > 0:21:48in European history.
0:21:48 > 0:21:52On 17th March 1623, there was a knock at the door
0:21:52 > 0:21:55of the British Ambassador's residence in Madrid.
0:21:55 > 0:21:57KNOCKS ON DOOR
0:21:57 > 0:22:00An Englishman, who gave his name as Mr Thomas Smith,
0:22:00 > 0:22:03insisted on speaking to the ambassador in person.
0:22:03 > 0:22:08On the other side of the street, another figure lurked in the shadows.
0:22:10 > 0:22:13When the ambassador came down, he was amazed to discover
0:22:13 > 0:22:16that Tom Smith was none other than
0:22:16 > 0:22:21the Marquis of Buckingham, King James I's minister and favourite,
0:22:21 > 0:22:24and John Smith, hiding across the road,
0:22:24 > 0:22:27was Charles, the Prince of Wales.
0:22:30 > 0:22:33Both were in full disguise and wearing false beards.
0:22:34 > 0:22:37This absurd, reckless escapade
0:22:37 > 0:22:40was the culmination of years of negotiations
0:22:40 > 0:22:45for Protestant Charles to marry the Catholic infanta, Mariana,
0:22:45 > 0:22:50hugely complicated by the outbreak of the Thirty Years' War
0:22:50 > 0:22:53between Europe's Catholics and Protestants.
0:22:53 > 0:22:56Charles and Buckingham were playing with fire.
0:22:56 > 0:23:01These vain popinjays, on a romantic adventure, had placed themselves
0:23:01 > 0:23:04in the power of the ruthless Count Olivares,
0:23:04 > 0:23:06who, like everyone else in Madrid,
0:23:06 > 0:23:09expected that Charles would never have travelled
0:23:09 > 0:23:15halfway across Europe if he was not willing to convert to Catholicism.
0:23:15 > 0:23:19These shenanigans would infuriate Olivares, bewilder Philip
0:23:19 > 0:23:25and reduce Charles' father, James I, to senile weeping for his wee boys.
0:23:30 > 0:23:33Prince Charles regarded himself as a chevalier in pursuit
0:23:33 > 0:23:36of his passionate prey, the infanta.
0:23:36 > 0:23:40Olivares finally allowed him to see her in a carriage,
0:23:40 > 0:23:45and there he thought her maidenly ardour was expressed
0:23:45 > 0:23:48in little blushes that he thought he saw on her face.
0:23:48 > 0:23:52In fact, the infanta had no intention of marrying a heretic,
0:23:52 > 0:23:54a Protestant.
0:23:54 > 0:23:57Olivares appreciated these perilous complexities.
0:23:57 > 0:24:00Unless he could win the prize of a Catholic England,
0:24:00 > 0:24:03he was determined to derail the match.
0:24:03 > 0:24:08He now demanded that all Catholics in England be liberated,
0:24:08 > 0:24:10their rights restored,
0:24:10 > 0:24:13and this was much more than Buckingham and Charles
0:24:13 > 0:24:15could ever deliver.
0:24:15 > 0:24:18Soon the negotiations became dangerously fraught.
0:24:18 > 0:24:22The two favourites, Buckingham and Olivares, hated each other,
0:24:22 > 0:24:26insulted each other, and soon they were at daggers drawn.
0:24:28 > 0:24:32Charles found himself a prisoner in Spain for over six months.
0:24:32 > 0:24:37He only got away by pretending to agree to Olivares' terms.
0:24:39 > 0:24:41Charles didn't get his bride.
0:24:41 > 0:24:45Olivares was now more trusted by Philip IV than ever.
0:24:48 > 0:24:52Olivares could now launch his master plan, which was, in his words,
0:24:52 > 0:24:54"to resuscitate Your Majesty's monarchy".
0:24:56 > 0:24:59This popular Madrid park was the setting
0:24:59 > 0:25:02for a great pleasure palace built by Olivares.
0:25:03 > 0:25:08There are few vestiges of the colossal Buen Retiro Palace itself
0:25:08 > 0:25:12but this was the spectacular expression of Olivares' dream
0:25:12 > 0:25:14of a resurgent Spain.
0:25:15 > 0:25:18I'm about to see its forgotten throne room.
0:25:18 > 0:25:20There are no tourists here.
0:25:20 > 0:25:25It's all that remains of Olivares' mission to glorify the monarchy
0:25:25 > 0:25:26and its young king.
0:25:34 > 0:25:39This is it - the Hall of the Kingdoms in all its faded grandeur.
0:25:40 > 0:25:42Here, on these walls,
0:25:42 > 0:25:46Olivares celebrated the far-flung territories of his king...
0:25:47 > 0:25:51..each name a story from the annals of Spanish history.
0:25:51 > 0:25:53There is Granada.
0:25:53 > 0:25:56There is Milan, for example, and Naples.
