The Great War Between Spain and Portugal

When we left spain, philip the third had taken over and started vigorously pursuing the war against his recalcitrant subjects in the dutch united provinces. He remarked that the huge, thousand ton merchant ships, once so common in venice were now no longer to be seen. Meanwhile, the economic exhaustion and collapse evident by the end of philip the second's reign continued. The fall from power and european pre eminence was nippy and so thorough that spaniards were given to wonder if the short period of their triumph was nothing more than an illusion with hindsigt. All spain and portugal seemed at top of the world, looking down on creation,