D2.His.15.6-8: Weighing the Causes of the Spanish Armada's Defeat, 1588

Overview

Lesson Procedure

60-70 minutes of class time across 5 phases.

1. Warm-Up5-10 minutes
2. Direct Instruction20 minutes
3. Guided Practice15 minutes
4. Independent Practice15 minutes
5. Closure5-10 minutes

1. Warm-Up5-10 minutes

   Warm-Up Prompt

   "Your school team lost the final game. The coach blames the missed practices, the captain blames the rain, and a parent blames the referee. How could you decide which cause mattered most? Write one question you would ask about each cause."

   Collect a few questions on the board. Students often ask "Would we have lost anyway?" or "Did the other team have the same rain?" Point out that these are the questions historians ask too. Name the first one the remove test: imagine the cause was missing and ask whether the result would still have happened.

2. Direct Instruction20 minutes

   Give the background in two minutes. In 1588 King Philip II of Spain sent the Armada up the English Channel. The plan was for the fleet to meet the Duke of Parma's Spanish army in the Netherlands and carry it across to England (Wood, chapter IX). The English fleet was led by Lord Howard, with Sir Francis Drake as his chief adviser (Wood, chapter IX). The Armada never landed an army, and many of its ships were wrecked on the way home around Scotland and Ireland (Sources 3 and 5).

   Introduce the four Cause Tests. Stress that an outcome is the result we are explaining, and that we must name it before we weigh causes.

   The four Cause Tests (an SVHS teaching tool) for weighing the relative influence of causes

   Test	The question to ask	What a strong answer shows
   1. Remove test	If this cause had been missing, would the outcome probably still have happened?	If the answer is "no," the cause had a large influence
   2. Reach test	How much of the outcome does this cause explain: all of it, a large part, or only a small part?	A cause that explains a large part of the outcome weighs more
   3. Link test	Did this cause make other causes possible or stronger?	A cause that feeds other causes often weighs more than it first seems
   4. Evidence test	Which sources support this cause, and do sources from different sides agree?	Support from several sources, and from more than one side, makes the judgment stronger

   Read Source 1 aloud. Wood was a historian whose book was published by Yale University Press in 1918, so this is a secondary source written 330 years after the events. His chapter admires the English sailors, so watch for strong words about the Spanish side.

   Words for Source 1. Philip: King Philip II of Spain. Enterprize of England: the Spanish name for the plan to invade England. Squadrons: groups of warships. Men-of-war: warships. Ordnance: cannons. Rigging: the ropes and masts that hold the sails. Hulls: the main bodies of ships. Troopships: ships that carry soldiers. Laid aboard: brought alongside so soldiers can jump on board. Lubberly: clumsy at sea. Santa Cruz: the skilled Spanish admiral first chosen to command the Armada. Landlubber: a person with no skill at sea. Grandee: a Spanish noble of the highest rank. Seamen gunners: sailors trained to fire a ship's cannons.

   1Early and late persistent Philip slaved away upon this 'Enterprize of England.' With incredible toil he spun his web anew. The ships were collected into squadrons; the squadrons at last began to wear the semblance of a fleet. But semblance only. There were far too many soldiers and not nearly enough sailors. Instead of sending the fighting fleet to try to clear the way for the troopships coming later on, Philip mixed army and navy together. The men-of-war were not bad of their kind; but the kind was bad. They were floating castles, high out of the water, crammed with soldiers, some other landsmen, and stores, and with only light ordnance, badly distributed so as to fire at rigging and superstructures only, not at the hulls as the English did. Yet this was not the worst. The worst was that the fighting fleet was cumbered with troopships which might have been useful in boarding, but which were perfectly useless in fighting of any other kind—and the English men-of-war were much too handy to be laid aboard by the lubberly Spanish troopships. Santa Cruz worked himself to death. In one of his last dispatches he begged for more and better guns. All Philip could do was to authorize the purchase of whatever guns the foreign merchantmen in Lisbon harbor could be induced to sell. Sixty second-rate pieces were obtained in this way.

