The Spanish Armada of 1588 and the counter English Armada of 1598 have been described by Historian Luis Santos as,
two of the greatest naval disasters in history.1
Both Spain and England lost ships, finance, and prestige in their respective failed armada invasions. But why did Spain and England want to invade one another in the first place?
Armada
A fleet of warships. Spain sent an armada invasion force to England in 1588. The English sent their own the year after. Both armadas failed.
The answer: the two countries were engaged in the Anglo-Spanish War from 1585 to 1604. Read on to find out more about this long war fought in many different countries, on two different continents, and on the high seas where pirates flourished in the name of the crown.
Fig. 1 - The English and Spanish ships at the Battle of Gravelines during the Spanish Armada of 1588.
Anglo Spanish War: Summary
The Anglo-Spanish War was a conflict between England and Spain that took place intermittently from 1585 to 1604. Although neither side ever formally declared war, the English and Spanish fought several battles throughout this period, the most famous being the Spanish Armada, which failed to invade England in 1588.
However, most of the battles in the Anglo-Spanish war didn't take place on English or Spanish soil. Most of the action took place in three other spheres of war:
- The Spanish colonies in America, where English ships attacked Spanish vessels and towns.
- The Spanish-held Netherlands, where the English tried to help the Protestant Dutch to gain independence from the Spanish.
- In English-dominated Ireland, where the Spanish tried to help Irish Catholics to gain independence from the English.
The Anglo-Spanish War ended with a treaty in 1604, signed between the new Stuart king of England, James I, and Philip III of Spain.
Anglo Spanish War: Cause
The cause of the Anglo-Spanish War was religion.
Spain remained a Catholic country throughout the Reformation in Europe. However, King Philip II of Spain became increasingly worried in the 1560s as Protestantism began to rise in his territories - particularly in the Netherlands, which Spain controlled at that time. By 1566, there was an open rebellion in the Netherlands between the local Dutch Protestants and the Spanish authorities.
Tensions between Spain and England increased when prominent English Protestants started to call on Queen Elizabeth I, also a Protestant, to support the Dutch against Catholic Spain.
Meanwhile, commercial relations between the two countries also soured as English ships started capturing and plundering Spanish ships and towns in the Americas. In 1568, the Spanish retaliated by attacking six English ships that had been granted official permission to anchor in a Spanish port in the Americas, resulting in four sunken English ships. This caused a marked downturn in diplomatic relations between England and Spain.
The Anglo-Spanish War: Catalyst
The catalyst for the Anglo-Spanish War to begin in earnest occurred in 1584 following the assassination of William of Orange, the leader of the Dutch Protestant rebellion against the Spanish. The following year, the Dutch city of Antwerp fell to Spanish forces. The Dutch subsequently sought help from England.
Fig. 2 - William of Orange (also known as William the Silent), was assassinated in 1584, sparking the Anglo-Spanish War.
Queen Elizabeth I granted the Dutch rebels military aid in exchange for English control of four strategic ports in the Netherlands. This was signed in the Treaty of Nonsuch in 1585.
Philip II took the Treaty of Nonsuch to be an English open declaration of war against Spain, since the Netherlands were Spanish territories at this point.
Anglo Spanish War: 1585
In response to the Treaty of Nonsuch, Philip II ordered the seizure of all English merchant ships currently moored in Spanish harbours. Queen Elizabeth and her Privy Council were outraged and called an immediate meeting. They authorised the Newfoundland campaign - an attack on the Spanish fishing industry in Newfoundland in the Americas.
Next, Queen Elizabeth I ordered Francis Drake to lead an expedition to attack the Spanish Americas. In January 1586, Drake captured the city of Santo Domingo, on the Spanish island of Hispaniola.
Meanwhile, English privateer Thomas Cavendish set out to raid other Spanish settlements in South America. He raided three settlements and captured thirteen Spanish ships. The most famous of these was the Santa Ana, a treasure galleon, which represented the most treasure the English ever captured from the Spanish in one attack.
