Summary
By the 1580s, Elizabeth had fallen into definite disfavor
with Philip II of Spain. Not only was she a Protestant, not only
had she refused his marriage proposals years before, she had also
sent Leicester to the Netherlands to fight the Spanish in 1585.
Moreover, she had covertly supported Sir Francis Drake's attacks
on Spanish treasure galleons returning from the New World; in September
1580, Drake had returned from sailing around the world with a cargo
of Spanish gold, worth 1.5 million ducats, raided from galleons
in the New World. When Elizabeth killed off her Catholic rival
Mary Queen of Scots, Philip lost his patience. Personally angered
and wanting England for himself, decided in 1587 that the time
was ripe for an invasion of England.
Philip was readying the Spanish Armada when Drake led
a raid on the armada at Cadiz in April 1587. This attack took
the Spanish entirely by surprise, and Drake's maneuver set back
the Spanish invasion by about a year. Drake also managed to steal
some Spanish treasure in his raid. In July 1588, Philip finally
managed to launch the supposedly invincible Spanish Armada. His
hope was to swing the fleet by the Netherlands, pick up his army
there, and transport them across the English Channel for a ground
invasion.
England's competent navy, helped by a fortuitous wind
(referred to as the "Protestant Wind"), managed to defeat the Armada,
forcing Philip's remaining ships into the North Sea, where they
then destroyed much of Spain's remaining military might. On July
28, England defeated Spain in a decisive battle, preventing the
Spanish from landing in England. Fleeing north, the Armada was
wracked by storms. Of the 30,000 Spanish soldiers Philip had sent
to invade, only 10,000 survived.
Meanwhile, Britain's army prepared for battle on land,
assuming that the "Invincible" Armada would be able to land Philip's
troops. To inspire the troops at Tilbury, Elizabeth made one of
the most famous speeches of her career. She said, "I have but
the body of a weak and feeble woman, but I have the heart and stomach
of a king... and think foul scorn that any Prince in Europe should
dare to invade the borders of my realm." Yet there was no need
of land battles, and on November 24, 1588, the nation celebrated
a national day of Thanksgiving for its victory over Spain.
The conflict with the Spanish Armada represented the height
of the long struggle between Protestant England and Catholic Spain.
Right up until the attempted invasion by Philip, Elizabeth had
continually tried to negotiate her way to peace. In fact, stubbornly believing
that peace could be achieved without fighting, she did not attend
sufficiently to ready her navy, which, as a result, entered into battle
somewhat unprepared. However, the navy had been a priority of
Elizabeth's throughout her reign, and when the Armada faced the
British ships, they were in for a surprise. England had 34 ships in
good condition, and Philip was operating on the egregiously mistaken
information that the British ships were rotting hulls. During the
war, Elizabeth micro-managed all expenditures, infuriating Walsingham.
Elizabeth had a private arrangement with Sir Francis Drake.
She encouraged and partially financed him in his raiding of Spanish treasure
ships, and rewarded him handsomely for his exploits. She even
promised to disavow any knowledge of his actions were he to be
caught. As Elizabeth loved nothing so much as making money, Drake
was one of her famed "favorites". When the voyage that returned
in 1580 brought a 100% return, doubling Elizabeth's investment,
she held a massive feast aboard his ship, the Golden Hind, the
following April, knighting him for his service. Drake was ready
with an exotically themed gift for the Queen: a frog made of diamonds.