   2Then, worn out by work and worry, Santa Cruz died, and Philip forced the command on a most reluctant landlubber, the Duke of Medina Sidonia, a very great grandee of Spain, but wholly unfitted to lead a fleet. [...] The sailors were now not only fewer than ever—sickness and desertion had been thinning their ranks—but many of these few were unfit for the higher kinds of seamanship, while only the merest handful of them were qualified as seamen gunners.

   Read Source 2, also by Wood. Ask students to underline every number and to notice who supplied it.

   Words for Source 2. Tonnage: a measure of a ship's size. Armament: the guns a ship carries. Handier: easier to steer and turn. Ranks and ratings: officers and ordinary crew. Marines: soldiers trained to fight at sea. Armed transports: cargo or troop ships with a few guns. Parma: the Duke of Parma, who commanded Spain's army in the Netherlands. Fire-ships: old ships set on fire and sent drifting toward an enemy fleet. Flood: the rising tide. Weigh: pull up the anchor. Cables: the thick ropes that hold the anchors.

   1In actual size and numbers the Spaniards were superior at first. But as the week-long running fight progressed the English evened up with reinforcements. Spanish vessels looked bigger than their tonnage, being high built; and Spanish official reports likewise exaggerated the size because their system of measurement made their three tons equal to an English four. In armament and seamen-gunners the English were perhaps five times as strong as the Armada—and seamen-gunners won the day. The English seamen greatly outnumbered the Spanish seamen, utterly surpassed them in seamanship, and enjoyed the further advantage of having far handier vessels to work. The Spanish grand total, for all ranks and ratings was thirty thousand men; the English, only fifteen. But the Spaniards were six thousand short on arrival; and their actual seamen, many of whom were only half-trained, then numbered a bare seven thousand. The seventeen thousand soldiers only made the ships so many death-traps; for they were of no use afloat except as boarding parties—and no boarding whatever took place. The English fifteen thousand, on the other hand, were three-quarters seamen and one-quarter soldiers who were mostly trained as marines, and this total was actually present. On the whole, it is hardly an exaggeration to say that the Armada was mostly composed of armed transports while all the English vessels that counted in the fighting were real men-of-war.

   2[...] The Armada had anchored at Calais to get its breath before running the gauntlet for the last time and joining Parma in the Netherlands. But in the dead of night, when the flood was making and a strong west wind was blowing in the same direction as the swirling tidal stream, nine English fire-ships suddenly burst into flame and made for the Spanish anchorage. There were no boats ready to grapple the fire-ships and tow them clear. There was no time to weigh; for every vessel had two anchors down. Sidonia, enraged that the boats were not out on patrol, gave the order for the whole fleet to cut their cables and make off for their lives. As the great lumbering hulls, which had of course been riding head to wind, swung round in the dark and confusion, several crashing collisions occurred. Next morning the Armada was strung along the Flemish coast in disorderly flight.

   Read Source 3. Cuellar was a Spanish captain who sailed with the Armada. He wrote this letter in Antwerp in 1589, after escaping from Ireland, so it is a primary source. In a part of the letter not printed here, he says he was sentenced to death during the campaign and then spared, so he had reasons to defend himself and to blame others.

   Words for Source 3. Galleon: a large sailing warship. Shot-holes: holes made by cannon balls. The Duke: the Duke of Medina Sidonia, commander of the Armada. In retirement: shut away in his cabin. Ordered and countermanded: gave orders and then cancelled them. Succour: help. Chivalry and flower: the noblest and best men. Camp-master: an army officer who commanded a regiment of soldiers. League: an old measure of distance, roughly three miles. On our beam: hitting the side of the ship.

   1The galleon San Pedro, in which I sailed, received much injury from many heavy cannon balls, which the enemy lodged in her in various parts; and although they were repaired as well as was possible at the time, there were still some hidden shot-holes through which much water entered.

   [...]

   2The Duke heard nothing of all this, because, as I say, he was in retirement. Señor Don Francisco Bovadilla alone was he who ordered and countermanded in the Armada; and by him, and others, whose evil deeds are well known, all was managed.

   [...]

