Why The Spanish Armada Failed?

The Spanish Armada Philip II of Spain was given the keys to success by his father Charles V. Philip was left with vast economic resources coming in by the boatload from Spanish colonies in the new world, the strongest state in Europe at the time and the state on the verge of achieving a Spanish hegemony. Yet Philip II still managed to fail even with all these major advantages over other states. One major defining factor in his failure to achieve a Spanish Hegemony was the defeat of the Spanish Armada at the English canal. Philip II was determined to get rid of Elizabeth I of England to make the nation once again safe for Catholicism (Parker, The Repulse of the English Fireships). He wanted to end English meddling in the Netherlands, which …show more content…
The Spanish ships outnumbered and were much larger than the English ships. The Spanish always kept their guns preloaded before going into battle so the general and crew member were not trained to reload the guns. (Geoffrey Parker, Why the Armada Failed). The Spanish strategy was to fire off at the enemy ship just before they rammed into their enemy so their was no need for the crew to be trained to be able to reload because they thought that one shot would be enough (Geoffrey Parker, Why the Armada Failed). The Spanish also used the preloaded guns as a device to cripple the enemy ship just before boarding (Geoffrey Parker, Why the Armada Failed). The English utilized a new style of ship design known as race -built war ships allowing them to be faster than any of the Spanish ships. (Geoffrey Parker, Why the Armada Failed). At the battle of Gravelines the English utilized their advantage of speed and gun speed to deal heavy damage to Spanish. They attacked at close range and to Despite being outnumbered in ships and guns, the technology that the English had developed gave them the edge they needed to defeat the