The Spanish Decadence as historiographical argument

Abstract

From the beginnig of the XVIIIth century to the middle of XXth one, many authors have reflexioned about the Spanish decadence in relation to modern Europe. The Decadence was converted in a topic of Spanish thought and influenced on the collective conscience about Spanish historical indentity from several points of view: the conscience of decadence in XVIIth century, the solutions of the Enlightenment and these of XXth-century liberal politicians and historians, ideological debates around the being of Spain between 1880 and 1940, the development of new interpretations since 1920 thanks to professional historians, finally the leaving of the concept of decadence as explicative key of the Spanish history.