Philip II interpreted these attacks and raids as nothing short of piracy. It made him more determined than ever to launch his Spanish Armada to invade England and return England to Catholicism once more.
Anglo Spanish War: Battles
This timeline gives an overview of the key battles and military events of the Anglo-Spanish War.
Ransom
A sum of money paid in exchange for the release of a captive.
Garrison
Troops stationed in a fortress or town to defend it from an enemy.
| Date | Battle/Event | Location | Details |
| 1586 | Santo Domingo | Americas | - Sir Francis Drake captured the Spanish city of Santo Domingo.
- The English occupied the city for one month, took much booty, and only released it back to the Spanish in exchange for a ransom of 25,000 ducats.
|
| 1586 | Siege of Grave | Netherlands | - The Spanish laid siege to the town of Grave.
- The English attempted to relieve the town, but failed, largely because the Dutch commander surrendered the town to the Spanish.
- The Earl of Leicester was furious and executed the Dutch commander, which outraged the Dutch.
- Although the English then had a few military successes afterward, the Earl of Leicester and the Dutch did not get on, and when an English garrison was captured by the Spanish in 1587, the Dutch refused to help. The Earl of Leicester returned to England in disgrace.
|
| 1587 | Singeing of the King of Spain's Beard | Cadiz, Spain | - Sir Francis Drake raided the Spanish port of Cadiz, burning many ships in the Spanish fleet.
- The Spanish fleet in Cadiz had been preparing to set sail for England to invade.
- This English success delayed the Spanish Armada by a year.
|
| 1588 | Spanish Armada | English Channel | - The Spanish fleet set sail to invade England.
- The English navy managed to prevent the Spanish from capturing any English harbours, and the Spanish were forced to withdraw to Calais.
- While the Spanish were mooring in a defensive formation in Calais, the English attacked and broke up the Spanish defence.
- In the Battle of Gravelines, the English navy defeated the Spanish, who were forced to travel North to escape.
- As they sailed around Scotland and Ireland, the Armada suffered damage in terrible storms, as well as disease.
|
| 1589 | English Armada | Northern Spain | - The English Armada set sail to destroy what was left of Spain's fleet and expel the Spanish from Portugal.
- Spain captured several English ships, forcing the English to leave Spain and head straight for Portugal.
- The English failed to take Lisbon and, after some plundering, returned home defeated.
|
| 1590-1595 | Dutch Revolt | Netherlands | - Anglo-Dutch forces won a series of victories in the Netherlands, starting a reconquest of Dutch territories from the Spanish.
|
| 1593-1603 | Nine Years War | Ireland | - Two Catholic lords in Ulster rebelled against the English rule of Ireland.
- Philip II of Spain assisted them financially.
- The Spanish attempted three further armadas to invade England (1596, 1597, and 1601) but all three were thwarted by adverse weather conditions.
- The last armada, in 1601, was not intended to be a full-scale invasion of England but rather an attempt to land Spanish troops in Ireland to help the Irish Catholics. Only half the fleet arrived due to a storm, and when they landed in Kinsale, the English besieged it.
- The besieged Spanish accepted the English terms of surrender and returned home, leaving the Irish without aid.
|
| 1597 | Battle of Turnhout | Netherlands | - The Anglo-Dutch surprised and defeated the Spanish army at Turnhout, in the southern Netherlands.
- Bolstered by success, the Anglo-Dutch forces launched a summer offensive in 1597 and retook many cities.
- This meant that nearly all of the Netherlands were now under Dutch control. The Rhine river created a natural barrier between independent Dutch areas and Spanish regions.
|
| 1597 | Battle of Amiens | France | - Elizabeth I promised military aid to French Protestants against French Catholics and the Spanish.
- Anglo-French forces retook the city of Amiens just six months after the Spanish had captured it.
