The Spanish Armada and English Armada: The History of Both Nations’ Ill-Fated Naval Campaigns against Each Other

On July 12, 1588, the legendary Spanish Armada headed for the English Channel. The Spanish plan was to take this invasion, led by the Duke of Parma, to the coast of southeast England, where they would be unleashed to conquer Elizabethan England for Spain’s King Philip II and Catholic Christendom. The Armada included over 150 ships, 8,000 sailors, and 18,000 soldiers, and it boasted a firepower of 1,500 brass guns and 1,000 iron guns. Just leaving port itself took the entire Armada two days.

As everyone who has been taught history now knows, the Armada was one of the most famous military debacles in history. Regardless of the debate over whether it was simple mathematical miscalculation or plain bad luck, coupled with English fire ships assailing the Spanish ships, the Armada was decisively defeated. The Armada ultimately found its reluctant way home in awful conditions, having permanently lost over a third of the ships, and on the Irish coast, the Armada suffered further losses.

What has since been overlooked is that the undeclared Anglo-Spanish War continued, and it would do so until 1604. The English and their Dutch allies responded to the spectacular and unexpected defeat of the Armada with an attempt of their own to attack Spain with a fleet often called the "Counter Armada" in English. In 1589, once the impact of the previous year upon the Hapsburg naval power became clear, Elizabeth ordered Drake to gather the English fleet to take advantage of the situation. Unlike the Spanish, the English had no illusions of being able to invade their opponent's homelands and overthrow their state; instead, the English had far more modest goals. The English wanted to seek out the remainder of the Spanish fleet and burn it, land troops in Portugal and raise a revolution in that country, and capture the Azores Islands. If possible, they would use a base in the Azores to capture the anticipated treasure fleet from the New World.

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