Armada5

__Sinking the Spanish__ Prepared by: Eric H. July 12th, 1588. 130 ships and 30,000 men sailed in the 'invincible' Spanish Armada. Their mission: to invade Elizabeth's England and over throw the protestant queen. The English are helping the Dutch rebels and must be stopped. Spain's King Philip planned to overthrow England and restore the Roman Catholic religion in England. This war was caused by a few different things. First of all, Queen Elizabeth broke away from the Catholic Church and formed the Protestant Church of England. Spain wanted all Protestant countries to return to the Roman Catholic religion, as says //John Murray// in his book //__Elizabethan England__//. Also, as the Dutch started a revolt, England secretly sent supplies and weaponry to the Netherlands. Meanwhile, as wealthy spanish treasure ships were traveling the English channel, English ships had been sinking them repeatedly."King Philip had been married to Elizabeth's sister, Mary Tudor. In 1559 he offered to marry Elizabeth. Elizabeth rejected his offer and remained single(__//Elizabethan England//__ p.130). So King Philip could possibly be mad at Elizabeth, and he wanted the Protestant nation to return to the Catholic Church, and she was helping a rebellion and attacking his treasure. Over time, King Philip had accumulated some decent reasons to invade England.
 * What was the defeat of the Spanish Armada? Why was that significant?**

But how was King Philip going to mount this enormous invasion? According to //Elizabethan England,// Philip's war advisors told him he needed 500 ships and 50,000 men. But even for the world's largest empire like Spain, this was way too expensive. Philip and his advisers settled with 130 ships and 30,000 men. His plan was to have his armada sail th rough the English Channel to the Netherlands. Then the best general of Spain will join the Armada. Under the protection of the Armada, he and his 30,000 soldiers will land at Kent and push onward to London. But as Linda Alchin says in her webpage //Englands power to resist the spanish armada,// The British had one advantage. Their navy was outnumbered but it was manned by excellent English sailors and Elizabeth's great captains. And the Spanish warships were having difficulties with the weather. When the Spanish battle fleet set out to the Netherlands, they were terrorized by storms. Many ships were damaged, as Linda Alchin mentions, the fleet was ordered to return to port to repair and the invasion was delayed. While the Armada was making its way toward England, all of England was preparing for the worst. The nation joined together as troops trained on hilltops and merchant/fishermen armed their ships to help the English navy. The nation was filled with patriotism and anxiety. As the battle fleet sailed once again through the English channel, Sir Francis Drake led a small skirmish against the fleet. The English and their long range guns fired on the Armada. But the huge ships, that were much larger than the British ships, soaked up the damage easily. Fortunatly, the drafted Spanish sailors were so poor in manning the ships, they could not return fire, and the English were able to withdraw.

The next day, the E nglish ships sent another attack to harrass the Spanish battle fleet. This one was less agressive than the day before due to less gunpowder on the ships, information from Linda Alchin's website Elizabethan Era. But the battle was still damaging to the Armada, which was still a long ways away from its destination. Then, the Spanish took their turn to attack. They sent their largest ships, called the Galley, to lead the fight. But the English met the attack with such fierce shots, that if the rest of the Spanish ships did not come to the assistance, all the Galleys would have been destroyed. After the attack, the English do what they had been doing, they withdrew to reload on gunpowder. The Spanish ships were incredibly demoralized and hurt, that they did not bother to give chase. Eventually, the Spanish made it to the port of Calais. They made it to the harbor they planned to get to, but they did not win the war yet.

Once in the harbor, the Spaniards were able to get artillery on shore to defend the port. And then the Spanish fleet could continue their plans of taking the army in the Netherlands to England. And the English ships would not be able to defend against the sheer strength of the Armada, even as the Dutch joined the British. So during the Sabath day, Captain Winter, a brilliant English officer, formed a plan that would force the Spaniards out of the harbor and the army in the Netherlands could not be taken to England. His plan was to use fire ships. At night the British had sent six ships with flammable material on board and sailed them into the middle of the Armada. Sources say different things about what actually happened, but some agree that sailors threw lit torches onto the Spanish warships and watched as flames spread from ship to ship. The next day the Spaniards were in "Great Disorder" as Linda Alchin puts it in her website. This opened the English up for an attack. With the Dutch helping, the English let loose with everything they had. The two fleets clashed in a devastating mess, which in the end, left over 4,000 Spanish sailors dead, and many more wounded. The Spanish withdrawed with only 53 battered ships left, they gave up and headed home. The English continued to give chase to the Spanish Armada, but they did not sink a single ship, they just kept following the fleet around Ireland and Scotland, and the Spaniards returned home defeated.

But how important is this naval battle? As the book //Elizabethan England// describes, if the Spanish armada had broken through the British navy, history would be different. The fleet would transported the Spanish army from the Netherlands, and Queen Elizabeth would have been overthrown. England would have lost independence, and would be part of the Spanish Empire. Protestants would be punished, and the Roman Catholic religion would be restored to England. England would no longer have its colonies in the New World and would be unable to explore, and therefore the thirteen colonies would never exist. Spain would rule the New World, and history would be changed dramatically. It all came down to the brilliance of Queen Elizabeth, the Captains of the navy, and the determination of a navy that was thrown together at the last minute.



Murray, John. //Elizabethan England//. London: John Murray, 1999. 131-43. Print.
 * __Works Cited:__**

Alchin, Linda. "Spanish Armada." //Elizabethan Era//. N.p., 20 Mar 2008. Web. 4 Apr 2010. [] Heather, Thomas. "The Spanish Armada." //Elizabeth R.//. Thomas Heather, 30 Jan 2010. Web. 5 Apr 2010. .