Garret Mattingly’s The Armada has, for a long remained an important part of the historiography of European during the sixteenth century. Through the integration of the military, political and diplomatic history of this period mattingly has superbly refuted some misconceptions about the 1588 war between the Spanish and English forces. A human dimension is given prominence in the Armada. The experiences of historical personalities such as Philip II, Henry III and Elizabeth I during the war also explained .In short The Armada gives a good analysis of the whole event of the naval warfare and the individuals involved in it.
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The Spanish Armada presents an insight into the motivation behind Philip II’s attack of and the conquest thereafter of England. It further leads us into the elaborate plans put in place to realize this conquest. The historical perspective of the conflict and enmity between the British and the Spanish in the sixteenth century is also given as being based on, mainly, personal, religious and lastly political factors. Lastly it exposes the problems that were experienced during the battle through an elaborate insight into the process of the assembling of the fleets, the high number of the vessels used as well as their varied types, among others.
The books are organized in a very clear and logical manner. Both clearly depict the various factors that. He provides good historiographical background to the events in the book through
Many pages of both primary and secondary support materials. The logical flow of the story is further enhanced through the employment of good narration skills by the author. For example, Mattingly’s insight into the political of people like Philip II. This brings out detailed information about individuals involved in this great historic event and how their motives for participation in
Mattingly Garrett. The Armada. U.S.A: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2005.
Mattingly Garrett. The Defeat Of The Spanish Armada. U.S.A: Random House, 2011
this war are shaped. By doing this, the author is able to present to readers a clear story based on the basic underlying factors influencing this event.
There are instances of prejudice in the books. These prejudices influence the authors’ conclusions to some extent. It can be argued that The Armada suffers from some sense of prejudice against the British naval force. He argues that the Spanish side did not lose due to their weakness compared to that of the British but it was case of miscalculation and poor preparation.
While The Armada seems to focus more on, The Spanish Armada seems to focus mainly and in a more detailed manner on the whole issue of the arms, Great War ships as well as tactics employed during these wars. Mattingly scores higher than Parker in terms of the presentation of the characters and in the provision of historical l, political, and religious background of the conflict. Mattingly tends to be more even handed in the presentation of the whole story. For example he gives us many heroes from both sides .On the Spanish side, we have heroic deeds of Medina-Sidonia, the commander of the Armada while the Duke of Parma’s and Queen Elizabeth‘s heroic deeds are also given prominence in the books. Talking about prejudices, it must be noted in this case that they are subjective as opposed to objective.
Some Readers will therefore have a different opinion from mine. One can still debunk my point that the issue of the actual preparation of the ship was not properly brought out in the books hence is a case of prejudice to some of very crucial leads to the deeper understanding of the this historical event.
Another outstanding prejudice found in both books is the coverage of the actual preparation of the Armada for the war voyage. In both books the author seem to have just looked at it rather
cursory manner. For example, both do not give the readers, in details, the fact that Medina Sidonia never took the preparation seriously. This partly led to the Spanish defeat .There are neither well developed images and diagrams to help us have deep understanding of the process and how it was likely to affect the outcome of the conflict between the British and the Spanish.
Mattingly concludes that the defeat of the Spaniards was not wholly decisive in the course of the events in this historical period. He seems to arrive at this conclusion that by citing the fact that later on the Spanish still had the capacity to go and attack Portugal. It can therefore be argued that He had some underlying liking for the Spanish .However this can still be disputed given the conflicting views on the warfare by different historians and authors.
Parker on the other hand concludes by dismissing widespread myths regarding the war by clearly pointing in logical details the whole process of the treatment of the navies of Spain and Britain and how this shape the psychology of the fighters. He also attributes the defeat to poor preparation of the Spanish.
The two books had a very effect on the existing perceptions on the war, in part, and the European history as a whole. Before these books were authored, there used to be many myths and theories held by many people in Europe about the Spanish and British war. These two great books by great authors attempt to analyze and debunk some of these myths and theories especially the on the real cause(s) of the Spanish defeat at the hands of the British. Hence people who read them started questioning those myths and theories. Some of them ended up subscribing to the new ideas held by the two authors.
The Spanish Armada presents a very good read. This due to the fact that I has a well balanced and scholarly account of the fight .It further gives an account of the brutally that the Spanish and the British approached the war. This is, for example, done through the vivid description of the fate of the Spanish ship’s crew members which wrecked on the shores of Ireland. The Spanish Armada is also an excellent read just like The Armada. It presents to us a well written account of the whole event of conflict between various European nations during the war. It does this using a simple but highly descriptive narration strategy. Both books there for should be a must read for any reader who is interested in getting detailed and logical insights into the warfare.
Mattingly Garrett. The Defeat Of The Spanish Armada. U.S.A: Random House, 2011
Bibliography
Mattingly Garrett. The Armada. U.S.A: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2005.
Mattingly Garrett. The Defeat Of The Spanish Armada. U.S.A: Random House, 2011.
