The Spanish Armada

 

The spectacular but unsuccessful attempt by King Philip II of Spain to invade Elizabethan England. The Armada is for the English the classic foreign threat to their country and a powerful icon of national identity.

Battle: The Spanish Armada.

Date: June to September 1588.

Place: The English Channel, the North Sea and the seas around the North and West of Scotland, the Orkneys and the West of Ireland.

Combatants: The Armada (Spanish for “Fleet”), manned by Spaniards, Portuguese, Italians, Germans, Dutch, Flemings, Irish and English against the English Fleet assisted by the Dutch Fleet.
 

Generals: The Duke of Medina Sidonia and the Duke of Parma against Lord Howard of Effingham, High Admiral of England, Sir John Hawkins, Sir Martin Frobisher, Sir Francis Drake, Lord Henry Seymour and Sir William Winter. Size of the navies: The Spanish Armada sailed with around 160 ships. The English mobilised up to 200 ships in the Channel. Unknown numbers of Dutch vessels harassed and attacked the Armada and hemmed the Duke of Parma’s forces into their harbour of Dunkirk. Ships, organization, tactics and equipment: The descent of the Spanish Armada on England in 1588 ocurred at a time of profound change in sea warfare. The Spanish represented the old tradition while the English fought with a new design of warship and new tactics.