The Spanish Armada 1588
Elizabeth I Queen of England in 1559 a peace treaty was signed between England, France and Spain ensuring peace to Europe.
Elizabeth I Queen of England increased the size of the navy. New ships that were built were faster and easier to steer.
There was a good relationship between England and Spain. Philip I of Spain had been married to Elizabeth I’s sister, Mary Tudor and in 1559 he proposed to marry Elizabeth I. Elizabeth I refused and remained single.
However, this friendship quickly turned to tension and rivalry due to some of the following actions.
REASONS WHY ENGLAND AND SPAIN WANT TO WAR
At the end of 1568 the English navy seized a treasure ship that was bound for Netherlands, which was controlled by Spain.
Philip II of Spain was very annoyed and hence relations between England and Spain worsened.
Philip II was already upset with Elizabeth I Queen of England as she had restored Protestantism in England.
Phillip II was a Catholic and wanted all countries to be of same faith – Catholic and hence the 1559 Elizabethan Religious Settlement infuriated him.
Philip II of Spain was furious when Elizabeth I knighted Francis Drake.
The countries of Europe had an agreement that there would be ‘free trade’ between them, Francis Drake, however, preferred to trade privately and Philip I of Spain saw Elizabeth’s knighthood to Francis Drake as an insult to the free trade agreement and hence began to preparation for war.
The Essay on Elizabeth I 4
Were Queen Elizabeth I and Catherine the Great effective rulers? Were their reigns characterized as good or not so well? Disregarding the opinion of those who reigned concurrently or historians today, these two ruled their country in a time of turmoil and uncertainty! The world and the people within it were undergoing a major transition. New lands were being discovered as well as major role- ...
(Spain had colonies in the New World and some English sailors – Francis Drake had been stealing Spanish treasures from the New World and Elizabeth I Queen of England encouraged this.)
During 1572 Elizabeth I Queen of England secretly helped the Dutch to rebel against Philip II of Spain as she was aware that a rebellion in the Netherlands would keep Spain occupied and it would prevent Spain attacking England.
William Orange, the Protestant leader of Netherlands was assassinated.
France was a traditional enemy of both countries, namely England and Spain and both these countries had been united against France in the past.
However, when the Civil War in 1562 broke out in France, France was no longer a threat either to England or Spain for more than thirty years.
Elizabeth I had sent an army to help the Dutch, who faced defeat by the Spanish.
This was for the first time England and Spain were actually fighting each other.
Elizabeth I Queen of England provided Francis Drake with a navy of twenty ships and instructed him to harass Spanish ships.
Elizabeth allied England with the Protestant Dutch states, who wanted freedom from Spain and sent an English army to assist them.
Philip II made plans for a fleet of 130 Spanish ships to block the Channel and allow the Duke of Parma to invade England.
In 1587 Elizabeth I Queen of England had ordered the execution of Catholic Mary Queen of Scots and Philip II of Spain increased the number of ships bound for England and planned an invasion. Francis Drake had managed to enter Spanish waters and burned vast numbers of the ships that were bound for England. This infuriated Philip II of Spain and his hatred increased.
Phillip II of Spain was responsible for launching the Armada in July 1588.
THE WAR
The Spanish Armada on 29th July 1588 was under the control of Admiral Duke of Medina Sidonia, made its way towards English western Channel with 130 ships and apparently 30,000 men.
Duke of Medina Sidonia was a very rich and successful general but had never been to sea before and was often seasick. Spain had the world’s then largest naval fleet.
Lord Howard of Effingham was the commander for defending English fleet, including ships captained by Francis Drake, Martin Frobisher and John Hawkins.
The Essay on Jose P Rizal Philippines Spanish Spain
In full, JOS'E PROTACIO RIZAL MERCADO Y ALONSO REAL ONDA (born 19 June 1861, Cal amba, Philippines- died 30 December 1896, Manila, Philippines), patriot, physician and man of letters whose life and literary works were an inspiration to the Philippine nationalist movement. Rizal was the son of a prosperous landowner and sugar planter of Chinese-Filipino descent on the island of Luzon. His mother, ...
