FOREIGN POLICY ( Felipe IV)

FOREIGN POLICY

-Olivares that he should commit Spain to a more aggressive foreign policy in alliance with the Holy Roman Empire. This would lead Philip to renew hostilities with the Dutch.

-The 1620s were good years for Spanish foreign policy: the war with the Dutch went well, albeit at great expense, culminating in the retaking of the key city of  Breda in 1624. 

 

-By the end of the decade, however, Philip's government was faced with the question of whether to prioritise the war in Flanders or Spain's relationship with France during the War of the Mantuan Succesion (1628–31).

-The triumph of Philip's government in raising a fresh Spanish army, marching it into Germany to defeat the Swedish-led Protestant forces at the Battle of  Nordlingen in 1634.

The increased tensions with France made war between the two Catholic states increasingly inevitable.

DOMESTIC POLICY (Felipe IV)

DOMESTIC POLICY

-Philip had inherited a huge empire from his father, spanning the known world, but many of his most difficult challenges as king would stem from domestic problems in Spain itself. Spain in the early 17th century was a collection of possessions.

-The kingdoms of Castile, Aragon, Valencia and Portugal the autonomous provinces of Catalonia and Andalusia, complete with the wider provinces of Naples, the Netherlands, Milan etc.

-All loosely joined together through the institution of the Castile monarchy and the person of Philip.

 In the first years of his reign, heavily influenced by his royal favourite Olivares, Philip focused on efforts to reform the most chaotic aspects of this system.

ECONOMIC PROBLEMS:

 

-Philip had clear intentions to try to control the Spanish currency, which had become increasingly unstable during the reign of his father and grandfather, but in practice, inflation soared.

By the 1630s, Philip's domestic policies were being increasingly impacted by the financial pressures of the Thirty Years' War, and in particular the growing war with France. The costs of the war were huge, and whilst they had largely fallen upon Castile, the ability of the crown to raise more funds and men from this source was increasingly limited.

-Philip and his government were desperately trying to reduce the responsibilities of central government in response to the overstretch of the war, and various reform ideas that might have been pursued during the 1620s were rejected on this basis.

BIOGRAPHY( Felipe IV)

 BIOGRAPHY

- Philip IV was born in Valladolid (1605) he became King of Spain around 1621 and 1665, son and successor of Philip III. He was also called "the great one". He was maried with Mariana de Austria

-During the long and crucial reign of Philip IV the Spanish monarchy, on the slope of economic and political decline, lived the last splendors of the Golden Century and had to accept the loss of hegemony in Europe, after exhausting wars and a serious internal crisis.

-Felipe IV ceded the affairs of State to be valid, among which highlighted Gaspar de Guzmán, count-duke of Olivares.

 

-Philip IV "the Great" died in Madrid on September 17of 1665, at 60 years of age, after having reigned for forty-four years. He left a weak heir physically and mentally and a regent, Mariana of Austria, young and politically inexperienced.