What if the Spanish Armada was victorious?

Let's say the English do not take advantage against the exposed Spanish weakness, Spain defeats the English navy and lands in England, would the land campaign be successful? If so what would he do to England? How would this effect England, Spain and Europe?
 
What Armada are we talking about? Because there were three of them.

One in 1588.

One in 1596.

And one in 1597.
 
I would imagine that if you are referring to the Armada that took place in 1588, England's defeat would have resulted in the Spanish invasion. Most likely, Queen Elizabeth would have been imprisoned in the Tower, and would either have been tried and executed or imprisoned for life. Isabella Clara Eugenia, King Phillip's daughter, would have been made Queen of England and by marriage would have made Albert VII King of England. England becomes a part of Spain and reverts to being a Catholic nation.
 
They would then face the English army on land. If they win that battle, I assume Elizabeth sues for peace - though I would guess Philip would not settle for that and try to overthrow her, which might make things messy.
 
The problem with a victorious Armada is that the Army of Spain in the Southern Netherlands, which they wanted to bring to England, was not raady to cross the channel. The commander (Parma I think, but am not sure of) thought the entire idea was ludicrous. Actualy he had no intention to cross the channel and attack England. So if the Armada succeed it will take quite a while before everything is ready to invade England. If they cross the channel again, now loaded with soldiers, there is another chance for the English (and the Dutch) to attack the Armada again. Assuming the Armada is not destroyed in this crossing still succeeds in landing in England (and that is the premise of this topic) it will have had some losses. Probably not enough to be defeated though. That said, the English army will make some casualties and after being defeated they will flee north and make it quiet difficult for the English troops. Persoanly I suspect a lot of important and rich protestant will flee England, probably towards the Netherlands, Scandanavia or Germany, I assume including the fleet.

So end result: The Spanish army is thinned, stuck on an island they don't want to be. They will have to perform occupation and cleanup duties, while money is running out. And when they want to cross the channel, the Dutch fleet, strengthened by the English fleet is waiting. Basicly this might seem like a victory for Spain, but it might feellike a loss.

The big loser will of course be England, but it would not surprise me if the big winners would be the rebelling Dutch. Suddenly the army they were facing are on theother side of the sea, being busy with not fighting the Dutch. And if they want to return, the Dutch fleet is waiting for them. So I think the Dutch would be able to strengthen their position and recapture lost territory, more or less like OTL, but more succesfully. Also I suspect this would be a boon for the French as well.
 
One of the weirder things about the episodes is that Felipe II and his advisors devoted a good deal of detailed attention and planning to what was inherently, as Parma at least grasped immediately, a ludicrous idea. At least Sealion was something of a bluff and never came close to being actually attempted.

Its not that you can't invade England, but going by the historical record you pretty much need already armed and organized factions in England ready to meet you to pull it off. It also helps to have no English fleet.
 
Had Parma taken this idea seriously and had his army ready to cross, once in England there was no army or fortifications worth of that name, being the latter quite outdated, so the path to London was fully open. However... after that... what? The English navy, unless it was utterly crushed by the Armada and that was quite ASB, could return to make a mess in the Channel. True, the Tercios had no problem to live on the land, but they would be stranded in a foreign island. And Elizabeth would have to watch her back not to get some Catholic dagger landing there...

Perhaps, if Felipe II gets lucky, all might end with a peace settlement that grants some rights to the English Catholics and England out of the Dutch war.
 
For previous invasion attempts, hadn't the idea been to act as shock troops or a professional core around which an army of Catholic commoner volunteers (they have any fancy name for them?) and Catholic lords and their private armies. Someone mentoined a Spanish Infante/Princess. Was she engaged at this point in time? Because it would reeeeeally be wise for them to have an Englishman as King, even if he is then married to a Habsburg bride. If you bring in a hoard of foreigners... Well, they better be well paid. The Spanish Fury, which happened when the English seized ships carrying the payment of troops working for Spain, ended up with the men revolting and ransacking loyal Catholic Cities, ending up with the the southern Low Countries also joining in revolt, even if less about religious and politics and more about their own safety.

Ahhh, and you guys think we can safely say the French would try to help the English out? Not overtly perhaps, but they don't want Habsrugs almost completely surrounding them.
 
France would probably be inclined to help the English here, but its hands are pretty full with the Wars of Religion going on. But assuming Henri III is still assassinated the next year, France will be at war with Spain soon anyway.
 
Just out of curiousity what are people's thought about what would happen to Queen Elizabeth in this scenario? Would death have been certain, or would there have been an alternative?
 
Just out of curiousity what are people's thought about what would happen to Queen Elizabeth in this scenario? Would death have been certain, or would there have been an alternative?
Unless she died on the battlefield, I don't think they would kill her. She is royalty after all. Probably a forced conversion and banishment into a monastery (and who cares if she never truely converted, the monastery would effectively be a prison.
 
I can think of two deposed Queens that were executed, both under unusual circumstances and one probably doens't count as a Queen, Mary Queen of Scots and Lady Jane Grey. Not leading troops on the battlefield counts for alot and there are always places to flee to.
 
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