   3I remained in his ship, in which we were in imminent danger of death, because she opened so much with a storm which sprang up that she continually filled with water, and we could not dry her out with the pumps. We had neither remedy nor succour, except it was from God; for the Duke still did not appear, and all the Armada proceeded, scattered in such manner by the storm that some ships went to Germany, others drove on the islands of Holland and Zealand into the enemies' hands, others went to Shetland, others to Scotland, where they were lost and burned. More than twenty were lost in the Kingdom of Ireland, with all the chivalry and flower of the Armada.

   [...]

   4In these came Don Diego Enriquez, [...] as camp-master; and not being able to weather [round or double] Cape Clear (?), in Ireland, on account of the severe storm which arose upon the bow, he was forced to make for the land with these three ships, which, as I say, were of the largest size, and to anchor more than half a league from the shore, where we remained for four days without being able to make any provision, nor could it even be made.

   5On the fifth [day] there sprang up so great a storm on our beam, with a sea up to the heavens, so that the cables could not hold nor the sails serve us, and we were driven ashore with all three ships upon a beach, covered with very fine sand, shut in on one side and the other by great rocks.

   6Such a thing was never seen: for within the space of an hour all three ships were broken in pieces, so that there did not escape three hundred men, and more than one thousand were drowned, among them many persons of importance--captains, gentlemen, and other officials.

   Model the Cause Tests with the four worked examples below. Think aloud, and write the outcome being explained at the top of each example.

   • Remove test: the Spanish plan (Source 1, paragraph 1)

     Wood writes that the Spanish fleet had "far too many soldiers and not nearly enough sailors," because Philip "mixed army and navy together." Ask: if Spain had sent its warships first, with full crews, would the defeat still have happened in the same way?

     Result: Probably not in the same way. A fleet built to fight at sea first, without troopships, would have had more sailors and gunners. So the Spanish plan passes the remove test as an important cause, though by itself it does not explain the storms on the way home.

   • Link test: how the plan fed another cause (Sources 1 and 2)

     Source 2, paragraph 1, says the Spanish soldiers "were of no use afloat except as boarding parties - and no boarding whatever took place." Source 1 says the warships were "crammed with soldiers" and carried "only light ordnance."

     Result: The plan linked to the fighting at sea: ships full of soldiers but short of heavy guns could only win by boarding (coming alongside so soldiers can jump onto the enemy ship), and the English never let them come close. The Spanish plan made the English gun advantage count for more, so it weighs more than it first seems.

   • Two outcomes: the storms (Source 3, paragraphs 1 and 6)

     Captain Cuellar says his galleon had "hidden shot-holes through which much water entered," and later that when his group of ships was driven ashore in Ireland "more than one thousand were drowned." An outcome is the result we are explaining.

     Result: Separate two outcomes. For the deaths on the voyage home, the storm had a large reach: it wrecked ships and drowned men. The shot-holes in Cuellar's first galleon suggest a possible link, since English cannon fire left some ships damaged before the storms. But the ship wrecked under him was a different one, so that link needs more evidence. A cause can weigh a lot for one outcome and little for another.

   • Evidence test with numbers (Source 2, paragraph 1)

     Wood gives the Spanish fleet 30,000 men on paper but 6,000 short on arrival, with "a bare seven thousand" seamen. The English had 15,000 men, "three-quarters seamen."

     Result: 30,000 - 6,000 = 24,000 Spaniards present, of whom 24,000 - 7,000 = 17,000 were soldiers. Three-quarters of 15,000 is 11,250 English seamen. England had about 4,250 more seamen, with half as many men as Spain's total on paper. This supports the cause of English seamanship (skill at handling ships), but all the figures come from one writer, who admires the English side, so the evidence test asks us to check them against another source.

3. Guided Practice15 minutes

   Run Activity 1 (Cause Card Sort) for about 10 minutes. Then read Source 4 together. Froude was a professor of modern history at Oxford University, where he gave these lectures in 1893 and 1894. Pairs apply all four Cause Tests to one cause, the Armada's food and water supplies, using paragraph 2 only, and decide whether it was a major, contributing or minor cause of each outcome.

   Words for Source 4. Overthrow: defeat. Orkneys: islands north of Scotland. Tedious: long and dull. Provisions: food supplies. Lisbon and Corunna: ports where the Armada loaded supplies. Stowed: packed away. Smacks: small fishing boats. Carcases: dead bodies of animals. The Upper Powers and Heaven: God. The Almighty: God.

