King Phillip II: The Empire Of Spain

In the sixteenth century, King Phillip II, ruler of Spain at the time, had control of one-fifth of Western Europe’s land and one-quarter of its people. Spain had convoys coming and going from the New World or the Americas back to the Old. King Phillip II had a monopoly on the commodities with incalculable value like sugar and salt. Salt was used to cure meat and as preservatives, so it was in high demand. A Castilian writer once said, “The Empire of Spain is over twenty times greater than that of Rome was” (Boot/ 2006). This did not sit well with Queen Elizabeth who was Queen of England. She was of the mind that it would best serve England if they prevented the Spaniards from continental predominance, which would likely lead to Spain taking
This was not the only threat that Elizabeth I had to contend. She also had the “Papist” power against her; because Catholicism dominates Spain, they did not see her as the rightful Heir to the English crown. The “Papist”, sometimes with the help of Spain, tried to dethrone Elizabeth I and put her Catholic Cousin Mary in her place. This left England and Spain locked in a head-to-head battle with each other. They both wanted to be able to claim as much land for their country. They were both expanding in trading and shipping, which was an expansion of the diplomatic and strategic horizon of Europe. While the Anglo-Spanish relations at this point were more or less friendly, it was not until the attack in the San Juan de Ulu`a harbor on Admiral Sir John Hawkins that the tensions started to really heat up. As English ship was docked in port making repairs from extensive sailing throughout the Caribbean, the Spaniards set upon them. As a result of this attack, only a very small contingent of English men returned to England, which established a turning point for these two countries. Queen Elizabeth I took this as a semi-official act of hostility. And like in most conflicts, they were willing to step on whoever it took to
Elizabeth I supported the interception of the Spanish ships coming from the New World, raiding of the Spanish colonies, and taking of the treasure ships. This violated the self –proclaimed monopoly that Spain thought it had and costed Phillip II both money and face. Elizabeth I also fanned the flames in the Spanish Netherlands, where there was a costly revolt going on. Elizabeth exacerbated the situation by sending eight thousands troops to help the Protestant Dutch rebels free themselves from the rule of the Catholic Habsburgs. Even though it did not work, this was the clinching argument that casused Spain to invade England. England was not knowe for its land warfare histor. It was considered an underdeveloped country with a population of ~ 4 million, while Spain had ~7million. England was more concerned with establishment of domestic matters to include: replacement of feudalism by parliamentary government and the introduction of Protestantism. So for the most part, they kept to themselves and did not get involved with continental policy. Due to their disinterest, they fell behind significantly in military techniques. Queen Elizabeth I