The Defeat Of The Spanish Armada

This is because the wind blew the Spanish ships northwards and a terrible storm which forced a lot of ships onto rocks. Also, the fire ships that the English sent out got all the Spanish ships scattered around the entire place and ruined their crescent formation. As a result of this, the Spanish were left with nothing to do as they needed 30-40ft of water but as the ships got blown away they weren’t able to stay in the water as it was very shallow therefore they got destroyed. This lead to the failure of the Spanish armada because they didn’t have ships and were injured so weren’t able to fight

With the defeat of the Spanish armada in 1588, Spain began a steady decline to a second rate power. Consequently shifting their original goal of exploring to maintaining or colonizing what lands they still possess.

The cold, stormy night was all too familiar to the English. A devious plan by Spain's king, Philip II, was being formed to overthrow Queen Elizabeth I of England and rid the world of the English "heretics."1 It was a story of deception, false judgments, and poor planning. What was one king's dream turned into his country's nightmare. While the Spanish had bad leaders, the English had good ones. The Spanish had bigger, but slower ships, while the English had smaller and faster ships. The English knew the weather conditions and how to prepare for them, while the Spanish thought it would not be a problem. The English entered the battle in a calm manner, while the Spanish were overconfident. All of these

Spain under King Philip the second, was the most powerful nation in Europe at the time and sought to weaken Elizabeth’s reign and have her replaced. So, for the Queen to keep her power and avoid open conflict with Spain, England engaged in an “aggressive para-naval policy towards Spain; and sought to counter Spanish expansion in the New World. Privateering expeditions were under the guise of seeking new channels for English trade, but in fact the expeditions mainly attacked Spanish colonies in the New World. The English privateer John Hawkins, was one of the first hired and supported by England to attack Spanish colonies and trading vessels. Hawkins was the first Englishman to trade slaves in the New World, however he employed “warlike” methods of forcing trade and engaged a and defeated a Spanish fleet in the harbor of Vera Cruz. Another famous privateer who was utilized by the English government was Sir Francis Drake. Drake obtained a privateering commission from Queen Elizabeth in 1570, to strike at Spanish trading vessels and port cities. In the years that followed, he sacked the Spanish towns of Nombre de Dios and Panama, which in the process he captured a Spanish sliver mule train. Under Elizabeth's orders, Drake sent sail on December. 13, 1577, where he sought to raid Spain's Pacific colonies he knew were hardly defended. He circumnavigated the globe in the process and

In 1585 he settled about 100 men on Roanoke Island, but they did not settle and returned a year later. In 1587 he sent another group to settle that included a number of women and children. A supply ship was sent to the settlers but was delayed by the attack of the Spanish Armada on England in 1588. Help did not arrive until 1590, but it was too late and there was no one to be found. The attack of the Spanish Armada was spurred by King Phillip the 2nd. His motives were religious as England seemed committed to Protestantism as well as for economic and political reasons. An English fleet of 197 ships were able to conquer the invasion and led to Spain no longer being able to prevent the English from settling in the New World.

Many of her subjects disapproved of Elizabeth not having a husband to control her decisions. Elizabeth indirectly responded to this in a speech made to Parliament in 1559 (Doc. #11). She made the argument that she was already married to the Kingdom of England and she did not plan on marrying anyone else. One reason for her opposition to marriage is believed to be because of her father’s trouble that came with his multiple marriages. Henry VIII had six different wives, none of which contributed in a pleasant way to his health or reign. Elizabeth, seeing her father struggle with juggling marriage and power, most likely decided marriage was not a good option for a political figure. Another speech Elizabeth made in 1588 responded to the doubts of her strength as a queen because of her being a woman (Doc. #12). In 1588, the Spanish Armada was about to invade England, so Elizabeth’s speech was made to the troops that were about to have to fight for their country. She said, “I know I have but the body of a weak and feeble woman, but I have the heart and stomach of a king….” Elizabeth knew that people did not believe she could lead them through the war, so she wrote this speech to convince them of her capability of doing so. She informed them that she was ready to fight alongside them, even if they did not

Elizabeth I, was the queen of England 1558-1613, while she may have brought great success and stability to the government she was questioned in her ability to lead due to her gender. Gender became a critical part of her reign and was brought into question by numerous religious figures. Although most thought a woman was unfit to be a ruler, this did not stop Elizabeth from responding to the criticism with determination to making wise and selfless decisions that proved what a strong leader she was. This determination and leadership fueled the country with success.

