Customer Reviews

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

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

In my opinion, Garret Mattingly's "Defeat of the Spanish Armada" remains the first book to read if you're interested in the story of the Armada. It's a better read than Hanson's book (I found a re-reading of Mattingly's version more entertaining than my first reading of Hanson's book) and it provides more context about what was happening in northern Europe at the time of the Armada (I found his account of the 'War of the Three Henry's' particularly intriguing). Not to disparage Hanson's book: it's definitely worth reading (I don't hesitate to give it four stars), but Mattingly's story is a classic of sound history that easily could be (and should be) turned into a screenplay.

As we now look at the possibility of another religious war, this time between Islam and the Christian world, this book has a particular lesson for our time. The title itself speaks of the time. Confident that God would bless the Catholic church, the Spanish Armada set out to conquer England.

It appears however that better ships, better guns, better men. Then to cap it all was the weather in the English Channel. The Miracle certainly didn't happen. In fact you could view the storm as God's will pointing in another direction.

This book is supurbly researched and written with a descriptive flair that makes it almost read like a novel. You know the outcome, of course, but the story is very well told.

This book is mostly an exciting read. I was hooked after the first chapter, a vivid narrative of the trial and execution of Mary, Queen of Scots. Battle descriptions come alive, especially the climactic night battle that decides the campaign. Above all, the book does an excellent job of conveying how the whole event must have felt to the participants, from descriptions of shipboard conditions to the perils of night navigation and the difficulties of maintaining communication amongst hundreds of ships without modern technology. Neil Hanson's obvious talent for writing fails him occasionally, however. Describing the fate of so many Spanish ships one by one - they mostly end up shipwrecked with those onboard either drowned or imprisoned - gets repetitive after a while. Also there were too many quotations overall. While some were interesting and insightful, too many were forced in awkwardly where the author's own words would have sufficed. Naval tactics are explained well, something that Hanson apparently has previous experience writing about.

My larger gripe with this book is that it is much better at explaining what happened than why. Some explanations don't seem to hold together very well. Hanson suggests in several places that the execution of Mary, Queen of Scots, was the "catalyst" for launching the Armada, but Armada preparations began almost a year before that event. Portions of the book criticize heavily both Phillip of Spain and Elizabeth of England. As an Englishman, it seems Mr. Hanson is especially concerned with debunking the mythology around the Armada and around Elizabeth, who is portrayed as vain, indecisive, and miserly. Time and again, mention is made of how her navy lacked resources. At the time, however, Spain clearly had a stronger government with a bigger budget. Even so, its own Armada suffered severely from lack of key supplies. Is it realistic to expect Elizabeth to have done much better under the circumstances? Didn't all early modern governments struggle to finance their wars? These questions don't get the attention they deserve, and it feels like Hanson judges Elizabeth's logistical failings by the higher standards of later times. The best history helps the reader see why participants made decisions that, in retrospect, seem stupid. This is something lacking in Hanson's book.

In short, this book epitomizes the strengths and weaknesses of "popular" history writing by a freelance author. It is entertaining, vivid, and definitely insightful on several points. I can't help but feel, however, that an academic author with detailed knowledge of the period would have provided more consistent explanations and less harsh judgments about Phillip and Elizabeth. If you're mostly interested in a good narrative, count this review as 4 stars instead of the 3 I'm giving it.

This is the best and most readable single-volume treatment of the English defeat of the Spanish Armada in 1588 I have read. Neil Hanson's text is breezy but comprehensive, not simply covering the battles but setting the stage of European politics, religion, and military technology, particularly the revolution in English shipbuilding and gunnery.

The"Armada Year" of 1588 is one of those quintessential cleavage years in British history. In 1588, Spain was poised to come as close to world domination as any superpower since Rome; fueled by silver from the Americas, its clanking professional armies were unequaled, and wreaked genocidal terror in Flanders and Holland. This was an age of no quarter given between heretics, and had the Spanish gained a bridgehead in England, it is doubtful that the Tudors, and the Church of England, would have survived (literally) any organized campaign. The English navy, like the pilots of the Battle of Britain, were all that stood between England and the grey sweep of papist extermination.

