The Confident Hope of a Miracle: The True Story of the Spanish Armada

Like most of us, I only knew the Spanish Armada as some big naval battle back several hundred years symbolic of victory against all odds. This book is way more than just the depiction of a battle at sea, it manages to capture the religious, cultural, political, economic and technological currents sweeping around Europe in the late 16th century. The military action that dominates the second half...more

Like most of us, I only knew the Spanish Armada as some big naval battle back several hundred years symbolic of victory against all odds. This book is way more than just the depiction of a battle at sea, it manages to capture the religious, cultural, political, economic and technological currents sweeping around Europe in the late 16th century. The military action that dominates the second half of the narrative is quite interesting, particularly to note the sheer brutality of the combat and the normal and customary actions of the time that seem so appalling to the modern Western reader. Also of note is the writer's unapologetic attack on the competence and capability of Queen Elizabeth. Indeed, this portrayal clearly takes the side that England prevailed in this conflict despite her abysmal leadership. King Phillip of Spain gets roughly the same treatment. At the end, the book feels like a colossal tragedy where thousands and thousands of men died horrible deaths bravely serving the vanity and egos of their venal, petty sovereigns. Not that Bush and Saddam repeated history or anything.   hide