Spanish Armada
As Spanish Armada or shortened Armada is the Spanish Armada called by King Philip II. In 1588 for the war against England was prepared.
The Armada sailed against England in 1588 under the Duke of Medina-Sidonia and was supposed to force the overthrow of Elizabeth I. Opposite her stood the English fleet under Charles Howard and the Vice Admirals Francis Drake , John Hawkins and Martin Frobisher , well-known caper masters who had hit Spain heavily in previous years.
The Spanish Armada was weakened in the fight against the English mainly by storms and unfavorable winds, could not carry out the planned invasion of England and was ultimately subject to the more modern English fleet, whose ships were better maneuverable and had more extensive armament. However, even after the defeat by England, Spain remained a strong naval power for the time being until the Armada was crushed in a surprise attack by the Dutch in the Bay of Gibraltar on April 25, 1607 during the Eighty Years War and Spain lost its supremacy at sea.
term
The word armada (from Latin armatus / -a / -um , "armed") means "armed", "armed" or "armored" in Spanish and was used in the Middle Ages for armored siege machines , towers or castles, ships, formations of armored fighters or an armed force generally used. The programmatic designation of the Spanish war fleet as Armada Invencible ("invincible armed force") by Philip II narrowed the meaning of the term in the late 16th century to "war fleet". Today “ Armada ” means in Spanish navy . For the fleet of 1588 the propagandistic name Grande y Felicísima Armada (about "large and richly gifted war fleet") was chosen. In German and in many other languages, the “Spanish Armada” became an established term.
prehistory
The conflict between England and Spain had various causes. In the dispute that emerged in the course of the 16th century, it was primarily about the struggle of the old, feudal , absolutist and religiously intolerant Spain with the states ruled by the rising bourgeoisie with first democratic approaches . The capitalism that developed in England and the Netherlands was accompanied by greater rights for the bourgeoisie. Spain, and with it feudalism , was at the height of its power. Developing capitalism in England, however, should show that it is the more powerful form of economy. In addition, on the Spanish side in particular, there were also religious considerations with the claim of the Catholic Church , which was the only one to save , but also personal dislikes of the ruling houses. England in particular had renounced the Catholic Church and parts of its doctrine and for the first time, approaches to religious freedom were practiced , as was unthinkable in strictly Catholic Spain.
In Spain and Portugal , strong kingdoms had emerged at the end of the 15th century, which could maintain powerful fleets. The eastern Mediterranean was controlled by the strengthened Ottomans , who became the heirs of the Byzantine Empire . The old trade routes to the east came under their control and largely to a standstill. The barbarian states that were developing in North Africa also endangered the old trade routes to the east, so that the new empires of the west had to find other ways. Portugal searched and found the way to China and India in the east around Africa, Spain looked for the way to the west and found America again on this way . France was internally divided and therefore could not mobilize any money for a larger fleet to secure its own interests, but it came time and again to equip ships for lucrative pirate companies . Despite its size, the hands of the Holy Roman Empire were tied by the small states . The individual princes could not afford a fleet; nor were the larger principalities by the sea. The half-hearted first attempts by Brandenburg , later Prussia, were unsuccessful, as the few warships in Brandenburg could not compete with the fleets of other states. They served more as escort ships to protect smaller convoys or whaling fleets or to protect against Muslim corsairs and French pirates. The German Emperor Charles V , the father of Philip II of Spain, was also King of Spain as Charles I. Although he maintained a powerful galley fleet in the rather calm Mediterranean Sea, he did not think he had to build up a German ocean-going fleet, as the Spanish and Dutch fleets (the Netherlands were still under Spanish rule at the time) were also at his service. With the separation of the royal houses from Spain and that of the Austrian Habsburgs , it lost all ships suitable for the Atlantic, but it no longer had a port in which to station any. The only free imperial cities of Bremen and Hamburg capable of doing this refused to accept the emperor. They did not want any navies in their ports, their success in trading was based not least on their strict neutrality towards any foreign power, since due to the weakness of the German Reich through its small states there was no means of pressure to be able to enforce their interests militarily. In addition, parts of the Holy Roman Empire had enough to do with the aspiring Ottomans and also with internal German conflicts, such as the Reformation . In England there were not only domestic crises but also wars with Scotland . The great power of Sweden sought its goals in the east and north of Germany .
The world outside Europe had Pope Alexander VI. 1493 divided into two catholic halves with a papal bull . The western part should belong to Spain, the eastern part to Portugal. Other countries were not taken into account. The dividing line ran two hundred miles west of the Azores and Cape Verde from the North - to the South Pole . After Ferdinand Magellan circled the earth, the line was extended to the Pacific side. Since the eastern extent of South America was not yet generally known at that time, a somewhat modified, second dividing line ran through South America, which allowed Portugal to establish settlements there. They later became the only Portuguese-speaking state in Latin America: Brazil .
The English bourgeoisie was on the rise, however, and England grew stronger after overcoming internal and external disputes in the course of the sixteenth century. In the middle of the 16th century the English discovered the abundance of fish in Newfoundland and poached in the waters attributed by the Pope to Spain and Portugal. The British did not care about the Pope, however, as their own ruling king and no longer the Pope was the head of their Anglican Church . Spain protested, but had no free ships that the English could have put in their place in North America, which is economically unimportant for Spain. The Spanish fleet was used to guard the important gold and silver transports because they were targeted and quite successfully attacked by pirates from various countries.
When the English repaired their ships in the port of San Juan de Ulúa in the Gulf of Mexico in 1568 , they were attacked by a strong Spanish fleet, only a few escaped to England (main article: San Juan de Ulúa) . This is seen as the turning point in the hitherto neutral relationship between England and Spain, the rapprochement of which in 1554 even culminated in the marriage of Philip II to Maria Tudor , Queen of England and Ireland from 1553 to 1558. However, this connection did not result in any legal offspring and neither did Philip II influence English politics. The restoration of the Catholic Church in England he wanted did not materialize. After the death of Maria Tudor in November 1558, her half-sister Elisabeth ascended the throne on January 15, 1559. They supported piracy against Spain, but wanted to avoid open war. Between 1569 and 1580 there was unofficial hostility between England and Spain in the Caribbean Sea . The rivalry in trade developed into open enmity through the religious disputes and the news of the mistreatment of British prisoners up to their burning as heretics by the Spaniards.
