On September 11th, 1714 the Spanish army defeated the defenders of Barcelona, entered into the city, killed a large number of people (many others went to exile) and, in a short time, occupied the whole country.

The king Philip abolished the Catalan constitution, the Catalan Parliament and most Catalan laws. He started a dreadful political, cultural and economical repression and established a very heavy tax system in Catalonia. Thus our country become sort of a colony of Castile.

Since then, our country has never again been a free one.

Strangely enough, our National Day is September 11th in memory of the day when we lost our freedom!