The toll that sickness took before either fleet ever left their respective shores and after the battle, was staggering. The economics of creating the fleets, in England and in Spain, from the food & water to the building or buying of ships & boats and manning them was something of a nightmare. It amused me to find that until reading this, I believed some of the rumors and propaganda that were started in the 16th century. The affects of rumor and propaganda were the most interesting aspects for me. The politics of Protestant versus Catholic within these counties was a key part and the armies maneuvering on mainland Europe were seriously affected by the political machinations.
From the death of Mary, Queen of Scots to the war of the Henry's in France and the Dutch contribution. It details the politics of Spain, France and England that led to the creation of the invasion fleet. I am happy to say that it did not disappoint. I was expecting great things from this book based on it's rating and recommendations. This battle was won from a few actions months beforehand and a general lack of communication (a point well-stressed time and time again) between the sea-borne fleet coming from Portugal and Spain and the Parma's invasion fleet (which never left the harbor and disbanded after the dispersion of the Armada.)ĭefinitely recommended for those interested in late XVIe history and naval warfare as well as for the psychological insights into Philip II of Spain, Henri III of France and Elizabeth I of England (but also Rudolph II of Prague and Sixtus V in the Vatican to lesser degrees.) The book certainly is convincing of the futility of enrolling a Deity (in this case the same Deity but from opposing factions) to fight battles for you: the yawning silence is not an effective defensive or offensive weapon. In fact, I think I preferred the lead up in putting all the pieces on the board to the rather anti-climactic battles and missed rendez-vous. There is quite a bit of humor in the descriptions. It takes time to delve into each of the courts that were at war and describe with detail the various characters in the drama as it played out. This is an extraordinarily readable account of the legend around the defeat of the Invincible Armada by Sir Francis Drake which deservedly won the Pulitzer Prize in 1960.
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