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The main factor in the decline of the Spanish empire was in fact due, ironically, to its earlier successes in the 15th and 16th centuries. The Spanish treasure fleets had brought large quantities of gold and silver to Spain from its American mines and spices and luxuries from Asia. These shipments engendered inflation that ate away at Spanish trade, and commerce, making the country almost totally dependant upon imports and thereby undermined its long term economic development.

Constant wars such as the Thirty Years War and Eighty Years War burdened the people with taxes and military duties. The Spanish army was destroyed by France in 1643 at the Battle of Rocroi, the first time in over a century the Spanish army lost a battle. The military would never again recover after that defeat, and this paved way for the Portuguese rebellion that succeeded.

The Napoleonic Wars in the 1800s finally sent the country into turmoil, when Spain itself was conquered by France. With the homeland occupied by a foreign power, this triggered the loss of the American colonies, as one by one they would fight for indepedence, bringing an end to the Spanish empire.

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Q: What problem helped to weaken the Spanish Empire?
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