   1[...] There was an appropriateness, therefore, if due to accident, that other causes besides the action of man should have combined in its overthrow.

   2The Spaniards were experienced sailors; a voyage round the Orkneys and round Ireland to Spain might be tedious, but at that season of the year need not have seemed either dangerous or difficult. On inquiry, however, it was found that the condition of the fleet was seriously alarming. The provisions placed on board at Lisbon had been found unfit for food, and almost all had been thrown into the sea. The fresh stores taken in at Corunna had been consumed, and it was found that at the present rate there would be nothing left in a fortnight. Worse than all, the water-casks refilled there had been carelessly stowed. They had been shot through in the fighting and were empty; while of clothing or other comforts for the cold regions which they were entering no thought had been taken. The mules and horses were flung overboard, and Scotch smacks, which had followed the retreating fleet, reported that they had sailed for miles through floating carcases.

   [...]

   3The Spaniards made no attempt to conceal the greatness of their defeat. Unwilling to allow that the Upper Powers had been against them, they set it frankly down to the superior fighting powers of the English.

   4The English themselves, the Prince of Parma said, were modest in their victory. They thought little of their own gallantry. To them the defeat and destruction of the Spanish fleet was a declaration of the Almighty in the cause of their country and the Protestant faith. Both sides had appealed to Heaven, and Heaven had spoken.

   Key for the supplies cause (paragraph 2). Remove test: with good food, full water-casks and warm clothing, fewer men would have died on the long voyage north, so supplies weigh a lot for the losses on the way home. For the failed invasion, Froude reports these problems when the fleet was already heading home; the food from Lisbon had been thrown away earlier, but he does not say how it affected the fighting, so supplies are at most a contributing cause of that outcome. Reach test: the shortage threatened every ship ("there would be nothing left in a fortnight"). Link test: the water-casks "had been shot through in the fighting," so English gunfire fed this cause too. Evidence test: only one historian here; Source 3 does not mention food or drinking water, so the class should hold this judgment loosely.

4. Independent Practice15 minutes

   Run Activity 3. Students read Source 6, a sample paragraph written by SVHS for this lesson. It contains three weak spots on purpose. Each student finds the weak spots, then writes a better ranking of three causes for one outcome they name, citing at least three sources by number and paragraph.

   (1) The Spanish Armada failed to invade England because of the storms. (2) Captain Cuellar wrote that "More than twenty were lost in the Kingdom of Ireland" (Source 3, paragraph 3). (3) So the storms are the biggest cause of the failure.

   (4) The English guns were a cause too. (5) Wood writes that "seamen-gunners won the day" (Source 2, paragraph 1), and Cuellar's own galleon took "many heavy cannon balls" (Source 3, paragraph 1). (6) The Spanish commanders also made bad choices all through the campaign.

   (7) The fire-ships at Calais were the least important cause, because they did not sink any ships. (8) So my ranking is: storms first, English guns second, fire-ships third.

5. Closure5-10 minutes

   Exit ticket: "Name one cause that weighs more for the losses on the voyage home than for the failed invasion. Give one piece of evidence and the test it passes."

   Hand out Source 5 for the homework. It is the end of Wood's chapter.

   Words for Source 5. Pursuit: the chase. To leeward of: pushed downwind past. Dunkirk: a port on the Flemish coast (Flanders, part of the Netherlands of that time). Overlordship of the sea: control of the sea. Shaking the sea-dog grip off both Americas: ending English attacks on Spain's lands and ships in the Americas. Gale: a very strong wind. Shoals: shallow places where ships run aground. Orkneys and Hebrides: islands off the north and west of Scotland. Forlorn: hopeless. Remnant: the part that was left. Straggled: arrived a few at a time.

