ii)
For Philip, foreign policy dominated much of his reign. He wanted to preserve and expand his empire and also defend the catholic faith. With these aims he was at war for all but seven years of his rule and he achieved mixed results with the different countries he dealt with.
Philip’s concern in the south came from the Turks. He was most occupied with them during the first 20 years of his reign as he wanted to defend his coastline and limit the spread of Islam. They clashed often due to Philip’s possessions in the Mediterranean and to combat this he wanted to secure his North African lands by capturing Tripoli, but his plans were hindered by a surprise pirate attack and Philip was determined to avenge this. A great military victory was achieved at Lepanto but Philip did not follow up the victory due to the damage to his forces and his distrustfulness of his allies. Clashes continued into 1575 when internal fighting in Turkey limited their threat. A truce was signed in 1578 followed by a formal peace treaty in 1580. This allowed Philip to concentrate on the other European powers such as France and England whilst the Turks turned towards the east. Spain lost most of its African possessions but his policy was not a total failure and he never aimed to conquer the Turks but merely to contain them.
The rivalry with France lasted much longer. The Habsburgs and Valois were at war since before Philip, and he wanted to preserve the Hapsburg dynasty. He was tested soon after his ascension with the Pope forming a pact with the French. Henry II then planned to attack Spanish lands in Italy and Philip reacted first by sending an army to Rome. French attacks on Milan failed and Philip earned a great name for himself by offering no conditions for withdrawing his army. He then had further successes at St. Quentin where the Spanish army achieved another great victory. However France retaliated by taking Calais from England which Philip was also king of at the time. A deal had to be struck as neither monarch could afford to carry on fighting, so a treaty was signed with France retaining Calais but giving up all claims on Italy and Philip marrying Elizabeth Valois. The peace didn’t last and Philip’s attempts to interfere in the French succession had a negative effect, as he was seen as a foreign power leading the opposition to Henry of Navarre. The Pope refused Philip claim to be protector of French Catholics. When Henry announced his conversion to Catholicism Philip made the fatal mistake of continuing to attempt to change the succession. This move united the French people behind Henry and he joined England and the United Provinces in wars against Philip. Philip had to look for peace again and the treaty which followed still left France surrounded by Hapsburg territory, but considering the internal difficulties France was experiencing the treaty was a bigger success for Henry than Philip. The wars had also be very draining on Philip’s finances and played a big part in crippling Spain’s power, so his policy against France had initial successes but were then mostly followed by failures.
The other major country for Philip to deal with was England. He wanted to bring England back to Catholicism and this would not be achieved under the reign of the protestant Elizabeth. Philip and Elizabeth remained on good terms initially, but the decline of the French common threat the Dutch revolt brought the two into conflict. Philip was involved in several plots against Elizabeth whilst she turned a blind eye to English attacks on Spanish shipping. Finally war broke out in 1585 with the Armada and crushing naval defeat for Philip. In this case his policy mostly failed as he lost all hopes of restoring Catholicism in England whilst also damaging his reputation with the military losses.
One major success was the addition of Portugal to his empire. Philip had always wanted to expand his territory, and his acquirement of Portugal was achieved almost bloodlessly by clever bribes and threats. He also ensured minimal trouble from the area by letting the area retain their tradition. There were negatives such as the need to defend the Portuguese coastline and the threat from other claimant, but Portugal gave Philip an impressive navy, more overseas possessions and also a great boost to his reputation, so in this case his policy was a great success.
Overall Philip’s foreign policy was definitely not a total failure. He did fail in his aim restoring Catholicism in England, but achieved his aim of containing the Turks, preserving the dynast and expanding his empire with Portugal. Therefore his foreign policy can only be seen as part failures.
