Alliances are friendships between people and nations that result in the protection of the land and ensure the trade of goods between the two countries. During the 16th century alliances were not as stable as they are in the 21st century, in the early modern period alliances relied on the marriage of one monarch’s child to another and the two nations were joined by blood. It was understood that neither nation would attack a country whose future monarchy could be tied to theirs. A good example of the fickle nature alliances can be seen in the relationship between England and the Spanish-Hapsburg Empire, which was an alliance formed by King Henry VII and Ferdinand of Aragon under the premise that Henry would provide Spain with protection against …show more content…
Due to the vast nature of Philip II’s empire, Spain’s economy was thriving due to the wealth of resources the South American colonies provided, the South American colonies were particularly rich in gold and silver. The wealth of resources that Spain received from its colonies allowed the empire to dominate trade contributing to their own wealth, forcing English sailors to break into trade by selling African slaves to the Spanish. In order to acquire slaves John Hawkins and his crew went to African waters owned by the Portuguese, stealing slaves from Portuguese slave traders who had established a selling relationship with patrons in Spanish America . Hawkins decided that if he were to partake in slave trading that he would attack vessels that were owned by other European nations, notably Spanish and Portuguese ships. Hawkins and his crew set about attacking the Portuguese and Spanish ships, taking their slaves and cargo. When Hawkins arrived in the West Indies with his slaves he found a sellers market, since he did not have to pay taxes to the Spanish for the slaves he stole Hawkins could sell them to Spanish traders for a lower price. Despite an altercation with the Spanish authorities, Hawkins managed to have three ships, which were full of gold, silver and pearls. Hawkins’ enterprise would not last because when his ships arrived in Seville they were imprisoned and tortured by the Inquisition. During Hawkins’s third voyage his fleet was attacked at San Juan de Ulua, after having been promised safe passage, which resulted in approximately a quarter of their ships and 150 men returning to England. Outraged by the actions of Philip II’s fleet in Ulua, Elizabeth openly prepared for war against the Spanish Armada. The actions of Sir John
Such alliances are the very things that laid the foundation for the conflict of World War I because every country had multiple reasons for joining their respective alliance, mainly for revenge, distrust, or
The Spanish armada was known as the most powerful navy in the world and they were prepared to go overthrow Queen Elizabeth I. Elizabeth was known as a corrupt international political leader, she also encouraged her own Navy to rob Spanish ships that were caring valuable exports from America. The Spanish were ready for revenge; “nearly 140 ships and 24,000 men were supposed to rendezvous with an army of similar size in the Netherlands” (Tompson 1). With a navy this size aiming to overthrow the Queen, the odds were not in favor for the English. The Spanish were even known for having the world’s strongest navy. As they Spanish headed to the Netherlands to meet up with more troops and the other half of their navy, the English fleet intercepted them. On the first day “the English countered with a fleet about 200” they kept their distance and only “annoyed them with long range gunnery” (Tompson 1). As being outnumbered the English were very smart in keeping their distance. This was just the beginning of the English pestering the Spanish with their long-range gunnery. The Spanish armada was heavily weighted with foot soldiers to board the English vessels, but “the English f...
Though the Atlantic Slave Trade began in 1441, it wasn’t until nearly a century later that Europeans actually became interested in slave trading on the West African coast. “With no interest in conquering the interior, they concentrated their efforts to obtain human cargo along the West African coast. During the 1590s, the Dutch challenged the Portuguese monopoly to become the main slave trading nation (“Africa and the Atlantic Slave Trade”, NA). Besides the trading of slaves, it was also during this time that political changes were being made. The Europe...
As the new world was emerging into existence there grew a deep need for wealth in the ever growing European powers and they needed work force to support the building of their empire. When Columbus decided to go on his transoceanic voyage his main intention of the voyage was to bring about with a healthy transoceanic slave trade which would indeed help the European motives of expanding their kingdom. On Columbus’s first voyage he set up a base which he called ‘Hispaniola’ which today is the Haiti or also called as the Dominican Republic. In the initial stage of Columbus transoceanic slave trade he captured 10 to 20 Indians, having them shipped back but having only left over with six or seven alive and the rest dead by the time they made it back to the shores of Spain. Being subjected to this kind of ...
...the ground! Even with the theft, the worst the English captain did was warn them. “He made knowne vnto them the Custome of England to be Death for such offences.” (Source 2) This difference in respect and relations wiped out one native civilization and made another prosper. Both the English and the Spanish at first encountered unfamiliar people and cultures that possibly even made them uncomfortable. The difference was that the spanish assumed that the natives were inferior and sub-human. this is a wrong way of thinking and still continues today. With much work, it can be stopped and situations like the relationship between the conquistadors and the natives can be prevented. The conquistadors simply valued the wrong things, putting money over life. As Bernal Diaz del Castillo, a conquistador once said, "We came to serve God and to get rich, as all men wish to do."
In the past, when empires formed alliances, it’s either due to the speed and possibility of war, the change of power from nation to nation, and whether there is a presence or absence of ideological problems. It’s no secret that we live in a competitive world. This has been proven much throughout history as empires have competed against each other. The conclusion, is that as one empire rises, another falls. From the late 19th and early 20th centuries, we’ve had the Holy Roman Empire followed by the Mongol Empire, to the French, British, American and several other empires. All with the exception of American, no longer exist t...