   1Drake forged ahead and led the pursuit in turn. The Spaniards fought with desperate courage, still suffering ghastly losses. But, do what they could to bear up against the English and the wind, they were forced to leeward of Dunkirk, and so out of touch with Parma. This was the result of the Battle of Gravelines, fought on Monday the 29th of July, 1588, just ten days after Captain Fleming had rushed on to the bowling green of Plymouth Hoe where Drake and Howard, their shore work done, were playing a game before embarking. In those ten days the gallant Armada had lost all chance of winning the overlordship of the sea and shaking the sea-dog grip off both Americas. A rising gale now forced it to choose between getting pounded to death on the shoals of Dunkirk or running north, [...]

   2North, and still north, round by the surf-lashed Orkneys, then down the wild west coasts of the Hebrides and Ireland, went the forlorn Armada, losing ships and men at every stage, until at last the remnant straggled into Spanish ports like the mere wreckage of a storm.

   Teacher notes. (1) Thousands of people died in the campaign, in battle and in shipwrecks (Wood, chapter IX; Source 3). Treat the deaths with care, and keep the focus on how historians weigh evidence. (2) The sources were written by English-speaking and Spanish writers of their own times and use the words of their times, such as "landlubber." Wood wrote in 1918 and admires the English side; Froude was an English historian of the 1890s; Cuellar was defending his own conduct. These points of view are part of what students weigh. (3) Source 3 omits a nickname for one officer that appears in the original letter; the cut is marked [...]. (4) Both fleets prayed for victory (Wood, chapter IX), and Source 4 reports how each side explained the result. Treat religious explanations as beliefs people held at the time. Historians record them as part of the story, and they weigh the causes they can test with evidence.

Differentiation Strategies

Assessment Guidance

1. Question 1 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   A student writes: "The storms, the English guns and the fire-ships were all causes of the Armada's defeat." What must she add before she has evaluated the relative influence of these causes?

   AThe exact date on which each of the three causes happened BA judgment of which causes mattered more, with reasons CA fourth cause, so that the list of causes is complete DA longer description of what each cause looked like

2. Question 2 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   A student asks: "If the Spanish ships had carried more heavy guns, would they still have lost the fighting in the Channel?" Which Cause Test is the student using?

   AThe reach test BThe link test CThe remove test DThe evidence test

3. Question 3 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   Source 1, paragraph 1, says Santa Cruz "begged for more and better guns," but Philip could only buy "Sixty second-rate pieces" from foreign ships in Lisbon. Which cause does this evidence support most directly?

   AThe storms that wrecked ships off Ireland BSpoiled food and lost water on the way home CThe way Spain armed and prepared its fleet DThe English fire-ships sent in at Calais

4. Question 4 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   Source 1, paragraph 2, says "sickness and desertion had been thinning their ranks" of Spanish sailors. Using the link test, which other cause did this make stronger?

   AThe English advantage in skilled seamen BThe Duke of Parma's army in the Netherlands CThe wind that turned Drake back to Plymouth DThe prayers said in every Spanish ship

5. Question 5 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   Source 2, paragraph 1, says Spanish reports "exaggerated the size" of their ships because "their three tons equal to an English four." What should a historian do with this?

   AIgnore Spanish reports, since they contain no useful facts at all BDecide that the Spanish ships were really the larger ones CUse the size of the ships as the main cause of the defeat DTake care when comparing ship sizes from sources on each side

6. Question 6 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   Source 2, paragraph 2, says "There were no boats ready to grapple the fire-ships and tow them clear." This detail links the fire-ship attack to which other cause?

   AThe storms off the coast of Ireland BThe spoiled food loaded at Lisbon CThe larger size of the English fleet DSpanish leadership and readiness

7. Question 7 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   In Source 3, paragraph 3, Cuellar writes: "We had neither remedy nor succour, except it was from God; for the Duke still did not appear." Besides the storm, which cause does he point to?

   AThe commander's absence when help was needed BThe English guns that damaged his galleon CThe poor food loaded on board at Lisbon DThe orders Philip gave before the fleet sailed

8. Question 8 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   Why is Source 3 strong evidence about the storm that wrecked Cuellar's group of ships?

   AHe wrote it hundreds of years after the events BHe was there and survived the wreck himself CHe was an English officer watching from shore DHe had no reason at all to shape his story

9. Question 9 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   Cuellar had been condemned to death during the campaign and then spared. Which part of Source 3 should a historian check most carefully against other sources?

