Union of Arms
history of Spain
TITLE: Spain: The government of Olivares
SECTION: The government of Olivares
...result of this failure had left Philip II with no alternative but Alba’s policy of repression, which caused the revolt of the Netherlands; in the 1620s it left Olivares with no alternative but his Union of Arms, which caused the revolts of Catalonia and Portugal. The Union of Arms was a scheme for the creation of a reserve army of 140,000 men that was to be paid for by the dominions of the...
role of Olivares
...owing largely to the fact that aristocratic Castilians, slaves to the idea of a rigid class structure, looked down upon all mercantile professions. Perhaps his most significant reform was the Union of Arms (1625), which was intended to strengthen Spain’s military by requiring all territories of the Spanish Crown to provide a set number of soldiers. His moves toward centralizing power in...