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
Spanish Armada the anchored Armada to create panic) prevailed.". The expedition was the largest engagement of the undeclared Anglo-Spanish War (1585–1604). The following year, England organised a similar large-scale campaign against Spain, the English Armada or "counter-Armada of 1589", which was also unsuccessful. The word "armada" is from the Spanish "armada", which is a cognate with English "army". Originally from the Latin "armāta", the past participle of "armāre" (to arm), used in Romance languages as a noun, for "armed force", "army", "navy", "fleet". "Armada Española" is still the Spanish term for the modern Spanish Navy. "Armada" (originally from its armadas) was also