From uneasy peace to open war
The uneasy peace between England and Spain lasted for a while. Then repeated English attacks on Spanish shipping, and the appeals of the friends of the imprisoned Mary Stuart, pushed Philip II into plotting against Elizabeth's life. Learning of it, the queen expelled the Spanish ambassador in 1584 and openly sided with the Dutch. English troops entered Flushing, Brill and other Dutch towns, and Leicester was given command, though he was beaten at Zutphen in 1586. War was now certain. Religion in England, mastery of the seas and perhaps the fate of Europe and even America hung on its outcome.
The empire of the Atlantic
Spain's wealth rested on Columbus and on Pope Alexander VI, whose ruling of 1493 gave Spain nearly all the Americas. The center of white civilization and power was no longer the Mediterranean; the age of the Atlantic had begun. France, crippled by civil war, could not compete for the ocean. That left England and Spain, two great rivals stretching out toward the promised land. In 1580 Spain had hundreds of colonies there and England had none, while gold and silver poured every year from the mines of Mexico and Peru. It seemed Spain was destined to rule the Western Hemisphere politically and religiously.
Drake strikes
Drake did not relish that prospect. In 1585, with help from friends and the queen, he fitted out thirty ships and set off against the Spanish empire. He plundered Vigo, then the Cape Verde Islands, crossed the Atlantic and attacked Santo Domingo. According to the book, he took 30,000 pounds as a ransom to spare Cartagena, burned St. Augustine in Florida, and returned in 1586 after yellow fever had killed a third of his men. It was a war without a declaration. In February 1587 England executed the Scottish queen, and Philip told Pope Sixtus V that he had resolved to invade England and depose Elizabeth. By the book's account he asked for two million gold coins; the pope offered 600,000, payable only once the landing had actually happened. The Marquis of Santa Cruz, Spain's best admiral, was ordered to assemble the greatest fleet in history, with ships built at Lisbon and stores gathered at Cadiz.
Singeing the King of Spain's beard
Drake begged for ships to destroy the Spanish fleet before it grew strong. The queen agreed, and he sailed from Plymouth on 2 April 1587, before she could change her mind. At Cadiz he sank a warship, seized supply vessels and burned the enemy ships, then returned unharmed. He anchored off Lisbon and challenged Santa Cruz, who declined because his ships were not yet armed. Drake then took great stores at Corunna, captured a Spanish ship near the Azores and towed it home. Even the Spaniards were amazed, saying that if he were not a follower of Luther there would be no man like him in the world.
The fleet that could not lose
Philip patiently prepared another fleet. Santa Cruz died in January 1588 and was replaced by the Duke of Medina Sidonia, whose pedigree counted for more than his ability. According to the book, the finished Armada numbered 130 ships averaging 445 tons, half of them transports and half warships, carrying 8,050 sailors and 19,000 soldiers. Philip and his admirals imagined a sea battle like those of ancient Rome: grapple the enemy and fight hand to hand. The English plan was to sink the crowded Spanish ships with gunfire. The Spanish orders were to seize a sandy English beach, then sail to Flanders to take on the 30,000 troops the Duke of Parma had ready, and so advance on London. In April 1588 a letter from Cardinal Allen was smuggled into England urging English Catholics to help the invaders overthrow Elizabeth. Hundreds of monks sailed with the fleet to restore Catholicism, and the Spanish crews, sincerely believing in a holy mission, were ordered to keep strict discipline aboard. On 29 May 1588, as the ships left Lisbon, all aboard took communion and prayers were said across Spain.
England prepares
The wind favored Elizabeth. A fierce storm drove the Armada into Corunna to repair, and it set out again on 12 July. Now the queen spent what thirty years of thrift had gathered. Catholic and Protestant subjects alike rushed to defend the land, townsmen drilled as volunteers, and London merchants paid for regiments and for thirty ships when fifteen had been requested. Hawkins had spent ten years building the queen's warships. By early July 1588 eighty-two ships under Lord Howard of Effingham, Lord High Admiral, lay at Plymouth.
The Channel fight
On 19 July the Armada appeared at the mouth of the Channel, and fighting began on the 21st. The Spaniards waited to grapple, but the low, narrow English ships sailed rings around their towering galleons. The high Spanish decks fired over the heads of their enemies and did little damage. The English were faster and handier, and shot up the Spaniards from a distance. Two Spanish ships were lost, one captured by Drake and one blown up, and their powder helped the English, who had ammunition for only one more day of fighting. Off the Isle of Wight on the 25th, Howard's flagship drove into the heart of the Armada. That night Medina Sidonia wrote to Parma that the enemy shot at him from morning to night but would not close, and that he saw no remedy, since they moved fast and the Spanish slowly. He begged for powder and reinforcements, but Dutch ships blockaded Parma's ports.
Fireships and Gravelines
On the 27th the Armada anchored at Calais. The next day Drake set eight small ships ablaze and sent them down the wind into the Spanish anchorage. In terror, Medina Sidonia ordered his ships to cut their cables and flee. On the 29th Drake attacked off Gravelines, and at noon Howard's ships joined in, pouring fire on the enemy. The Spaniards fought bravely but sailed and gunned poorly. Thick as their timbers were, English shot split them, and several ships sank. By day's end, according to the book, the Armada had lost four thousand men dead and as many wounded, and the survivors barely stayed afloat. Seeing that his crews could fight no longer, Medina Sidonia ordered a retreat.