What's the coolest European nation, history-wise, and why

Probably Italy if I'm honest.

>contained only power to dominate Western Europe for any significant amount of time
>contained Magna Grecia and Rome, the two oldest literate powers in the region
>survived collapse of Rome in the best shape
>contained the center of European religion forever
>contained only the republics in the high middle ages
>huge naval power
>renaissance started there
>modern history is a total mess of regional drama
>comic relief power in WW2

Certainly, it depends on the time period you're talking about.

I'd agree with you if the armada wasn't destroyed in the way that it was

>le cuck meme to describe a century or so of moderately successful expansion within western europe proper that pales in comparison to a real empire like rome
>true
>as dominant as they were Spain became a victim of its own success and was slow to adapt new tactics because MUH TERCIO, hastening their decline
>a bloated pos that couldn't do anything outside of the med
>they never even came close
>wut
>true
>it wasn't just them
>...

Its kind of amazing how little Spain actually was able to accomplish with the tremendous wealth their american colonies gave them.

they blew all that wealth like a teen partying with cocaine, booze and hookers
> b-but muh gold churches
> muh european wars

>>1812050
>guerrilla warfare, something we invented
hmmm... i wouldn't say so, the peninsular war was the first case in which it was called guerrilla, after all it's a spanish word, but really there were cases before it that could be named as guerrilla. The french called it 'La petite guerre' and I would say it might have started with american tribes fighting the spanish expeditions. I know many people might name the american revolutionary war as the first case of guerrilla warfare but personally i would dismiss it because it was used in small scale in preparation for the actual battle, it was a full war tactic.

>spanish armada
meh there are many other things to be proud of if you are a spaniard like the obliteration of the english counter armada
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/English_Armada
or the typical Cartagememe de Indias.

>a single holdout kingdom in the north
>single
That's wrong
tip: I'm from Aragón

>>1812115
Italy is very cool but the last centuries have been very shitty, same for Spain though

>>1812147
>they never even came close
Spain came closer than any other country has trying to unify europe. Maybe Germany was close in the last century but that's it.
Trying to unify Europe under a single state is retarded anyway

>>1812050
France is probably cooler desu, so is Italy.

>>1812217
This is just me, but I think the Days of Lead and the Red Brigade are more interesting than Franco and ETA.

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>>1812217
>Spain came closer than any other country has trying to unify europe
ahem

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>>1812050
viva la profeta

>>1812050

>cucking an entire continent
reminder spain was cucked for 700 years and owes much of their culture today to the muslims.
>world superpower
briefly
>tercios
yea thats cool
>spanish armada
a fucking storm
>cucking backstabbing napoleon with guerrilla warfare, something we invented
guerilla warfare has been used by americans long before.
>nearly unifying europe with charles v
implying this would be a good thing, it wasn't anyway though.
>roman, carthage, greek
what about iberians, celts, and moors?
>important center of islamic intellectual age
true
>reconquered iberia starting with a single holdout kingdom in the north
mmm
>mediterranean was master race
ftfy

I propose italy being cooler.

>>1812241
I was thinking about it while i pressed the post button. Yes they did, they still needed to conquer a lot more if they truly wanted to unify europe. It also made me wonder when was the first time that people truly began to use the name europe for europe.

>>1812265
>viva la profeta
viva el profeta

>reminder spain was cucked for 700 years and owes much of their culture today to the muslims.
t b h during much of that time al-andalus was the cultural bastion of it all, cordoba was iirc the biggest city in the world for a while. It's not like they submerged spain in shit

Anyways if you count charlemagne then France wins the "coolest empire ever" title, they are still relevant unlike italy and spain (they are but not that much) and did really cool up to wwii unlike italy and spain.

>>1812050
>cucking backstabbing napoleon with guerrilla warfare, something we invented

Pretty sure you were the ones cucked in the end
He destroyed your colonial empire and made sure you would never be relevant ever again

Pretty sure Portugal cucked Spain, since it gained Independence such early on sms kicked their asses when they invaded

Why did Spain accomplish so little compared to other West European countries like France, Britain, Italy, or Germany?

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>>1812050
I'd go with France

>Charlemagne
>Conquered backwater England in 1066 and made it a relevant country
>Spent centuries facing coalitions of great powers
>Permitted the US to exist
>Had a world changing revolution that shaped the modern world
>Conquered the most powerful/relevant continent on Earth and held it for a decade under Napoleon

After that it goes downhill, but it's not like post 17th century Spain was any better than 20th century France anyway

Honestly it's France.

You can really pick any time period in the last 2000+ years, and France is always an incredibly interesting and important place, and more often than not the most important place in Europe and the ones doing most of the cool shit.

>>1812414
>After that it goes downhill
Admittedly it stopped being dominant, but post-Napoleon France was still top-tier.
>builds second biggest colonial empire
>best cultural and intellectual achievements
>among the most wealthy and industrialized
>makes the largest contribution to victory in WWI
>consistently stands up to German autism

>>1812050
>cucking backstabbing napoleon with guerrilla warfare, something we invented

pretty sure we (America) invented it at Lexington and Concord, Carlos.

>>1812479
Didn't you just invent cheating and shooting your enemies out of turn like uncivilised cowards?

>>1812479
>pretty sure we (America) invented it at Lexington and Concord, Carlos.
pretty sure apalachee resistance (against Spain) invented it, John.

>>1812479
>American Revolution
>guerrilla warfare
I see you watched The Patriot, but actually the American War of Independence was mostly a conventional war

>>1812518
"we" funny considering that your ancestors probably came in the early XX century

ill emigrate to murica and take credit from WW2 i guess

if spain is so cool why does everyone want to secede?

>>1812793
if you could pay less taxes for avoiding paying to less developed regions, wouldnt you go for a try?

>>1812793
Because secession is cool.

>>1812807
who do catalans and basques pay to?

>>1812828
basques dont pay as thay have historical rights (fueros)
catalans pay to andalusians

>>1812839
I see. The solution sounds risky tho, what if the economy goes to shit after seceding?