Spanish Armada

The defeat of the Spanish Armada in 1588 – a fleet of Spanish ships led by Medina Sidonia with the purpose of overthrowing Queen Elizabeth I – is considered one of England’s greatest military achievements, and one that served to boost the monarch’s popularity. How much do you know about the naval campaign? Find our articles on the Spanish Armada below…

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Tudor traders: keep calm and ignore the Armada . This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Painting depicting the Spanish Armada

Keep calm and carry on trading: how English merchants reacted to the Spanish Armada

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The Spanish Armada which threatened England in July 1588. (Photo by Ann Ronan Pictures/Print Collector/Getty Images)

Turning points 1588: The Spanish Armada . This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

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Robert Hutchinson answers your questions on England’s defeat of the Spanish Armada in 1588. (Image by Getty Images)

The Spanish Armada: everything you wanted to know . This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Elizabeth I, shown in a portrait commemorating victory over the Armada

Elizabeth I: a guide to her life and rule, plus 7 facts you might not know

Elizabeth I arrives in Tilbury

The Spanish Armada: one of history’s biggest fibs?

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Illustration of Elizabeth I in a cage

What if... The Spanish Armada had landed? . This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Dornier 217 bombers of the Luftwaffe bomb London during the Battle of Britain.

9 of the most overrated battles in history (and one underrated one)

The Spanish Armada defeated in the English Channel in July 1588, by Hendrick Cornelis Vroom, c1600. (Picture by DEA PICTURE LIBRARY/Getty Images)

10 things you (probably) didn’t know about the Spanish Armada

A painting showing the defeat of the Spanish Armada

The Spanish Armada: all at sea

The Spanish Armada: Tudor spin portrayed the events of August 1588 as a glorious English victory but, argues Robert Hutchinson, bad weather and bad tactics had more to do with the Spanish fleet's failure than Elizabethan derring-do. (Ann Ronan Pictures/Print Collector/Getty Images)

The Spanish Armada: England’s lucky escape