Cartagena, three centuries fighting to build the most feared Navy in the world in Spain

2024-01-19 12:56:22
Desktop Code Image for mobile, amp and app Mobile code AMP Code APP Code At the beginning of the 18th century, the Spanish navy was a shadow of what it once was. It no longer dominated the world as it once did nor was it the envy of the rest of the European powers. In 1700, our Navy fought in the oceans with practically no resources and almost always on the defensive, while such important figures as Voltaire, Darwin, Blaise de Lezo, Alexander von Humboldt and Napoleon remembered that naval power with a mixture of nostalgia and admiration. Proof of this decline is that, during the long and bloody War of the Spanish Succession, the Indies Fleet was escorted by French frigates in its passage through the Atlantic. However, after the Treaty of Utrecht that ended the conflict in 1713, the first Bourbon King, Philip V, decided that the time had come to get Spain out of that hole and restore splendor to its fleet. An important task that turned the new Cartagena arsenal into one of his lungs. Since then, thousands of Cartagena families have worked in these shipyards with the same underlying objective. This is the case of the historian José Ibarra, son and grandson of workers at the arsenal that Felipe V started and author of ‘The submarine factory: the Spanish Naval Construction Society in Cartagena’. In the following podcast he tells us how the construction of ships and submarines has developed in this town since the 18th century, and how it has influenced the lives of its neighbors. Credits Script and production: Israel Viana. Edition: Manuel Garre. Voiceover: Manuel Garre, Israel Viana, Patxi Fernández, Manuel Trillo, María Romero, Juan López Córcoles. Collaboration: José Ibarra. Others ABC HIstoria Podcast Who decapitated Goya and where is his head? The great mystery of Spanish art The obsession of the Second Republic with destroying the parade of the Three Wise Men. The terror of Nazi Germany, told by a transsexual survivor. Thud Among Hiroshima’s Dead: The Tragedy Told by Survivors. Franco’s great secret: the political testament that marked the future of Spain in 1975 was not written by him. Hulagu Khan, the “terror of Islam” in the Middle Ages: “We will kill your children and the elderly.” The day Fidel Castro kidnapped a Formula 1 legend, Juan Manuel Fangio. Fight to the death in Rome: the Hispanic who recruited a colossal army of gladiators to be Pope. The tense private conversation between Hitler and Serrano Suñer that could have changed history. In the mind of the beast: the psychologist who interviewed the most bloodthirsty murderers in Spain in prison. Lie after lie: the first twenty days of Covid that China hid and condemned the world. The cursed unit of Praetorians that crushed Emperor Vitellius after his sudden dismissal. The interview with Alfonso XIII’s lover: the day Spain met the King’s secret family. The communist spy who lived for years in Buckingham: Elizabeth II’s darkest secret. The buried voices of the heroes of Annual: the massacre that made Spain bleed for decades. The most intimate confessions about Franco from the teenager who did not want to sleep with him. July 19, 1936: the desperate call to General Mola who wanted to stop the Civil War. The next episode, in 15 days.
#Cartagena #centuries #fighting #build #feared #Navy #world #Spain