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Aftermath of the Spanish Armada
By Wes Ulm
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The Anglo-Spanish War Continues
While the defeat of the Spanish Armada was important in many respects, as discussed below in the Conclusion, it was not a decisive encounter in itself. Although the Spanish had suffered heavy losses in the storm, most of their vessels returned intact to Spanish ports. Most crucially, the Atlantic-class squadron of ships within the Spanish fleet-the most hardy and seaworthy within the navy, and the nucleus of Spain's transatlantic Empire in the Americas-had returned largely unscathed. Moreover, the Spaniards had prepared adroitly for the Armada's failure, and supplies and medical care hastily mustered at the Spanish ports saved thousands of lives. The English therefore quickly recognized that Spain remained a potent threat. Furthermore, Spain's navy had now lapsed into a rare state of vulnerability which offered a window of opportunity to the English. The Spanish ships required repairs and refitting, and if the English struck rapidly enough, they could torch the core of Philip's Atlantic navy, not only breaking Spain's power and forcing surrender terms but potentially opening up Spanish claims in the Caribbean, Central America, and South America-still contested territory-to settlement by other powers. Thus partially at the behest of Francis Walsingham, Elizabeth's spymaster and a member of her advisory Privy Council, the English dispatched an enormous invasion fleet of their own-an "English Armada"-in 1589 to torch the Spanish naval forces then being refitted, as well as to intercept the Spanish treasure fleet and install a pretender, Dom Antonio, onto the Portuguese throne and thus divest Philip of control.
Unfortunately for the English, the 1589 expedition-led by Drake and Sir John Norris-landed at Corunna in northern Spain rather than Santander and San Sebastian, the ports where the nearly unguarded Spanish fleet was being refitted. Funding difficulties and conflict over mission priorities between the Queen and Drake led to confusion and the aborted shipment of artillery to Drake's forces, causing the English to be repulsed from Corunna. In the ensuing invasion of Portugal, the English troops were decimated from disease and enemy attacks. The English invaders returned to their ships and were further buffeted by storms, finally straggling back to England with very heavy losses and no gains, just as their Spanish counterparts had suffered in 1588
Philip was then able to retool and fortify the Spanish fleets, partly along English lines, and the Spanish navy after the Armada was surprisingly more formidable and effective than that which had come before. Though the English were able to sack Cadiz again in 1596, they were defeated in most battles of the 1590s against the renewed Spanish navy and coastal defenses. The Spaniards deployed an efficient convoy system which frustrated buccaneering against the treasure ships, and two major English privateering operations near the Azores Islands in 1591 and 1597 failed entirely. In fact, Spain successfully shipped three times as much silver in the 1590s as in any decade before. The Spanish were able to land a raiding party on England's western coast in 1595 and set much of Cornwall ablaze before departing for Spain again. Later that same year, the English suffered a disastrous naval defeat when an expedition headed by Drake and Hawkins to Puerto Rico, Panama, and other targets in Spanish America was discovered by Spanish intelligence. The English ships were repelled with heavy losses, and both Drake and Hawkins-the most distinguished mariners and feared adversaries of their era-were killed in the operation.
The Armada Confrontation
Ireland: A Second Front of the War Opens in 1594
Compounding the woes in the war with Spain was the spread of conflict to Ireland. The English had exerted varying degrees of control over Ireland since the days of the Anglo-Norman King Henry II, but de facto rule remained largely restricted until Henry VII and Henry VIII, both of whom claimed more direct hegemony over the island country. England's break with Rome posed further problems vis-à-vis the domain of Catholic Ireland, yet Henry VIII was too distracted with other matters to pay the island much attention. By Elizabeth's reign, Protestant English soldiers and settlers began exercising actual control over the island, engendering direct conflict with the local Gaelic population. Corruption and contempt for the Irish enraged the Gaels so much that by the 1590s, the chronically fractious Irish lords had started to unite in a common front against English rule, an insurrection which Philip II saw an opportunity to support as retaliation for Elizabeth's assistance toward Protestant rebels in the Netherlands.
In 1594, the Irish rebellion commenced in earnest as the Nine Years' War under the leadership of Red Hugh O'Donnell and Hugh O'Neill, the Earl of Tyrone, in Ulster. Tyrone had earlier supported English forces against Irish insurgents, enabling him to amass an unexpectedly well-trained and supplied army which he then turned against Elizabeth's troops, and he thus proved to be a dangerous foe. His and O'Donnell's forces defeated English opponents in multiple battles, including a crushing blow at the Yellow Ford in 1597, the worst defeat ever suffered by English forces on Irish soil. Finally in 1601, English troops led by Charles Blount, Lord Mountjoy, were able to best Tyrone decisively in a set-piece battle at Kinsale, but the crafty Irish earl again eluded capture and continued guerrilla war against the English forces. It was not until 1603, several days following the accession of King James I upon the death of Elizabeth, that Tyrone and the English reached peace terms that quelled the fighting.
The Anglo-Irish War had proven to be calamitous for both sides. It had become a horrifically brutal conflict which anticipated in many ways the bloody Thirty Years' War of 1618-48, or even the American War in Vietnam during the 1960s and '70s. Frustrated with Tyrone's persevering opposition, Mountjoy had utilized scorched-earth tactics to suppress the Gaelic inhabitants, razing farms and torching fields. These actions brought about a severe famine which killed perhaps 1/3 of Ireland's population. England, meanwhile, was forced to expend so many resources on the Irish conflict that Ireland came to be referred bitterly as "the sink of the treasure of England." The English lost tens of thousands of soldiers and spent millions of pounds on Ireland alone, forcing the Elizabethan crown into deep debt and compelling emergency measures-such as the sale of Crown lands-to raise funds. Parliament gained power as it was entreated for additional financial support, and the Irish people, embittered by the conflict, maintained long memories of the Nine Years' War which would erupt periodically in the future into further clashes with the English.
Next Section: Conclusions
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