Europeans have a greater sense of culture, language, and borders than Americans. Why do you think there are so many countries in Europe despite hundreds of years of wars and conquest? Underneath the thin veneer of the EU, Europeans have a strong sense of national identity and survival. The rise of nationalism in Europe today reflects the growing opposition to globalism and the loss of sovereignty. Europe is breaking up into smaller and smaller nation states and has been for years.
What's interesting is that conflict left a still indelible mark on the country. Staying in the tourist core, with the museums, restaurants and general avant-garde 'Hemingway' environment, the artsy progressive atmosphere masks the reality. (During the war, this was the liberal stronghold while the Francoist army was camped outside the city.)
One day we took a stroll across the large city park (where the Prado is located) to the Franco side of town. Here is where the wealthy actually live and work, with nary a tourist to be seen. We went to lunch, to a place filled with conservative, polished Spaniards.
When the Catalonia situation began heating up this summer, I remarked to my wife that the controlling power of Spain will just watch and observe. Like parents letting their children run free, but with a careful watchful eye. Sure enough, when the time came, Madrid acted like I expected, all notions of self-determination swept aside as they issued constitutional decrees.
It's been 80 years, but the fault lines behind the civil war are still there, visible to anyone who cares to look. There may be an impulse towards regional identity, but when the EU signaled they wouldn't recognize an independent Catalonia, it was all over except for the crying.