Philip Ii

Philip II, king of Spain and only son of the Holy Roman emperor Charles V, had everything in his favor to become the dominant power in Europe and probably the world at that time. Nonetheless, he did not succeed in doing so due to his poor leadership, incompetence, bad fortune and his inept financial understanding. As an ardent Catholic defender and due to his strong sense of duty and devotion to his empire, Philip focused on expanding the Spanish realm throughout Europe and promoting Catholic faith. Barbara Tuchman analyzing Philip's incompetence: "No experience of the failure of his policy could shake his belief in its essential excellence. That whatever he did was done for the service of God, that success or failure depended on the inscrutable will of the Almighty and not on himself, were his guiding convictions, which he transmitted to his successors." (The March of Folly) Furthermore, Philip II was not only incompetent due to his unshakable and often erroneous beliefs and interpretations of them. Despite having everything in his favor to become the dominant power in Europe and defy the traditional European balance of powers imposed since the dissolution of Charlemagne's empire, he did not achieve to rule his empire astutely and rise as the dominant nation in Europe . He received an annual income of 2 million ducats in form of gold and silver from the Spanish territory in the New World. He inherited a huge part of land in Europe and the Americas as well as several colonies in Africa and India from his father, Charles V. He possessed the largest fleet in the world and the best military formation. He had the power to dominate the world. Regardless of these advantages, he was not able to dominate Europe and become the most powerful absolute ruler. Philip acted "for the service of God," hence he believed that the Almighty would grant him the power to dominate the world if he promoted and defended the only true religion, Catholicism. Therefore, he believed that all