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
2nd Spanish Armada reluctantly cancelled the enterprise on 13 November. The disaster was ruinous in terms of finance as the ships "La Capitana de Levante" and "Santiago", each transporting the paychests of 30,000 ducats, were lost. The Armada was to winter in Spain and to depart the following spring, without further diversions or postponements. A great fear then gripped Galicia in January 1597 that the English navy would possibly show up at any moment, a situation similar to that in 1589. The Armada was rebuilt in El Ferrol with the help of replacement artillery and monies recovered from the shipwrecks. The Spanish authorities