Henry’s lack of political skill played a huge part in the feud between York and Somerset, which started in 1950 when Rouen and Normandy were lost to the French. This feud started because York blamed Somerset for the loss of Normandy. Which in 1453, he made clear by putting Somerset on trial for treason in France. Henry failed to resolve the feud between the two nobles because his personality wasn’t strong enough. This eventually lost him the support of York, after countless amounts of times that York attempted to prove his loyalty, which played a big part in his downfall because York was a very important noble.
Moreover the battle ended in stalemate and the Royalists progressed on to London. However the Royalists were halted at Turnham Green by Parliamentarian resistance, me they could coordinate their forces. Instead of launching an attack on London, the Royalists were fell back to Oxford because the support from the Earl of Newcastle did not transpire as he failed to show up. Following several losses, for example at Marston Moor in 1644 and Naseby in 1645, Charles was militarily destroyed and therefore played a key role in the loss of the first Civil War. However, there were some successes where the military was concerned, because not only did the Royalists occupy Oxford which is geographically strong, they also had control over Bristol which was a valuable port.
Source 4 agrees with the view that Henry VIII’s foreign policy failed because he lacked the resources to fulfil his aims. From source 4 we can learn that Henry’s allies proved to be dishonest and untrustworthy as they were bribed to go against the treaty they had made with England, “His allies proved unscrupulous and unreliable. Maxamilian and Ferdinand were bribed by the French to disown their treaty obligations to England, leaving Henry to fight alone”. Henry VIII struggled to fight alone and “accepted the fact that royal finances could not support a repetition of the campaign of 1513. So instead of overthrowing the King of France, Henry made peace with him.
Buckingham was blamed heavily as the Cadiz expedition was a total failure. He had planned to attack the Spanish galleons so he could firstly, retrieve the treasure and then go into attack the towns. Buckingham was hoping that this war would be on par to the Spanish Armada and that the attack would be seen as successful and heroic as that of the Elizabethan period. However, the entire expedition was a failure. Firstly, there was no water for the soldiers to drink and the only thing available was wine.
Henry VIII’s foreign policy between the years of 1509 – 1529 revolved around his fantasy of becoming a famous “warrior King.” His main aim was to conquer France, as he believed that the French crown was rightfully his, he was not however successful in this aim, despite capturing obscure towns in France such as Tournai. Henry went through three phases of foreign policy during these years: Initial aggression in his first French war between ending in 1514, the following a rather unsuccessful French campaign, entered a stage of diplomacy where he attempted to gain allies and achieve European peace through the treaty of London, 1518. But it can be argued that little success came from this period either with very few significant agreements made in the Treaty of London or the Field of the Cloth of gold except for minor prestige for Henry and England, but at huge costs. As well as this, any hopes of finally conquering France in Henry’s second aggressive phase were crushed due to financial and political obstacles. Henry was aware that the current French king, Louis XII was dying and wished to avoid war at all costs, as he would not be able to guide his country in his old, weak age, Henry realised that this was the ideal situation in which for him to launch an attack, he also had the support of the nobility, who were raring to have a fight.
In the civil war in 1642, Charles I had the resources both financially and physically to win the civil war to some extent. So as he failed to win the civil war, you would have to argue that he did not use the resources available to him very effectively, or simply they were out powered by parliament, who by having control of the navy, you could understand why. For the civil war, Charles had the better cavalry, had control of the north and west, the crown jewels and also had some experienced and talented commanders. These included people such as his German Nephew Prince Rupert of Rhine. On the other hand, parliament also had a high amount of resources to help them to their victory over the king in the civil war.
Therefore the source suggests that Henry’s inability to enforce the ‘newly-imposed head tax’ contributed not only to a lack of funds for wars with France, but also his failure to combat the tax boycott ‘gave [James IV] hope of undertaking something’. Source 2 confirms what is being said in source 1 as it demonstrates that the threat was real, accounting how James did actually invade, taking advantage of Henry's absence, which confirms the suspicions of the Privy Council in source 1. Source 1 also implies that Henry may have had to abandon any plans made to invade France due to the possible Scottish invasion, 'against King Henry in his absence'. Yet the situation was double edged sword; if Henry chose to ignore the potential threat of a Scottish invasion and stayed to campaign in France, he risked the former actually coming true. If however, he decided to return to England in order to discourage James IV from attacking, he would lose progress in France.
However, Henry had not been aware that the Spanish had already defeated the French and made peace, and the soldiers that did not die of illness were sent home. This was a failure in that Henry felt humiliated in the eyes of the rest of the world, and felt let down by both the other members of the Holy League. However, an important lesson was learned about the workings of the European politics of the 16th century, and also about the capriciousness of its monarchs; working only in their own interests. What was learned from this early failure would shape Foreign Policy decisions in the years to come.
On the contrary, the marriage would safeguard England as any heir Mary and Philip may have produced would have inherited the Netherlands and England. This could potentially become a secure and substantial empire; therefore at this point in time, Spain was an ally to England. However, Spain was soon to become much less of an ally to England, demonstrated by Philip’s actions soon after their marriage. He only visited England in 1556, when he wanted England to join Spain in war with France in 1557. Spain had already defeated France when England captured St Quentin and the war soon led to England losing its last foothold in Europe - Calais.
Class 5 Essay The road to the American Revolutionary War was one that was filled with events that caused a separation between the British and the American colonists. Rebellion in the colonies and the British decision to tax the colonist directly without representation in the Parliament made the idea of war inevitable. Britian’s recent victories against the French and Indians in the Seven Year’s War gave them a sense of undefeatable power and instead of negotiating with the colonist they prepared for war. There were many factors that the British did not consider in preparing for war against America which would eventually result in their defeat. This essay will outline the advantages as well as the disadvantages that the British faced in this war with America.