In 1580 the Portuguese royal family died out and Portugal fell to Spain, whereby Philip II, as Philip I, also became King of Portugal. He was married to the Portuguese Hereditary Princess Maria of Portugal until she died in childbirth in 1545 at the age of 17 shortly after the birth of her son Don Carlos . Thus, the Portuguese part of the world divided by the Pope fell to him, which he was now allowed to colonize without restriction and was to evangelize according to the papal bull . France was still very divided internally, but the bourgeoisie in the Netherlands and England grew stronger. The pirates operating from France, England and the Netherlands became increasingly a problem for Spain. It was in the interests of these states to weaken Spain in order to secure a larger share of the conquests, but also of the lucrative slave trade . Therefore England supported the Huguenots in France and the Protestants in the Netherlands, who tried to free themselves from Spanish dependency.
There was economic competition on the oceans. The attacks and smuggling of English privateers like Drake and Hawkins in the Caribbean or the circumnavigation of Francis Drake (1577–1580) challenged the Spanish in their colonies and brought the flow of silver from the Bolivian Potosí to Spain to a standstill. On April 4, 1581 rose Queen Elizabeth Drake aboard his ship in the knighthood . She made him kneel in front of her and handed the sword to a French diplomat , with which he knighted him. Probably this was intended as an affront to the King of Spain and was intended to help bring Spain into conflict with France. Philip II had previously requested in a protest note that Drake be extradited to Spain.
Another aspect was the religious component, which was very important to the strict Catholic Philip: The Protestant Elisabeth supported the Protestants in France and the Netherlands . In France, for example, she stood behind Henry of Navarre , the "king without a crown who wages war without money", and supported him against the Catholic opposing party of the Duke of Guise , who in turn was supported by Spain. In the Netherlands she supported the rebels ( Geusen ) and William of Orange against the Spanish occupation.
On the Spanish side was z. B. Don Juan de Austria , Philip's half-brother and winner of Lepanto . He intended to cross the Channel with a troop formation, land in England, dethrone Elizabeth and marry the Catholic Maria Stuart . But until his death in 1578, Philip's provisional objection prevented him from doing this. Furthermore, Philip II of Spain was married to Maria Tudor ( the bloody one ) himself. Then he made marriage proposals to Elisabeth, which she rejected as "improper".
Preparations
Initial situation and espionage
As early as the 1570s, the Spanish admiral Alvaro de Bazán , Marqués de Santa Cruz, advised Philip II to invade England. He had worked out a plan according to which a fleet of 150 warships and 360 transport ships would bring an army of 30,000 men from the Spanish Netherlands to England. Philip II granted generous funds for this action.
The Spanish benefited in this military project from the fact that the English coast was largely poorly secured. The English King Henry VIII had initiated the construction of several coastal fortresses during the first half of the 16th century , but these were already out of date. In addition, the Spanish navy was enlarged by the conquest and annexation of Portugal in 1580.
However, despite the great lack of money, English espionage was not inactive. The founder of the British secret service, Francis Walsingham , took the position that Elizabeth I could never be sure of her life and throne as long as the Catholics with Philip II at the head could use Mary Stuart against her. Walsingham succeeded for the first time in raising a network of agents in Europe; He also perfected conspiracy and had cryptographic procedures developed for communication with the agents , which offered them a level of security that did not exist before. His search for evidence of a trial against the Scottish ex-queen coincided with the first information about the formation of the Armada. In July 1586 z. B. the English ambassador (and double spy ) E. Stafford from Paris: "The Spanish circles brag here that Her Majesty's realm would be attacked within three months and that a large army is already preparing for it."
At the beginning of 1587, Walsingham succeeded in hiring an employee of the then Spanish Grand Admiral Alvaro de Bazán , Marqués Santa Cruz, the predecessor of Medina Sidonia , as a spy, who gave him further details. Santa Cruz is concerned with the course of the Thames and whether it is navigable for a large fleet. Walsingham was also able to spy out the other goals of the Spanish Enlightenment: An agent "B" was to be recruited and determined which parties ( Puritans , Protestants, etc.) there were in the English government council , which leaders they had and whether they would agree to a peace treaty with Spain whether the English would possibly doubt the impending invasion and where it was specifically expected. The English espionage learned about the other interests of the Spanish Enlightenment, which concerned the defense units, their reserves, commanders, possibly newly built fortifications and, last but not least, about newly recruited spies .
The dates seem to contradict each other between the Spanish and English sources. This is due to the fact that in Spain, a country loyal to the Pope, the Pope Gregory XIII. The calendar reform carried out was implemented, but Protestant England still dated according to the Julian calendar .
First English successes
England went on the offensive and succeeded in uncovering a murder plot against Elizabeth, the " Babington Conspiracy ". Considering that Walsingham had encouraged his enemies to prepare by pretending to overlook their activities, it was Mary Queen of Scots who signed the plan and her other conspirators who had orchestrated the assassination. Walsingham had only apparently looked the other way, but in truth only weighed the conspirators safe until they believed they could actually strike and kill Elizabeth. One cannot be mistaken in assuming that the invasion of England should precede the murder of Elizabeth. If Elisabeth had previously hesitated to shed Maria Stuart's royal blood, she now signed the death sentence that had been pronounced by the judges long before. Maria Stuart was executed in February 1587.
Rumors of the upcoming operations spread across Europe and by 1587 the English were trying to nip the invasion in the bud. An English fleet now constantly monitored the Flemish coast.