0:25:56 > 0:25:59There is Flanders, the Low Countries.
0:25:59 > 0:26:04There is Sicily, Peru, Mexico, Portugal.
0:26:04 > 0:26:09This was the Spanish Empire in its late, great phase.
0:26:10 > 0:26:13Olivares' ambition was to unite these kingdoms
0:26:13 > 0:26:18in a military Union of Arms to fund the empire and its wars.
0:26:18 > 0:26:22Yet, his vision of Spanish greatness meant entering
0:26:22 > 0:26:24the devastating Thirty Years' War.
0:26:25 > 0:26:29As an overstretched monarchy began losing the war,
0:26:29 > 0:26:32Olivares' scheme didn't unite Spain.
0:26:32 > 0:26:34It brought it to the verge of destruction.
0:26:36 > 0:26:39The Portuguese rebelled. Catalonia rebelled.
0:26:39 > 0:26:44Olivares' dream, Olivares' gamble had failed.
0:26:46 > 0:26:47He was finished.
0:26:52 > 0:26:57After over 20 years in power, Olivares' enemies were circling.
0:26:57 > 0:27:00Finally, Philip IV had to break up
0:27:00 > 0:27:04their strange father-son relationship.
0:27:04 > 0:27:08In January 1643, he dismissed the valido.
0:27:08 > 0:27:11Olivares, obese and neurotic,
0:27:11 > 0:27:15went almost mad with bitterness and regret.
0:27:15 > 0:27:18The Inquisition started to investigate him.
0:27:18 > 0:27:22He was close to being arrested and possibly executed,
0:27:22 > 0:27:25but he died aged 58 before that could happen.
0:27:26 > 0:27:29King Philip was finally a man
0:27:29 > 0:27:33but the Spanish Empire was now a wounded giant.
0:27:36 > 0:27:38And, after over a century of rule,
0:27:38 > 0:27:41the Spanish Habsburg dynasty was in trouble.
0:27:41 > 0:27:44It was not merely the hubris of empire.
0:27:44 > 0:27:46Its nemesis came from within.
0:27:49 > 0:27:53San Lorenzo de El Escoria celebrated the Habsburgs'
0:27:53 > 0:27:57elevated view of their own peerless royalty.
0:27:59 > 0:28:00But now the dynasty would perish
0:28:00 > 0:28:04precisely because of that haughty pride.
0:28:05 > 0:28:09Down these steps, deep under the altar of the basilica,
0:28:09 > 0:28:11is the sacred Pantheon of Kings,
0:28:11 > 0:28:15the final resting place of the monarchs of Spain.
0:28:29 > 0:28:34I come to find the tomb of the last of the Spanish Habsburgs.
0:28:34 > 0:28:37Philip's son, Charles, known as "the Bewitched"
0:28:37 > 0:28:40because of his grotesque appearance,
0:28:40 > 0:28:45including a jaw so huge that he could barely eat.
0:28:45 > 0:28:50His plight was the result of generations of family intermarriage.
0:28:50 > 0:28:54The Habsburgs were made by marriage, and destroyed by it.
0:28:57 > 0:29:01I'm meeting geneticist Professor Gonzalo Alvarez.
0:29:01 > 0:29:07He's made an analysis of Habsburg intermarriage across 16 generations
0:29:07 > 0:29:09and its fatal effect on the bloodline.
0:29:11 > 0:29:14The most famous characteristic of the Habsburg family
0:29:14 > 0:29:16was the Habsburg jaw.
0:29:16 > 0:29:20Was this the result of their notorious interbreeding?
0:29:20 > 0:29:22IN SPANISH
0:29:35 > 0:29:39So what were the mental and physical effects
0:29:39 > 0:29:41on poor Charles II of interbreeding?
0:30:11 > 0:30:13How closely related were his parents?
0:30:41 > 0:30:46When Charles II finally died, his autopsy made pitiful reading.
0:30:46 > 0:30:49His brain was full of water, his veins had no blood,
0:30:49 > 0:30:54and his single testicle resembled a black coal.
0:30:56 > 0:31:00With two possible cousins as his heir, one Austrian, one French,
0:31:00 > 0:31:03Charles chose the French.
0:31:03 > 0:31:07That plunged Europe into the War of Spanish Succession,
0:31:07 > 0:31:11which put a new dynasty on the Spanish throne -
0:31:11 > 0:31:12the Bourbons of France.
0:31:14 > 0:31:19They brought French Enlightenment and a more informal style,
0:31:19 > 0:31:23and for the first time they united the separate kingdoms into one
0:31:23 > 0:31:24Kingdom of Spain.
0:31:27 > 0:31:30In 1789, the French Revolution
0:31:30 > 0:31:33overthrew their Bourbon cousins in Paris.
0:31:34 > 0:31:38As the monarchs of Europe tried to suppress the revolution,
0:31:38 > 0:31:40Spain needed a strong monarch.
