8-3SpanishArmada

=The Defeat of the Spanish Armada and its Impact=

====What was the defeat of the Spanish Armada? Why is this event Significant? During the late 1500’s Spain was the super-power of the world. The Atlantic Peninsula controlled almost all of the European trade, and was the commanding force in Military as well. The pride and joy of this ptowerful nation was its navy, the Spanish Armada (Armadá Española in Spanish) run by Alonso Pérez de Guzmán Duke of Medina Sidonia. Garret Mattingly in his work, The Invincible Armada and Elizabethan England, Proclaims that “in 1588 the Spanish naval force was at the Pinnacle of military perfection of the time”, it possessed well trained men, and the latest in military technology and some of the greatest minds of history up to that point.==== ====The Spanish were not a force to joke about and at the time it seemed that nothing could stand in its way, it seemed that no one could take it down. It was the perfect example of military superiority at the time and soon that would all slip away.==== ==== In 1588 at the h  eight of the Spanish power, King Philip II of Spain ordered a naval attack on the island of England. His goal was not to seize the land or make the people speak Spanish but to return them to the “right Church” the Catholic sect of Christianity. ==== ====The English had its homeland to defend and it did not by any standards hold back. The English and its’ allies from Holland, focused their entire Army and Navy against the Spanish. The English slowly pushed back the Spanish Navy until nearly every ship retreated or was sunk. The English had defeated the major military power of the time and successfully defended their homeland and their religion. ==== ====In John E. Findlings Book, __ Events that changed the world through the 16 th Century __, He proclaims that “The Defeat of the Spanish Armada showed that England was not something to mess with. The English had defeated the Largest navy in the world at the time. When a super-power is defeated the victor rises, in both economical influence and military power. The period after the defeat was a time of flourishing, luxury, leisure, and of Empire.” This opened a gateway to exploration, study, and creativity almost never before seen in England before. The age of Playwrights and actors would rise, of tragedy, of comedy, of history, of romance, England is about to experience a second renaissance. New arts, would be developed, new styles never before seen, and even new words will be added to peoples vocabularies. “The era of Shakespeare, was about to begin.”====