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The 2nd Spanish Armada also known as the Spanish Armada of 1596〔Wernham pp 139–40〕〔Simpson p 37〕 was a major naval event that took place during the Anglo–Spanish War in which another invasion of England or Ireland was attempted in the Autumn of 1596 by King Philip II of Spain.〔〔McCoog pg 400〕 In an attempt at revenge for the English capture and sack of Cadiz in 1596 Philip immediately ordered a counter strike in the hope to assist the Irish rebels in rebellion against the English crown.〔Bicheno pp 289–90〕 The strategy in the long term was the hope that a new front in the war would open up forcing English troops away from both France and the Netherlands in which they were also fighting.〔Morgan pp. 45–50〕 The Armada under the command of the Adelantado, Martín de Padilla was gathered at Lisbon, Vigo and Seville and set off in October.〔 Before it had left Spanish waters storms struck the fleet in near Cape Finisterre not far from the Spanish coast.〔 The storms shattered the Armada causing heavy damage which forced them to return to their home ports.〔 Nearly 5,000 men died either from the storm or disease, and 38 ships were lost which was enough for a long term postponement of the Irish enterprise.〔 In addition, significant material and financial losses added to the bankruptcy of the Spanish Kingdom during the Autumn of 1596.〔〔 ==Background== Spain and England had been at war for nearly twelve years with neither side gaining the upper hand.〔Tenace pp 857–60〕 The result of the intervention of Philip II in the religious war in France in support of the Catholic League, meant that Spanish forces had established coastal garrisons along the French and Flemish coast by the late 1580s.〔Innes p 380〕 These bases had a huge strategic value because they allowed England to be threatened by the Spanish fleet and troops. England on the other hand had also intervened in France, but in support of King Henry IV of France, as a result of the Treaty of Greenwich in 1591. The Spanish had captured Calais in 1596 which meant that a strike against England was potentially more achievable.〔Duerloo pp 44–45〕 After desperate French demands to keep her from signing peace with Spain, the English signed the Triple Alliance with the Dutch republic and France.〔McCoog p 276〕 England had sent an armada under Robert Devereux and Charles Howard to Cadiz which was captured, sacked and held for two weeks in the summer of 1596. Philip soon after took into consideration the defence of the peninsula but most of all sought revenge even if it meant selling everything he had.〔Wernham pp 130–33〕 The leading English Jesuit exile in Spain, Robert Persons, went to an audience with Philip hoping to take advantage of the situation in trying to get the King to act.〔McCoog pp 387–88〕 Persons argued for a winter attack when the Queen would least expect it.〔 This meant an army of moderate size rather than a vast Armada that would give away the element of surprise in which Persons referenced the failed armada in 1588.〔Tenace pp 861–63〕 Persons noted that the point of entry for the Spanish would have been from Scotland, Kent, or Milford Haven in Wales, citing that Henry VII had successfully invaded from there in 1485.〔 Here it was believed the Spaniards would find a vast reservoir of Catholic support.〔 Detailed charts on the ports of England and Wales had been drawn up, and other plans suggested occupying the Isle of Wight.〔 A number of the King's advisers however saw an invasion of Ireland as a better way to destabilize England.〔Morgan pp. 45–50〕 The use of Ireland as a springboard for a new invasion was nothing new; Marquis of Santa Cruz, the first commander of the Spanish Armada, had advocated landing in Cork or Wexford in 1586.〔 The plan was only scrapped because of the delays caused by Drake's raid on Cadiz the following year.〔 Philip began by ordering Martín de Padilla, the Count of Santa Gadea, the Adelantado to assemble a new fleet intending to land on Ireland in the hope of increasing the rebellion under Hugh O'Neill, Earl of Tyrone.〔 As early as 1595 O'Neill and Hugh Roe O'Donnell wrote to Philip for help and offered to be his vassals.〔 He also proposed that his cousin Archduke Albert be made Prince of Ireland, but nothing came of this.〔Certificate given by Captain Alonso Cobos to the Irish Catholics, 15 May 1596 (Cal. S. P. Spain, 1587–1603, p 169); O'Neill and O'Donnell to Philip II, 16 May 1596 (ibid, p 620)〕 Philip replied encouraging them in January 1596 to keep their faith in their Catholic religion, Spanish intervention and not to make peace with Elizabeth.〔Hammer pp 306–08〕 For the Spanish the strategy was simple – the war in Ireland would create a new front, hoping to draw English troops away from the fighting in the United Provinces, and from which the English would have to fight.〔 In Spain's eyes, the English fighting on this new front was one they could not afford to do.〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「2nd Spanish Armada」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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