Elizabethan England

• The new Spanish Commander, the Duke of Parma, was very effective and Spain was soon winning in the Netherlands
• The Dutch Rebels were leaderless and weak, and the Treaty of Joinville secured Spanish help against the French Protestants
• In 1585, the King of France sided with the Catholic League and pledged to rid France of heresy, meaning France and Spain were now Catholic allies and allies against England
• Treaty of Nonsuch (1585)


  Elizabeth agreed to directly take part in the war on the side of the Dutch Protestant Rebels. England would pay for an army of 7,400 troops commanded by Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester.
• Elizabeth sent Francis Drake to raid Spanish settlements in the New World
• The Treaty of Berwick meant the Scottish border to the north was now far more secure
• Dudley's campaign in the Netherlands (1586)

  1. Began in 1586

  2. Was not successful

  3. Elizabeth was unwilling to take decisive action

  4. Dudley was given insufficient money and supplies

  5. Dudley accepted the title Governor General of the Netherlands, which angered Elizabeth
• In the summer campaigning season of 1586


  Dudley only succeeded in slowing the Duke of Parma's advance, but did not stop or push it back
• Some Spanish forts were captured, but Zip Fort was lost when Sir William Stanley defected to the Spanish
• Dutch trust in the English was badly damaged, especially trust in Dudley
• Dudley's campaign in the Netherlands (1587)

  1. Dudley returned to England for the winter of 1586-87, then returned to the Netherlands in June 1587

  2. Again had too little money and supplies to make a big difference

  3. But the campaign did have some useful outcomes for the English
• The Duke of Parma failed to capture the deep water port of Ostend, which would have serious complications for the Spanish when they attempted to invade with the Spanish Armada in 1588
• Reasons for Dudley's failure

  • Insufficient funds and supplies for the English forces
  • Disconnect between Elizabeth's and Dudley's aims in the Netherlands
  • Lack of Elizabeth's full support and commitment to the Dutch Protestant Rebel cause
  • Poor Anglo-Dutch relations and lack of trust between allies
• On April 19, 1587, Francis Drake led a raid on the Spanish-controlled port of Cadiz, destroying 30 Spanish ships and disrupting the Armada's invasion supplies
• The raid on Cadiz was a major embarrassment for Spain and distracted them from their efforts to build up the Armada
• The signing of the Treaty of Nonsuch in 1585 made war between England and Spain over the Netherlands inevitable
• English attempts to disrupt Spanish forces in the Netherlands largely failed, but there were some successes, such as the failure to capture Ostend and the disruption caused by Drake's raids
• Spanish Armada


  Attempt by Spain to invade England in 1588
• Preparations by Spain


  • Most powerful fleet ever seen in Europe
  • 130 ships, mostly large galleons with guns and troop transport capacity
  • 2,431 cannons for fighting at sea and on land
  • 30,000 men prepared, 27,000 to be transported from the Netherlands to invade England
  • Duke of Medina Sedonia commanded the Armada, Duke of Parma to command the land forces
• Preparations by England


  • Modernized Royal Navy with skilled commanders like Drake
  • Race-built galleons - smaller but more maneuverable and with more guns
  • English guns typically better than Spanish for naval fighting
  • Only 24 race-built galleons among many older ships
  • English army of only 4,500 militia under Earl of Leicester
• Events of the Armada

  1. Armada sighted off Lizard Point, Cornwall on July 19, 1588

  2. Sailed in crescent formation, hard to attack

  3. English fleet trapped in Plymouth by incoming tide

  4. English ships caught up with Armada in running battle up the Channel

  5. English outmaneuvered Spanish galleons, used longer-range guns

  6. Armada arrived off Calais, waited for Duke of Parma's army which never arrived

  7. English sent fire ships to scatter the Armada at night

  8. English attacked the disorganized Spanish, who lost 5 ships and retreated north
• Reasons for Spanish invasion of England

  • Religious - Philip II saw Protestants as heretics
  • Political and power - Spain was more powerful, wanted to add England to its empire
  • Provoked - English ships had raided Spanish settlements and ships
  • Timing was right - Spain had acquired Portugal, Duke of Parma winning in Netherlands
• Elizabeth's Tilbury speech inspired her outnumbered army, though she knew they could not defeat the Duke of Parma's army if it arrived
• Defeated Spanish Armada could not take the short route back through the Channel due to winds, had to sail north of Scotland and west into the Atlantic
• Violent summer storm blew up over the Atlantic, further devastating the defeated Spanish Armada
• Despite their bravery, English sailors were not rewarded, with many dying of typhus and few being paid
• The story of the Spanish Armada doesn't just end with the battle, as the English sailors who fought were not rewarded - typhus spread through the cramped and uncomfortable ships and few men were ever paid
• Stage three of the Armada is arguably the most decisive, despite the fact that the English had nothing to do with it
• The defeated Spanish Armada had not yet suffered the last of its misfortunes - the winds meant that they could not take the short route back through the channel, and instead had to sail a long way north of Scotland and west into the Atlantic
• The weather had a part to play - a violent summer storm blew up over the Atlantic, and many of the Armada ships had left their anchors back at Graveline in the panic to escape the fire ships, leaving them powerless to resist being blown onto deadly rocks of Western Ireland and Scotland
• Of the 170 ships that set out, only 67 returned, and the Spanish lost around 20,000 men in the failed invasion
• The Spanish would actually never succeed in conquering England, and peace was agreed in 1604 after Elizabeth's death
• The tattered remnants of the Spanish struggled on, and the phrase "God blew and they were scattered" was put on a commemorative medal that Elizabeth had commissioned
• Reasons why the Armada failed

  • The English had several advantages - skilled commanders with excellent ships, though in small numbers
  • The English use of fire ships at Calais and their victory at Graveline thwarted Spanish hopes of invading that year
  • Poor Spanish planning - the need to link up with the Duke of Parma was a big weakness
  • Slow and unreliable communication between the Duke of Medina Sidonia and the Duke of Parma
  • Philip II took personal interest in planning and command, while Elizabeth left military decisions to experts
  • The vast majority of Spain's losses were a result of the storm that hit them as they sailed home
• The propaganda value of the victory was huge for Elizabeth, and a famous portrait was commissioned - the Armada Portrait
• The Armada Portrait


  • One pillar shows the English Fleet looking magnificent, compared to the wrecked Spanish Armada smashing against the rocks of Ireland and Scotland
  • Elizabeth has the crown, symbolic of her royal power being undimmed
  • Elizabeth's hand is resting on the New World, perhaps signalling England's ambitions for an empire
  • A mermaid in the corner, which people at the time would have understood as a cunning creature that lures sailors to their deaths
• The 400th anniversary article in History Today magazine in 1988 suggested the true explanation for the Armada's fate was the disharmony between Spain's strategy and tactics, as Philip II was an "armchair tactician" who didn't have a good grasp of the realities on the front line
• Spain wanted to invade England for military, political, and religious reasons, but failed because they failed to rendezvous with their army in the Netherlands, had faults in their planning and communications, and were disrupted by English ships and tactics, as well as being wrecked by a storm during their return voyage
• The outcomes were significant - England felt a new pride in its fleet, queen, and confidence in its place in the world, while Spain had suffered a reversal but would continue to be strong
• Elizabethan education wasn't about social Mobility or social climbing or improving yourself, it was about preparing to live the life that was already expected of you