- This defeat helped Philip II decide that continuing to support the French Catholics was too costly, so he withdrew his support the following year.
|
| 1598-1599 | Spanish Winter of 1598 | Netherlands | - The Spanish retook the strategic cities of Rheinberg and Meurs.
- However, when the Spanish then attempted to take Bommelerwaard Island, the Anglo-Dutch managed to fight back and many of the Spanish armies deserted.
|
| 1601-1604 | Siege of Ostend | Flanders | - This siege of the Spanish against the Flemish-Dutch town of Ostend was one of the bloodiest of the entire war, lasting three years and resulting in 100,000 casualties.
- Eventually, in 1604, the city surrendered to the Spanish.
|
Privateering
One of the main strategies that the English used against the Spanish throughout the Anglo-Spanish War was privateering.
Privateering
A practice in which the English crown would authorise private persons to engage in military action against an enemy. This was different from sending out the navy, which was a public organisation paid for by the crown, to go to war against an enemy. In effect, privateering was crown-authorised piracy, where private ships would attack enemy ships, take home the plunder, and split the profits between the crown and the crew.
Most merchant ships at this time carried guns. Several English privateers, including Sir Francis Drake, led attacks on Spanish ships and ports, to bring home treasure or force the Spanish to pay a ransom. In three years following the Spanish Armada (1589-1592), English ships captured 300 Spanish ships with takings amounting to £400,000, a huge sum for that time. (It would be worth around £147.5 million today!)
The most profitable English privateer was called Christopher Newport. His blockade of Western Cuba in 1591 was the most successful English privateering venture in the entire Anglo-Spanish War.
Anglo Spanish War 1604
The Anglo-Spanish War slowed in 1598 when Philip II died and his son, Philip III, came to the throne in Spain. Although Philip III continued the war, he was less interested in it than his father had been.
This trend continued when Elizabeth I died in 1603 and James I came to the throne in England. James I was a Protestant, but his mother had been a Catholic, and he saw himself as the Peacemaker of Europe, whose duty it was to restore peace between European countries.
Moreover, the war had been long and costly for both sides. Everyone was tired of the conflict. Therefore, in 1604, England and Spain decided to make peace with one another. The resulting peace treaty was known as the Treaty of London.
Fig. 3 - Painting of the Somerset House Conference. This conference was held between the diplomats of Spain and England to come up with the terms of the peace treaty at the end of the Anglo-Spanish War.
The Treaty of London (1604)
The treaty was seen as a success for both Spain and England. Trade began between the two countries once more. Furthermore, both sides gained various advantages.
For Spain:
- The treaty confirmed Spain's position as a leading world power.
- English support for the Dutch came to an end, meaning that Spain could concentrate on their war against the Dutch on their own.
- Spanish warships could use English naval bases to attack Dutch shipping or carry troops to Flanders.
For England:
- The four English-held strategic ports in the Netherlands remained in English hands.
- The English refused the Spanish demand for religious toleration of Catholics in England.
- The Protestant Reformation in the Netherlands was protected.
- A year later, Spain promised not to support the Irish Catholics' rebellion against England.
However, the public in England was unhappy with the terms of the treaty. They thought that James I was abandoning England's primary ally, the Dutch Protestants.
A few years later, however, the Dutch won the war against Spain and so the Dutch remained an independent country.
The Anglo-Spanish War - Key takeaways
- The Anglo-Spanish War was a conflict fought between England and Spain from 1585 to 1604.
- Most of the military events and battles took place in the Netherlands, Ireland, Spanish colonies in the Americas, or on the seas.
- The cause of the Anglo-Spanish War was primarily religion. Spain was Catholic and England was Protestant. This set the scene for conflict.
- A key English strategy during the Anglo-Spanish War was privateering, a.k.a. crown-authorised piracy.
- The Anglo-Spanish War came to an end with the Treaty of London in 1604, signed between James I and Philip III.
References
- Luis Gorrochategui Santos, The English Armada: The Greatest Naval Disaster in English History, (2018), Introduction.
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