Francis Drake received the following instruction in the royal chancellery: "He should anticipate the attack intentions of the Spanish fleet and prevent Spanish naval forces from gathering in the Lisbon area!" Drake, who has meanwhile been appointed admiral, set up a fleet of 23 ships within two weeks which also included purely private entrepreneurs who speculated on the high profit that has become common in Drake's ventures. But since there was still no declaration of war and there were secret peace negotiations with the Duke of Parma, the Queen tried to keep up appearances and sent Drake a new order: “... Hold back from going to any port of the named king [Philip II .] to invade by force, to carry out any city, any anchored ship or any hostile act on the mainland against him… ”. This order did not reach Drake in time for his departure, which was due to the fact that Queen Elizabeth only signed it a week later. She just wanted to wash her hands in innocence, which she succeeded. Drake's fleet sailed to the largest Spanish naval port, Cadiz .
In the port of Cádiz, Drake found 80 (according to other sources 60) different ships that were being equipped. Taking advantage of the surprise, Drake drove his ships into port. Here, for the first time, the Spanish sailors had to painfully recognize the superior firepower of the English bronze cannons compared to their iron pipes. Outside the range of the Spanish cannons, the English fleet fired at the Spanish ships with devastating effects. The English did not even reach the projectiles of the Spanish coastal batteries. Individual Spanish ships tried to take up the fight, but had no chance against the English speed sailors and their superior cannons, as they attacked them from a distance. In the course of the battle, Drake's fleet destroyed or damaged all ships in the port. The Spaniards lost 30 ships (according to Drake, 37). The battle raged for a day and a half, which was due to a twelve-hour calm in the evening. Drake's fleet thus had enough time to use their long-range cannons, since the Spaniards could not leave and a relief at sea could not come. The lack of wind increased the accuracy of the English. The Spanish galleys could not intervene successfully as they were the first to fall victim to the English. Four of them were captured and brought to England as booty, the rest sunk. The Spanish land troops hastily summoned by the governor of Andalusia, the Duke of Medina-Sidonia, were ultimately able to prevent the English from landing, which prevented even greater Spanish losses. This only succeeded, however, because the English could not penetrate the port quickly enough due to the calm and the Spaniards found time to gather the troops. Drake did not lose a single ship.
Drake now undertook further forays along the Portuguese and Spanish coasts and achieved further success. One of them was that he found 1,700 tons of finished and dried barrel staves on the coast and could burn them. These staves could have been used to make barrels for 25,000 to 30,000 tons of food or powder. For the first time, Drake acted purely militarily in these actions and did not aim to just gain valuable booty. This annoyed the private captains, some of whom withdrew from his command and drove back to England prematurely. But when Drake learned that the "San Felipe", a large Spanish merchant ship, coming from the now Spanish and no longer Portuguese spice islands was approaching along the coast of Africa, he relocated the ship near the Azores with his fleet and made rich booty , especially ivory, gold, silver, pepper, cinnamon, silk and other treasures. The company was once again an economic success.
Before this action, Drake conquered the coastal town of Sagres with his castle. Here he took only four cannons as booty and had the castle set on fire. The building was in poor condition and there was hardly anything left to remind you that Heinrich the Navigator had once employed cartographers here to map the Mauritanian coast. The Heinrich des Seefahrers library and the cartographic institute located here with all its maps and research reports fell victim to the flames. Drake certainly didn't know what he was doing by burning this building down.
The British fleet stayed off the Spanish coast for some time, but was ultimately forced to return to England due to illness and lack of supplies. Drake's attack delayed the Armada's departure for several months.
Drake commented on his return: "I scorched the king's beard", which was both an expression of glee and pessimism, since ultimately it was at best a disruptive maneuver that prevented the Armada from leaking for a relatively short time. even if it fueled patriotism in England.
Differences in the fleets
The Spanish counted on their experience and traditions. Their ships had tall, castle-like and, in their opinion, terrifying stern superstructures, called forts. These high superstructures ensured that the ships had a high center of gravity, which had to be compensated for by greater draft. This draft in turn made the ships slow and cumbersome. The tall superstructures were also susceptible to wind and offered great goals. When arming the Spaniards, they relied on large-caliber, heavy iron cannons with a limited range. The heaviest calibers could only be carried in small numbers due to their weight and were located in the lower battery deck , which could not be used in heavy seas. The experiences from the battles in the rather calm Mediterranean were no good for the battles in the often stormy North Atlantic. In addition, the Spaniards mobilized everything they had at their disposal, which led to a diverse hodgepodge of different types, including galleys. This made it difficult to use the ships in associations, since an association always had to orient itself to the slowest and most lazy ships. The Armada had 2,431 cannons, of which the heavy calibers (934 pieces) were made of iron. Also on board were around 7,000 arquebuses , around 1,000 muskets and 123,790 bullets for the cannons (around 50 per cannon) as well as the powder supply required to fire the bullets. The long carriage tail of the Spanish cannon proved to be problematic, as it could be reloaded more slowly in the narrow battery decks than the more compact block carriage of the English. The tactics of the Spaniards required to wear down the enemy with a few volleys and then to wrestle him down in boarding combat, a tactic in which the transport ships with their many foot soldiers were of great importance.
The English did without high superstructures on their ships and were thus able to keep the draft of the ships low without their stability suffering. That made the ships fast and agile. The rather small-caliber, lighter English bronze cannons had a longer barrel than the heavy Spanish iron cannons, which significantly increased the range and accuracy of the projectiles, but made the cannons only slightly heavier. The training of the gunners was not to be underestimated. The English used seamen for this purpose, who therefore regularly trained with their cannons, while the Spaniards resorted to soldiers who had relatively little experience in handling the guns in the narrow battery decks. As a result of the above factors, the English ships were able to achieve a rate of fire three times higher than that of the Spanish. The English also had different types of ships in their fleet, but their performance data were quite similar, and it was also possible to combine them into homogeneous groups in order to be able to use the advantages of the ship types in a more targeted manner.
