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Spanish Armada Facts & Worksheets

The Spanish Armada was a Spanish naval fleet consisting of one hundred and thirty ships that sailed from Corunna in late May of 1588.

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The Spanish Armada was a Spanish naval fleet consisting of one hundred and thirty ships that sailed from Corunna in late May of 1588. It was most notable for getting used by Spain’s King Philip II to attack Great Britain, however it was defeated by the Royal Navy of England throughout the reign of Queen Elizabeth I.

See the fact file below for more information on the Spanish Armada or alternatively, you can download our 22-page Spanish Armada worksheet pack to utilise within the classroom or home environment.

Key Facts & Information

HISTORY

  • During the 16th century, Spain was the most dominant empire in the known world and governed much of the New World and much of western Europe under King Philip II.
  • Many years before in the early 1530s, the Protestant Church of England had broken away from the Pope and the Roman Catholic Church under the command of Elizabeth’s father King Henry VIII.
  • When Henry died, his eldest daughter Mary eventually succeeded him and attempted to restore Catholicism to the country by marrying King Philip II of Spain.
  • The marriage of Philip to Mary, child of Henry’s first wife, Catherine of Aragon, was as far as he was concerned, fed by a religious zeal to father an heir that would ultimately return England to the Catholic fold.
  • The English Parliament only confirmed their matrimony on the basis that Philip was to be Mary’s consort and he was expressly excluded from ruling the country and from becoming its king.
  • Mary died in 1558, which led to her half-sister, Elizabeth I, taking the throne.
  • Elizabeth was strongly in the reformist camp, and immediately reimplemented many of Edward’s reforms.
  • Philip, a Catholic, viewed Elizabeth as an illegitimate ruler since Henry and Catherine had never officially divorced under Roman law.
  • Philip is alleged to have plotted to overthrow Elizabeth and place her Catholic cousin Mary, Queen of Scots, in her place.

THE PLAN

  • The plan of King Philip was that an armada of 130 ships would navigate to the Netherlands, gather 30,000 Spanish troops and invade England.
  • But, the Armada was attacked by the English led by Sir Francis Drake, vice admiral command of English Fleet under Lord Howard Effingham, on Cadiz harbor in 1587 wherein Drake made off with gold treasures and destroyed over 100 Spanish ships, causing a delay in invading England.

THE BATTLE

  • Pope Sixtus V granted King Philip II of Spain before the move to gather crusade taxes and allowed his men indulgences. Pope Sixtus V blessed the Armada’s banner on the twenty-fifth of April 1588, which was conjointly similar to the ceremony used before the Battle of Lepanto in 1571.
  • Finally on May 28, 1588, the Armada set sail from Lisbon going to the English Channel. The fleet constituted of 130 ships, 8,000 sailors and 18,000 soldiers, and bore 1,500 brass guns and 1,000 iron guns under the command of the Duke of Medina Sidonia.
  • The Armada was initially sighted by the English in Cornwall, on July 29 (July 19, Old Style). The greater part of the English fleet was then at Plymouth but a neat maneuver was able to get to the windward, or upwind, side of the enemy.
  • The English harassed the Spanish fleet several times at a long-range but were unable to inflict serious damage on the Spanish formation.
  • The Spanish and English fleets met in the English Channel. There were numerous more Spanish ships than the English ships however the English ships were smaller in size and easy to maneuver. This would turn out to be more advantageous for the English.
  • The English employed fireships to disperse the Spanish fleet.
  • At dawn on July 8th, the English attacked the chaotic Spanish ships off Gravelines, also known as Battle of Gravelines, and a decisive battle ensued.
  • The Armada was obliged to abandon its invasion attempt and was devastated by storms, which Philip I called the Protestant Wind, whilst trying to sail home round the north of Scotland.
  • Only sixty ships are known to have arrived in Spain, many of them too badly injured to be repaired, and perhaps 15,000 men perished.
  • The English lost multiple hundred, perhaps several thousand, men to disease yet sustained negligible damage and casualties in action.

CONSEQUENCES OF THE SPANISH ARMADA

  • Philip was momentarily halted
  • But, the loss did not harm his control over his empire, which proceeded to grow after his death in 1598. Spain would continue to be a dominant ‘super-power’ for a further 100 years. He tried additional armadas in 1596 and 1597. Both were damaged by storms.
  • The English celebrated
  • They treated it as a sign that God was on their side, even celebrating a national day of Thanksgiving for their victory over Spain on the 24th of November. But, the English weren’t able to defeat Spain and the war dragged on. In 1589, an English naval attack on Portugal failed. In 1595 a scanty Spanish force invaded Cornwall.
  • The reputation of Elizabeth as ‘Gloriana’ peaked.
  • But, the following years of her reign were of failure and conflict with Parliament.
  • England continued causing trouble for the Spanish Empire.
  • But, the Roanoke colony vanished and was never seen or heard of again. England did not expand to another colony in America until 1607.
  • The Armada was not the start of an English empire in the New World.

Spanish Armada Worksheets

This is a fantastic bundle which includes everything you need to know about the Spanish Armada across 22 in-depth pages. These are ready-to-use Spanish Armada worksheets that are perfect for teaching students about the Spanish Armada which was a Spanish naval fleet consisting of one hundred and thirty ships that sailed from Corunna in late May of 1588. It was most notable for getting used by Spain’s King Philip II to attack Great Britain, however it was defeated by the Royal Navy of England throughout the reign of Queen Elizabeth I.

Complete List Of Included Worksheets

  • Spanish Armada Facts
  • SA Acrostics
  • Spanish Armada Facts
  • Cause and Effect
  • The Half Sisters
  • Composition of Fleets
  • Order of the Battle
  • Guess Who?
  • Importance
  • My Comic Story

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Link will appear as Spanish Armada Facts & Worksheets: https://kidskonnect.com - KidsKonnect, June 26, 2020

Use With Any Curriculum

These worksheets have been specifically designed for use with any international curriculum. You can use these worksheets as-is, or edit them using Google Slides to make them more specific to your own student ability levels and curriculum standards.

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