0:31:40 > 0:31:44Unfortunately, the king was Charles IV,
0:31:44 > 0:31:47nicknamed "the Hunter" because he did very little else.
0:31:49 > 0:31:54It was the Queen, Maria Luisa, who was the real ruler of Spain.
0:31:54 > 0:31:57And the man she wanted at her side was not the King.
0:31:57 > 0:32:01He was an ambitious young upstart, a handsome royal guardsman,
0:32:01 > 0:32:03Manuel Godoy.
0:32:08 > 0:32:11Godoy almost certainly became the queen's lover,
0:32:11 > 0:32:14and at the age of 25, she appointed him Chief Minister.
0:32:18 > 0:32:21Spain was now ruled by a menage a trois.
0:32:24 > 0:32:28The Queen herself proudly referred to it as "the Earthly Trinity".
0:32:32 > 0:32:34It was certainly earthly.
0:32:34 > 0:32:37The menage a trois was more of a foursome,
0:32:37 > 0:32:41because Godoy's favourite mistress was Pepita,
0:32:41 > 0:32:45whom he had painted twice by Goya.
0:32:45 > 0:32:47He was very proud of her
0:32:47 > 0:32:51but he was even more keen to show her at her best,
0:32:51 > 0:32:56and he would show this portrait in a tiny private room.
0:32:56 > 0:32:59He would pull a curtain
0:32:59 > 0:33:04to reveal Pepita in all her dazzling sensuality.
0:33:12 > 0:33:16Godoy wasn't just juggling powerful women.
0:33:16 > 0:33:19First, he backed the monarchies of Europe
0:33:19 > 0:33:21as they tried to crush revolutionary France,
0:33:21 > 0:33:27and then he joined France in a plan to conquer England's ally, Portugal.
0:33:29 > 0:33:32This is the residence of Godoy.
0:33:32 > 0:33:37He revelled in his splendour, but his timing was unfortunate.
0:33:37 > 0:33:41It happened that he coincided with the greatest soldier statesman
0:33:41 > 0:33:45of all European history, Napoleon Bonaparte.
0:33:45 > 0:33:50In 1808, Godoy and Napoleon agreed to cooperate
0:33:50 > 0:33:54in the carve-up of the Kingdom of Portugal,
0:33:54 > 0:33:58but when the French troops arrived in Madrid, they never left.
0:34:00 > 0:34:03100,000 French troops poured into Spain.
0:34:03 > 0:34:07Godoy, his king, his queen and mistress had to flee.
0:34:07 > 0:34:10But rumours spread that the rest of the royal family
0:34:10 > 0:34:12were about to be murdered.
0:34:12 > 0:34:17On May 2nd 1808, a mob gathered here outside the Royal Palace.
0:34:20 > 0:34:25A locksmith named Jose broke in and appeared on the balcony.
0:34:25 > 0:34:28"Death to the French," he cried.
0:34:28 > 0:34:31"They've already stolen our royal family - our king and our queen.
0:34:31 > 0:34:34"Now they wish to take the rest of them to Paris!"
0:34:34 > 0:34:36The mob went crazy.
0:34:36 > 0:34:39They turned on the French troops, pelting them with rocks,
0:34:39 > 0:34:44pouring boiling water on them from the rooftops, and all hell let loose.
0:34:44 > 0:34:49The French opened fire randomly on the crowds. Hundreds were killed.
0:34:49 > 0:34:53French and Spanish blood ran in the gutters of Madrid.
0:34:55 > 0:34:59The French general ordered immediate and ruthless reprisals.
0:34:59 > 0:35:06Men were rounded up almost at random, a gardener, a singer, even a priest.
0:35:06 > 0:35:08As they were marched through the streets,
0:35:08 > 0:35:12some builders on a scaffolding threw rocks at the French troops.
0:35:12 > 0:35:15They too were arrested and added to the party.
0:35:15 > 0:35:21The next day, the 3rd of May, all 43 men were executed by firing squad.
0:35:21 > 0:35:23GUNFIRE
0:35:26 > 0:35:29Their deaths were immortalized by Goya
0:35:29 > 0:35:32in his famous painting The Third of May 1808.
0:35:35 > 0:35:38Under the incongruous shadow of cable cars,
0:35:38 > 0:35:44in the tiny cemetery of La Florida in Madrid, they lie buried,
0:35:44 > 0:35:4943 ordinary men who stood up for Spain's national pride.
0:35:51 > 0:35:54Their actions were glorious, yet futile...
0:35:57 > 0:36:01..as Spain became a mere province of the French Empire.
0:36:06 > 0:36:09Napoleon forced the Bourbon royal family to abdicate
0:36:09 > 0:36:14and he appointed his own brother, Joseph, as King of Spain.
