Page 203 - Encyclopedia Of World History Vol III

1022 berkshire encyclopedia of world history

If I am not for myself, who will be for me? / If I am not for others, what am I? / And if not now, when?
• Rabbi Hillel (c. twelth century)

a state of decline, and nations everywhere began the pro-
cess of rearmament. In Spain a civil war (1930–1939) Isabella I
raged between the left and the right. Furthermore, in defi- (1451–1504)
ance of the Kellogg-Briand pact Mussolini invaded Ethi- Queen of Spain
opia in 1931, Japan invaded Manchuria in 1932, and the
League of Nations stood by helplessly. By 1936 Hitler The Iberian monarch Queen Isabella (Isabel in Spanish)
sent soldiers to occupy the Rhineland, and by 1938 Ger- I of Castile, also known as Isabella the Catholic, com-
many had absorbed Austria.Wanting to avoid repeating pleted the reconquest of the Iberian Peninsula along with
the horror of World War I, France and Britain sought a her husband, Ferdinand (Fernando in Spanish) II of
peaceable solution with Germany and made several con- Aragon (1452–1516). Royal sponsor of the New World
cessions to Hitler, a solution that people have called “ap- voyages of Christopher Columbus, she was the daughter
peasement.” At a conference in Munich in 1938 Hitler of John II of Castile and Isabella of Portugal.
received the Sudeten territories; however, in defiance of Isabella was named Queen of Castile after the death
all agreements he invaded Poland on 1 September 1939. of her brother Alfonso in 1468, although not without
By 3 September the world was once again at war. incident. As a result of Isabella’s marriage (1469) to Fer-
Despite all the expectations that people had for a new dinand II of Aragon—later Ferdinand V of Castile—
order based on greater freedom at home and greater col- Isabella’s half-brother Henry IV promptly chose to dis-
laboration abroad, World War I had left too many inherit her and appoint as the new heir apparent his own
wounds, ambiguities, and unresolved disputes. During daughter, Juana. Upon the death of Henry IV (1474)
the 1930s the conflicts between empires and their colo- Isabella appointed herself as the rightful Queen of Castile
nies, between democracy and authoritarianism, between in the city of Segovia, causing a bitterly fought civil war
nationalism and internationalism played out on a world and international conflict to erupt between the faction
stage. However, by 1939 these conflicts clearly would supporting Isabella and the faction supporting Juana
have to be decided by yet another war, a world war that (1475–1479).The Concordat of Segovia (1475) set forth
would be even more destructive than the first. the rules and regulations governing the individual par-
ticipation of Isabella and Ferdinand in the governing of
Carolyn Biltoft
Castile, and the subsequent Treaty of Alcaçovas (1479)
See also World War I; World War II put an end to the civil war. From this point forward,
Isabella and Ferdinand ruled as equal Catholic Kings, a
title conferred upon them by the Spanish-born Pope,
Further Reading
Alexander VI, a member of the influential Borgia family.
Hobsbawm, E. (1994). The age of extremes:A history of the world, 1914–
1991. New York: Pantheon Books. The marriage of Isabella and Ferdinand II created a
Horne, J. (Ed.). (1997). State, society, and mobilization during the First union that eventually led to the dynastic unification of
World War. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
Mazower, M. (1999). Dark continent: Europe’s twentieth century. New Spain’s two largest kingdoms, Castile and Aragon. Con-
York: A. A. Knopf. trary to popular belief, neither the Catholic Queen Isa-
Overy, R. J. (1994). The inter-war crisis 1919–1939. New York: Longman. bella I nor the Catholic King Ferdinand V wished to be
Winter, J. M. (1989). The experience of World War I. New York: Oxford
University Press. known as monarchs of a unified Spanish kingdom. In-
stead, they preferred to be known in the traditional fash-
ion as “King and Queen of Castile and León,Aragon, and
Irrigation Sicily,Toledo,Valencia, Galicia, Mallorca, Seville, Sardinia,
Corsica, Murcia, Jaen,Algarve,Algeciras, Gibralter, Count
See Water Management and Countess of Barcelona, Lords of Viscaya and Molina,