The Battle of Gravelines (1588 CE)

The Spanish victory over the Aztec Empire helped to propel the Spanish crown into building a powerful empire.

In the latter half of the 16th century, they ruled a portion of Europe, the majority of the Americas, parts of Africa, and the Philippines. Some people called it ‘the empire on which the sun never sets’, as the territory covered so many time zones that it was always daytime somewhere.

The Spanish Empire was also a stronghold for Catholicism, and had the personal backing of the Pope. This relationship was extremely important to Spanish monarchs, who were generally devout catholics themselves.

In 1517 CE, a new branch of Christianity emerged in Germany. Protestantism, as it came to be known, was a protest against Catholicism. It encouraged people to reject the Pope, and focus instead on finding a personal relationship with God.

And Protestantism was embraced by a number of European monarchs who wanted to break free from the interference of the Pope.

For example, in 1534, Henry VIII famously turned England into a Protestant country by forming the Church of England. This allowed him to divorce his first wife, after the Pope had previously refused to annul the marriage.

The Spanish crown wasn't tempted by Protestantism. Instead, they were horrified by the movement. Over the next few decades, their relationship with Protestant nations like England became increasingly tense.

This tension boiled over in the 1580s, when Philip II of Spain decided to tackle the forces of Protestantism head on. After all, he was ruling at the head of the most powerful empire on Earth. Why wouldn't he use this mighty power to take Protestantism down?

He proceeded to assemble the Spanish Armada, an enormous fleet of 130 ships. These ships were manned by 8000 sailors, with about 18,000 soldiers controlling the cannons and guns. The ‘Invincible Armada’, as it was known by some, set its sights upon Protestant England.

When the Spanish Armada first set sail, the English monarch was Elizabeth I, the daughter of Henry VIII.

Just like her father, Elizabeth had promoted Protestantism in her country, while also funding Protestant movements in France and the Netherlands. This proactive attitude was part of the reason why Philip II had decided to intervene, and claim England as his own.

In 1588 CE, the Spanish Armada entered the English Channel. It was commanded by the Duke of Medina Sidonia, a well-respected Spanish aristocrat with a reputation for being a devout Catholic. Before the departure of the fleet, Philip II said to Medina that 'the cause being the cause of God, you will not fail.'

But Philip II was wrong.

England wasn't as rich and powerful as the Spanish Empire. But it was still a wealthy nation which refused to go down without a fight.

Elizabeth assembled a defensive force of 40 warships under the command of Lord Howard of Effingham, a High Admiral, and Francis Drake, an enigmatic sea captain with previous experience fighting against Spanish ships.

The fleets made contact on July 31st, 1588.

Despite the superior size of the Spanish fleet, the English ships were more nimble and maneuverable than their Spanish counterparts. They were also carrying advanced cannons which were capable of firing over longer distances.

After a week of active fighting, the English managed to scatter the Spanish Armada. They closed in for the kill at Gravelines, off the coast of France.

At Gravelines, the Spanish were hindered by a powerful wind, which prevented them from getting into a defensive formation. The battle ended with an English victory, and the Armada was forced to retreat to Spain, pounded by more winds along the way.

By the time they got back, the ‘Invincible Armada’ had lost almost half of its famous ships, and suffered approximately 15,000 deaths.

The victory of the English against the Spanish Armada had been helped, in part, by a series of favorable winds.

Many Protestants believed that these winds had been sent by God himself, in a mark of support for Protestantism at the expense of the Catholic Church. Commemorative medals were engraved with the following: 'He blew with His winds, and they were scattered.'

This gave confidence to the Protestants, who went from strength to strength in the centuries which followed. In the modern world, approximately a third of all Christians are Protestants, while half are Catholic.

The English nation also gained confidence from the battle. Elizabeth I began to send her ships into the wider world, as the British started to build an empire of their own. At its height, this empire dwarfed the Spanish, and became the largest empire in history.

If the Spanish had won at the Battle of Gravelines, it would probably have destroyed any British hopes of building an empire of their own. Instead, they would have been absorbed into the Spanish empire, which could have expanded, unopposed, across the globe.

Modern countries, like the United States of America, would have looked completely different. Instead of thirteen British colonies, which became an independent country in 1776, North America would have probably been colonized by the Spanish.

In terms of religion, the world would have looked different too. Defeat at Gravelines would have been a major blow to early Protestantism, which might have struggled to properly recover. Almost a billion Protestants in the world today may have needed to place their faith somewhere else instead.

In 1589 CE, a year after the Battle of Gravelines, England actually launched what is sometimes known as the Counter Armada. This fleet of more than a hundred ships set sail for Spain in the hope of capitalizing on the weakened Spanish navy.

This attack proved costly for the English, with the Counter Armada faring just as badly as the Spanish Armada before it. This time, the winds were against the English, which disrupted their planned attack. They lost almost half of their ships to Spanish defenders, before being forced to retreat back to England.

Some historians have called this event the greatest naval disaster in British history, but it was seen very differently at the time. Elizabeth I banned any sources from presenting the event too negatively. This propaganda worked wonders – even today, the defeat of the Counter Armada gets far less attention than the defeat of the Spanish Armada.