0:36:14 > 0:36:19Emperor Napoleon came here himself to defeat the Spanish army.
0:36:20 > 0:36:24But the Spanish people rose up against the French.
0:36:24 > 0:36:27They launched the first guerrilla war.
0:36:27 > 0:36:31The word itself, "guerrilla", comes from this conflict.
0:36:35 > 0:36:40As Napoleon's brother, King Joseph, tried to rule from the Royal Palace,
0:36:40 > 0:36:43Spain got help from the old enemy.
0:36:43 > 0:36:48Britain sent Sir Arthur Wellesley, its best general.
0:36:48 > 0:36:53He defeated the French, earning the title the Duke of Wellington.
0:36:53 > 0:36:56He drove King Joseph Bonaparte out of Madrid
0:36:56 > 0:37:01and in 1814 invaded France, contributing to Napoleon's downfall.
0:37:03 > 0:37:06Spain was left weakened and divided.
0:37:07 > 0:37:10A liberal constitution, promising democracy,
0:37:10 > 0:37:13delighted half the country,
0:37:13 > 0:37:16but the other half preferred Catholic absolutism.
0:37:16 > 0:37:20Spain was tortured by these conflicting visions
0:37:20 > 0:37:23and a humiliating international decline.
0:37:25 > 0:37:31Professor Jose Alvarez Junco is an expert on the 19th century.
0:37:31 > 0:37:34One of the biggest effects of the Napoleonic Wars
0:37:34 > 0:37:37was not in Spain but was abroad. What happened to the Spanish Empire?
0:37:37 > 0:37:40Between 1810 and 1825,
0:37:40 > 0:37:4590% of the American Empire declared its independence from Spain.
0:37:45 > 0:37:49The Spaniards lived on a fantasy,
0:37:49 > 0:37:52that they were still an imperial power
0:37:52 > 0:37:56because they kept Cuba and Filipinas and Puerto Rico
0:37:56 > 0:38:02but in 1898, they finally lost that also.
0:38:02 > 0:38:06What was the effect on Spain itself of this loss of empire?
0:38:06 > 0:38:09The effect was enormous, tremendous.
0:38:09 > 0:38:16Spain had been a big power between, let's say, 1500 and 1800,
0:38:16 > 0:38:20between the Catholic kings and the Napoleonic Wars,
0:38:20 > 0:38:21and they suddenly realised
0:38:21 > 0:38:26that they were not a great power, they were not a "superior race".
0:38:26 > 0:38:31What was the effect of the struggles and wars of the 19th century?
0:38:31 > 0:38:36There were constant military coups. There were civil wars,
0:38:36 > 0:38:43the socioeconomic inequality, particularly in the rural world.
0:38:43 > 0:38:48Another was the Catholic Church in Spain was widely hated.
0:38:48 > 0:38:51It was disastrous, and that led, for instance,
0:38:51 > 0:38:55to the impossibility to have common symbols.
0:38:55 > 0:38:59The Spanish national anthem has no words. We don't agree.
0:38:59 > 0:39:03Conservatives would like to sing the glories of the Spanish Empire
0:39:03 > 0:39:05and the defence of Catholicism,
0:39:05 > 0:39:09and liberals, or lefties, would like to sing the defence of freedoms.
0:39:09 > 0:39:11So, in the end, there are no words.
0:39:11 > 0:39:15Sometimes, funny things have happened.
0:39:15 > 0:39:19For instance, players of the national soccer team,
0:39:19 > 0:39:23when they have won a championship and the music has begun,
0:39:23 > 0:39:26they sing things without any meaning. For instance...
0:39:26 > 0:39:28- TUNE OF SPANISH NATION ANTHEM: - # Choon-da, choon-da
0:39:28 > 0:39:31# Ta choon-da, choon-da, choon-da Choon-da, choon, choon, choon... #
0:39:31 > 0:39:33Because they need to sing something.
0:39:33 > 0:39:37That's extraordinary. That's totally extraordinary.
0:39:38 > 0:39:42Early in the 20th century, Spain managed to stay out of World War I.
0:39:42 > 0:39:46Yet, economic depression reinforced its schisms,
0:39:46 > 0:39:49and the hapless King Alfonso XII
0:39:49 > 0:39:52was discredited when he appointed a general as dictator.
0:39:54 > 0:39:59In 1931, he was deposed. Spain was a republic
0:39:59 > 0:40:03and after 200 years, the Bourbons went into exile.
0:40:04 > 0:40:07The Republic was the first time in Spanish history
0:40:07 > 0:40:12that the country had been ruled by a leftist, moderate government
0:40:12 > 0:40:15elected in a true democracy,
0:40:15 > 0:40:19and it brought in many progressive measures - votes for women,
0:40:19 > 0:40:24workers' rights and water in working-class districts,
0:40:24 > 0:40:30like this fountain here that still bears the date 1934
0:40:30 > 0:40:32and the Spanish Republic.
