Spain–United Kingdom relations
and the United Kingdom maintain bilateral international relations. Both countries are members of the Council of Europe and NATO. Spain is a European Union member and the United Kingdom is a former European Union member.
History
The history of Spanish–British relations is complicated by the political and religious heritages of the two countries. Neither the United Kingdom nor Spain have a unique constitutional ancestor; Britain was originally created by a union of the kingdoms of England and Scotland, whilst the Kingdom of Spain was initially created by a union of the crowns of Castile and Aragon. They have also been complicated by the fact that the United Kingdom and Spain were both imperial powers, often after the same land, an occurrence which is being played out to this day with the disputed ownership and status of Gibraltar.Anglo-Portuguese Alliance
For centuries, the role of England, and subsequently Britain, in Iberia was coloured by the Anglo-Portuguese Alliance. Relations with Portugal always have been closer than those with Spain, and Spain and Britain have gone to war twice over Portugal's independence.In 1384, at the height of the Hundred Years' War, England provided reinforcements to King João I to thwart a French-backed Castilian invasion. These forces saw action at the decisive battle of Aljubarrota, and proved to be vital in securing the continued independence of Portugal from its larger neighbours.
The alliance submerged into crisis when Portugal supported Joan of Castile instead of her aunt Isabella I of Castile during the War of the Castilian Succession of 1474–1479, because France also supported Joan's candidature. In the following years, the English collaborated with the Catholic Monarchs - Rodrigo González de la Puebla was sent to London as their first semi-permanent ambassador, their daughter Catharine of Aragon married Henry VII's sons Arthur and Henry and a small group of English soldiers even fought on the Castilian side during the conquest of Granada. However, the struggle of Elizabeth I of England against Philip II of Spain in the sixteenth century led to renewed English support of the Portuguese independence movement that started in 1640 with the crowning of King João IV of Portugal. England's support for Portugal during their Restoration War further soured Anglo-Spanish relations. England nevertheless meditated the Treaty of Lisbon of 1668 between Portugal and Spain, which saw the independence of the former and the recognition of Pedro II as King.
File:Coat of Arms of England.svg|thumb|240px|Arms of Mary I and Philip of Spain as English monarchs.
In following centuries, Portugal and Britain were closely allied in their politics and wars against Spain, which closely collaborated with France after the Spanish War of Succession that established the House of Bourbon on the Spanish throne. The alliance was renewed in the face of Spain supporting France as an ally and the renewal of their Bourbon compact in the Seven Years' War. In this war Spain agreed to attack Portugal and thus invaded in 1762 with a large army. British troops numbering near 10,000 came to aid the Portuguese. In spite of three attempts the Spanish along with their French ally were heavily defeated losing in total upwards of 25,000 men.
No further action between the powers took place until 1797 with the French Revolutionary Wars. Once again Spain and France were allied against Portugal and Britain. The Napoleonic Wars however saw Spain and Portugal along with Britain being allies in their fight against Napoleon after he tried occupying Spain in the Peninsular War.
Age of Exploration
During the 16th century there were complex political, commercial, and cultural connections that linked the large powerful Spanish Empire under the Habsburgs with a small but ambitious England. The Habsburgs sought allies against France. Both countries were constantly in turmoil or allied in a love-hate relationship. The marriage of the Catholic sovereigns –Philip II and Mary Tudor– in 1554 was the high point in a century of negotiations, wars and treaties. Philip and Mary got along personally, but there were no children and their retainers displayed mistrust and the marriage lacked in ceremonies and entertainments. The death of Queen Mary brought the protestant Queen Elizabeth to the throne, and the two friendly nations became hostile enemies.Henry VIII of England, who had made a political match with Catherine of Aragon, made a series of short-lived alliances with Carlos I against France during the Italian War of 1521 and the Italian War of 1542. Philip II of Spain married Mary I of England, making Philip king of Spain and of England and Ireland. Mary's early death without issue prevented a closer personal union of the countries.
