Wars Between Spain And France Essay Research

Paper

The wars between England and Spain was a shifting of

power in Europe. A cause of the wars was the

imprisonment and execution of Mary Stuart Queen of

Scots. The Netherlands wanting to break away from Spain

was a cause of the war. Elizabeth sending aid and troops to

the Netherlands was another cause of the war. Mary Stuart

was the direct heir of Scotland. She was a Catholic. Many

people in England wanted to see Mary the Queen and

make England a Catholic nation. This worried Queen

Elizabeth and had Mary put under house arrest for nineteen

years. There were many plots made trying to assassinate

Queen Elizabeth involving Mary. The final plot called the

Babington plot had enough proof to convict Mary and

execute her. Queen Elizabeth knew the consequences this

would create throughout the Catholic world. And this was

the last straw between Spain and England. The

Netherlands wanted to abolish the control Spain had over

their nation. They wanted to get rid of the Spanish

Inquisition. Two-hundred nobles, in the Netherlands,

formed a league, and they petitioned King Philip II not to

use the Spanish Inquisition. He refused and a revolt broke

out. William of Orange led the united seventeen provinces

of the Netherlands against Spanish authority. Queen

Elizabeth lent aid to the Netherlands in their war with

Spain. She sent over 6000 troops in 1585. Don Juan

became the general of the Netherlands and planned an

invasion. After Don Juan’s death the Union of Utrecht was

formed breaking the solid front of the 17 provinces of the

Netherlands. When Spain tried to invade England they

were defeated. The great Spanish Armada was beat by

small, quick fleet of English and Dutch ships. English and

Dutch pirates raid the Spanish ships also. The weather

played a role in the war. A bad storm wiped out many

ships of the Armada. England gained a great deal from this

battle with Spain. They proved that they would be a

military power in Europe during that time. England became

solidly Protestant. They would dominate the sea, both in

trade and naval forces, even though Spain remained the

most powerful military force in Europe for 50 years. The

Netherlands became two separate countries, the Spanish

Netherlands, which is now Belgium, and the Dutch

Republic. After the war the power of the sea and the

power of religion was shifted from Spain to England.