Another not insignificant advantage was the quality of the English seamen and officers, who owed their posts to their own merits and not to their descent or the protection of courtiers. The commander of the English fleet was indeed a duke, but the vice-admirals included only well-known privateer captains and excellent seamen. Francis Drake , for example, was the son of a farmer and began his career as a cabin boy.
The Armada
The Armada is running out
The otherwise rather cautious Philip II put the Grand Admiral of the Spanish galleys Alvaro de Bazán , Marqués de Santa Cruz, the hero of Lepanto , under enormous pressure and repeatedly set him unrealistic time limits. Alvaro de Bazán struggled to grant the king's wishes, but on February 9, 1588, at the age of 72, he collapsed from the overload of his strength and died. The king chose the Duke of Medina-Sidonia, who was an experienced logistician but not a seaman , as his successor . The Duke was aware of his unsuitability for this task and he repeatedly asked for his replacement, as he had no idea about naval warfare and was also easily seasick. As governor of Andalusia he was an excellent administrative expert, but his military merits were limited to preventing the English from landing with quickly assembled mainland troops during Drake's raid on Cádiz. The king refused a replacement. However, the Duke of Medina-Sidonia did not make any wrong decisions because he always listened to his experienced officers.
From a letter from the Duke to the King: “... Even my state of health makes me unfit for such a trip. I have hardly any sea experience, all I know is that I get seasick on the back of the waves and that I get badly cold from the sea winds. ... Since I know nothing about shipping or warfare, and am not at all familiar with them, I have no right to accept the post of commander-in-chief of such a huge enterprise. I have not the slightest idea what the Marquis of Santa Cruz has done so far, what information he had about England ... ”The Duke, a distinguished grandee of a fine way of life, extremely adept in civil administration, realized only too well that he was for this company was the wrong man. However, the king did not even allow a debate about his decision.
The King had set February 15th as the final date for the Armada to sail. The date was unrealistic, but it left everyone on the spot in chaos. In an effort to meet the deadline, ships were equipped with cannons that were just available but far too large for them. However, their ammunition was on ships that did not have this caliber on board. There were tons of other mishaps. The secretary of the late Marquis had packed the war plans, the fleet register, all confidential mail and the intelligence documents as the personal estate of the Marquis and wanted to send it to his family. The duke only received these vital papers on direct orders from the king. With so much chaos, the deadline for the departure of the fleet could not be kept.
The first ships of the Armada left Lisbon on May 28, 1588 . The departure of the fleet with 130 ships dragged on until May 30th. The ships were manned by around 27,000 soldiers and armed with 2,431 cannons . The Armada was supposed to protect a Spanish invading army under Alexander Farnese , Duke of Parma , in the Netherlands and to enable them to travel to England in unarmed transport ships. Specifically, Philip's instructions to the Duke of Medina-Sidonia were dated April 1, 1588: “When you receive my orders, you will sail with the whole armada and sail straight to the English Channel, through which you will continue to the Cape Marget to go there to shake hands with the Duke of Parma, my nephew, and to clear and secure the way for his crossing ”.
The core of the fleet consisted of 64 galleons , multi-deck sailing ships with three masts, high superstructures, eight to ten large-caliber iron cannons on each side in the lower deck and small-caliber cannons in the upper deck and two rear-facing cannons in the stern. These ships had 100 to 500 men on board, depending on the size of the ship. In addition there were four outdated galeasses with two decks for a crew of 300, some artillery on the upper deck and 300 rowers on the lower deck (slaves, convicts and prisoners of war). The oldest part of the fleet was made up of four galleys with a crew of 200 to 300 men and 100 to 150 soldiers for boarding . The Armada was also accompanied by supply ships.
No sooner had the port of Lisbon, which was then under Spanish rule, been left when the ships reported that the food and drinking water had been spoiled. This was the revenge that, after Drake's burning of vast quantities of dried barrel staves, fresh wood had to be used for the barrels, which warped and the barrels therefore leaked. Since the fleet had to adapt to the speed of the slowest ships, Cape Finisterre, only 160 nautical miles away, was only reached after 13 days. However, this enabled more ships to catch up with the Armada. A storm broke out in the Bay of Biscay and dispersed the fleet. Four ships sank. On June 19, the Council of War decided to call at La Coruña to bunker fresh food and to collect the fleet again. The Duke of Medina-Sidonia tried one last time to get rid of the supreme command, for which he considered himself completely unsuitable, but the king refused. The fleet, dispersed by a storm, gathered in La Coruña within a month, was replenished there , the storm damage was repaired, the sick healed or replaced and the voyage continued on July 21st.
The two naval war strategies
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On July 31, 1588 (July 21 according to the Julian calendar , which was still valid in England at the time ), the supposedly insurmountable Armada appeared in the English Channel and battles broke out between the English and the Spanish. The English Commander-in-Chief, Lord High Admiral Charles Howard of Effingham , trusted the experienced state pirates who commanded his squadrons . These were John Hawkins , Richard Grenville and Martin Frobisher - all three were ennobled for their excellent services in the fight against the Armada - also Lord Henry Seymour , Sir William Winter and Sir Francis Drake . The Spaniards had adopted a crescent-shaped battle order in which large, clumsy ships formed the center. They were mainly aimed at boarding the enemy ships with their soldiers on board. The Spanish fleet even included galleys such as those used in the Mediterranean for two thousand years. That was enough for a naval warfare, as it was essentially also implemented in the naval battle of Lepanto in 1571, only that the type of ship used there was different.
The English did not let the boarding battle matter because they would have been inferior to the Spaniards in their estimation. The Spanish foot soldiers were considered the best and most disciplined of the time. The English used the greater range of their artillery and the speed of their ships and kept the Spaniards at a distance.