Gold and diplomacy
The "Treasure Crisis" of 1568 was Elizabeth's seizure of gold from Spanish ships in English ports in November 1568. Chased by privateers in the English channel, five small Spanish ships carrying gold and silver worth 400,000 florins sought shelter in English harbours at Plymouth and Southampton. The English government headed by William Cecil gave permission. The money was bound for the Spanish Netherlands as payment for Spanish soldiers who were fighting the rebels there. Queen Elizabeth discovered that the gold was not owned by Spain, but was still owned by Italian bankers. She decided to seize it, and treated as a loan from the Italian bankers to England. The bankers agreed to her terms and she eventually repaid the bankers. Spain reacted furiously, and seized English property in the Netherlands and Spain. England reacted by seizing Spanish ships and properties in England. Spain reacted by imposing an embargo preventing all English imports into the Netherlands. The bitter diplomatic standoff lasted for four years. However neither side wanted war, so in 1573 at the Convention of Nymegen England promised to end support for raids on Spanish shipping by English privateers such as Francis Drake and John Hawkins. It was finalised in the Convention of Bristol in August 1574 in which both sides paid for what they had seized. Trade resumed between England and Spain and relations improved.War and Armadas
In 1585, relations between England and Spain worsened after Mary, Queen of Scots was beheaded whom the latter had supported. King Philip II of Spain ordered an invasion of England and set about building what would become the Spanish Armada at the naval shipyards of Cádiz. Elizabeth once again authorized Francis Drake to disrupt Spanish shipping - he sacked Santo Domingo and Cartagena, which became the opening salvo of the Anglo-Spanish War. Further disruption then took place at Cadiz in 1587; Drake singed the King of Spain’s beard and over 100 Spanish ships were destroyed, delaying the launch of the Armada by a year. The English also captured 2,900 butts of Sherry which later fuelled the popularisation of the drink in England.After almost two years of preparation, the Spanish Armada was ready to sail. Its 154 ships carried 19,000 soldiers and 8,000 sailors, as well as 180 clerics who were to help reestablish Catholicism in England. The plan was for the Spanish Armada to sail up the English Channel in a crescent formation to clear a path for the entry of army troops stationed in the Netherlands. The first attempt to sail in May 1588 ended when the Spanish Armada ran into storms and the fleet lost five ships.
Storms forced the fleet to stay put at A Coruña until July. Finally, they reached Lizard Point on 19 July. The English fleet was at Plymouth and followed the Armada up the Channel. The first encounter was off Plymouth, 21 July, the second off Portland Bill, 23 July, the third off the Isle of Wight, 24 July. The Armada was not seriously damaged and its formation remained intact. On 27 July, the Armada had reached the Strait of Dover and anchored off Calais. The next day, the English set several of their ships on fire and sent them out to the English Channel, hoping they would destroy the ships of the Spanish fleet. The ships of the Armada cut their cables thus losing their anchors and scattered throughout the Channel breaking the crescent formation the fleet needed to maintain until troops arrived from the Netherlands. The English attacked the vulnerable Spanish ships at this conflict, known as the Battle of Gravelines on 29 July. Lord Howard of Effingham's English warships fired at will, sinking one ship. Philip II's invasion was foiled, and the Armada was forced to push on into the North Sea. The voyage home proved costly, stormy waters claiming some 60 ships and thousands of lives.
England sent out its own armada the following year, in the hope that the Portuguese would rise up against the Spanish crown and to inflict further losses on the anchored Spanish fleet. The venture however failed and endured heavy losses.
A new front opened in the war between Spain and England, the coast of northern France. In 1590, the Spanish occupied Brittany from where they had a base to attack Cornwall. French and English forces captured Fort Crozon which secured the major port of Brest. Nevertheless the Spanish mounted one such raid in 1595; Mousehole, Newlyn and Penzance were sacked and burned. This event marked the last time England was ever invaded by hostile forces. The following year the English launched a major raid against Cadiz. The attack saw the city's capture, sacking and a two week occupation. The economic losses caused by this were numerous: the city was burned and the raid contributed to Spain's declaration of bankruptcy the following year.
In retaliation the Spanish attempted an invasion of the British isles; the Second Spanish Armada set sail in October 1596 but this hit a storm off Cape Finesterre and sailed back to port heavily ravaged. A year later the English led by the Earl of Essex a year later set out the Azores to intercept a Spanish treasure fleet but encountered very little. At the same time another Spanish attempt took place hoping to intercept the returning English fleet as well as invade the West of the British isles but this failed due to storms and bad luck.
The final Spanish armada took place in 1601 and although depleted from storms, managed to make landfall in Southern Ireland. Their aim was to assist the Irish rebel earls led by Hugh O'Neill in the rebelling against the English Crown. The English however besieged the 4,000 Spaniards at Kinsale. Cut off by the English Navy the Spanish surrendered the following year which ended further operations.
Peace between England and Spain was finally signed in 1604 when King James I, son of Mary, Queen of Scots, succeeded the childless Elizabeth to the throne. Both England and Spain ran into serious debt as a result of the war. Spain would declare bankruptcy again five years after the peace but would be able to consolidate and strengthen its Empire in the New World. The English too would prosper - they began to colonize North America, and the East India Company which had been formed later in the war soon began to breach the Spanish and Portuguese trade monopoly.