![]() ![]() ![]() Philip’s scheme, however, had serious flaws. Philip assumed that English Catholics would abandon their Protestant queen and swell the ranks of his army. a The combined forces would then cross the Channel, land on the Essex coast, and march on London. He instructed the Armada to sail up the English Channel and pick up the Duke of Parma and his 30,000 veteran soldiers stationed in Flanders. The Spanish king’s invasion plan seemed straightforward. The religious mood of Spain and of its king was personified by the eminent Spanish Jesuit Pedro de Ribadeneyra, who said: “God our Lord, whose cause and most holy faith we are defending, will go before us-and with such a captain we have nothing to fear.” As for the English, they hoped that a decisive victory would pave the way for Protestant ideas to sweep across Europe. Even as the crews of the Armada assembled, each man had to confess his sins to a priest and receive Communion. In addition, Catholic Philip II felt duty-bound to help English Catholics rid their country of the growing Protestant “heresy.” To that end, the Armada carried some 180 priests and religious advisers. What was its objective, and why did it fail?Įnglish pirates had plundered Spanish ships for years, and England’s Queen Elizabeth actively supported Dutch rebellion against Spanish rule. ![]() “To them the clash of the English and Spanish fleets in the Channel was,” explains the book The Defeat of the Spanish Armada, “a final struggle to the death between the forces of light and the forces of darkness.”Įnglish observers of the time described the Spanish Armada, or great fleet, as “the greatest naval force they had ever seen on the open seas.” But the expedition the Armada was on proved to be a tragic mistake-especially for the many thousands who lost their lives. The battle pitched Protestants against Catholics and was part of the 16th-century struggle between the armies of Protestant Queen Elizabeth I of England and Roman Catholic King Philip II of Spain. ![]() OVER four centuries ago, two fleets fought in the narrow waters of the English Channel. ![]()
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