The largest ships on either side were vehicles with a displacement of about 1,000 tons . The equipment and thus also the combat tactics of the two fleets differed significantly from each other. The Spaniards wanted to shoot the enemy at a very short range, hit the rigging of his ships and their crew and then take the enemy ships in close combat . Each of their heavy ships was therefore equipped with up to 40 heavy guns designed for this distance. The English also preferred boarding, but they had great respect for the Spanish boarding crews and wanted to decimate this opponent first with the cannons. The English used their better artillery to inflict greater damage on the enemy beforehand. That is why they tended to equip their galleons with long-range field snakes .
Especially because of the excellent Spanish discipline, which almost always kept the formation of the Armada closed despite daily attacks, the English attacks at a distance did hardly any damage.
The aim of the English was to prevent the Armada from uniting with the invading army at all costs. The aim was to put the Armada in a situation in which they would neither be able to adequately protect the invasion troops stuck in the Netherlands during a crossing, nor would they be able to successfully land in England themselves.
The Spanish sailors and at least some of their leaders were well aware of the tactical disadvantage with the artillery: “It is common knowledge that we represent God's cause. So when we meet the English, God will direct things so that we can go into hand-to-hand combat and board. […] But if God does not help us through a miracle, the English, who have faster and more maneuverable ships than us and more long-range guns and are well aware of this advantage, will never let us unlock, but keep their distance and us with their guns beat to pieces without our being able to damage them in any appreciable way. So we sail to England in firm faith in a miracle. "
The battle begins
On the evening of July 30th, the Spaniards saw the sails of the English fleet for the first time near Plymouth . A conquest of Plymouth was considered by Spain, but because of the narrow access to the port and the strong coastal guns, the plan was dropped again. At dawn, a Spanish speed sailor under the command of the experienced Juan Martínez de Recalde was sent out to investigate. He found the English fleet and worriedly reported the ease with which the English ships carried out a turning maneuver that was generally regarded as difficult. As the fleets approached, the Spanish officers once again admired the ease with which the English ships moved, but the English also had to pay their enemies respect as they analyzed the Armada's perfect line-up at the crescent moon. The Spanish fleet resorted to their tried and tested tactics of the crescent formation, which, thanks to the great discipline in their fleet, was extremely dangerous and effective.
The first modern sea battle began on July 31, 1588 with medieval ceremonies . The Duke of Medina-Sidonia hoisted the “Holy Flag”, and his opponent, Lord Admiral Howard, sent him a personal courier letter calling on him to fight. The English let the Armada pass and went in pursuit. This cut off the Spaniards' route of retreat, but also a supply of supplies from Spain.
There were first exchanges of fire, which increased during the day. The English rushed up and shot at the Spaniards from a great distance, then quickly retreated. The Spaniards responded with their cannons. In the end, neither side suffered any significant damage and the Armada continued to move along the canal. Ammunition consumption on both sides was high, but the damage was low.
The Spaniards hurt themselves more than their opponents. When the Armada re-formed after an attack, the guide galley of the Andalusian squadron, the Nuestra Senora del Rosario , collided with another ship and was badly damaged. Minutes later, the powder room of the San Salvador exploded due to unexplained circumstances . Few seafarers could be saved.
Francis Drake recognized the problems of Nuestra Senora del Rosario and extinguished after midnight the navigation lights of his ship Revenge , which was unusual because it was the leading ship responsible for the entire English fleet that night the commander in chief and his ship. Howard, who temporarily lost sight of the guidance signal with his flagship because Drake deleted it, thought he recognized it later and was shocked when at some point he had to identify the enemy flagship San Martin rather than the Revenge as the guidance signal . Only a masterly feat in sailing made it possible to flee back into one's own ranks and prevented an argument and possible capture.
Drake embarked on a personal adventure with two high-speed sailors and the battle ship Roebuck . At dawn he appeared in front of the Nuestra Senora del Rosario under the leadership of Pedro de Valdés, the commander of the Andalusian squadron. When he found out that El Draque was the attacker, he surrendered, although the ship, armed with 46 cannons, 180 sailors and 300 soldiers, could undoubtedly have resisted long enough to get help from the Armada. However, neither the Spanish commander nor Drake were held accountable. On the contrary, Drake, who had left his responsible post and thus endangered his own fleet and in particular his Commander-in-Chief, was envied because part of the war chest with 55,000 gold ducats was on board his prize and he received such enormous prize money . Pedro de Valdés was also not accused in Spain.
On the morning of August 1st, a battle unfolded that historians often refer to as the sea ballet. The enemy ships circled each other individually or in groups, fired their cannons, sometimes got within range of the muskets, but the English avoided any boarding attempt or close combat by fleeing quickly. The waste of ammunition on both sides was enormous, but the damage on both sides was rather minor. The English had to realize that they would not be able to break the formation of their disciplined opponent so easily, but that he could not force a close combat on them, in which the Spanish boarding teams might have been superior to them.
The battle for the canal
In the first days of August there were rather small fights every day, all of which consumed a lot of ammunition, but did not lead to significant success. The Spaniards drove on without the English succeeding in inflicting decisive losses on them. However, the Spaniards were soon concerned about the high consumption of ammunition, as they had no supplies. But the English also had supply problems. According to estimates by contemporaries, the losses amounted to 170 dead and 250 injured Spaniards, including about 150 victims of the explosion of the "San Salvador" and the prisoners of the "Nuestra Senora del Rosario". The English losses are estimated at half the Spanish ones. Exact information can no longer be determined, however, since the captains like to hide losses in order to keep the wages or the wages of the dead seamen and soldiers for themselves.
Before the Strait of Dover , Lord Seymour's formation joined the English fleet. So far he had kept the Duke of Parma's invasion fleet in check with 35 ships. But after the latter made no move to sail, his rested men and still fully armed ships strengthened the English fleet.
The Duke of Parma had now written off the invasion, which he had never thought much of. He had neither succeeded in recruiting sufficient troops, nor was he able to organize suitable shipping space for their transport. He expected the Armada to offer him protection and, on the contrary, was now called upon by the Armada to assist it with gunboats. But he only had a small number of these gunboats available. There was also the problem that the Spanish ships, unlike the English, had too great a draft to operate in the shallow Dutch coastal waters. His invasion fleet would have been at the mercy of the English fleet and even a Spanish fleet that might have been successful on the high seas could not stand by him in the shallow Dutch coastal waters.
