ve actually discovered the route leading to the Empire of
India, now peopled by three hundred million subjects of the British
Crown.

So ended the famous campaign of 1587, popularly known as the singeing of
King Philip's beard. Beyond a doubt it was the most consummate work of
naval strategy which, up to that time, all history records.

CHAPTER IX

DRAKE AND THE SPANISH ARMADA

With 1588 the final crisis came. Philip--haughty, gloomy, and ambitious
Philip, unskilled in arms, but persistent in his plans--sat in his
palace at Madrid like a spider forever spinning webs that enemies tore
down. Drake and the English had thrown the whole scheme of the Armada's
mobilization completely out of gear. Philip's well-intentioned orders
and counter-orders had made confusion worse confounded; and though the
Spanish empire held half the riches of the world it felt the lack of
ready money because English sea power had made it all parts and no whole
for several months together. Then, when mobilization was resumed, Philip
found himself distracted by expert advice from Santa Cruz, his admiral,
and from Parma, Alva's successor in the Netherlands.

The general idea was to send the Invincible Armada up the English
Channel as far as the Netherlands, where Parma would be ready with a
magnificent Spanish army waiting aboard troopships for safe conduct into
England. The Spanish regulars could then hold London up to ransom or
burn it to the ground. So far, so good. But Philip, to whom amphibious
warfare remained an unsolved mystery, thought that the Armada and the
Spanish army could conquer England without actually destroying the
English fleet. He could not see where raids must end and conquest must
begin. Most Spaniards agreed with him. Parma and Santa Cruz did not.
Parma, as a very able general, wanted to know how his oversea
communications could be made quite safe. Santa Cruz, as a very able
admiral, knew that no such sea road could possibly be safe while the
ubiquitous English navy was undefeated and at large. Some time or other
a naval battle must be won, or Parma's troops, cut off from their base
of supplies and surrounded like an island by an angry sea of enemies,
must surely perish. Win first at sea and then on land, said the expert
warriors, Santa Cruz and Parma. Get into hated England with the least
possible fighting, risk, or loss, said the mere politician, Philip, and
then crush Drake if he annoys you.

Early and late pe