Philip II was pushed was in to action by the execution of Mary Stuart in 1587. To defend Catholicism he sent the Armada across to England to capture the throne and depose Elizabeth. Although Elizabeth’s naval forces were not as extensive as that of Philip’s The 1588 Armada was successfully defeated. However, there were debates about whether this success was due to Elizabeth and her government. It is true that the English navy’s long range canons prevented the Spanish from exercising tier preferred method of attach, which was to mount the oppositions ships.
Margaret continued to reopen hostilities and receiving aid from Louis XI. Although this had made Margaret unpopular in England as she promised Calais in return for her support. Furthermore, Margaret of Anjou had won the second battle of St. Albans . Henry Vi had also proved to be troublesome for Edward IV when dealing with his nobility. During Edward IV's second reign Henry Vi had been killed in battle.
Charles’ administration changed in many ways after the election. He became absent in Spain to tend to matters in the Holy Roman Empire and the Netherlands which forced him to place regents such as Adrian of Utrecht in Spain and his brother Ferdinand in the Holy Roman Empire. Ultimately, this led to the Comuneros Revolt in 1521-22 and a period of social unrest in Spain. The demands of the Comuneros stated that they wanted Charles to change the way in which he ruled Spain and shows the extent of the impact that the election had on Spain. Interestingly, one of the demands is that “no woman can succeed to the throne in this kingdom” .
Henry was exposed to the pull of the factions but a new aristocratic approach to the government strengthened the conservative faction however with the arrest of Duke of Norfolk (1547) and the dismissal of Gardiner from the Privy Chamber the reformists gained the much needed advantage . This shows that there was a threat to the stability of the government as Henrys most trusted councillors seemed to become more radically involved in the faction rivalry during the last 8 years of Henrys reign. This may have added pressure on Henry and his deteriorating health thus he may have not been able
The failure of foreign policy in the years 1514-1525 can be attributed to many things. The combination of Henry's isolation from European affairs and the fact that his attempts to raise tax were ultimately unpopular failures, meant that he had no way to impose himself upon Europe. Even when he did manage to scrape together the finances needed for a strong foreign policy his reliance on his allies led to disaster. As soon as Henry took the throne in 1509, it was obvious that he was a king that wanted to fight a war. However, wars generally led to very expensive costs to the country.
Source 4 and source 6 both illustrate the problems leaders like Maximillian and Ferdinand posed to Henry. In source 4, the two are described to have been ‘bribed’ by the French leader in order for them to ‘disown treaty obligations to England’ during Henry’s attempt to invade France in 1514. Source 6 also states that England were still at the ‘mercy’ of monumental ‘shifts’ in European politics, even though they had just been at the heart of European diplomacy as a result of the Treaty of London. The message that these sources convey demonstrates how England were restricted, and inevitably rendered unsuccessful, by the lack of cooperation offered across Europe. Further evidence for this can be found in Ferdinand’s manipulation of Henry in the 1513 campaign against
Pitt the reformer became Pitt the reactionary. A major issue for Pitt was certainly that it was going to be difficult for him to take much physical action on the radicals before they actually did anything against the law. In hindsight, we can see how that one of Pitt’s first repressive policies; the suspension of Habeas Corpus, in 1794, gave him more freedom to take control of quelling the threat without going against his own laws. What this policy also installed into the radicals was that now there would be a serious threat of them being sent to prison if they continued their actions; prompting a lowering of support by those who were not truly passionate for the cause. Secondly, another two key repressive policies of William Pitt were the ‘Two Acts’, the Seditious Meetings Act and Treasonable Act, both of 1795.
* Sharpe acknowledged that the grounds for war were flimsy. * ‘Charles’ sense of wounded honour had initiated the conflict’ with Spain and England had merely ‘drifted’ into was with France, ‘not least as a consequence of the Duke of Buckingham’s personal quarrels with Cardinal Richelieu’. * With this being the case, why should Parliament be blamed for failing to maintain such wars arising from personal resentment? * Reeve’s “Charles I and the Road to Personal Rule” is, unlike Sharpe’s work, critical of Charles. * Having been forced into peace, Charles was inclined to stay at peace because of any resumption of wat would require a resemption of Parliament to pay for it.
I personally think that Henry failed in his foreign policy because he didn’t end up gaining a full grasp on France, this was the main precedence. The initial aim was to capture more land, gaining more land meaning capturing France and knowing Henry’s ambitious mindset, he most probably had his whole mind set on creating an empire and France was a good place to start. Had Henry been what he said he was ‘a warrior king’ he wouldn’t have been used as a toy twice throughout this unsuccessful foreign policy. Charles took advantage of Henry. At the Battle of Pavia, the French were defeated and Francis along with his strongest supporters were held captive.
In 1567 the Council splits over Elizabeth’s decision to marry the catholic Archduke Charles of Austria. Whilst Leicester is against this suitor for Elizabeth and works hard to prevent the match, Norfolk, Sussex and Cecil are in favour of Elizabeth’s choice of suitor. Due to the conflict caused within the Council during the process of making a decision whether or not Archduke Charles is the correct suitor for Elizabeth, Elizabeth hesitates and rejects him. The conflict within the Privy Council influences Elizabeth’s decision on suitors once again during 1579-81. There was a considerable amount of negotiations held about Elizabeth’s proposed marriage to French Duke of Alencon.