In this episode of The War Lab we trace the rise, rule, and long decline of one of history’s most transformative empires: Spain. From the dynastic union of Isabella and Ferdinand and the Reconquista that forged a crusading, centralized state, to Columbus’s voyages and the Columbian Exchange that remade economies, diets, and demographics, we tell how a handful of conquistadors, vast American silver flows, and a global trading loop (from Manila to Seville) created an early modern world system.

We chart the apex—the Habsburg “Siglo de Oro” of Velázquez and Cervantes—and the paradox of prosperity: how treasure fueled cultural brilliance while also producing inflation, industrial decline, and fiscal mismanagement. Then we follow the long twilight: endless European wars, naval setbacks, Bourbon reforms, Napoleonic dislocation, and the rise of creole nationalism that shattered the empire in the Americas. The final curtain comes in 1898, when defeat in the Spanish-American War sealed Spain’s transition from global hegemon to a diminished European power.

More than a history lesson, this episode explains the empire’s lasting legacies—language, religion, legal and administrative borders, and economic patterns—and why the Spanish imperial experiment still shapes politics, identity, and inequality across three continents. Tune in to understand how early globalization was built—and what its triumphs and failures teach us about power, wealth, and empire today.