His entire invading army was in poor shape. He struggled with financial difficulties and was sometimes unable to pay wages for months. The soldiers grumbled and plundered the population. His army of mainly southern mercenaries was also ready too early in September 1587. In the following cold season, many of the southerners fell ill, and the cold weather and inactivity demoralized the army. Many soldiers died or deserted. In the spring of 1588, only 17,000 of the 30,000 active men of the previous year remained.
The Armada in the Netherlands
Nevertheless, the Armada reached the Netherlands, where, however, the coordination with the invading army Alexander Farneses, the Duke of Parma, did not work. The two Spanish commanders exchanged dispatches, but the Duke was not yet able to embark his men because of the enemy blockade, and certainly not comply with the Armada's request to deliver ammunition or even park gunboats to support the Armada.
After days of exchanges of fire with the English fleet, the Spanish ships had a massive shortage of ammunition. Although the skirmishes had not resulted in serious damage on either side and the disciplined Spanish fleet was able to maintain their formation, the use of powder and cannonballs was high.
So the French port of Calais was reached, where the Duke of Medina-Sidonia was hoping for supplies. The politically divided France was officially friendly to Spain. The question was whether the governor was closer to the French King Henry III. was inclined to or his Catholic counterpart supported by Spain, the Duke of Guise, who was at the height of his power and who had recently driven the king out of Paris. The French only sent the Duke of Medina-Sidonia a fruit basket in response to his request for ammunition and supplies, but later claimed to have consented to grocery shopping.
Admiral Howard held a council of war before reaching the strait. The previous actions of the British fleet had turned out to be unsuccessful. The enemy ships were hit, but no significant effect could be achieved. The Armada continued its course in formation in a disciplined manner. That is why the Admiral restructured his fleet of around 100 ships, which was much smaller than that of the Spaniards. He divided the ships into four quite independent combat groups. The associations were commanded by him, Drake, Frobisher and John Hawkins. This made the associations even more flexible and able to react better to Spanish activities. Meanwhile, Howard also sent strong demands to his home bases. The fleet, like the Spanish Armada, ran out of ammunition.
When the Armada in the port of Calais anchored, the English fleet attacked on the night of Aug. 7 with fireships at (burning, rudderless ships). The infernal machines used for this purpose were developed by the Italian engineer Federigo Giambelli . These fires, which had already been successfully used against the Spanish in Antwerp , could no longer be fought by boarding or shooting at the masts from close range, since constant explosions and far-reaching iron rain made an approach impossible.
The Spaniards cut the anchor ropes and had to leave the port in a hurry and flee. In the subsequent naval battle of Gravelines they therefore fought for the first time without a battle order. The British, now operating in powerful squadrons, were able to concentrate several of them on one Spanish ship each, but sank no more than a handful and, moreover, did not have enough ammunition . The tactics of the smaller, more independent squadrons, however, fully proved their worth. In this way, the British were able to react quickly to the changing balance of power and isolate and successfully fight individual Spanish ships or groups. The heavy seas prevented the Spaniards from using their heaviest artillery on the lowest decks of their ships. Opening their fire flaps would have led to massive water ingress through them due to the heavy seas and the sinking of the ships. The English recognized this and therefore reduced the combat distance in order to "crack" the ships of the Spaniards, some of which were planked seven times. Therefore, the English ships now sailed very close to the Spaniards in order to be able to give them a full broadside with devastating effects from close range. Immediately afterwards, they broke away from their victim and withdrew to a safe distance. With this tactic, the English were able to seriously damage a significant number of Spanish ships for the first time and even sink some. Only an emerging storm ended the battle and saved many badly damaged Spanish ships, as the English had to withdraw due to the heavy weather and could not complete their work of destruction.
"You have to make sure," King Philip had his commander Alonso Perez de Guzman , Duke of Medina Sidonia enjoined, "that your squadron is not breaking out of the battle formation and that no captains, driven by greed, pursuing the fleeing enemy and pinches make . “The Duke had stuck to this order, but the fire destroyed his formation for the time being.
About 2000 Spaniards and a few hundred English lost their lives in this fight. The battle was a clear tactical victory for the English. Although the Spaniards still had more ships than the English after the end of the battle, they also had greater losses. Only the approaching storm saved them from total annihilation. The English had achieved their goal and prevented a union of the Armada with the army of the Duke of Parma and their invasion of England.
The Spaniards finally managed to regroup and regroup their fleet after the storm, but their morale was destroyed. They also knew that their company had failed. There was no longer any possibility of entering the Thames estuary. The invasion army in the Netherlands, which was already in poor condition, could no longer intervene.
The storms and circumnavigation of the British Isles
Both opponents got caught in a storm during the Battle of Gravelines, which saved the Spaniards major losses. The subsequent restoration of the order of battle of the Spaniards was only secondary. There were many heavily damaged ships in the Armada formation, and many injured on the ships. The English units operating in independent groups had been able to attack the Spanish ships very effectively this time and only the storm had prevented the English from completing their work of destruction. The troops were demoralized and the prospects bad because Spain was infinitely far away. Because of the damage to the Spanish ships, the lack of ammunition and adverse winds, which did not allow the Armada to sail back into the canal, the invasion had to be stopped. The English drove the Spaniards northeast towards the Norwegian coast in the stormy North Sea. In addition, another opponent now appeared on the scene. Dutch high-speed sailors, Justinus von Nassau's gunboats , attacked Spanish stragglers who mostly had hardly any ammunition left to defend themselves.
On the evening of August 9, a council of war was held on the flagships of both fleets. Howard also primarily had supply problems. He ordered Lord Seymour's squadron back to the Dutch coast in the unlikely event that the Duke of Parma would still set his invasion fleet in motion. He rightly no longer viewed the Spanish fleet as a serious threat to England.
