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The Spanish Armada lost the Battle of Gravelines for a variety of reasons including bad luck. The reasons that they lost the battle were they had the wind against them, a brand new commander with no experience and also worse tactics than the English.
Their commander, the 7th Duke of Medina Sidonia, had no qualifications to lead an armada. He alone could have lost this battle for the Spanish but they had even more things against them and these could be the worst of all. The thing that hurt the Spanish the most was their tactics and policy with their big guns or cannons. The Duke did not bring enough food with him for the journey. He also had poor maps. The Spanish only fired their cannons maybe two or three times a day and only when the the were right along side of an English ship; while the English shot theirs so much that they were constantly running out of ammunition. The Spanish didn't believe it necessary to teach their men how to load a cannon after it was fired.
The wind played a powerful part in this battle. It wreaked havoc on the large Spanish ships, while hardly affecting the smaller, more mobile English ships. Eventually, many of the Spanish ships wound up on the coast of Scotland, and Ireland, where people came down to the shores to kill the soldiers and burn the ships.
The Spanish had bad luck and poor weather. The Spanish were sighted off Lizard Point on the 29th of July really gave the English an advantage.
-Armada had to leave some ships behind. Started with 150, had to leave 26 ships behind, now with 124 ships.
-Armada ships had difficulties in May.
-Armada thought most of the English fleet were in Dover, but were in fact in Plymouth.
-Planning a campaign was difficult in that time as there was no way of fast communication.
- The weather!
- The Armada's maps were inaccurate.
- Philip II didn't plan the Armada out very well. The commander, the Duke of Medina-Sidonia, had no experience in sea warfare, and was hampered by his instructions on how and when to engage the enemy.
- The Armada lacked food and water, and most of the time were far from any friendly ports.
- Armada had weak ships that were blown off course by the atrocious weather.
- Philip (King of Spain) didn't want to spend a lot of money on ships, ship supplies and soldiers, whereas Elizabeth I (Queen of England) did.
- Armada had lack of experience on English waters.
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The Armada - July to September, 1588
The main causes : bad weather, poor navigation, and the success of the English ships to avoid close combat.
After smaller battles near Eddystone and the Isle of Portland, the Spanish ships were chased from the Isle of Wight and pursued to Calais. There the English sent eight fire ships at night into the anchorages, prompting many Spaniards to cut their anchor ropes and flee. After a serious defeat at Gravelines, the Armada fled northward along the east coast of England. While crossing the north Irish coast to circle back to Spain, the worn ships were caught in gales, and many were wrecked, some because their anchors were lost at Calais. Only 67 of the fleet's 130 ships made it back to Spain, and more than 5000 men were lost.
English had faster ships, ships were filled with good sailors rather than priests and soldiers as the Spanish had, English knew the tides and lay of the land better, English had good tactics (setting fire to their a few of their ships and sending the ships amongst the Spanish to scatter them etc etc), Spanish ran out of food supplies and also the weather seemed to be on the side of the English.
The main thing that destroyed or hampered the Spanish Armada, was the British weather. One Spanish ship was captured by Francis Drake in the English Channel, after the Spanish failed to attack the English Fleet in Plymouth, and failed to anchor in the Solent. Storms in the English Channel and North Sea scattered many Spanish ships. To avoid the English fleet approaching from the south, the Armada was forced to sail round the north of Scotland, and southwards, passing to the west of Ireland.
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How did cannon balls fail for the Spanish armada?
They failed as they were underpowered compared to the English ones which could shoot at the ships out of the spanish cannons range
Why did the Spanish Armada fail to beat England?
becouse they saw the ships on fire and they didn't whant the set there own ships on fire
How did the weather lead to the armada failure?
The weather was the main cause for the failure of the Spanish Armada, but if there had been no English ships the Armada could have just waited until the weather improved and then invaded England. It was a combination of weather, English ships and poor leadership that made the Armada fail.
