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First published in 1981, Europe and the Decline of Spain deals with the slow ebbing of Spanish power, its 'melancholy, long, withdrawing roar' during the 'long seventeenth century' of pre-industrial Europe. The author looks at the fortunes of Spanish European hegemony from its apogee late in the reign of Philip II to its ultimate failure and dissolution about a century later.

The author examines the dynamic spiritual and material resources of Spain as a politico-military system of continental dominance and control. He places the system in a context of continuous general European war, and structures and events in Spain and its provinces are set in this context.

A feature of the book is the description of changing approaches to the Spanish system by its major adversaries. This, along with a fresh look at the events themselves, has conditioned a reinterpretation of Spain's 'political' decline which stresses its centrality to an overview of the whole period.