[font:3899="]In 1588 during the reign
of Elizabeth I the Spanish sent a great fleet of ships to invade England. The
expedition was a disaster for the Spanish. Most of their ships were destroyed,
either by storms or by the English navy.[/font]
[color:3899=#FFC000][font:3899="]BITTER RIVALRY[/font][/color]
[font:3899="]During the 16th century,
England and Spain became bitter rivals in religion, trade and politics. Spain
was the most powerful Catholic nation in Europe, and England was the leading
Protestant nation. Both countries had a tradition of seafaring, and were interested
in long-distance trade and setting up overseas colonies.[/font]
[font:3899="]When Protestants in the
Netherlands rebelled against Spanish rule, England sent help to the rebels.
There was also some personal bitterness in the rivalry between Spain and
England. The Spanish king, Philip II, had once almost gained control of the
English throne. He had been married to Queen Mary I, and until her death in
1558 he had been king of England in all but name. His attempts to marry
Elizabeth were spurned, and Elizabeth protected privateers who captured Spanish
ships and goods.[/font]
[color:3899=#FFC000][font:3899="]THE SPANISH PLAN[/font][/color]
[font:3899="]The Spanish had a large
army in the Netherlands. They planned to send an armada (great fleet) from
Spain to help this army cross the English Channel. The English knew about the
Spanish plan. They built lookout towers along the coast, with a network of
signal fires to warn people that the Armada was approaching. When the Spanish
gathered their Armada at Cádiz in 1587, Queen Elizabeth I sent Francis Drake to
attack the Spanish ships in Cádiz harbour—a daring raid Drake described as
“singeing the king of Spain’s beard”. This delayed the Spanish for a year, but
in 1588 the Armada of 130 ships sailed for England.[/font]
[color:3899=#FFC000][font:3899="]DEFEATING THE ARMADA[/font][/color]
[font:3899="]The Armada was sighted
on July 29, 1588, and an English fleet was sent to meet it. The English had
slightly more ships than the Spanish, but theirs were much smaller than the
great Spanish warships. For a week the English commanders, Francis Drake among
them, attacked the Armada as it sailed in a crescent formation along the
English Channel, but without much success. The Armada then halted near the
French coast to join up with the Spanish troops from the Netherlands. While the
Spanish ships were at anchor, the English attacked them with fireships—old
ships loaded with guns and explosives that were set on fire and allowed to
drift into the Spanish fleet. The Armada scattered in panic, and on August 8
the English defeated it at the Battle of Gravelines.[/font]
[color:3899=#FFC000][font:3899="]WASHED UP[/font][/color]
[font:3899="]The Spanish ships that
survived the battle were unable to sail straight back to Spain. Strong winds
forced them through the stormy seas around the north of Scotland and the west
coast of Ireland. Many of the ships were sunk by storms or were wrecked on
jagged rocks. Some of the sailors managed to struggle ashore, where they were
killed or captured. Only about half of the Armada's ships returned to Spain.[/font]
[font:3899="]The Spanish made two further
attempts to invade England in 1596 and 1597, but both ended in failure. After
this Spanish military power steadily declined. For the English, the defeat of
the Armada was a thrilling victory that showed the importance of having a
strong navy.[/font]
[b][font:3899="]Microsoft
Encarta
2007.
1993-2006 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.[/font][/b]
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