8-2PoliticswithSpain

//Answer prepared by Kern K.// ** England and Spain went to war in 1588. King Philip I, ruler of Spain, upgraded his navy and attacked England with his new weapon. The king had unparalleled wealth from owning vast amounts of lands in the New World. Queen Elizabeth 1, English ruler, burned the ships down and crushed Spain in a legendary battle known as the Spanish Armada. According to the Elizabethan Spanish Armada website by Heather Thomas, many Spaniards never made it back or “saw his home country again.” Don Mattingly’s The Armada (387-405) stated that “King Philip instantaneously blamed the winds and waves of the god.”
 * What led Spain and English to foster bad relationships with each other? Were there any previous fights before the Spanish Armada?

But, what exactly led to the Spanish Armada? The relations over the years had dwindled between Spain and England. Religion was a major cause of the Spanish Armada. The Spaniards practiced Roman Catholicism while the Englanders believed in Protestantism. However, the Spaniards and the English had different religions from an conflict between Spain and England thirty years before the Spanish Armada. The conflict started with the marriage of King Henry VIII of England and Catherine of Aragon of Spain. At that time, Spain and England practiced the same religion, which was Roman Catholicism. However, Henry divorced Catherine causing England to break from the church. Political strife started for years between Spain and England because of the conflict.

An issue concerning an English sailor concerning John Hawkins had also stirred controversy. The sailor had been on several expeditions in the Caribbean and he had bypassed the Spanish merchant tax on his cargo. The Spaniards pronounced Hawkins as a smuggler. However, the Hawkins issue led to even a skirmish. Hawkins stopped by on a Spanish isle called San Juan de Ulua because he was running low on supplies. The Spanish viceroy of the isle and Hawkins attacked each other and it fractured relations between England and Spain. Many sailors like Hawkins despised the English rules and Queen Elizabeth was secretly planning to get revenge against Spain. The English queen now encouraged pirates to plunder the Spaniard ships. King Philip opposed this and England and Spain were in a war due to the pirate issue. To make matters worse, the Roman-Catholic Mary Queen of Scots was executed. Catholics were outraged; as a result, King Philip was starting to hatch a plan to officially attack England. It is easy to see that England and Spain’s relationship had crumbled. The Elizabethan Spanish Armada website by Heather Thomas stated that King Philip proposed marriage to Queen Elizabeth on a day thirty years before the war! England and Spain went to war supposedly due to these causes. The English and Spaniard relationship was completely truncated and it took a long time to mend.

Mattingly, Garrett. __The Armada__. 1. New York: First Mariner Books, 2005. (387-405)
 * Works Cited **

"The Spanish Armada." __Queen Elizabeth I__. 10 Mar 2009 . (387-397)

This is a depiction of the Spanish Armada. Elizabeth used fire to defeat the Spanish fleet. - Kern K.



This map shows the route that the Spanish traveled on to attack England. They started in Western Spain and went through the current English channel. They returned in defeat on the western part of Ireland. - Kern K.

media type="custom" key="3685197" This video explains how the English won and why they defeated the Spanish fleet. - Kern K.

media type="custom" key="3685225" This is a picture that shows the San Juan de Ulua incident and Hawkins who was the British soldier. It is a great source of pitctures of the   island and the battle. - Kern K.