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Catalonia has had issues with Spain dating back to the 17th century that reflect what is happening in the current day. Catalonia has always felt more connected to the French culture and people. So when Spain wanted to enlist Catalonians to fight in a war against France, Catalonians were not happy. But even worse than that, Spain exploited the Catalonians and treated them harshly. The Spanish army would do many things such as burn churches, pour wine into the streets, and rape women. When the people of Catalonia tried to report what was happening to the Viceroy, he stated that "I gave them such license". From this event, it is seen how the Catalonians are used and are sabotaged by their government. This event highlights the beginning of the tension between Spain and Catalonia.

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La Guerra dels Segadors (The Reapers' War)

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The Spanish Civil war was the struggle for power between the two parties of the Republic and the Nationalists. The war started with a Coup D'etat from the Nationalist party, leading the Nationalists was Francisco Franco along with two other generals. From the very beginning, Catalonia was in support of the Republicans, which is important to remember. In the Graph, it can be seen that Cataluna is in support of the republicans. The Nationalists were backed by the Soviet Union, while the Republicans were backed by Italy and Germany. The Republicans, which were created by the Spanish government, were created to oppose the Nationalist rebellion. In 1939 after much struggle and bloodshed between the two, the Nationalists succeeded in their mission to overtake Spain. Unfortunately for Catalonia, their allegiance to the Republic would hurt them after the war was over. Francisco Franco and his party would then later put repressive policies down against Catalonia, as well as stripping their title of autonomy. Catalonia's decision to support the losing side of this war directly led into their them being silenced by their new government later.

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After Franco seized control of Spain from the civil war, he instantly instigated new changes against Catalonia. Franco immediately reversed the Autonomy granted to Catalonia by the Republicans(the losing party). Franco then instigated a policy supporting cultural homogeneity. Simply meaning that everyone had to have the same religion, language, and holidays. Therefore stripping each province of its individuality. This specifically hit Catalonia hard as they have another language. Franco made sure he kept control by putting the people of the republic into concentration camps. There if they were deemed "unrecoverable" they would be killed. An estimated 50 thousand people were killed with an estimated 400,000-500,000 prisoners of the Republic. Franco went to great measures to suppress Catalonians and completely backtracked any hope of independence for Catalonians.

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Leading up to the 2000s many Catalonians were talking about wanting to succeed. Stemming from secession ideas from 100 years ago before, the movement has since gained a huge amount of support since 1975. This is mostly due to the fact that Catalonia has the right to freely celebrate traditions and speak their language again. With Catalonia being the richest Spanish province, they subsequently pay the most taxes towards the country. Many Catalonians use this as a major reason to succeed. Specifically being fueled by the 2008 market crash, many Catalonians feel that they are giving out more than what they are receiving. All of these events lead to the 2017 referendum.

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Fueled by the momentum gained from past years. Many people were calling for action. It is commonplace for secessionists to hold referendums to show interest. But in Catalonian's case, they did not have support from the central government, which was dangerous. On the 1st of October 2017, the referendum was open. The question on the ballot was "Do you want Catalonia to become an independent state in the form of a republic?". Even before people could vote they faced violence from the government. They deemed the vote unconstitutional and did other things to stop the vote like turning off the internet and physically stopping people from voting. Even with the resistance, around 2 million people voted. In the end, 92% of voters wanted Catalonia to become an independent republic. Even though there was overwhelming support, the Spanish government still called the vote illegitimate and unconstitutional. Catalonia still struggles to get the Spanish government to listen to them and reach the goal of being independent. Only time will tell what happens to Catalonia, but if history repeats itself, Catalonia will continue to be suppressed by Spain.