Why The Spanish Armada Failed

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The Spanish Armada failed for many reasons, including leadership. The weapons, fighting forces and planning were affected by this. Luck played a big role however but leadership is the most important factor in the defeat of the Spanish.

Leadership is the most significant factor in the Armada and is the main reason the Spanish were defeated. The Spanish tactics worked very well at the start, and the leaders executed and a great plan by putting the boats in a crescent formation, protecting the the more important ships in the middle, This made it very hard for the English to attack. As well as this luck was on for the Spanish and the wind was pushing them towards the Netherlands where they wanted to be. However, the English leader Sir Francis Drake thought of a very good plan, he set the ships alight and set them off towards the Spanish Armada. This meant the Armada had to break their formation, leaving them vulnerable to attack. This was a massive turning point and it was all down to leadership. There were …show more content…

However, they were not. If it wasn’t for the leadership, the Spanish Armada would have a totally different story. If Sir Francis Drake hadn’t thought of his plan, and the Spanish were able to continue their plan. The Armada may have won. The Spanish had 7,000 sailors and had 34,000 soldiers on the ships, their plan was to board the English ships and fight on the deck as they were experienced at fighting on land rather the out at sea. Knowing this the English who had 16,000 sailors on the ships and 76,000 soldiers on land, couldn’t let this happen as they weren’t experienced land fighters needed to act. And they did. The fire ships plan worked. The fighting forces were massively affected by leadership and without the leaders making big decisions fighting forces would be much more important than they were. Outlining that the outcome of of the Armada was down to