First published in 1981, Europe and the Decline of Spain deals with the slow ebbing of Spanish power, its ?melancholy, long, withdrawing roar? during the ?long seventeenth century? of pre-industrial Europe. The author looks at the fortunes of Spanish European hegemony from its apogee late in the reign of Philip II to its ultimate failure and dissolution about a century later.

The author examines the dynamic spiritual and material resources of Spain as a politico-military system of continental dominance and control. He places the system in a context of continuous general European war, and structures and events in Spain and its provinces are set in this context.

A feature of the book is the description of changing approaches to the Spanish system by its major adversaries. This, along with a fresh look at the events themselves, has conditioned a reinterpretation of Spain?s ?political? decline which stresses its centrality to an overview of the whole period.