The Spanish War Council had bigger problems. Almost all of the remaining 100 or so ships were more or less badly damaged, and many were barely maneuverable. There was almost no ammunition and food left and there was no way to change that so far from our own bases. The troops and officers were demoralized. There were many injured and sick on the ships. Despite these circumstances, it was decided, if within four days a favorable wind should set in, to attempt to conquer an English port or to attack Howard's fleet in order to be able to escape through the channel. How they actually wanted to do this without ammunition remains a secret of the Council of War. However, the weather only got worse and so there was only the risky route north around Scotland. How many of the battered ships would be able to survive the voyage through the northern storms was unclear, but the Spaniards relied on God again for lack of an alternative.
The English broke off the pursuit at the height of the Firth of Forth . Howard realized that the Spaniards were no longer a threat. In addition, the English fleet had major problems with the health of its crews and also no longer had enough ammunition for major attacks. The English also lacked experience with the necessary hygiene and the composition of the ship's catering for longer sea voyages.
On Saturday, August 13th, the Spanish admiral Duke of Medina-Sidonia saw no more opposing sails for the first time. The condition of his fleet was pathetic. Seven of the largest ships of the line had sunk, the rest were badly shot and quite a few had great difficulty keeping themselves afloat at all. A fifth of the crews were dead or at least incapable of fighting. Discipline had been lost, and when the last major clash of the fleets came on August 9, a large part of the ships had ignored the Admiral's communicated orders and failed to take their positions in the order of the battle. Twenty neglected captains (almost every fourth of the remaining captains) sentenced to death by an admiral's express court, and one of the judgments was carried out as a deterrent, the other captains being tied up in the bilge of the flagship.
However, there were enough other problems. There was a lack of drinking water and food on the Armada ships. The horses and donkeys taken on board for landing were either slaughtered and consumed or pushed into the sea. The food was rationed and officers and soldiers were only given about two hundred grams of rusks, half a liter of mostly spoiled water and a quarter of a liter of wine per day. Under these conditions many died of exhaustion or illnesses caused by deteriorating hygiene.
The Armada was badly hit in the northern storms on its way back to Spain around the British Isles, and individual ships were thrown up to the rocks of Norway. Around 1,300 people died in the sinking of the galeas Girona off Lacada Point ( County Antrim , Northern Ireland ), and almost the same number of victims were found when the three ships Juliana , Lavia and Santa Maria de Vison were stranded off Streedagh Strand ( County Sligo , Ireland). About 3000 Spaniards were stranded on the Scottish and especially Irish coast. Well over 1000 shipwrecked people were murdered by beach robbers and the English soldiers stationed in Ireland. But some also managed to go into hiding with the Irish rural population, who were Catholic and hostile to England. The total loss of the Spaniards to the forces of nature in the North Atlantic in July and August 1588 amounted to 64 ships and at least 12,000 men. A storm raged for two weeks. When he lay down, the battered armada was still beyond the 58th parallel, at the height of northern England. It took the defeated armada a month and a half to return home. On September 22nd, the flagship “San Martin” arrived in the Spanish port of Santander , followed by 66 more or less seriously damaged ships. Another ship came in later. These 68 wrecks were all that was left of the 130 ships that broke into the invincible armada.
Philip II commented on this as follows: “I did not send my fleet against storms and waves, but against people.” The king did not make the Duke of Medina-Sidonia, the reluctant admiral who had resisted his appointment, for responsible for the defeat. The duke served the king faithfully for a further 10 years until his death and further 12 years in higher offices for the Spanish crown.
The English also suffered heavy losses, as 6,000–8,000 seamen died in the English fleet, but mainly from diseases such as dysentery and typhus . After the battle, significantly more seamen died from epidemics than from the fighting itself. In contrast to the Spanish soldiers and seamen, there was no state support for the English veterans of the battle.
The ongoing war
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The impact of the Spanish defeat, however, was limited. The Spaniards were able to bring many of their ocean-going ships back to Spanish ports.
Philip II recognized the Armada's flaws. For the new fleet, he wanted modern artillery and more agile ships. He approached the further development of the fleet from a completely different point of view. Modern shipyards and armories were founded in Spain, for which Philip II recruited the appropriate masters from all over Europe. However, due to the gout, he was now dependent on a wheelchair and never left his palace. For the last years of his life he ruled his world-wide empire only from his desk.
In 1589 the English tried to attack the Spanish with the English Armada in return, but this failed completely. The original English plan was to attack the Spanish fleet in Santander and San Sebastián , but they attacked La Coruña , where they had to withdraw with heavy losses. They were also unable to intercept the Spanish silver fleet. The attempt to drive the Spaniards out of Portugal with the help of the Portuguese insurgents also failed.
The Spanish naval armament continued unchanged and in the following years the Spanish fleet was much stronger than before the defeat. The Spaniards tripled their silver exports from overseas colonies and defeated the English at sea in 1591, 1595 and 1597.
Conclusion
The heavy defeat of the Armada, if not the transition of supremacy at sea from Spain to England, certainly marked the beginning of stagnation in Spain. Little England had stood up to the world empire Spain and thus demonstrated the need to protect a huge colonial empire like that of Spain with an appropriate fleet. In response to the outcome of the naval battle, the Spaniards began to systematically build up a seaworthy fleet for the Atlantic only after 1588 . However, this was a further burden on the already notoriously tight Spanish budget. Despite huge gold and silver flows from South America, Spain was constantly threatened with national bankruptcy. To build up the armada, Philip II had to sell crown estates and titles of nobility in order to raise the sum of around 10 million ducats that the armada ultimately cost. The expansion of the Spanish fleet and the equipping of two more armadas also devoured large sums of money, which put the Spanish state under further pressure.
The fact that the Spanish naval power was still quite effective was proven in 1589 when an English counterattack was successfully repelled. What Philip II really lost in 1588 was the propaganda battle associated with Operation Armada . Elizabeth I was able to win this so lastingly that until recently even historically educated people believed unquestioningly that Spanish supremacy at sea was actually weakened dramatically and persistently.
