The Spanish System

Abstract

French inspiration as the driving force behind the construction of Spain’s fiscal-military state was short-lived. The War of Succession had stimulated measures that brought Spain into line with the French model. The introduction of a direct tax in the conquered regions, the venality of public posts, the strengthening of the relationship between private financiers and the Real Hacienda or increasing centralised control over public finances were none of them easy to introduce. The direct tax in the Crown of Aragon was stunted in its growth, the spiralling dependence of private financiers and the state reached a dead end in the bankruptcy of 1739 and the institutions for controlling public money lived an uncertain existence. In some ways these limitations in Spain’s situation did indeed faithfully reflect the model that had inspired it. But Spain’s fiscal-military state went down a very different path, straying well away from the French example in the end, finally constituting what we might call ‘the Spanish system’.