Standard English texts such as the Oxford History tend to treat events like the Armada as a given happenstance, so Hanson's fresh look is a welcome addition to this period. Hanson manages not only to cover the essential events and foundations, but makes telling points. Most controversial of these points is his thesis that the English won in spite of, and not because of, Queen Elizabeth's leadership. Hanson is singularly critical of Queen Elizabeth, who, unlike the Bette Davis icon we are accustomed to, is portrayed as a parsimonious, grasping, selfish meddler, whose principal concern was self-aggrandizement. Worse, she infuriated allies and enemies alike by invariable waffling on major decisions. To the frustration of her admirals, Elizabeth, after inciting a war with Spain, nearly loses the war by being taken in by peace talks (a la Chamberlain in 1938) up to the point the Armada actually sails. Elizabeth also starved her fleet, counting pennies to save on shot and necessary supplies.

Some have criticized the build-up phase of the book, and the fact that the battle proper does not begin until the last third. This was essential, since Hanson effectively places the Armada as not an isolated event but part of a Europan-wide conflict involving England and Scotland, Huguenots and Catholics in France, Portugal, and the Dutch, who were fighting a war to the death with the Spanish. Indeed, until the Armada veered toward the English coast, it was in doubt whether it was intended for Britain or to smash the United Provinces. The "miracle" of the Armada campaign was not Elizabeth's Machiavellian cleverness, but the innovation of English shipbuilding toward speed and maneuverability, and tactical appreciation of long range (relatively speaking) gunnery over what had been accepted tactics of fighting soldier-on-soldier land battles between boarded ships.

Equally important are the final chapters describing the actual destruction of the Armada as it attempted to return home by rounding Scotland and Ireland. Weakened by storms and English cannon, the great ships disintegrated, casting thousands of sailors on hostile shores to be tortured and executed by English militia and local gauleiters. With a good director and special effects, this is an epic begging to be filmed.

Future editions should include a map or two to help, but otherwise the book reads like a novel.

This is a wonderful update on the Armada. The Armada was created by Phillip II in 1588 with the hopes of bringing the Catholic church back to England by the Sword. General Parma's troops were massed in the Netherlands to be floated across the channel under the tutelage of the massive Armada made up of Caravels and even Triremes. The Armada was paid for by the Pope's Gold, it was to be a great crusade. England was a backwater to some extant, and Elizabeth an untested queen, her captains like Sir Francis Drake were pirates. However the Armada failed. It fell into issues in the Channel, the weather was bad, it blew out to sea, foundered in Ireland(where later Eamon De Velera was a descendant of Catholic shipwrecked Spaniards). Elizabeth and her interesting assortment of naval commanders were made heroes. England gained a defining moment that would be replayed when she faced down both Napoleon and then Hitler across the same Channel and was miraculously saved both times.

This book retells this famous story, with whit, wisdom and in a handsomely written style. However there is one glaring problem, the need by the author to slander and revise the story of Elizabeth. Instead of the Gallant queen who claims `I know I have but the body of a weak and feeble woman; but I have the heart of a king' we are given the portrait of a selfish woman who cares only for herself, who allowed here naval seamen to starve to death after the battle and who gives no such speech. The sources for this are dubious and the revisionism is not fair to such an extraordinary women. However if true, perhaps the allegations force us to reconsider our views.

Seth J. Frantzman

Enjoyed this book. A chapter in history I knew little about.
Source material nice to read.
The author could have been a little freer to draw conclusions
Ken Young

I must read for anyone interested in British history.

The book is infinitely readable and yet dense with detail.

Confident Hope of a Miracle is a well-researched history of the attempted invasion of Britain during the time of Elizabeth the First. What is remarkable about the story is the position of Spain as world's superpower and it total failure to understand the changes that were occurring in Naval Warfare. My only criticism, not one usable map.