The actual destruction of the Armada took place on April 25, 1607 in the Bay of Gibraltar. There, the Spanish ships anchored there were destroyed in a surprise attack by a fleet from the rebellious provinces of Holland and Zeeland under the leadership of Jacob van Heemskerk . The Dutch themselves had only minor losses; including their commander. That was the actual end of the supremacy of the Spaniards. The Dutch's plan worked: this defeat made the Spaniards ripe for negotiations, which in 1609 resulted in the twelve-year armistice between Spain and the young republic of the 7 provinces . This began the brief period of Dutch supremacy.
In the course of the 17th century England was able to expand its position of sea power through the three Anglo-Dutch naval wars and in the 18th century through the clashes with France , until it rose to dominant sea power for a century with the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805 . After the signing of the Peace of the Pyrenees in 1659, the supremacy of Spain as the strongest land power in Europe finally passed to France .
Fleet list
Printed lists of the size and equipment of the individual ships and the entire fleet appeared during the compilation. The concept of the composition of the individual squadrons was already written in 1586 and translated into German and published in 1588. Since English translations were also available, one can assume that firstly it was a Spanish propaganda campaign against all non-Catholics and secondly the English side must have been very well informed about the expected attack.
literature
- Colin Martin, Geoffrey Parker: The Spanish Armada. London u. a. 1988, ISBN 0-241-12125-6 .
- Garrett Mattingly: The Armada. Seven days make world history. Piper, Munich 1959. (1960 Pulitzer Prize ) (from 1988: ISBN 3-492-10533-5 )
- Garrett Mattingly: The Defeat of the Spanish Armada. Folio Society, London 2002.
- Peter Padfield: Armada. Braunschweig 1988, ISBN 3-07-508985-0 .
- Neil Hanson: The Confident Hope Of A Miracle. The True Story Of The Spanish Armada. Corgi Books, 2004, ISBN 0-552-14975-6 .
- Bryce Walker: The Armada. Amsterdam 1982, ISBN 90-6182-418-4 . (Time-Life books "Die Seefahrer")
- Heinrich Stettner: The Armada train from 1588. In: German shipping archive. 10: 153-180 (1987).
- János Erdödy: Changing of the Guard on the Ocean. Zrínyí printing house, Budapest 1979, ISBN 963-13-1568-1 .
- János Erdödy: Battle for the Seas. Corvina Verlag, Budapest 1977 (Hungarian first edition 1964)
- Helmut Schnitter: From Salamis to Dien Bien Phu. Verlag Neues Leben, Berlin 1987, ISBN 3-355-00490-1
The Armada as a subject of fiction
- Johannes K. Soyener, Wolfram zu Mondfeld: The Master of the Seventh Seal. Bastei-Lübbe, Bergisch Gladbach 1994, ISBN 3-404-14406-6 (literary representation of the prehistory based on a gun founder who is said to have helped the English fleet to victory with his inventions)
- Janusz Meissner : Trilogy The Black Flag ; The red crosses ; The Green Gate , antiquarian.
Web links
Notes / individual evidence
- ↑ From Salamis to Dien Bien Phu , p. 105.
- ↑ Battle for the Seas , p. 152.
- ↑ Battle for the Seas , p. 152.
- ^ Changing of the Guard on the Ocean , p. 139.
- ↑ Battle for the Seas , p. 154.
- ^ Changing of the Guard on the Ocean , p. 141.
- ^ WGL Randles: The alleged nautical school founded in the fifteenth century at Sagres by Prince Henry of Portugal called the 'Navigator' . Imago Mundi, London 1993, pp. 20-28
- ↑ Battle for the Seas , p. 154.
- ^ Rudolf Muschalla: On the prehistory of technical standardization. Beuth Verlag 1992, ISBN 3-410-12565-5 , p. 156.
- ^ Changing of the Guard on the Ocean , p. 160.
- ↑ Changing of the Guard on the Ocean , pp. 162f.
- ^ Changing of the Guard on the Ocean , p. 163.
- ↑ Changing of the Guard on the Ocean , p. 164.
- ↑ From Salamis to Dien Bien Phu , pp. 105-107.
- ^ Changing of the Guard on the Ocean , p. 195.
- ↑ From Salamis to Dien Bien Phu , p. 109.
- ^ Changing of the Guard on the Ocean , p. 201.
- ↑ Changing of the Guard on the Ocean , pp. 209 f.
- ^ Changing of the Guard on the Ocean , p. 177.
- ↑ From Salamis to Dien Bien Phu , p. 111.
- ^ Changing of the Guard on the Ocean , p. 222.
- ^ Changing of the Guard on the Ocean , pp. 212f.
- ^ Changing of the Guard on the Ocean , p. 219.
- ↑ Changing of the Guard on the Ocean , pp. 219f.
- ↑ changing of the guard on the ocean , S. 224f.
- ↑ From Salamis to Dien Bien Phu , p. 113.
- ↑ The British actress Keira Knightley is on her mother's side a descendant of a survivor of the Armada who was stranded on the Scottish coast. (Source: IMDb / Keira Knightley / Trivia)
- ↑ Changing of the Guard on the Ocean , pp. 225f.
- ^ Changing of the Guard on the Ocean , p. 227.
- ↑ Changing of the Guard on the Ocean , p. 228.
- ↑ Changing of the Guard on the Ocean , p. 228.
- ^ Changing of the Guard on the Ocean , p. 229.
- ^ Changing of the Guard on the Ocean , p. 240.
- ^ Alfred Kohler: From the Reformation to the Peace of Westphalia . Oldenbourg Wissenschaftsverlag, 2011, ISBN 978-3-486-59803-2 , p. 86
- ^ Friedrich Edelmayer
- ^ Digital Library - Munich Digitization Center. Retrieved August 5, 2017 .
- ↑ Stettner: Armadazug , pp. 156, 159.