Spanish Armada Flashcards
(14 cards)
Why did the Spanish send an Armada to England?
-Elizabeth giving money to help Dutch rebels
-Elizabeth rejecting his proposal
- treaty of Joinville 1584 and nonsuch 1585
-John Casimir
-Drake pillaging Spain’s wealth (gets publically knighted)
-England being Protestant
When was the Spanish Armada?
1588
To what extent was the armada defeated due to English ship design?
-John Hawkins
-fast and manoeuvrable
-galleons since 1570s
-reloaded quicker
-best warships (24 of them)
To what extent was the armada defeated due to Spanish Supply Problems?
-badly supplied
-destroyed by Drake’s raid
-supplies rotting
-few and poor quality cannon balls
To what extent was the armada defeated due to Spanish planning and communication problems?
-plan required Medina-Sidonia to join Parma who was to command from Netherlands
-did not control any deep seaports, had to use smaller ships
-took 48 hours to load once once word has come from Duke 🫅g Medina-Sidonia
-slow and unreliable communication
-took a week for word to reach (too late!)
To what extent was the armada defeated due to English tactics?
-sent fireships among the Spanish fleet when on Calais Harbor
-pulled up/cut anchors
-did not destroy ships but caused the armada to get out of the crescent formation leaving them vulnerable to attack
To what extent was the armada defeated due to Spanish king’s arrogance?
-took too much control of plans
-against advice of experienced commanders
-relied heavily on 130 ships and 30,000 men assuming Numbers would win against much designed galleons, more of an invasion force than navy
To what extent was the armada defeated due to English individuals like Francis Drake?
“Singeing of the king of Spain’s beard”
1587
Delayed launch of armada
Over 3 days- destroyed 30 ships
Cadiz harbour- most important Atlantic port
To what extent was the armada defeated due to weather?
Delays and bad weather- at sea for 10 weeks (rotting supplies)
After battle of gravelines, their ships are scattered to the winds and the weather destroyed more Spanish ships than the English.
What was the significance of the English victory over the armada?
-more Spanish mistakes than English successes
- ‘god blew and they scattered’
- god favoured Protestantism - sign of holy favour
- encouraged Dutch rebels to fight against Spain
-confidence to travel and trade widely (strength of English navy)
-cost Spain hugely (financially and in terms of power- downturn in Spanish fortunes)
To what extent was the armada defeated due to the battle of gravelines?
8 August
Immense naval battle
Spanish bombardment long range gun
Lasted 9 hours
Spanish couldn’t return fire due to lack of trained gunners
1000 killed 800 wounded
How many people are killed when they reached dry land in Ireland?
20,000
Many prisoner
How many ships made it back to Spain?
80 out of 130 ships make it back to Spain by end of Dec 1588
How was Spanish supply problems useful in the english victory against the Spanish Armada?
