2nd Spanish Armada 1596. Spain and England had been at war for nearly twelve years with neither side gaining the upper hand. 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. 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
3rd Spanish Armada a large naval armada directed at England. The cost had almost been ruinous to Spain and nearly bankrupted the country's finance again. It was not as bad as the previous years failure however since gold and silver bullion was still arriving in numbers from the Americas. The insurmountable debt rose and soon after the campaign there was a further arrangement to clear it. The failure of the Armada effectively ceded the naval initiative to England who were still able to launch expeditions to Spain without much hindrance. For the first time in English naval history, effective offshore blockades were launched