0:40:32 > 0:40:35Yet, the right, from landowners to industrialists,
0:40:35 > 0:40:38believed that the Republic was a communist conspiracy
0:40:38 > 0:40:42to destroy traditional Spanish values.
0:40:42 > 0:40:45Its anti-Catholic measures proved to its enemies,
0:40:45 > 0:40:50the generals, the Church and the growing fascist militias,
0:40:50 > 0:40:52that it was an anathema.
0:40:52 > 0:40:54They were determined to stop it.
0:40:54 > 0:40:59In 1936, the Socialists won elections that were the last straw.
0:40:59 > 0:41:04Tit-for-tat killings by leftist and fascist death squads
0:41:04 > 0:41:07meant the generals had an excuse.
0:41:07 > 0:41:09They reached for their guns.
0:41:09 > 0:41:12The Republic was doomed.
0:41:12 > 0:41:15The generals planned a nationalist coup.
0:41:15 > 0:41:19Among them was the 43-year-old commander of the Canary Islands,
0:41:19 > 0:41:22a Spanish outpost 1,000 miles away.
0:41:22 > 0:41:24He emerged as their leader.
0:41:25 > 0:41:28He was extremely uncharismatic.
0:41:28 > 0:41:33He was a dreary, notoriously bad speaker, with a high, womanly voice.
0:41:33 > 0:41:38He was paunchy, small and balding, but he was not all he seemed.
0:41:38 > 0:41:44Francisco Franco had been Europe's youngest general since Napoleon.
0:41:44 > 0:41:48He'd made his name as the brutal commander in the colonial war
0:41:48 > 0:41:52in Morocco, where even his Moroccan troops
0:41:52 > 0:41:56regarded his bloodthirstiness with reverence.
0:41:56 > 0:42:00He loathed socialists, Marxists, Masons, Jews,
0:42:00 > 0:42:03and believed they should be annihilated like aliens.
0:42:03 > 0:42:08Above all, he possessed the will to power.
0:42:08 > 0:42:11But for now, he watched and waited.
0:42:11 > 0:42:14His time had almost come.
0:42:22 > 0:42:26In July 1936, Franco left the Canary Islands
0:42:26 > 0:42:28for Spanish Morocco in North Africa.
0:42:31 > 0:42:35He planned to deploy his devoted Moroccan Legion
0:42:35 > 0:42:36to crush the Republic.
0:42:38 > 0:42:41Yet, he lacked transport to get his legionaries across
0:42:41 > 0:42:43to mainland Spain.
0:42:46 > 0:42:50He appealed to the fascist dictators Hitler and Mussolini.
0:42:50 > 0:42:53They saw a way to promote fascist power.
0:42:53 > 0:42:58Hitler sent the planes and, ever the fan of Wagner,
0:42:58 > 0:43:03he named this operation Operation Magic Fire.
0:43:03 > 0:43:05MUSIC: Magic Fire Music by Richard Wagner
0:43:05 > 0:43:08While Britain and France chose to remain neutral,
0:43:08 > 0:43:13the extreme ideologies of the 20th century, fascism and communism,
0:43:13 > 0:43:18began a war of annihilation and a tournament of power
0:43:18 > 0:43:21in the bloody bullring of Spain.
0:43:21 > 0:43:23LOUD EXPLOSION
0:43:23 > 0:43:27As Franco marched north, the killing started all over Spain.
0:43:27 > 0:43:3120,000 were executed in the first days of the coup.
0:43:35 > 0:43:38Franco's nationalist forces headed for the capital.
0:43:38 > 0:43:41It would have fallen.
0:43:41 > 0:43:44Instead, Franco diverted troops to Toledo,
0:43:44 > 0:43:48once the capital of Visigothic Spain, which was under siege.
0:43:49 > 0:43:51GUNFIRE
0:43:53 > 0:43:54He was making a point.
0:43:54 > 0:44:00In 1085, King Alfonso VI had taken the Muslim city of Toledo
0:44:00 > 0:44:04to launch the Christian reconquest of Spain.
0:44:04 > 0:44:08Franco felt that he was doing the same thing.
0:44:08 > 0:44:12Now he declared, "This is not a civil war. This is a holy war.
0:44:12 > 0:44:15"We are the soldiers of God."
0:44:18 > 0:44:21The Church blessed Franco's cause and portrayed him
0:44:21 > 0:44:23as the saviour of Spain.
0:44:24 > 0:44:26In November 1935,
0:44:26 > 0:44:32after taking Toledo, Franco's crusaders broke into the capital.
0:44:32 > 0:44:34The Nationalist rebel forces,
0:44:34 > 0:44:37spearheaded by their battle-hardened Moroccan legionaries,
0:44:37 > 0:44:40fought their way right into the centre of Madrid,
0:44:40 > 0:44:42right to these university buildings.
