2.2 Relation with Spain Flashcards
what were Elizabeth’s main foreign policies
- developing and improving trade to benefit the English economy
- protecting English borders
- protecting the English throne
- avoiding war (could cost a lot of money and lead to loss of throne if English rebels support the enemy)
What was Spain provided with because it conquered Mexio and Peru in the early 1500s?
vast amounts of :
- crops
- silver
- gold
also gave Spain control over trade in sugar cane and tobacco
problems English merchants faced
- Spain controlled the Netherlands which were the main route into European markets. Antwerp was very important to English trade
- Spain controlled much of the New world where there were valuable trading opportunities
- Spain control of the New world denied English traders profit-making opportunities because all trade there had to be licensed by the Spanish government.
what did English merchants do to tackle the problem of trading
they traded illegally without licenses and some attacked Spanish ports and shipping.
what was the consequence of Spain controlling the Netherlands and the Scheldt and Rhine estuaries?
It closed off one of the principal trade routes used by English traders = this reduced income and profits for English merchants
What’s the deal with Privateering
- who were they financed by
- what did they do
- sea beggars
- English merchants, financed by private investors, including Elizabeth herself, raided Spanish colonies as well as ships voyaging to and from the New world
- Elizabeth also encouraged Dutch rebels known as the Sea Beggars, to attack Spanish ships sailing between Spain and the Netherlands
Francis Drake significance on privateering
- 1572: in one raid alone captured £40,000 in Spanish silver
- A second expedition between 1577 and 1580, involving Drake’s circumnavigation of the globe, resulted in the capture of further £400,000 of silver and gold
What was the effects of privateering on Spain?
By 1580, loss of silver meant that the Spanish government in the Netherlands was bankrupt and could not afford to pay its soldiers
Explain the reasons for deteriorating relations between England and Spain due to privateering?
- Elizabeth, by knighting Drake demonstrated her defiance of hostility towards Spain’s commercial interests in Europe and the New world
Elizabeth’s actions showed her support of the financial losses suffered by the Spanish government as a result of English privateering
- For Phillip II, Drake and other privateers were seen as a pirate who needed to be removed by war if necessary.
Getting rid of Elizabeth and Drake by war was the only remaining means of protecting Spain’s commercial interests
Under Mary Tudor, Spain and England were allies.
why did Spain and England’s relationship sour when Elizabeth made England protestant?
(RELIGIOUS RIVALRY)
- Phillip II saw Protestantism as a threat to the authority of the catholic church
- Catholics saw Protestantism as something dangerous that needed to be stamped out
- Many English Protestants saw Spain and catholicism as a threat
- Phillip became involved in plots
- Phillip opposed Elizabeth’s religious settlement
Why did nations of Europe become rivals over territory?
more territory meant more people, wealth and power.
this rivalry often resulted in foreign policy that led to war
Why was there a brutal Spanish campaign in the Netherlands under the Duke of Alba?`
because many dutch became protestant so the brutal campaign was to restore catholicism there
What and when was the council of blood?
1568
Spanish Catholics executed many dutch protestants
What was the effect of the Spanish campaign in the Netherlands in Elizabeth’s government?
Elizabeth’s leading courtiers were protestant and they put pressure on her to help Dutch rebels
they saw Spain as hostile - a direct threat to English Protestantism and to England itself
Why was Elizabeth reluctant to help the Dutch protestant rebels in the Netherlands?
she wanted to avoid anything that could start a war in Spain
Instead of directly getting involved in the Netherlands, she tried to apply pressure on the Spanish. How did she do this?
- Indirectly helping Dutch protestants resist the Spanish
- Encouraging English privateers to attack Spanish ships and colonies
- Pursuing friendly relations with France by offering a marriage alliance to the heir of the French throne, the Duke of Alencon
- by encouraging others to fight the Spanish in the Netherlands
what was Elizabeth’s intent with pursuing friendly relations with France through a marriage alliance with Duke of Alencon?
hoped that putting pressure on the Netherlands would alarm Phillip II enough to give the Dutch their independence back.
when it didn’t, she used her influence with the Duke of Alencon to encourage him to fight the Spanish in the Netherlands
How did Elizabeth’s government decide to secretly help the Dutch protestants resist the Spanish?
- allowed Dutch rebel ships (sea beggars) safe passage in English ports
- it provided financial support to others fighting the Spanish, including volunteers led by John Casimir, a foreign mercenary
- English privateers (like Francis Drake) were encouraged to attack Spanish shipping and colonies in Latin America
When and what was the Spanish fury 1576
1576
The Spanish government in the Netherlands found the war there unaffordable. A lack of funds meant Spanish troops went unpaid, which resulted in the SPANISH FURY when Spanish troops looted Antwerp.
What’s the deal with the Pacification of Ghent?
The violence in Antwerp (the Spanish fury) united all 17 Dutch provinces, Protestant and Catholics, together against Spanish
they drew up the Pacification of Ghent which demanded :
- all Spanish troops expelled from the Netherlands
- the restoration of political autonomy
- an end to religious persecution
How was the pacification of Ghent properly enforced?
- Elizabeth sent a loan of £100,000 to the Dutch rebels and agreed to send an expeditionary force to the Netherlands to help ensure that the Pacification of Ghent was carried
- February 1577: Phillip’s brother, Don Juan arrived in the Netherlands and agreed to all the terms
why didn’t Elizabeth plan for peace in the Netherlands fail?
- less than six months after agreeing with terms, Phillip sent a new army to attack the Dutch
- Elizabeth hired a mercenary, John Casimir and financed him to raise an army of 6,000 English and Scottish volunteers to help the Dutch. However, Casimir’s forces devasted Dutch Catholic churches, helping to persuade Dutch Catholics to make peace with Spain which strengthened Phillip II’s position in the Netherlands
- the duke of Parma, who had been sent to the Netherlands by Phillip II, was a far more effective military leader than Don Juan and the Spanish soon had the upper hand
Even though Elizabeth hired John Casimir to help the Dutch, England and Spain were not officially at war. Why was this?
- the fact that Casimir’s forces were volunteers led by a mercenary meant that Elizabeth was not officially sending an English army to fight the Spanish in her name
hence they were not officially at war.
Why were Privy councillors, like the Earl of Leicester, urgining Elizabeth to intervene in the Netherlands directly?
- in 1578, the situation there was potentially promising enough for a complete Dutch victory
- An independent Netherlands would be a strong, Protestant ally for England against Spain
