Elizabethan Era

Wars

The Elizabethan Era saw three main wars:

    the English-Spanish war from 1585-1603;

The Elizabethan Era war with Spain 1585-1603

        The main reasons for the Elizabethan-Spanish wars from 1585 to 1603 centered on the new world. The main conflicts there were over control of land, wealth, and power. In addition, a large issue developed over the fur trade, as beaver-pelt caps were particularly valued in Europe at the time. Because England in particular could ill afford a direct war with Spain, the English hired privateers to attack Spanish convoys. Privateers are privately owned ships, often converted merchantmen, which were outfitted with cannons. These ships are captained, owned, and crewed by non-military personell, who are employed by the government. These privateers were issued a "letter of marque," which gave them official government permission to raid enemy convoys. This letter techincally made these men privateers, not pirates. However, when captured by an enemy country, they were still executed like pirates. Like pirates, the objective of these privateers was to board, loot, & sink as many Spanish ships as possible. If the privateers returned to port with loot, then they were allowed to keep most of it, and the rest went to the government.

    One of the most famous of these privateers was Francis Drake, who plundered a large number of Spanish ships, while sailing around the world. Because of this action he was knighted by the queen.

  The Spanish Armada battles 1588

      The Spanish Armada was the largest naval force ever assembled at its time. The Spanish were determined to conquer England, in order to convert it to Catholocism.

    To pursue this goal, the Spaniards assembled a giant fleet comprised of over 36 massive ships-of-the-line, each boasting over 100 cannon. These vessels were escorted by nearly 56 frigates, which were medium vessels, mainly used for reconnisance and communications. The fleet was additionally composed of a huge force of lighter corvettes, schooners, and cutters.

        The battle began on late May 1588, when the Spanish fleet set sail from the port of Lisbon, and set a course for England. Along the way, they stopped at the smaller town of Coruna to take aboard the army which was supposed to be there. The Spanish army, however, was unable to match their speed to the Armada, so the Armada was forced to wait for the troops to arrive and construct their transports.

        The troops eventually were ready, and set sail. The fleet was manned by over 20,000 Spanish soldiers, and 7,000 sailors. At the same time, the queen of England rallied her own navy to oppose the Spanish. The ensuing battle would decide the religious fate of Europe. The English armada which set out was comprised of over 100 ships, therefore outnumbered more than 3-to-1. The two opposing navies first met, and the quality of the English sailors, cannons, and tactics proved their worth. The English first sent out their fireships, which were vessels crewed by a skeleton crew, and packed with explosives. Once a fireship neared the enemy lines, the crew set the explosives alight, then abandoned ship. The Spanish vessels were forced to break formation in order to evade this threat. This made the Spaniards vulnerable to English attack. However, they were saved by a thick mist which clouded the battlefield.

        The remnants of the Armada sailed north, but were unable to stay in one group due to poor communications. This meant that groups of English vessels were able to gang up on specific groups of outnumbered and surrounded Spaniards. When the Armada finally rounded the north tip of the English Isles and returned to Spain, their strength had been decimated.

        The causes of the English victory can be attributed to three main causes: English sailors were better trained than the Spanish, English cannons were built better, and the tactics which the Spanish used were far out of date.

        The Spanish tactics focused on boarding English vessels, where the very highly trained Spanish soldiers would easily overwhelm the undertrained English soldiers. However, the English focused on long-range fights using cannons. Compounding this problem was the fact that the English used lighter vessels than the Spanish. As a result, the English were able to keep their distance from the Spaniards, meaning that very few English vessels were captured, while English cannons took a heavy toll on Spanish ships.

   The Desmond Rebellions

    The Desmond Rebellions were caused because England wanted Ireland to become a protestant (Anglican) country. England tried forcing many Irish Catholics to become Protestant, since many of the Irish lords were Catholic. Because very few of the lords were Protestant, England paid many lords to become Protestant, and have their armies fight for England. The Catholic rebels were leaded by Fitzmaurice Fitzgerald, who was the leader of the Desmond Dynasty, and was also joined by other Irish Lords.

     When the Pope and the Catholic Church heard about the aggression against Catholics in Ireland, the church officials and the Pope ordered a crusade against England to be conducted.

    During this time, Spanish and Italian forces landed in Munster, Ireland,and joined with Catholic Irish forces. There, they fought the Protestants at the battle of Kinsale. At the end of the battle, the Catholic forces vanquished the Protestants.  Because of the result, Ireland remained a Catholic country for decades to come.