Elizabeth's specific foreign policy aims in regard to France were to primarily assist and receive assistance from the French in an attempt to encourage mutual support between Britain and France in order for the two countries to defeat the Spanish together. England and France were new allies and Elizabeth second policy aim intended to support the protestant king, Henry IV, and encourage him to refrain from converting to Catholicism, the same religion of the Spanish.
Source 2 reinforces the view that Elizabeth’s foreign policy was becoming less effective as it implies that Elizabeth has neither the power or authority to demand his support, the source suggests that Henry has manipulated Elizabeth by insisting that she was in control and that it was not him, but his councillors that denied Elizabeth the military base in France, whilst at the same time Henry of Navarre still expects the support of Elizabeth against their common enemy and he insisted that she ‘would not now forsake him’. Henry described himself as Elizabeth’s ‘fool’ and that he was fighting Elizabeth’s war for her, however in reality and hindsight, this was just an attempt to appease the Queen and keep her support as Henry had no choice but to fight against Spain as it was his territory(Brittany) that Spain were taking over.
The claim that Elizabeth was losing her power and control over her foreign policy is supported in source 1, which is written by MacCaffrey, who as a historian, has had the opportunity to take into consideration a number of other sources both from the period and written since. In Source 1, the power and initiative is described to have passed to Henry IV, implying again that Elizabeth’s influence is declining and therefore her foreign policy is not succeeding.
In the Netherlands the main aim of Elizabeth’s foreign policy was to protect the cloth trade with Antwerp. Elizabeth also aimed to support the protestant faith of the people whilst supporting the Dutch against their Spanish catholic rulers.
In Source 1, MacCaffrey highlights the fact that despite Elizabeth’s larger, more proactive role in the Netherlands, ‘the military initiatives were theirs’, implying that the power was not in the hands of Elizabeth’s but in the hands of the Dutch. It was in 1598 when the English troops officially began to be controlled and paid by the Dutch, thus supporting MacCafferey’s view that Elizabeth was losing control of her foreign policy. The implications of the British army being paid by the Dutch can lead you to not only believe that Elizabeth was losing her authority but also that she was giving up hope of a success. On the other hand however, as the war was so costly to the British monarchy, it can be viewed as a success of Elizabeth’s, in that she was able to cut back on some of the costs of was, hence reducing the national financial pressure.
Elizabeth did have some significant successes in the Netherlands including the role the British troops played in enabling the Dutch to capture some cities in the Netherlands from the Spanish. This was a significant success for Elizabeth in 1590 as it was a warning to the Spanish to recognise Elizabeth’s power s well as being a step towards weakening the Spanish power.
It was however the events of 1604 that ultimately undermined the successes of Elizabeth’s years, when James I signed the Treaty of London consequently agreeing to discontinue all English intervention in the Netherlands. However despite this, the English trade with Antwerp was protected and it did continue to bring much revenue into England, which as a result meant that Elizabeth’s main aim was achieved. Due to the course of events however it seems this was entirely due to a successful foreign policy of Elizabeth’s but also to the Treaty of London signed by James I in 1604.
In relation to the British victory, defeating the Spanish during the Spanish Armada of 1588, MacCaffrey supports the view that it was not Elizabeth’s foreign policy that caused this victory but a combination of luck and external factors. One of Elizabeth’s foreign policy aims was to weaken the Spanish; however the Spanish remained the most powerful nation in Europe long after the Spanish Armada of 1588, this is reiterated in Source 1 which stated that due to the queens deficiencies the ‘ghost of another armada’ had been ‘laid’.
Elizabeth’s other aims concerning Spain included preventing a Spanish attack, keeping the Anglican faith, benefiting from new world trade and gaining revenue from the Spanish treasure ships which would also contribute towards the weakening of Spain. Of these initial aims it is clear that of the five aims only two succeeded (the protection of the Anglican faith & revenue from treasure ships) however ultimately Britain did remain protected against the Spanish, and this is where Elizabeth claimed her victory.
