Conflict with Spain Flashcards
All 18 cards in this deck
What was the Treaty of Joinville (1584)?
An alliance between Philip II of Spain and the French Catholic League, led by the Duke of Guise, which raised fears of Spain and France uniting against England.
What was the Treaty of Nonsuch (1585)?
An agreement between Elizabeth and the Dutch Protestant rebels in which she promised to send troops and money against Spain.
Give one reason Elizabeth intervened directly in the Netherlands in 1585.
To stop Spain gaining full control of Dutch ports, which could be used to launch an invasion of England.
What was the raid on Cadiz (1587), known as 'singeing the King of Spain's beard'?
Drake's attack on the Spanish naval base at Cadiz, destroying ships and supplies, which delayed the Armada by a year and left it short of provisions.
Give one English naval advantage that helped defeat the Spanish Armada.
English ships were more manoeuvrable in the Channel and had superior long-range artillery.
Why did Elizabeth's seizure of the Genoese loan (1568) anger Spain?
Spanish ships carrying money borrowed from Genoese bankers to pay Alba's army in the Netherlands took refuge in English ports, and Elizabeth kept the money. Spain lost funds for its troops and hit back by seizing English goods.
Why did Elizabeth knighting Drake in 1581 worsen relations with Spain?
She knighted him aboard the Golden Hind after he had plundered Spanish ships and ports, so Philip II saw it as open royal approval of piracy against Spain.
Why could English ships fire faster than Spanish ships in 1588?
English guns sat on smaller, compact carriages that were easier to haul back and reload, so they fired far more often than the Spanish guns.
Who was the Duke of Medina Sidonia?
The commander of the Spanish Armada in 1588 — a nobleman with little naval experience who stuck rigidly to Philip II's plan and overrode experienced captains.
True or false? Philip II's Armada plan depended on meeting the Duke of Parma's army in the Netherlands.
True. The fleet was to escort Parma's 27,000 troops across the Channel, but poor communication meant Parma was not ready when the Armada arrived.
What did the English do to the Armada at Calais in 1588?
They sent in fireships, which broke up the anchored Spanish crescent formation; the scattered fleet was then beaten at the Battle of Gravelines.
What happened to the Spanish Armada after Gravelines?
It was driven north and had to sail home around Scotland and Ireland, where storms wrecked many ships; only about half returned to Spain.
True or false? The English defeated the Armada in 1588 by boarding and capturing the Spanish ships.
False. The Spanish wanted to board English ships; the English avoided this and used their faster, more agile ships to fire from a distance.
Why did the Duke of Alba's arrival in the Netherlands in 1567 alarm England?
Philip II sent him with a large Spanish army to crush the Dutch Protestant revolt by force, putting a powerful Catholic army just across the Channel.
Why did the assassination of William of Orange in 1584 push Elizabeth towards war?
It left the Dutch rebels leaderless just as Parma was winning, so Elizabeth changed from secret help to open military support in the Treaty of Nonsuch (1585).
What was a culverin?
A long-barrelled, long-range cannon carried by English ships in 1588, which let them damage Spanish ships from a distance without being boarded.
True or false? The war with Spain ended with the defeat of the Armada in 1588.
False. An English counter-attack on Portugal failed in 1589, Philip sent further Armadas in 1596 and 1597 (both scattered by storms), and the war lasted until 1604.
Why did the cloth trade give England an interest in the Netherlands?
Antwerp was the main market for English woollen cloth, so fighting and trade bans in the Spanish Netherlands damaged English merchants and the economy.