The first of these conflicts occurred right after Charles’ ascendance to the throne between England and Spain and was in large part the result of a failed marriage treaty between Catholic Spain and Protestant England that would have married Charles to the Spanish Infanta.4 Charles had been tricked into a treaty that would have given Catholics increased rights in Protestant England, a provision that would have assuredly angered the people of England.5 In addition, the first Parliament of Charles’ reign passed two measures that doomed this conflict. First, it only granted Charles the right to collect customs duties for one year, instead of for life.6 Secondly, Parliament gave Charles only about a fourth of the money that he needed to adequately fund the war. However, Charles and Buckingham believed that if the army could loot a port and intercept the goods coming from the Spanish colonies in America, the treasury could be stocked up again. So despite the lack of funding, Charles chose to raise an army to set out for the Spanish port of Cadiz.7 However, the army was inadequately supplied with capable soldiers, ships, and provisions. “Most of the soldiers in this army were rogues

These natural circumstances prevented the English ships from being able to leave the harbor. There was almost nothing the English could do but wait for the tide to turn. If fact, Drake and Howard finished playing a game of bowls even after they got the news that the Spanish Armada was approaching. Their inability to leave the port set them at a disadvantage; however, the Spanish did not take the opportunity to attack them while they were practically defenseless. Instead, they kept on sailing towards Flanders. This lack of aggression on the Spanish part is due to the fact that the Armada did not have many offensive military strategies. If the Spanish were more prepared to fight a sea battle, they most likely could have sailed into Plymouth Harbor and attacked without much opposition. Nevertheless, that was not the case, so the Armada kept sailing and was forced to miss what could have been an opportunity for an easy and effective

Her most famous success story is the Spanish Armada. Phillip’s plan was to “win control of the English Channel, to rendezvous with the Duke of Parma off the coast of Holland, and to transport Parma’s army of some 30,000 men from the Netherlands across the Channel”(Doc 7). Elizabeth made a two step assault that first trapped Medina Sidonia in Calais Roads, where Parma could not join him for fear of the Dutch. Then, she sent fire ships in disguised as bomb-ships, which are deadly, and successfully confused the Spanish ships and forced them to flee. Finally, at the battle off Gravelines, the English used long-range guns to win. From this battle England gained prestige. The Spanish Armada proves that Elizabeth was a capable ruler who understood military strategy and the importance of protecting her country and

Besides the doomed colony, England had previous failures on Roanoke. For the English, making permanent settlements in the New World wasn’t a walk in the park. Queen Elizabeth’s ultimate goal was to conquer the New World and have a base to attack incoming Spanish. Sir Walter Raleigh volunteered for the job, bravely risking himself for the nation’s benefit. However, the Queen and Sir Walter Raleigh were having an affair, and Elizabeth begged him to stay and send soldiers instead, which he agreed to reluctantly. 1,500 soldiers, artists, and cartographers made the voyage and were

When an expected invasion of England by the Spanish Armada was imminent, Queen Elizabeth realized that the only way that the kingdom could become triumphant was to rally her people to stand with her to repel their enemies. Queen Elizabeth begins her speech by addressing her people, beginning with “My loving people.” Although many citizens of England disliked the Queen, she addressed them as though the nation adored her, giving the illusion of unity. Continuing on, Elizabeth inspires pathos

In 1588, Elizabeth defeated the Spanish Armada who were attempting to invade England. Before the Spain tried to invade England, Elizabeth was secretly helping the Dutch, who was Spain’s enemy at the time. Elizabeth helped defeat the Spanish Armada, which then led to a truce between the countries involved. A couple of years later, Elizabeth’s court painter portrayed Elizabeth in a powerful painting where she stood on a map on England and kept the Spanish away. Elizabeth is more than a capable leader due to her defeat over the Spanish Armada.

Between the years of 1535 and 1547, some sixty-six Spanish ships were captured by French corsairs (Lane 19). Shortly after in the 1550’s, the Spanish came to regret their passive defense strategy when French corsairs made their most punishing raids ever on the Spanish West Indies. They descended on colonies like Puerto Rico, Hispaniola and Cuba, and caused heavy destruction that they never really recovered from. Finally in the early 1560’s, Spain was forced to react with expensive long-term defenses. Since the Spanish waited so long to do so they not only lost wealth because of what was captured, but now they also had to spend money to protect what was left.

Elizabeth initially did not want to face the heated conflict between the Catholics and Protestants in England. However Mary Stuart forced her to. The Catholic Mary, queen of Scotland, was the grandniece of Henry VIII and the next in line to the throne. Accused of murdering her second husband, Henry Stuart Darnley, Mary fled to England to escape a rebellion in Scotland. Many European and English Catholics plotted to put her on the throne. To protect her crown, Elizabeth had her cousin Mary Placed under house arrest in 1567. Meanwhile, Elizabeth’s throne was threatened from the outside forces. Philip II, who became ruler of Spain and its empire in 1556, sought to control the world. England and many other European countries were jealous of Spain’s riches, especially in the New World. Elizabeth