Oscar Martinez Tapia Presentation
I thought this presentation was very good. While I went into the class having a sense of the history of Spain, I did not know much about it. Usually, I am not fond of learning about politics and government, however Oscar had a good way of keeping me interested. The government in Spain is one that has gone back and fourth over the past century. The concept of “La Nina Bonita” was interesting to me. He kept saying that having such high hopes for something usually leads to disappointment. Another concept that he referred back to was timing. Oscar’s view on certain successes in history are based on timing. I have never thought of timing as being such a factor into whether or not a government or a ruler would succeed or not. When we look at the history of Spain, I find it interesting how separated the country is. The elections in 1936 were interesting to hear about also. There was the Frente Popular and the Derechas. There was nothing in between which caused problems for the country and eventually turned into a civil war. Franco’s regime was a success more or less because of timing. He came during a time where the world was preoccupied with WWII. He was able to set up his regime with no problem. During Oscar’s presentation, he knew how to capture his audience and keep them listening although he knew that we not have wanted to. I thought it was important for him to continue to add his own input and tell us his opinions during certain parts of the lecture because it made it his own.
