Other factors that could have caused the defeat of the Spanish Armada besides the Protestant wind involves looking at events that took place before and during the invasion. The ultimate responsibility for launching, devising and failing the overthrow of the Protestant English regime was placed on King Philip II. After the disappointing failure in his launch of the Spanish Armada, people back at home blamed him for disregarding professional advice given to him by his captains. Professional advice included how to design his ships in order to counterattack the British ships, where to establish his bases so that Sir Francis Drake could not determine the armada’s position and if the armada was even ready to sail. This damaged his reputation as
…show more content…
They thought King Philip should have realized, from his first encounter with Elizabeth that her goal was not to maintain the peace amongst Catholics and Protestants in England. As a Protestant herself and after the execution of a devoted Catholic , Mary I , King Philip should have noticed and reflected that Elizabeth would push for the Protestant regime to become the main rule in England and as long as she was alive she will continue ruling “Protestant England”. Perhaps King Philip should have stopped Queen Elizabeth while she was still in her early years as Queen, and exterminate the British navy across the Channel before they were strong enough to counterattack the armada. Other factors that foreshadowed the defeat of the Spanish Armada was through Sir Francis Drake's raid on the Spanish coast, a sudden eruption of chaos into the bay of Cadiz and with Drake’s brilliant planning, he was able to burn thousands of ships at once, he burnt the entire collection of ships King Philip II had at the Cadiz harbour. This location was also where King Philip held the construction for the Armadain Lisbon. Records and journals of Sir Francis Drakes also show that he managed to get a glimpse and destroy the galleon built to be the Spanish flagship which was supposed to be the fleet’s ultimate strength. Sir Francis Drake later used this knowledge of the Armada’s ship design to his advantage when leading …show more content…
English ships in 1587 were not as “sea quality” as the ships in Spain, if the British counter attacked the Spanish fleet during King Philip’s first attempt on launching the Armada than the British fleet would be the ones limping back home, scattered in formation and falling into pieces. The English fleet would have been in no condition to face the full powered Spanish Armada for months. Queen Elizabeth knew her naval power was not at the stage where it could compete with Spain’s navy so she stood her ground against her captains who urged her to enter the battle against King Philip’s first failed attempt and did nothing in response. Little did she know that King Philip also thought that his army of ships were not capable of fighting against her navy and that was the reason for his stop on the first attempt. As time passed and Queen Elizabeth started to expand her navy, she believed that battle should be fought on home ground, the English Channel. When Sir Francis Drake and Sir John Hawkins led their fleets against the Armada in 1588, they encountered a wind current at the Bay of Biscay that blew from the south . It did not affect the direction in which they were sailing but it did affect the Spanish ships. The Spanish ships had to go back to Plymouth and regroup, but it was already too late, they were pushed into the English Channel where the
They thought King Philip should have realized, from his first encounter with Elizabeth that her goal was not to maintain the peace amongst Catholics and Protestants in England. As a Protestant herself and after the execution of a devoted Catholic , Mary I , King Philip should have noticed and reflected that Elizabeth would push for the Protestant regime to become the main rule in England and as long as she was alive she will continue ruling “Protestant England”. Perhaps King Philip should have stopped Queen Elizabeth while she was still in her early years as Queen, and exterminate the British navy across the Channel before they were strong enough to counterattack the armada. Other factors that foreshadowed the defeat of the Spanish Armada was through Sir Francis Drake's raid on the Spanish coast, a sudden eruption of chaos into the bay of Cadiz and with Drake’s brilliant planning, he was able to burn thousands of ships at once, he burnt the entire collection of ships King Philip II had at the Cadiz harbour. This location was also where King Philip held the construction for the Armadain Lisbon. Records and journals of Sir Francis Drakes also show that he managed to get a glimpse and destroy the galleon built to be the Spanish flagship which was supposed to be the fleet’s ultimate strength. Sir Francis Drake later used this knowledge of the Armada’s ship design to his advantage when leading …show more content…
English ships in 1587 were not as “sea quality” as the ships in Spain, if the British counter attacked the Spanish fleet during King Philip’s first attempt on launching the Armada than the British fleet would be the ones limping back home, scattered in formation and falling into pieces. The English fleet would have been in no condition to face the full powered Spanish Armada for months. Queen Elizabeth knew her naval power was not at the stage where it could compete with Spain’s navy so she stood her ground against her captains who urged her to enter the battle against King Philip’s first failed attempt and did nothing in response. Little did she know that King Philip also thought that his army of ships were not capable of fighting against her navy and that was the reason for his stop on the first attempt. As time passed and Queen Elizabeth started to expand her navy, she believed that battle should be fought on home ground, the English Channel. When Sir Francis Drake and Sir John Hawkins led their fleets against the Armada in 1588, they encountered a wind current at the Bay of Biscay that blew from the south . It did not affect the direction in which they were sailing but it did affect the Spanish ships. The Spanish ships had to go back to Plymouth and regroup, but it was already too late, they were pushed into the English Channel where the