The fleet had a task of guarding the army as it was ferried across the English Channel to the Kent coast and start an offensive against London. They would proceed to Flanders, where they took more troops led by the Duke of Parma, the governor of the Spanish Netherlands. The Spanish plan called for this “Great and Most Fortunate Navy” to sail from Lisbon, Portugal. The naval force consisted of more than 130 ships, 8,000 seamen, and an estimated 18,000 soldiers manning thousands of guns. The storm that broke the armada was called the Protestant Wind. The phrase remains popular today as a reminder of the aftermath of the defeat of the Spanish Armada in 1588. As an invasion in the name of religion, at the time, people believed that unexpected event was a sign from God.Įven more, the English celebrated their victory with a commemorative medal saying “He blew His winds, and they were scattered”. Spain, a Catholic country, had the blessing of the Pope to try and make England catholic again. They no longer accepted the Pope as the head of the Church. He did this in the name of religion, as England had become Protestant. The Armada was supposed to take the army to invade England. In 1588, King Philip II of Spain sent his fleet to collect the army from the Netherlands, where they were fighting. Starting with the conspiracy theories of course, some historians believe God help the English defeat the Spanish armada. What happened to the Armada? Why Spain wanted to invade England? Let’s take a look at this historic event. Today, the wreckage serves as a reminder of one of the biggest naval armies in the middle ages. In 1985, nearly 400 years after the accident, local divers discovered the wreckage of three vessels of the fleet. More than 5,000 soldiers lost their life. But the fleet was disrupted by storms, and a large number of the ships were wrecked on the coasts of Scotland and Ireland. The Spanish Armada was a fleet of 130 ships on a mission to invade England in 1588.
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