The Armada. 1587. June.--Drake cruising off Portugal (then a Spanish province) did much damage to the Spanish.
1588. May.-At last the Armada sailed under Medina Sidonia, who was no seaman at all, from Lisbon on May 29, arriving in bay of Ferrol in July, and off the Lizard On July 30 (old date). Philip II's plan was, for the Armada to land in the islet of Thanet, so that Parma, from the Spanish Netherlands, might help it. The real strategic point of attack was, however, not Thanet, but the Isle of Wight. Moreover, the Spanish had neither pilots nor good sea-charts. Yet, considering the astounding naval successes of the Spanish, not only in 1571, at the Battle of Lepanto, but also later on against the Berber pirates, and quite recently, off Terceira, in the Azores islands (July 25, 1582, where Cervantes, the poet, fought; a battle so important and famous that Thuauus says of it: ". pugnae, toto Oceano maxime omnium, quarum memoria exstat, famosae"), the success of the English admirals is all the more glorious. It must be remembered that Flushing was at the disposal of the English, but that, on the other hand, the English captains were practically unprovided with ammunition or food for even a week's campaign.
August. Howard opposed the Armada at Plymouth, but was obliged to bear up for Dover for supplies, on August 5, 1588. The Armada crosses over to Boulogne on August 6, to meet Parma, who is at Dunkirk. From Boulogne the Armada proceeds to Calais. The English direct fire-ships at the Armada, so that the Spanish fleet disperses off Gravelines and the Flanders coast. Drake, Hawkins, Howard, Winter, and Frobisher inflict great harm On the Armada, August 8. Armada turns north, little harassed by the English, who were famished and, by stress of wind, returned to Harwich. The Armada proceeded round the Orkneys and the Blaskets, after undergoing fearful weather. Then to Ballyshannon and Sligo , where the native Irish, although themselves Catholics, cruelly massacred the starving Spanish. The latter met with a similar fate at Tralee and Dingle . An English expedition in 1589 to Spain proved a disastrous failure.
The Continent.-Under Henry VIII. the English undertook nO great military movements On the Continent. The affair of Guinegate (1513) and the siege and capture of Boulogne in 1544 are noteworthy. Under Elizabeth, France as well as the Netherlands we're agitated by great civil and religious wars, the chief events of which are localised on the map. In France, the red circles round Nimes, Millau, &c., indicate the chief Huguenot centres. The paranel lines in France, consisting of small lines and dots in red and blue respectively, indicate the chief localities of the religious wars (1559 to 1593). In the Netherlands, Philip Sidney's defeat at Zutphen is indicated; so also Sir Francis Vere's action at Newport (Nieuwport) and the share of the English in the siege of Ostend (from 1601, July, to 1602,.March) by the Spanish. Altogether the English played a most efficient and honourable part in the military history of the revolt of the Dutch Netherlands. The attempts of Elizabeth to obtain a footing in Normandy failed in 1564.