![]() And there, in the north, the death knell was dealt to Spanish plans: not by Drake, Elizabeth I or brave English sailors – but by bad weather. So when Elizabeth uttered her famous words at Tilbury, what was left of the Armada was on its way home, running up around Scotland and Ireland to get back to Spain. These burning vessels caused the Spanish to panic, with further crashes and losses. What happened The Armada Portrait of Elizabeth I (© National Maritime Museum, London). Soon after midday Howard suddenly ran up. The Spanish Armada was a formidable, 130 strong navy of ships sent by Spain in 1588 to invade England and overthrow Queen Elizabeth I. Eleven days earlier, English fireships had attacked the Spanish fleet while it was waiting off France for its rendezvous with Parma’s army. the Spanish Armada has everything: personalities, grand strategy, warfare on land and sea, diplomatic manoeuvres and conspiracies, propaganda to die for. The general idea was to send the Invincible Armada up the English Channel as far as the Netherlands, where Parma would be ready with a magnificent Spanish army. When the English saw the Spanish admiral thus lagging behind, three of their ships led down upon him and opened fire. ![]() Yet by the time she did so, the Armada were already staring defeat in the face. The Treaty of Nonsuch (1585) by which England undertook to support the Dutch rebels against Spanish rule, along with damaging raids by Sir Francis Drake against Spanish commerce in the Caribbean in 158586, finally convinced Philip that a direct invasion of England was necessary. Elizabeth had come up with the plan to address the troops while the Spanish were still in the Channel. ![]() The idea that Elizabeth, Drake and underdog pluck defeated a practically invincible Armada is now firmly established at the heart of England’s conception of itselfīut this involves a tweaking to the timing of events for dramatic effect. ![]()
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