   AHis count of more than one thousand drowned BHis report of shot-holes in his galleon CHis blame of Bovadilla and other leaders DHis description of the storm on the fifth day

10. Question 10 of 20 · Multiple Choice

    In Source 4, paragraph 1, Froude writes that "other causes besides the action of man should have combined in its overthrow." What does he mean?

    AOnly the English fleet's actions defeated the Armada BThe Spanish sailors defeated their own fleet CCauses such as the weather also played a part DNo one can know what caused the Armada's defeat

11. Question 11 of 20 · Multiple Choice

    Source 4, paragraph 4, says that to the English "the defeat and destruction of the Spanish fleet was a declaration of the Almighty." What does this sentence mainly tell a historian?

    AWhat many English people believed caused the result BHow many Spanish ships the storms destroyed CWhich tactics the English fleet used in battle DWhat King Philip believed about his own plan

12. Question 12 of 20 · Multiple Choice

    According to Source 2, paragraph 2, the Armada was anchored at Calais before "joining Parma in the Netherlands" when the fire-ships came. Which outcome does the fire-ship attack help explain most directly?

    AThe ships lost on the coast of Ireland BThe fleet's failure to join Parma's army CThe spoiled food thrown into the sea DThe captains' dislike of Medina Sidonia

13. Question 13 of 20 · Multiple Choice

    Wood writes that "In armament and seamen-gunners the English were perhaps five times as strong as the Armada" (Source 2, paragraph 1). Which word tells the reader to treat "five times" as an estimate?

    Aarmament Bstrong Cseamen-gunners Dperhaps

14. Question 14 of 20 · Multiple Choice

    Which pair of sources gives the strongest support, from writers on different sides, for the cause "English ships, guns and gunners"?

    ASources 1 and 2, which are both by Wood BSources 2 and 3, by Wood and by Cuellar CSource 4, paragraph 4, on English beliefs DSource 6, the SVHS sample paragraph

15. Question 15 of 20 · Short Answer

    Use the remove test on Spanish leadership. Suppose Santa Cruz had lived to command the Armada instead of Medina Sidonia. Would the Armada probably still have failed to land an army in England? Give one piece of evidence that supports your answer and one that cuts against it (Sources 1-3).

    Show model answer

16. Question 16 of 20 · Short Answer

    In Source 3, paragraphs 4-5, Cuellar's group of ships anchored off the coast and "remained for four days without being able to make any provision." On which day after anchoring were the ships wrecked? Explain how two causes worked together in this wreck.

    Show model answer

17. Question 17 of 20 · Short Answer

    Source 1 and Source 2 were written by Wood in 1918; Source 3 was written by Cuellar in 1589. For each writer, name one thing his source is good evidence for and one limit of his source when you weigh the causes of the defeat.

    Show model answer

18. Question 18 of 20 · Short Answer

    Froude reports that "Both sides had appealed to Heaven, and Heaven had spoken" (Source 4, paragraph 4). Explain why a historian records what people believed about the causes of the defeat, and how this differs from the causes the historian can test with evidence.

    Show model answer

19. Question 19 of 20 · Short Answer

    Rank three causes of the Armada's failure to land an army in England, from most to least influential. For your top cause, apply two Cause Tests and cite evidence from two different sources.

    Show model answer

20. Question 20 of 20 · Short Answer

    Invented example: an old wooden bridge in a river town collapsed during a spring flood. Three causes are suggested: (1) three days of heavy rain, (2) the town had not repaired the bridge in forty years, though it had come through several earlier floods, and (3) a pile of logs jammed against the bridge on the morning it fell. Use two Cause Tests to rank the three causes, and say what evidence you would want before trusting your ranking.

    Show model answer

These standards connect to D2.His.15.6-8: prerequisites to review first, parallel standards at the same level, and next steps that build on it.

Standard text: National Council for the Social Studies (NCSS), The College, Career, and Civic Life (C3) Framework for Social Studies State Standards: Guidance for Enhancing the Rigor of K-12 Civics, Economics, Geography, and History (Silver Spring, MD: NCSS, 2013). NCSS was not involved in the production of this lesson and does not endorse it.