0:44:44 > 0:44:47These bullet holes tell their own story.
0:44:47 > 0:44:49RAPID GUNFIRE AND EXPLOSIONS
0:44:51 > 0:44:53The fighting was ferocious.
0:44:53 > 0:44:55GUNFIRE
0:44:57 > 0:45:00The Republic desperately needed arms and men.
0:45:00 > 0:45:03The arms came from Stalin in Soviet Russia
0:45:03 > 0:45:07and the men came in the form of the International Brigades,
0:45:07 > 0:45:11who rushed here, individual volunteers from all over the world,
0:45:11 > 0:45:15united in the fight to stop fascism.
0:45:16 > 0:45:19Madrid held out for three years,
0:45:19 > 0:45:22the ultimate symbol of Republican resistance.
0:45:24 > 0:45:30Franco fought on, now backed by 80,000 troops sent by Mussolini
0:45:30 > 0:45:32and Hitler's Nazi Condor Legion,
0:45:32 > 0:45:36which invented terror bombing and devastated Guernica.
0:45:36 > 0:45:38LOUD EXPLOSIONS
0:45:44 > 0:45:47Sensing that this was a rehearsal for the coming World War,
0:45:47 > 0:45:51writers poured in to cover the agony of Spain.
0:45:51 > 0:45:53It caught the imagination of a generation.
0:45:53 > 0:45:57The most famous of them all was Ernest Hemingway,
0:45:57 > 0:45:59and he was a regular at this bar.
0:45:59 > 0:46:01He used to sit right over there.
0:46:03 > 0:46:06"It was full of smoke," he wrote, "singing men in uniform
0:46:06 > 0:46:09"and the smell of wet leather coats. And they were handing out drinks
0:46:09 > 0:46:13"over a crowd that were three-deep at the bar."
0:46:15 > 0:46:17Hemingway saw this as a war against fascism
0:46:17 > 0:46:22and he helped publicise the desperate glamour of the Republican side.
0:46:22 > 0:46:24His novel For Whom The Bell Tolls
0:46:24 > 0:46:27is one of the great war novels of all time,
0:46:27 > 0:46:31and it captures the folly, the heroism
0:46:31 > 0:46:33and the sheer chaos of the Republican side.
0:46:33 > 0:46:35It's still a timeless read
0:46:35 > 0:46:39and some of the romanticism that is attributed
0:46:39 > 0:46:42to this most vicious of conflicts
0:46:42 > 0:46:44is down to Hemingway's masterpiece.
0:46:54 > 0:46:56The reality was savage.
0:46:56 > 0:46:58For an unglamorised version,
0:46:58 > 0:47:02I've driven 200 miles to the site of one of its bloody battles.
0:47:05 > 0:47:08Belchite in Zaragoza -
0:47:08 > 0:47:12a ghost town left exactly as it was at the end of the Civil War.
0:47:15 > 0:47:19It's still haunted by the atrocities perpetrated by both sides.
0:47:21 > 0:47:22For the Republican side,
0:47:22 > 0:47:26the greatest symbol of hatred was the Church.
0:47:26 > 0:47:28This is just one of the many they destroyed,
0:47:28 > 0:47:33and across Spain they exhumed the bodies of nuns and priests,
0:47:33 > 0:47:36mocked them and exposed them to public view.
0:47:36 > 0:47:43But much worse, they also killed 13 bishops and 6,000 clergy
0:47:43 > 0:47:48in what became known as "the greatest clerical blood-letting in history".
0:47:50 > 0:47:55Altogether, the Republicans killed 55,000 people.
0:48:01 > 0:48:05Republican death squads, often led by communists,
0:48:05 > 0:48:07organised mass killings.
0:48:07 > 0:48:10The Nationalists were better organised in every way.
0:48:10 > 0:48:17"I will occupy Spain," said Franco, "town by town, village by village."
0:48:17 > 0:48:21Half of the Spanish people were to be treated as aliens
0:48:21 > 0:48:23and annihilated on sight.
0:48:25 > 0:48:30Anyone suspected of socialism, atheism, liberalism,
0:48:30 > 0:48:35communism were hunted down by right-wing death squads and executed.
0:48:37 > 0:48:39Altogether, during the war,
0:48:39 > 0:48:43200,000 people were murdered by the Nationalists.
0:48:44 > 0:48:49In March 1939, the Republicans finally disintegrated.
0:48:50 > 0:48:54Franco marched into Madrid and declared total victory.
0:48:54 > 0:48:57In the next five years, he ordered further killings,
0:48:57 > 0:49:03an estimated 200,000 people, executed as enemies of Spain.
0:49:04 > 0:49:08There was no reconciliation. There were no pardons.
0:49:13 > 0:49:15With his regime secured,
0:49:15 > 0:49:21Franco was keen to promote his place in Spain's imperial history.
