Foreign Policy 1625-1629

?
View mindmap
  • Foreign Policy 1625-1629
    • War against Spain - 1625
      • Charles was put into a difficult position but decided anyway to start an attack on Spain
        • Altogether £500,000 was spent preparing the navy for the war, however, it still lacked many essentials, despite using the queen’s dowry of £120,000.
      • The administrative system could not cope with the size and complexity of the task. The fleet set off in October of 1625. Yet when it arrived in Spain it began to degenerate into a farce.
        • They returned home after achieving nothing. Buckingham received much of the blame. Despite this, him and Charles continued with further military preparations.
    • War Against France - 1626
      • A year later, another fleet sailed for Spain. This time the expedition failed to even reach the coast of Spain.
        • It was struck by violent storms in the Bay of Biscay and had to return home.
      • It seemed that England was incapable of conducting a successful attack against one country, yet the Duke of Buckingham was also preparing to go to war with France.
    • Attacks on Buckingham
      • Overall, Buckingham had been accused of causing lots of distribution in England during his time of being the Foreign Minister.
        • This led to people in the court, and outside to dislike him. As a result of this he was assassinated in 1628.
      • Public opinion against Buckingham had reached new heights of disgust. Two former officers on the Cadiz expedition came to exemplify the hate and anger towards Buckingham.
      • Finally, Lieutenant John Delton stabbed Buckingham to death while the Duke was supervising the preparation of a third expedition to La Rochelle
    • National humiliation
      • England had already been massively humiliated by the defeats at War, yet the failed expeditions also brought mass humiliation for the nation
      • Buckingham himself led one expedition to Rhe in 1627 with the objective of capturing the island.
        • Ultimately the lack of resources led to its downfall and many people blame Buckingham for this, although he bore the major responsibility for the policy that had led to it and not for the failure of the attack itself
      • As well as this, an expedition to relieve La Rochelle was sent out in 1627
        • This was led by Buckingham’s brother-in-law, and was even more of a failure than previous undertakings
        • All this caused England to feel utterly humiliated and many reacted by placing the blame on people such as Buckingham
    • Failure of expeditions
      • Buckingham himself led one expedition to Rhe in 1627 with the objective of capturing the island, which guarded the approach to La Rochelle
        • At first, troops were landed on the island and its citadel was besieged, all was going well
          • However, there was no backing from England, with the result of necessary supplies and reinforces not arriving
            • Ultimately this lack of resources led to its downfall and many people blame Buckingham for this, although he bore the major responsibility for the policy that had led to it and not for the failure of the attack itself
    • Search for scapegoats
      • The majority of people agreed to blame Buckingham for these failures, as he himself prepared and planned the failed fleets and even led the expeditions that ended unsuccessfully
        • As a result of this dislike he was eventually assassinated in 1628 by Lieutenant John Felton
          • Many people tried to search for someone to blame for the humiliation on loosing two Wars, and the failure of the many expeditions.
    • No systems for rasising enougn money
      • All that the Commons would offer was two subsides worth £140,000. This decision was justified on the grounds that no war had been declared and there had been no account given of the money voted in 1624
        • This clearly made things difficult when England went to war with Spain, the failure was heavily associated with the lack of money that was available
          • which led to a lack of essential resources. The same could be said for the war against France
        • Parliament was unwilling to vote large sums of money only to see them frittered away without anything being achieved, which was a reoccurring theme
          • In turn, the inadequacy of the sums voted made defeat much more likely. Insufficient funds had an inevitable effect on the success of foreign enterprises

Comments

No comments have yet been made

Similar History resources:

See all History resources »See all British monarchy - Tudors and Stuarts resources »