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Chapter 1: The Anglo-Spanish War (1585-1588)

Spanish Armada

Battle of Kingston

Following many delays Álvaro de Bazán, 1st Marquis of Santa Cruz was finally able to launch his armada in May. His armada consisted of 130 ships, 8,000 sailors, and 19,000 soldiers. The ships themselves had 1,500 brass guns and 1,000 iron guns. With them Bazán intended to sail to the English Channel, where he would fight off the English and provide safe passage for the Duke of Parma's army.

At Corunna, Bazán experienced yet another delay. From July 19 to July 21 the Armada was hit with a storm that scattered them. But Bazán was able to regroup and pushed his armada across the Bay of Biscay. Finally on July 30 they reached the channel.

On that night and the following morning Lord Howard of Effingham attacked the Armada with his fleet of 64. To meet fight it the Spanish formed a crescent with 90 ships in the center and 20 on each flank. While the English formed en ala or a line. Due to the lack of a declaration of war, Howard shot a token shot to start the battle. The battle proved indecisive

On August 2 Howard attacked again. Even with his highly maneuverable ships his firepower proved ineffective, and after wasting most of his shot Howard was forced to withdraw. He was closely followed by to Portsmouth. Immediately Bazán realized the opportunity he had and attacked. A gruesome onslaught followed. Unfortunately Drake was able to rally the English fleet and escape with 100 ships.

After seeing Drake in battle, Bazán knew that the Spanish Armada would have a hard time achieving a victory against him. So he positioned his fleet in two groups on either side of the Channel. Then he informed the Duke of Parma of his success.

The Duke after initial delays was able to embark his army and landed at Kent on August 4. There he achieved an easy victory over the 4,000 poorly equipped levies assigned to defend the coast. Following it he turned to march on London.

Meanwhile, the Armada was attacked Drake. In the battle Drake was able to inflict casualties on the Spanish, but wasn't able to accomplish a decisive victory. Bazán was able to regroup and sail to the Thames with the remaining 78 ships. With that Drake decided that he was done fighting for Elizabeth and that with The Duke of Parma in England that she was done for. Drake took 32 of the ships and sailed away. The remaining 49 remained with Frobisher. Next Frobisher attacked Bazán the following day on August 7. Even with all his naval experience Frobisher was defeated. He limped away to Scotland with the last 23 ships.

Now back to the land war. On August 10 the Spanish army of 30,000 met the English army of 20,000 at Kingston. The battle lasted into the night when the English finally broke, after the death of their leader Robert Dudley. With left nothing standing between Parma and London the parliament decided that the war was lost and launched a coup d'etat against the Elizabeth. On August 12 the Spanish arrived to open gates at London. Along with this the Parliament surrendered the Queen and requested for peace.

"Victory at last!" King Philip II upon hearing of Parliament's surrender.

Philip II was overjoyed to hear this and offered the following terms:
-England recognized Spain's rule over the Netherlands
-England reverted to Catholicism
-England accepted a Catholic monarch of Spain and the Pope's choosing
-England paid war reparations of 10 million reales to Spain
-England hunted down and destroyed its pirate Francis Drake

To this the Parliament and nobles counter negotiated with
-England recognized Spain's rule over the Netherlands
-England reverted to Catholicism
-England accepted a Catholic monarch of Spain, Pope's Parliament and the English nobles choosing
-England paid war reparations of 7 million reales to Spain

Which Philip II agreed to. Come back for the next chapter to find out who was picked to lead England.
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