Most Important Battles Challenge (4)

For this round I choose a famous battle who's true implications are, most unfortunately, perhaps not as well known as the battle itself is. I choose the defeat of the Spanish armada by the English in 1588.Background Phillip II of Spain in 1588 commanded a vast empire, controlling not only Spain but the Philippines, most of South America (including the vast Gold and Silver mines of Peru and Mexico), much of North America, the Caribbean (including the valuable sugar producing islands of Cuba and Hispaniola) and parts of Africa, along with fragments of other European powers like Southern Italy and chunks of France. The immolation and plunder of the ancient meso-American powers led to Spain becoming incredibly wealthy, and its vast territorial realms provided it with virtually unlimited resources. Europe was facing a hegemon the likes of which hadn't been seen since the mighty Roman empire some thousand years ago. So massive was Spains influence in its imperial holdings that even today the peoples there speak Spanish, and interbreeding wiped them out as a pure race, even today the inhabitants are called "hispanics". And facing down this great imperial power was an obscure island nation, freshly emerged from a religious civil war. When Phillip sent his mighty armada to destroy them, it's unlkely that anyone thought the underdog English had a chance.Implications I think one of the greatest failings of modern education is the failure to emphasize the importance of this battle. Just think: With the British Navy in ruins, all British exploration would come to a screeching halt. Even if we make the (very very unlikely) assumption that *all* Spain would do had they won would destroy the British Navy, the historical changes are still massive. Just to name a few:A. North America would remain under Spanish hegemony. The inhabitants of what is today the US would be speaking Spanish, not English.B. You can forget about Common Law and individual freedoms anywhere except England. These are manifestations of ancient anglo-saxon traditions eventually culminating in the Magna Carta and the English Bill of Rights. So obscure are the concepts of rule of law and habeas corpus that these words dont even exist in other languages and are ridiculously hard to explain to those who's legal culture doesnt place the emphasis on the individual[1] that common law does. No limited government, or "human rights" (to use to modern terminolgy), no jury trials, no presumption of innocence, no religious toleration, and no constitutions just to name a few of the modern legal concepts that arrose from Common Law. C. No British navy and a strong Spanish one = no power to check Spain. The defeat of the armada was the turning point that led to a long, slow decline from which the Spanish never recovered. Without this, the Spanish would be free to explore and colonize elsewhere, along with strengthening their hegemony in Europe. Most inhabitants in North America would be, not protestants but Catholics, and its improbable that any of the other war wracked nations of Europe could muster anything to challenge Spain.Of course, all of this becomes even more evident if the Spanish did invade England and despose of Elizabeth I as they had planned. Recall that one of the reasons for Englands unique legal, political, and religious culture along with its ability to survive wars that devastated the rest of Europe was its isolation from the continent. Bringing Englad under Spain's hegemony as a vassal state complicated matters, its probable that the English would have had to send troops to help aid Spain in its foreign wars-its unlikely that England would have ever became a nation of prominence. From this:A. No British empire. Over 1/4th of the world was once under British control, so the histories of all these lands, and thus the entire world, becomes inexplicably different. B. It's unlikely that the Spanish would have suffered the decline that they did--fresh off a victory against the last major power to stand firmly against them, and with their vast Navy able to project power elsewhere they would have colonized and dominated elsewhere. There would be far less English speakers and protestants than there are today.C. As detailed above, the entire legal heritage of the world would be vastly different if it was almost all under civil law, no common law. D. Unlike the British who showed at least *some* toleration of the Native Americans, the Spanish were absolutely brutal, enslaving and killing them without mercy. Its doubful that even the straggling handfuls of Native cultures that today exist in in North America would still exist. They would all be lost to history.Sources:1. Bruno Leoni, Freedom and the lAw (Indianapolis, Ind.: Uberty Classics, 1991), p.35. Print.