In relation to Elizabeth’s foreign policy, the main criticisms come from her largely reactive actions to the advances of the Spanish. It is argued that Elizabeth only acted to counteract the Spanish progressions; this is illustrated by the fact that all the battles took place on British soil and in the waters, and none took place in Spain. Elizabeth’s successes in regards to her war against the Spanish consist of the victory in 1588 where the Spanish armada failed to overthrow Elizabeth I. In 1588 however, the English only manages to destroy one Spanish ship, where the English lost none. In hindsight this is a very small victory which does not owe much to a successful foreign policy. The second success in 1588 was the inability of the Spanish to pick up troops due to the powerful winds, which ultimately led to the majority of the ships being destroyed and the few surviving ships being forced to return back to Spain. Again, this cannot be seen as a success due to Elizabeth’s foreign policy as it was external factors that protected Britain and not Britain itself. Elizabeth still managed to make this look like her victory, with the help of propaganda, by claiming it was the fact that God was on her side and it was god that caused the winds to work in her favour.
A second success of the Elizabeth’s in regard to Spain came in 1592 when the Portuguese ship, ‘Madre de Dios’ was intercepted by the Azores and Elizabeth received £80,000 from the sale of its cargo. This had two positive results for Elizabeth, primarily it raised much needed revenue for the British treasury which could contribute towards the cost of war and secondly by taking treasure from the Spanish their power is consequently weakened, this may be seen as a success of Elizabeth’s foreign policy as she had licensed the English privateers to attack the Spanish ship and this was one of the few proactive actions of Elizabeth which did result in success. However the view that this was a successful aspect of her foreign policy is challenged by the fact that several English expeditions failed to intercept Spanish treasure fleets including that in 1591.
Elizabeth’s final significant success directly towards the Spanish was in 1601 when a Spanish force landed Ireland and was defeated by the new English commander, Mountjoy. This again acted as a warning towards the Phillip III of Spain to recognise Elizabeth’s power s well as being a step towards weakening the Spanish power, this event was less a success of Elizabeth’s foreign policy but more a result of the external factors which forced the Spanish Armada to travel further that anticipated meaning that a majority of the military would have been weak, hungry and ill. This therefore would have meant that they were not able to fight successfully giving the British army a big advantage.
Attempts to pursue Elizabeth’s aims to benefit from trade with the new world failed in 1595, when drake and Hawkins expeditions to the New World failed, this is therefore a prime example of a failed foreign policy aim of Elizabeth’s supporting the view that Elizabeth’s foreign policy was less effective in the last years of her reign.
Finally Elizabeth’s troops were defeated by the Spanish in Brittany in 1592; this defeat came due to the English troops being weakened by disease and desertion. This defeat compliments the ongoing view that Elizabeth’s foreign policy was becoming less effective towards her later years.
Overall it was the actions of James I that highlighted the lack of achievement that came from the final years of Elizabeth; it appears that nothing was gained except for large debts of the monarchy. When James I signed the treaty with Spain and France, Elizabeth’s efforts became pointless and her aims were forgotten.
Having considered the 2 sources and my own knowledge I agree with the view that Elizabeth’s foreign policy was less effective in the last years of her reign. It seems the main achievements and successes from 1588 to the end of Elizabeth’s reign came as a direct result of either luck or external factors such as the victory in 1588, defeating the Spanish Armada, where it is the wind strength and direction that ultimately wins the war. Another example of this is the English victory in Ireland against the Spanish army who would have been weak and hungry again as a result of the previous bad luck of the winds, the third main success that is greatly due to external factors occurred in the Netherlands where with English support a number of Dutch cities were captured from the Spanish. Although Elizabeth claimed credit for this, and counted it as her success it was really a success of the Dutch and the influence of the English troops was just that, an influence.
In conclusion therefore, it is clear to see that in the final years of Elizabeth’s reign, the overall effectiveness of her foreign policy appeared to be very little. As a result it was only due to other unforeseen factors that Elizabeth and the entire British monarchy was able to survive the events of 1588 onwards.
