2nd Spanish Armada religion, Spanish intervention and not to make peace with Elizabeth. 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. Philip II placed great hope in the new Grand Armada that was being organised in Lisbon. There were fifteen galleons from Castile and nine from Portugal, 53 Flemish and German boats which had
3rd Spanish Armada the religious war in France in support of the Catholic League, meant that the Spanish had established coastal garrisons along the French and Flemish coast by the 1580s. These bases had a huge strategic value because they allowed England to be threatened by the Spanish fleet and troops. Meanwhile, England also intervened in France, but in support of King Henry IV of France, by the Treaty of Greenwich. The Spaniards had captured Calais in 1596 which meant that an invasion of England could be more achievable. As a result, after desperate French demands to keep her from signing peace with