Did the armada fail because of sheer bad luck on the part of the spanish?
no they had bad tactics aswell
Why did the spanish armada have more firepower?
The Spanish Armada had a great many soldiers in their Armada because their aim was the conquering of England. For years the Spanish King Philip II had been gathering men and resources and launched a massive invasion fleet against England. His aim to was to have the Armada meet up with another Spanish army in the Netherlands and the combined force would be too unbearable for the English to face. Spanish soldiers were the finest in the world at the time and all the hopes of the Armada and the invasion for Spanish interests rested on the soldiery of Spanish men. The more of these advanced soldiers Spain had the greater chance of achieving their goal.
How did cannon balls fail for the Spanish armada?
They failed as they were underpowered compared to the English ones which could shoot at the ships out of the spanish cannons range
Why did the Spanish Armada fail to beat England?
becouse they saw the ships on fire and they didn't whant the set there own ships on fire
How did the weather lead to the armada failure?
The weather was the main cause for the failure of the Spanish Armada, but if there had been no English ships the Armada could have just waited until the weather improved and then invaded England. It was a combination of weather, English ships and poor leadership that made the Armada fail.
Did the armada fail because of sheer bad luck on the part of the spanish?
no they had bad tactics aswell
What does usted falla mean?
"Usted falla" in Spanish means "you fail" in English. It is the formal form of the second person singular in Spanish.
Did England have any enemies while shakespeare was alive?
Yes, England ended up in a war with Spain during Shakespeare's lifetime. The Spanish sent a huge fleet, the Spanish Armada, to assist in ferrying a Spanish army to England, but bad weather and persistent attacks from the English caused it to fail. This was in 1588 when Shakespeare was 24.
Why did the Spanish fail in the Spanish armada?
because sir francis drake had a plan to set thier ships on fire by sending there ship on fire so they retreated out of 122 only 62 returned
Why did the spanish armada have more firepower?
The Spanish Armada had a great many soldiers in their Armada because their aim was the conquering of England. For years the Spanish King Philip II had been gathering men and resources and launched a massive invasion fleet against England. His aim to was to have the Armada meet up with another Spanish army in the Netherlands and the combined force would be too unbearable for the English to face. Spanish soldiers were the finest in the world at the time and all the hopes of the Armada and the invasion for Spanish interests rested on the soldiery of Spanish men. The more of these advanced soldiers Spain had the greater chance of achieving their goal.
Why did Spanish colonies fail?
The weather !! The English spilt up and some of the English ships went around the back of the ships and the Spanish were not ready for them to attach from behind. The weather was on the English side. The English over powered the Spanish and only 66 ships return to Spain
Why did the armada fail?
1. luck- when the armada were on their way back, the wind was wrong so they had to go all around Britain. they lost a lot of ships. 2. bad leadership- the proper leader died, and they found a new one, who was good onland, but suffered from sea sickness! 3. the English ships were more manoeuvrable, and faster. 4. the English had better cannons. they could fire every 10 mins, but the spanish ones took 1 hour.
What is 'fail' when translated from English to Italian?
"Fail" in English is fallire in Italian.
What was the Spanish armarda about?
When Queen Elizabeth I was on the throne she refused to marry the king of Spain. So he planned to attack the Queen and kill her so that he could rule England and Spain. The king of Spain left with his armada (lots of ships) and headed towards England. The queen had already known he was going to attack this is why she had beacons set alight to alert the queen. The duke of Medina was in charge of the armada but he didn't have any experience with the sea. Also, know the queen had received the message from her beacons she sent fire ships towards the armada, fire ships were ships with flammable objects and were set on fire. Not to mention the wind had blown the Armada's off track so the Duke of medina was unable to lead his ships in the correct direction at the correct time. in the end the armada was a big fail, mainly because the wind had blown them off course which gave the English a chance to take advantage and attack the Spanish in order for them to leave. I Hope I Helped. :) !
