Causes of the

Spanish Empire's
Decline

Inflation and Taxes

The Dutch Revolt

Making Spain's
Enemies Rich
The Dutch were
Calvinists, Spain was
Catholic

Decline in value of
money
Guilds dominating
businesses in Spain

The Dutch had a

properous middle
class, Spain did not

Rise in the prices of

goods and services
Buying from rival
countries such as
France, England,
Netherlands
Population growth
Borrowing money
from German and
Italian bankers
Value of silver bullion
dropped

King Phillip imposed

high taxes for the
Dutch middle class
to fall

The Dutch defeated

Spain and became
an idependent
country

Feeble economy
Bankruptcy declared
3 times

For an empire as powerful as Spain, if it had no money or ways to get money, it is nothing but a poor country. As we know
ourselves, a rich empire is a prosperous empire, but if the empire was in decline and in debt with countries that were their
enemies, that empire could be defeated easily. The Spanish Empire once prospered and enjoyed its wealth until it made
bad decisions about the economy and thought only about conquering and taking more countries under its empire. Spain
made a mistake of not making agreements or treaties with the guilds that dominated the businesses in Spain so they could
lower the prices of goods and services. Instead of paying its debts and planning new budget plans for war, Spain spent the
money on buying needed goods and resources from other countries such as France, England, and the Netherlands, which
were all of Spain?s enemies. To finance wars, Spain borrowed money from German and Italian bankers, until it had to be
declared bankrupt three times. Instead of getting their economy up and about again, Spain wanted to destroy the Dutch?s
middle class, crush Protestantism, and conquer them. But to no avail, Spain?s efforts to capture and conquer the Dutch
were in vain. Now Spain had to pay off all of the debt, which was an enormous amount.