Blown Out of Proportion

     Henry VIII's decision to remove England from the Catholic world and control of the pope set his kingdom against the most powerful empires of Europe. Spain and France, Catholic bastions that resisted the Reformation that divided the Holy Roman Empire, sought to pit their New World resources against the English for their blasphemous beliefs. Domestic support for the Church of England and the Roman Catholic Church wavered for a several decades as every other ruler changed the official religion of the land. The protestant "virgin queen" Elizabeth I's support of the Netherland's rebellion against Spain combined with the strong religious disagreements of the two monarchs, saw the Spanish rouse an entire fleet to wipe out the English annoyance to Spanish and papal power.
     Philip II gathered 130 ships with the blessing of the pope to invade England and place whoever Philip II liked upon the throne. The Armada named "the Great and Most Fortunate Navy" sailed through the English Channel to connect with the Spanish armies posted in the Netherlands before staging an invasion on England.
     Before the Spanish could reach the Netherlands, the smaller English navy met the Spanish fleet at the Battle of Gravelines in the late summer of 1588. The English avoided a massacre by keeping their distance and aiming their guns just below the waterline of the Spanish ships. This strategy was developed to avoid the viscous Spanish boarding attacks that won them other historic battles. By forcing a draw instead of catastrophic defeat, as predicted by the Spanish, they were unable to make landfall at the Netherlands. The successful British precision fighting style at Gravelines prevented the Spanish from regrouping, attempting to invade England, and prevented a Spanish return through the English Channel. Instead, the Spanish were forced out to sea to sail around the British Isles through the North Sea and return to Spain by sailing around the west coast of Ireland.

     Because of the lengthy journey and the disrepair of many ships from the numerous, harrying battles, the Spanish Fleet was ill prepared for the devastating hurricane that smashed into the Armada as it sailed past Ireland. The strong winds combined with the loss of many ship's anchors during the battles smashed the ships onto the Irish coast. The survivors were finished off by English forces, and the ships raided by Irish locals.
     Only sixty-seven of the initial 130 Armadan ships returned to Spain. Many more men died as the ships waited in harbor from disease, injury, or sickness from exposure. This defeat definitely led to the slow decline of the Spanish Empire as it enable British settlements in the New World that developed into a rival empire.
     The successful defeat of the Armada both by battle and wind boosted English morale and the reputation of Elizabeth I. The fighting tactics of the English demonstrated the strength of cannon over boarding battles and changed naval warfare. Because of this pivotal shift in naval tactics, English quickly became the most powerful fleet in the Atlantic because of their quick adaptions and daring strategists.
     Additionally, the battle, and more importantly, the hurricane's destruction of the Spanish ships indicated to the Protestants of England and Europe that God had favored them. A providential view of events infused the histories and became a keystone to English identity as their New World colonies were settled. This strike against Protestant England by Catholic Spain failed, but two more attempts were made to invade in 1596 and 1597. Both of those fleets were also dispelled by storms, though not as disastrously.
     England's new naval tactics and the hurricane-wrought obliteration of the great Spanish Armada changed the development of European religion and the settlement of the New World. Despite the military and economic might of Philip II's Spain, the Protestant movement of Europe perceived an intervention by God. England triumphed when "He blew with His winds, and they were scattered." God saved the Virgin Queen.


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Agatha Tyche