0:49:21 > 0:49:24On the first anniversary of the Nationalist victory
0:49:24 > 0:49:27he announced the plan to build a monument
0:49:27 > 0:49:29to those who fell for the cause.
0:49:30 > 0:49:33He chose this valley - we're just coming into sight now -
0:49:33 > 0:49:38because right next door, just over there, is the Escorial,
0:49:38 > 0:49:43the magnificent palace monastery of Spain's greatest king, Philip II.
0:49:43 > 0:49:46You can see exactly the way his mind was working.
0:49:46 > 0:49:51Franco saw himself as among the great, heroic conqueror kings
0:49:51 > 0:49:53of Spain's history.
0:49:59 > 0:50:03Dominated by its 500-foot Holy Cross,
0:50:03 > 0:50:08the Valley of the Fallen encapsulates Franco's Spain,
0:50:08 > 0:50:13a strange mix of Catholic, imperial and conservative,
0:50:13 > 0:50:16fascist and nationalist...
0:50:17 > 0:50:21..Christian symbolism infused with fascistic imagery.
0:50:23 > 0:50:28"Such are the dimensions of our crusade," said Franco,
0:50:28 > 0:50:32"that we cannot commemorate this with simple monuments.
0:50:32 > 0:50:36"We must raise stones that resemble the grandeur
0:50:36 > 0:50:40"of the monuments of old that defy time."
0:50:40 > 0:50:44Well, whatever we think of Franco,
0:50:44 > 0:50:45we must say,
0:50:45 > 0:50:47he succeeded at least in that.
0:50:49 > 0:50:52As Europe plunged into the Second World War,
0:50:52 > 0:50:55Franco identified with Hitler and Mussolini.
0:50:55 > 0:50:59He called himself "El Caudillo" - the leader, the warlord -
0:50:59 > 0:51:02to match the Fuhrer and the Duce.
0:51:02 > 0:51:05He felt he was on history's winning side
0:51:05 > 0:51:08and he didn't want to miss out on the prizes.
0:51:08 > 0:51:10Yet, Spain was weak and ruined.
0:51:11 > 0:51:17By 1940, Europe shook with the triumphs of Hitler's blitzkrieg.
0:51:17 > 0:51:23Franco wanted to emulate the style, the ideology and the conquests
0:51:23 > 0:51:28of Hitler and Mussolini, his brother fascist dictators.
0:51:28 > 0:51:32He created an anti-Semitic fascistic party, and he declared,
0:51:32 > 0:51:39"We have conquered the scum of the communist-Masonic-Jewish conspiracy."
0:51:39 > 0:51:43He wanted to create a new Spanish Empire
0:51:43 > 0:51:45but only Hitler could give it to him.
0:51:48 > 0:51:51After German forces had conquered even France,
0:51:51 > 0:51:55Franco wanted to join the war, but he had his price.
0:51:57 > 0:52:00On 23rd October 1940, Franco and Hitler
0:52:00 > 0:52:03met at Hendaye Railway Station,
0:52:03 > 0:52:07near the Spanish border in France, to discuss terms.
0:52:08 > 0:52:11It started well. "Delighted to see you, Fuhrer."
0:52:11 > 0:52:15"Finally, an old wish of mine fulfilled, Caudillo."
0:52:17 > 0:52:21And then they repaired to Hitler's train, Erika, to begin the talks.
0:52:28 > 0:52:31Franco started to demand a long shopping list
0:52:31 > 0:52:34of imperial territories he wanted for Spain.
0:52:34 > 0:52:39Gibraltar and Portugal, of course, but also bits of French Catalonia,
0:52:39 > 0:52:43French Morocco, swaths of Algeria and West Africa.
0:52:43 > 0:52:46Hitler was outraged. He despised Franco.
0:52:46 > 0:52:50He said that Franco's whining voice resembled the muezzin,
0:52:50 > 0:52:52the Muslim call to prayer.
0:52:52 > 0:52:55He called him a "Jesuitical swine".
0:52:55 > 0:52:57He lost his temper.
0:52:57 > 0:53:00He treated Franco to one of his foam-flecked rants.
0:53:00 > 0:53:04He stood up to end the talks but was persuaded to return.
0:53:04 > 0:53:06But it didn't end well.
0:53:06 > 0:53:10He said he'd prefer to endure three or four teeth being pulled out
0:53:10 > 0:53:13than to spend another minute with Franco.
0:53:13 > 0:53:17Spain didn't get its empire.
0:53:17 > 0:53:19Germany didn't need Spanish help.
0:53:22 > 0:53:24Franco stayed neutral.
0:53:24 > 0:53:26But when Hitler fell, he adapted,
0:53:26 > 0:53:28swiftly dropping his fascist style,
0:53:28 > 0:53:31embracing a Catholic authoritarianism.