Drake made several voyages to the Caribbean with English seaman John Hawkins in the 1560’s, which were the early years of Drake’s career. They were not privateering voyages, but attempts to smuggle Spanish goods into the colonies. On the third voyage Hawkins’ fleet of six ships, one commanded by Sir Francis Drake, were driven into the Gulf of Mexico by a hurricane. The ships were led into the Vera Cruz port and demanded supplies. The Spanish however had a different plan of assaulting and killing many men and destroying four ships. Drake and Hawkins returned to England safely but, this incident led to Drake’s desire for revenge on the Spaniards.
During the Age of Exploration, countries of Spain and England were rivalries. Spain, after Columbus made his discoveries, went on to explore and colonize lands in Mexico and Peru. With the riches that it obtained, Spain overwhelmed England with its powerful navy, but failed to do so because of the strong will and nationalism of the English explorers. Sir Walter Raleigh was among these brave men and soon became a distinguished member of the English society. He was favored by Queen Elizabeth but was still not satisfied with his glamorous life. Raleigh had wanted to achieve glory for England so that its superiority would exceed that of Spain’s.
The King and Queen were not convinced by the amount that he brought back with him. Besides, the doubts the King and Queen had they once again financed Columbus’s second voyage back to the New World. We need to remember that Columbus’s so-called "second voyage," albeit innocuous sounding language was in actuality an all-out invasion of the islands and particularly of Espanola. Equipped for the military adventure by the Spanish monarchs, Columbus sailed on October 7, 1493, with seventeen ships fully armed with more than a thousand men. (Freeland) This leaves one to wonder if the “so called” exploration to find new trade routes had alternative meaning all along. Not only was his second voyage an all out invasion but Freeland states, There would not be need in any event, since his army would be free to rape Indian women as they pleased. It was this invasion that initiated this vicious and murderous cycle of conquest, murder, thievery, and
An alliance is when two countries join forces because of mutual advantages. Alliances play a major role in wars, the more the alliances the more destructive the outcome of the war. An example would be World War I, if the allies of Austria-Hungary and Serbia were not involved, it wouldn’t have ended up into the First World War. Alliances were formed for safety, power, military weapons and soldiers to insure a country’s safety. Now it’s a matter of who is stronger or better. A single event in one country would variably involve the other countries. A tug on one string tugged the rest, and thus the whole continent fell into war. AJP Taylor an English historian once said that alliances "created an excessively rigid diplomatic framework, within which relatively small detonators could produce huge explosions." (Defense Alliances - The World at War)
The importance of the alliance system that developed in Europe in the decades before World War I as a cause for it is still an important topic of debate and argument between modern historians. Some argue that the alliance system was a direct cause of the outbreak of war between all major countries in Europe while other historians prefer to state that the alliance configuration we observe before the war started was simply a symptom of the conflicts and disagreements, fears and envies that had been accumulating since the Bismarck system of alliances collapsed, and even before then. This last opinion is becoming more accepted as the one that describes the true importance of the actual alliance system as a cause of the war. In order to determine the importance of the alliance system as a cause for the war we must first explore the origins of these alliances. We will take high-point of the Bismarck system in 1878 as our starting point as the Franco-Prussian war is a key factor for the development of this system.
The Alliances not only contributed to war breaking out; it made the war last longer and become on a much larger scale; major political disputes would inevitably cause a large conflict. The alliances caused suspicion, fear, and tension among nations. The two camps were the Triple Entente (Britain, France and Russia) and the Triple Alliance (Germany, Italy and Austria-Hungary). When countries formed alliances with each other it gave them protection, if a country was threatened or under attack then the alliance would come to that country’s aid. Countries made an alliance when they both needed protection from a stronger country. When Austria-Hungary had heard about the assassination of Franz Ferdinand they went to war with Serbia which resulted in a chain reaction of countries going to war with one another, and when countries teamed up to support their attacked friends when war came, it meant that a number of nations would fight, not only the two involved in a dispute. The division of...
The immediate cause of the European voyages of discovery was the conquest of Constantinople by the Ottoman Turks in 1453. While Egypt and Italian city-state of Venice was left with a monopoly on ottoman trade for spices and eastern goods it allowed Portugal and Spain to break the grip by finding an Atlantic route. Portugal took the lead in the Atlantic exploration because of the reconquest from the Muslims, good finances, and their long standing seafaring traditions. In dealing with agriculture, The Portuguese discovered Brazil on accident, but they concentrated on the Far East and used Brazil as a ground for criminals. Pernambuco, the first area to be settled, became the world’s largest sugar producer by 1550. Pernambuco was a land of plantations and Indian slaves. While the market for sugar grew so did the need for slaves. Therefore the African Slave start became greatly into effect. Around 1511 Africans began working as slaves in the Americas. In 1492, Columbus embarked on his voyage from Spain to the Americas. The Euro...
The first generation of Spanish explorers who followed Columbus into America carried with them the intuition of slavery . Christopher Columbus was notoriously known to be motivated by greed and in search of wealth. He ar...
Alliances played a hefty role in the inevitability of World War One. Countries were constantly at each other’s necks and needed power in order to protect themselves from each other. This is where alliances came in; countries could seek shelter from others by developing truces with close friends. Having a truce was beneficial in most ways because it provided the illusion of being a bigger power, and offered one extra support in case of a crippling event. Then again they did also create tensions between the countries that could only escalate further. For example, in the year 1879 there was a dual alliance created between Germany and Austria-Hungry. This alliance was created to protect them from Russia, who ...