Lord Howard of Effingham sailed in the “Ark Royal”, which had been built in 1581 for Raleigh. Lord Howard of Effingham was very shrewd and had stationed a large number of ships at Plymouth to shield the south – west coast from a direct landing of Spanish fleet.
Martin Frobisher was given the command of the largest ship in the fleet, the ‘Triumpth”.
Warning beacons were lit all along the coast. As during this period, English had developed a way of informing of Armada approaching by lighting up beacons all along the coastline and as soon as one beacon was seen, the next further beacons along the coast were lit.
Francis Drake was the captain of “The Revenge”.
When Armada was approaching the English Channel, Drake was apparently playing a game of bowls on Plymouth Hoe and insisted on completing the game before setting sail to attack Armada. Sir Francis Drake led the attack on the Spanish fleet.
Apparently many of the Armada’s Captains wanted a direct assault on England, but Admiral Medina Sidonia’s strictly forbidden this action and hence the Spanish fleet sailed on from the Lizard to Calais to meet the Duke of Parma. When the Spanish fleet reached Calais, there was no sign of Alessandro Farnese, the Duke of Parma and hence Armada with the rest of Spanish fleet dropped anchor to await his arrival.
Unfortunately, Alessandro Farnese – Duke of Parma in Dunkirk was not able to send him fifty ships that Admiral Medina Sidonia’s had requested as he had less than twenty ships and these ships were not yet ready to sail.
Taking this into account, Admiral Medina Sidonia was aware to the fact that England could fire at the Spanish fleet any time. The Spanish fleet was in a very vulnerable position. It had been planned that the Spanish fleet would sail to Dunkirk in France where the Armada would pick up some 16,000 Spanish soldiers that were under the command of Alessandro Farnese, the Duke of Parma.
Philip II of Spain assumed that Lord Howard would have concentrated all his fleets on Dunkirk. Philip II of Spain had not considered this action.
On 8th August 1588 at midnight Lord Howard had sent eight old ships which were fully loaded up with anything that could burn well and these ships known as “fire ships” floated towards the fleet where the Spanish Armada was resting. With this action many of the Spanish Captains cut their cables in hurry to escape the flames as Armada was a fully armed fleet. Each ship surrounded around the Armada was carrying gunpowder and as ships were made of wood with canvas sails and if the Spanish ship caught fire then there would have been such an explosion.
The Essay on The Spanish Armada 4
... eight hour struggle, left many Spanish ships damaged or lost. The Spanish realized that their invincible armada was in danger of total ... of Medina Sedonia, the Spanish commander of the fleet, to sail to Calias. In May 1588, the armada left Lisbon traveled up ... They sent fire ships into the Spanish formations, thus scattering them. The next day the English attacked the confused armada. The Battle ...
The Spanish had been guarding and when they spotted these “fire ships” they blundered away from the blaze straight into the gunfire of the waiting English.
The English did attack but they were bravely fought off by the Spanish.
A change of wind blew the Armada north out of the range of English fire. As the wind became a gale, the Spanish were driven further north and many Spanish ships were dashed on the Northern rocks. The survivors were forced to make their way round the Orkneys and down the Irish coast. The remains of the proud limped home to Spain. The Armada was saved by the weather.
ENGLAND WON
The victory over the Armada made Sir Francis Drake even more famous and popular. The victory is even remembered at Christmas when Elizabeth I ordered that everybody should have a goose on Christmas Day as that was the meal she had eaten on the evening that she learned that her navy had beaten the Armada.
Poor Philip II of Spain died in 1598 trying several plots to overthrow Elizabeth I and each scheme ended as a failure.
ELIZABETH WAS STILL QUEEN OF ENGLAND.
