6.5: England

In addition to the costly conflict in the Netherlands, hostility developed between Spain and England. Philip married the English Queen Mary I (r. 1553 – 1558), in part to try to bring England back to Catholicism. After Mary died, her sister, Elizabeth, refused Philip’s proposal of marriage and rallied to the Anglican cause. As hostility between England and Spain grew, Elizabeth's government-sponsored privateers - pirates working for the English crown. These privateers began a campaign of raids against Spanish possessions in the New World and Spanish ports, culminating in the sinking of an anchored Spanish fleet in Cadiz in 1587. Simultaneously, the English supported the Dutch Protestant rebels who were engaged in the growing war against Spain. Infuriated, Philip planned a huge invasion of England.

Philip spent years building up an enormous fleet known as the Spanish Armada of 132 warships, equipped with cannons and designed to carry thousands of soldiers to invade England. Setting sail in 1588, the armada was resoundingly defeated in the English Channel. The English ships were smaller and more maneuverable, their cannons were faster and easier to reload, and English captains knew how to navigate in the fickle winds of the Channel more easily than their Spanish counterparts. The Armada was forced to limp around England, Scotland, and Ireland trying to get back to Spain. In the process, Spain lost half of its ships and thousands of men. The debacle conclusively ended Spain’s attempt to invade England and eliminated the threat to the Anglican church.

Despite the enormous wealth that flowed in from the Americas, Spain went from being the single greatest power in Europe to a second-tier power by 1700. Never again would Spain play a dominant role in European politics, although it remained in possession of an enormous overseas empire until the early 19th Century.