How far would you agree with the view that Wolseys foreign policies were defensive?

England at the centre of international relations. This treaty would be classed as defensive as it was proposed by Wolsey to make sure that England could not be attacked at a time they were so vulnerable. At this moment in time England lacked resources and coffers, due to the 1.4million coffers he had spent from 1511 onwards. The claim of France was the main reason that England was suffering financially, the war with France and the battles of spurs and Flodden was extremely costly for England and they had little to show for these battles. This meant that Wolsey needed to ensure that England would not come under any attack during this time period. Due to England being the centre of International relations it could agree with the viewpoint of Source G where it states ‘Wolsey established England as the peacemaker’ which shows that they were the centre and due to them being a peacemaker it was an extremely defensive policy. Similarly, amongst international relations Wolsey’s main objective was to pair Henry up to make the strongest alliance to ensure England’s safety; in other words restoring the balance of power. England was the makeweight power amongst Europe so any side that they joined would become the strongest therefore putting England in a much safer position. This was also a defensive move by Wo at a time where England was so vulnerable. This point is also backed up by Source G to where it says ‘Henry lacked the resources to wage war’ inferring that England needed to be defensive to ensure they would not get attacked. Source G is extremely reliable as it was from a modern Historian who would have analysed all the evidence and made his decision down to strongest side suggested by the evidence. This further enhances my argument that Wolsey’s foreign policies were defensive due to the strong reliability of the source which matches my own knowledge.         However, some of Wolsey’s foreign policies were offensive. For example, the crusade against the Ottoman Empire. This was a driving force to remove the threat from Europe by powers that would not comply with the likes of Spain, England and France. This was when all the Christian countries would unite against the Muslims of the Ottoman Empire to the wipe the potential threat. This shows a true driving force which Wolsey was happy to involve England in which would shows as offensive by wanting to ‘remove’ the treat against Europe. This could relate to the fact that Wolsey knew Henry’s ambitions were to be a Chivalric King, this means that Wolsey had to be careful on how defensive he acted knowing that Henry wanted to go to war. This links in with Source F where it says ‘He was intentionally regarded as a figure of splendid chivalric kingship’, proving that Henry wanted to be powerful and well known for what he done. This links back to the question in where some of Wolsey’s policies were actually offensive and this could be to satisfy Henry’s needs.