0:53:35 > 0:53:39For over 30 years, he lived here at the El Pardo Palace.
0:53:40 > 0:53:43His name appeared on stamps and coins.
0:53:43 > 0:53:47He was protected by a Moroccan bodyguard.
0:53:47 > 0:53:49He could even appoint people to titles
0:53:49 > 0:53:53and gave away dukedoms and marquises.
0:53:53 > 0:53:55He was king in all but name.
0:53:57 > 0:54:00He never actually abolished the monarchy.
0:54:00 > 0:54:03His plan was to restore the Bourbons after his death
0:54:03 > 0:54:07in a new hybrid regime, a Francoist monarchy.
0:54:09 > 0:54:13In the '40s, he allowed the young Prince Juan Carlos
0:54:13 > 0:54:16to return to be educated in Spain.
0:54:16 > 0:54:20In 1969, he finally announced his decision.
0:54:20 > 0:54:25He would be succeeded by Juan Carlos as king on his own death.
0:54:25 > 0:54:28But, while he thought he was playing the prince,
0:54:28 > 0:54:32the prince was also playing the old dictator.
0:54:32 > 0:54:34BELL TOLLS
0:54:35 > 0:54:40As he planned the succession, Franco knew where he would be buried,
0:54:40 > 0:54:44at the Valley of the Fallen, within the giant basilica
0:54:44 > 0:54:45like a warrior king.
0:54:55 > 0:54:58It really is an extraordinary place.
0:54:58 > 0:55:01It's impossible not to be impressed by it,
0:55:01 > 0:55:04but also horrified.
0:55:06 > 0:55:09It's pervaded by death.
0:55:13 > 0:55:17I feel I've entered a sacred political theatre
0:55:17 > 0:55:21orchestrated by Franco himself from beyond the grave.
0:55:22 > 0:55:27On 20th November 1975, aged 82,
0:55:27 > 0:55:30the last dictator of the '30s died.
0:55:30 > 0:55:32BELL TOLLS
0:55:44 > 0:55:48Was this the requiem for the age of dictators,
0:55:48 > 0:55:53or the overture for an enduring tyranny?
0:55:58 > 0:56:02When the lights went out, and the bells rang
0:56:02 > 0:56:04and the choir sung,
0:56:04 > 0:56:08I wouldn't have been surprised if the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse
0:56:08 > 0:56:10had clattered into the hall.
0:56:13 > 0:56:17Two days after Franco's death, the young Bourbon, Juan Carlos,
0:56:17 > 0:56:20took the oath as King of Spain.
0:56:21 > 0:56:25He never intended to be the figurehead for the Francoists,
0:56:25 > 0:56:27and after 40 years of tyranny,
0:56:27 > 0:56:31the nation was hungry for freedom and democracy.
0:56:31 > 0:56:34The young king immediately started to move towards a new Spain.
0:56:37 > 0:56:40He oversaw the dismantling of the dictatorship
0:56:40 > 0:56:43and the creation of parliamentary democracy
0:56:43 > 0:56:45without a drop of blood being spilt.
0:56:47 > 0:56:48Within 18 months,
0:56:48 > 0:56:53Spain held its first democratic elections in 41 years.
0:56:59 > 0:57:05Today, democracy is established. Spanish society is diverse.
0:57:05 > 0:57:10Spain has offered citizenship to the descendants of Jews expelled in 1492.
0:57:12 > 0:57:16It was the third country in the world to allow same-sex marriages.
0:57:17 > 0:57:22Catholicism still has its place, yet no longer dominates the state.
0:57:24 > 0:57:28For many millennia, Spain has been the borderland,
0:57:28 > 0:57:34the crossroads, the battlefield of empires, faiths and peoples.
0:57:34 > 0:57:39Its extreme position at the edge of Europe has intensified
0:57:39 > 0:57:45the extremity of its rages, its furies, its conflicts.
0:57:45 > 0:57:47Carthaginians versus Romans,
0:57:47 > 0:57:49Muslims versus Christians,
0:57:49 > 0:57:52Catholics versus Protestants,
0:57:52 > 0:57:55fascists versus communists.
0:57:55 > 0:57:58Spain has always been, throughout history,
0:57:58 > 0:58:04the cauldron of civilisations, the furnace of faiths.
0:58:04 > 0:58:08Today, the scars of civil war are still raw.
0:58:09 > 0:58:10Juan Carlos abdicated.
0:58:10 > 0:58:16His son is now king and regionalism remains strong.
0:58:16 > 0:58:21Blood and gold, from the caliphate to the kingdom,
0:58:21 > 0:58:25this is the story of how Spain was made.
0:58:30 > 0:58:34If this story has inspired you and you'd like to find out more,
0:58:34 > 0:58:37go to the address given on-screen
0:58:37 > 0:58:40and follow the links to the Open University.