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constantly at odds with such major interest
groups as the nobility and the clergy. His
domestic program, based on uprooting cor-
ruption, reducing bureaucracy, and elimi-
nating privilege, was well conceived;
however, his honesty and zeal led him to
attempt too much too soon so that many of
his reforms proved abortive. The external
policy of Olivares was totally destructive,
for it ignored the need to develop and
replenish the economic resources of Spain.
With the backing of Philip IV, Olivares chose
to renew the war against the Dutch rebels
at the expiration of the Twelve Years' Truce
(1621) and to become entangled with
France over Italian territorial issues. Essen-
tially Olivares and his king wished to revive
the grand imperial designs of C
HARLES
I and
P
HILIP
II, which had, by 1598, exhausted
the Spanish nation. The most ambitious
concept developed by Olivares was his pro-
posal (1624) for a so-called Union of Arms
to rationalize and mobilize the military
manpower of the Spanish realms. Had this
vision proved practicable, Spain might have
fulfilled the potential offered by her impe-
rial dominions; however, Olivares was no
more successful at exacting cooperation
from the entities that made up the empire
than he was in imposing obedience to his
domestic reforms. As a result Spain became
evermore overcommitted, with the burden
falling upon the central kingdom of C
AS
-
TILE
. This was particularly true during the
1630s, as it was drawn into the Thirty Years'
War. Olivares, seeking to support the Aus-
trian Habsburgs against a Protestant coali-
tion supported by France, proved no match
for the wily French statesman Richelieu.
The latter's instigation of revolts in C
ATALO
-
NIA
and Portugal (1640) further increased
Spain's difficulties.
By 1643 a series of setbacks had so dam-
aged Spain's prestige, to say nothing of its
ability to continue its military campaigns,
that the enemies of Olivares were able to
undermine the king's confidence in the
once all-powerful minister. Philip IV eased
the departure of Olivares from office by
suggesting that his declining health required
a period of rest and recuperation. Although
Olivares resisted his ouster, he and all his
associates were gradually removed from
office, and by the time of his death in 1645
he was a broken and tragic figure.
At the height of his influence Olivares
seemed to represent the greatness and self-
confidence of Spain at its apogee. The
famous haughty and dynamic equestrian
portrait by D
IEGO
V
ELÁZQUEZ
suggests a vir-
tual monarch dominating an empire. Far
too sure of himself and repeatedly caught
off guard by enemies, both foreign and
domestic, Olivares finally was toppled from
the seat of power, and with his fall there
began the decline of the Spanish Empire.
Oñate, Juan de
(1550-1626)
Spanish explorer and administrator
Born in N
EW
S
PAIN
, a member of one of the
founding families of the colony, he was the
son of a soldier and administrator who
became the richest man in the territory.
Juan de Oñate spent his youth campaigning
against Indian resisters and Spanish rebels.
In 1598 he was designated governor of the
unconquered lands to the north of M
EXICO
and assigned to explore and settle those
areas. He led a large expedition of soldiers,
civilians, and missionaries, along with thou-
sands of cattle, into what is now T
EXAS
,
near the site of the present El Paso. During
the next decade, as the first governor of the
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