Battles involving England - Anglo-Spanish War

The Church of England had been founded by Henry VIII and had been made a Protestant church by his son, Edward VI. Later his daughter, Mary made England Catholic again, and married the Catholic king of Spain, Phillip II. Henry's second daughter, Elizabeth I was Protestant. (In fact, according to the rules of the Catholic Church, she was illegitimate and so should not be queen.) This made Phillip II the enemy of Elizabeth.

Phillip II supported Mary, Queen of Scots to become queen. Meanwhile, England was supporting the Protestants in the Netherlands against Spanish rule. English privateers were also attacking Spanish ships in the West Indies and the Atlantic.

Spanish Armada 1588 (location)

Phillip II decided to invade England. He organised a vast fleet, the Armada, from Spain, and an army in the Netherlands. When The Spanish fleet was seen in England, the news was sent to London by a set of hill-top beacons which were lit. The English fleet had more ships than the Spanish, but they were smaller and had less guns. The English fleet attacked the Spanish fleet on its way to pick up the Spanish army. There was no deep water habour for the Spanish fleet to wait for their army, and at night, the English sent ships on fire into the Armada, which broke up the formation of the Spanish fleet. The English carried on attacking them, and the weather turned bad. The Aramada had to sail into the North Sea, and right round Britain to get back to Spain.

The rest of the war was less successful for the English. Finally both countries had new monarchs. The Treaty of London, between Philip III of Spain and James I, brought the war to an end.