Ok so currently I am reading Anthony Beevor's history of the Spanish Cicil War.
Highly recommended - a good read and good history and I am learning a lot about a period that I don't know much about. His Introduction starts with the events of the attempted 1981 Coup which King Juan Carlos played a key role in stopping.
So today Juan Carlos announced that he is stepping down in favour of his son (this seems to be all the rage in Europe these days). I am not always the biggest fan of monarchies in the 21st century but to me Juan Carlos earned his bacon on 21 February 1981.
IF you are Canadian and IF were into indie folk rock in the early nineties THEN you might have asked yourself some questions when you heard this news.
Will he work at Pizza Pizza? Vaccuum the turf at Skydome (ok Rogers Centre)? Or drive the Zamboni?
If not then I present for you education Moxy Fruvous
King of Spain
Well now there was a treat! You may have to think carefully about what you chose to read next, just in case history repeats itself!
ReplyDeleteMichael
DeleteI'll test this theory our carefully.
CHeers, PD
I thought it was fascinating to watch on the BBC news this morning that the republicans were out in force at the news of his abdication... old habits clearly did hard even (nearly) 80 years after the last "referendum"
ReplyDeleteTrue enough
DeleteCheers, PD
These are not 'old habits'. Having just returned from a visit from Madrid and Barcelona I can say that the Spanish Civil War still runs quite close to the surface there. Considering Franco's regime only collapsed in 1975 this conflict is still very contemporary to today's events.
DeleteCurt
DeleteI have never been to Spain, so I am very jealous of your recent travels.
Cheers
PD
We need to organize a group holiday with some time on the Balearic Islands to reflect (through a culinary haze of wine and tapas of course!)
DeleteI really enjoy Beevor's books, but I found this one hard going; just too many political parties for my brain to keep track of. There was an interesting observation that Spain escaped the blood letting of the first world war only to become enmeshed in a murderous civil war.
ReplyDeleteI agree about the number of players, but that's the nature of the beast. Let's face, anarchists don't tend to organize themselves well...it reminds me of the number of fantasy games where the forces of "Chaos" seem far too regimented.
DeleteCheers, PD