The Spanish Armada and the Anglo-Spanish War of 1585-1604 were therefore of great historical significance, and their effects can still be glimpsed in the world of today. The defeat of the Spanish Armada did not, as is often assumed, herald the ascendancy of the English to the status of mistress of the seas in place of Spain, in large part because the English were unable to consolidate their gains as they themselves were defeated in their invasion of Spain and Portugal in 1589. By any metric, Spain retained its grip on the Atlantic sea lanes and overall control of the high seas well into the 17th century, having retooled its navy so rapidly that the post-Armada navy was stronger than its predecessor before the Armada, and shipments of treasure from the Americas increased substantially. Because of the ongoing war with Spain and especially the draining conflict in Ireland, England was unable to initiate the country's long-held desire to settle North America. Attempts were undertaken by Humphrey Gilbert in Newfoundland and Walter Raleigh and others at Roanoke Island, present-day North Carolina, to commence settlement. Both of these attempts failed, however, and Roanoke in particular suffered from the disruption of the Anglo-Spanish War since it relied so heavily on supplies transported from England. The ongoing hostilities precluded further settlement attempts, and it was not until James I concluded peace negotiations with Spain through the Treaty of London in 1604 that England was finally able to commence New World colonization, with the first permanent English settlement arising in Jamestown in 1607. The Spanish, meanwhile, were able to consolidate their hold on their own New World colonies, and the extensive map of Latin America today ensues in large part from the Spaniards' naval improvements during the conflicts of the late 16th and early 17th centuries, which enabled them to effectively defend their colonies from challenge.
Spain did eventually suffer a devastating and decisive military defeat against the French at the Battle of Rocroi in 1643, which crushed their ambitions in the Thirty Years' War, and England's Oliver Cromwell was able to seize Jamaica from Spain in 1655 in the midst of another Anglo-Spanish War. But Spain's decline by the late 1600s was engendered chiefly as a consequence of chronic corruption and the Crown's persistent financial mismanagement. Even Philip II, who had been diligent as a monarch, declared bankruptcy on several occasions and plunged his country into debt, partly because of military obligations on the Continent but in some cases well before conflict erupted between Spain and England, and his successors failed miserably in the Crown's financial matters. Spain was ultimately undone by its own overreliance on silver shipments, which buffeted the country with detrimentally high inflation and, in the wake of Spain's failure to diversify its commerce, ruined Spain's economy by the mid-1600s.
Spain would then pass its banner of naval supremacy, not to the English, but to the Dutch, who under their brilliant admiral Michiel de Ruyter defeated English fleets in several Anglo-Dutch Wars of the late 17th century. It was not until the mid-1700s that British naval supremacy, as it is commonly recognized in hindsight, began to emerge, as the Dutch had entered into decline and the British and French were free to challenge each other for dominance of the waves. The map of the modern world hinged on the outcome of this titanic struggle, and it was only with decisive British victory in the Seven Years' War in Europe-concurrent with the French and Indian War in North America, from 1754-1763-that British sea power truly rose to supremacy. Thus the British Royal Navy's virtually unquestioned control of the sea lanes-the foundation for Britain's 19th-century Empire in India, Australia, New Zealand, Africa, and elsewhere-stemmed from 1763, not from 1588.
Nevertheless, the Armada battle itself still did have some important consequences for England and Europe generally, both in the context of the continuing Anglo-Spanish War and outside of it. Its chief impact in the immediate term was that it greatly aided the cause of Protestant soldiers on the Continent, battling the forces of Philip and his allies. The English were able to continue their financial and military assistance to the Dutch rebels and the French Huguenots, without which they may well have fallen to Philip's professional armies led by the redoubtable Duke of Parma. The morale boost conferred by the Armada's defeat, furthermore, should not be understated. In a war permeated by religious overtones, both sides sought indications of God's perceived favor, and the failure of the Armada signaled to Protestants that God, if not overly supportive of the Protestant cause, at least had not doomed their efforts for breaking with the Church at Rome. Had the Armada succeeded and England been compelled to withdraw from the Continent, it is quite possible that Philip and the Hapsburgs may have gained almost unchallenged control and overrun most of Western Europe.
The Armada battle was also significant in that it provided many English sailors with their first taste of maritime warfare, and furnished invaluable experience in navigational techniques. Although the battles of the Armada were waged chiefly in the English Channel, just off the British coast, the English overall commanders and individual ship captains learned to manage the orderly deployment of a large fleet, a valuable lesson for future encounters. In the course of later clashes with Spain, furthermore, the English sailors acquired further training in oceanic navigation and learned the nuances of the weather and ocean currents. This would provide valuable experience for England's maritime forays in the 1600s.
While the Spanish Armada battle itself was not decisive, it nonetheless did serve as an inspiration for future English sailors and naval commanders. The English had successfully managed to defend their coastal waters, using clever tactics and a well-prepared defensive navy to scatter a Spanish attacking squadron. Drake himself became a prototype for future English naval captains, and his example inspired the leadership of other renowned commanders like Horatio, Lord Nelson during the Napoleonic Wars. Perhaps the single most important result of the Armada confrontation was the way it revolutionized naval warfare. Spain's intended seize-and-grapple tactics dated back all the way to the Roman Empire, and were made famous as a tactic utilized by Rome against the fearsome navies of Carthaginian forces during the Punic Wars. However, the lighter ships and long-range guns of the English proved to be a more effective model that better utilized the day's firearms technology in the age of sailing vessels, and it would be vigorously copied by the Spaniards themselves, among others. Naval encounters from that point onward became technological races in many respects, with each side rapidly seeking improvements in both shipbuilding and ordnance, and sea battles became characterized increasingly as water-borne duels in which adversaries sought to damage each other from distances optimal to the ranges of their cannon.
The Spanish Armada must be studied and understood in the context of the broader Anglo-Spanish War of 1585-1604, of which the Armada was a part. It was, however, still a watershed of its own in many respects, and although it did not in itself confer control over the waves to the English, it served as inspiration to many future generations of English mariners, shipbuilders, and naval commanders.
