Anglo - Spanish War ( 1654 – 60 ) The Anglo – Spanish War was a conflict between the English Protectorate of Oliver Cromwell and Spain , between 1654 and 1660 . It was caused by commercial rivalry . Each side attacked the other ' s commercial and colonial interests in various ways such as privateer ing and naval expeditions . In 1655 , an English amphibious expedition invaded Spanish territory in the West Indies . The major land actions took place in the Spanish Netherlands . In 1657 , England formed an alliance with France , merging the Anglo – Spanish war with the larger Franco – Spanish War . Background . After the ending of the Anglo – Dutch War , Cromwell turned his attention to England ' s traditional enemies , France and Spain . Although Cromwell believed it to be God ' s will that the Protestant religion should prevail in Europe , he pursued a foreign policy that was at once pragmatic and realistic , allying himself with Catholic France that was engaged in a major and longstanding war with Catholic Spain . In essence , by going to war with Spain he was seeking a return to a policy of commercial opportunism pursued in the days of Elizabeth I and subsequently abandoned by the Stuarts . Cromwell ' s attack on Spanish trade and treasure routes immediately recalled the exploits of Francis Drake and Walter Ralegh ; and it is not by accident that printed accounts of their activities began to circulate in England at this time . There was , however , one important difference : alongside silver and gold a new treasure was becoming ever more important – sugar . This meant occupation of territory , a step beyond the piracy pursued in Elizabethan days . During the first year of the Protectorate , Cromwell conducted negotiations with the French statesman Cardinal Mazarin , resulting in the drafting of an Anglo - French alliance against Spain in October 1655 . The alliance had an added benefit of keeping the French from helping the Stuarts to regain the throne of England for a few more years . Caribbean . Meanwhile , Cromwell had already launched the " Western Design " against Spanish colonies in the West Indies . The fleet left Portsmouth in late December 1654 and arrived in the West Indies in January . In May 1655 , an English amphibious expedition led by General at Sea William Penn , father of the founder of Pennsylvania , and General Robert Venables invaded Spanish territory in the West Indies with the objective of capturing Hispaniola . It was one of the strongest ever to sail from England , with some 3 , 000 marines under the command of General Robert Venables , further reinforced in Barbados , Montserrat , St . Kitts and Nevis . Although Cromwell had previously been interested in the possible acquisition of Hispaniola , the expedition ' s commanders were given the freedom to determine their own priorities in the circumstances they faced on arrival . Several options were considered , including a landing on the coast of Guatemala or on Cuba . Both were discounted , as Penn and Venables decided to attempt to repeat Drake ' s attack on Santo Domingo on Hispaniola . However , the assault failed because the Spanish had improved their defences in the face of Dutch attacks earlier in the century . Cromwell , on the other hand , saw the Hispaniola defeat as God ' s judgement . Despite various subsequent successes , the defeat made the whole operation against the Spanish West Indies a general failure . Venables and Penn were imprisoned therefore in the Tower of London on their arrival on England . Weakened by fever , the English force then sailed west for Jamaica , the only place where the Spanish did not have new defensive works . They landed in May 1655 at a place called Santiago de la Vega , now Spanish Town . They came , and they stayed , in the face of prolonged local resistance , reinforced by troops sent from Spain and Mexico . In 1657 the Governor invited the Buccaneer s to base themselves at Port Royal to deter the Spanish from recapturing the island . For England Jamaica was to be the ' dagger pointed at the heart of the Spanish Empire , ' although it was , in fact , a possession of little value then . Cromwell , despite all difficulties , was determined that the presence should remain , sending reinforcements and supplies . In 1657 and 1658 the Spanish , sailing from Cuba , failed at the battles of Ocho Rios and Rio Nuevo in their attempts to retake the island . Jamaica was the casus belli that resulted in actual war between England and Spain in 1655 . European Campaigns . In European waters , Blake proceeded to blockade the Spanish port of Cadiz . A galleon of treasure was captured , and the overall loss to Spain was estimated at £2 , 000 , 000 . Little was achieved in the war until September 1656 when one of Blake ' s captains , Richard Stayner , intercepted a Spanish treasure fleet and captured or sank all but two of its ships , which was a serious blow to the king ' s finances . Then in April 1657 , Blake completely destroyed another Spanish merchant convoy — the West Indian Fleet — that had stopped at Santa Cruz harbour on its return voyage . Fortunately for Spain , the fleet had landed the bullion before the battle . The English lost 1 , 500 to 2 , 000 merchant ships to Spanish privateers and instead of using captured English ships to replace their destroyed convoys , the Spanish government placed the care of Spanish trade in the hands of neutral Dutch merchantmen , so that , strategically , the war was largely unsuccessful for England . An Anglo - French alliance against Spain was established when the Treaty of Paris was signed in March 1657 . Based on the terms of the treaty , the English would join with France in her continuing war against Spain in Flanders . France would contribute an army of 20 , 000 men , England would contribute both 6 , 000 troops and the English fleet in a campaign against the Flemish coastal fortresses of Gravelines , Dunkirk and Mardyck . It was agreed that Gravelines would be ceded to France , Dunkirk and Mardyck to England . Dunkirk , in particular , was on the Commonwealth ' s mind mainly because of the privateers that were causing damage to the mercantile fleet . For Cromwell and the Commonwealth , the question of possession of Dunkirk thus passed from regional diplomatic possibility to urgent political necessity . The combined Anglo - French army for the invasion of Flanders was commanded by the great French Marshal Turenne . The Spanish Army of Flanders was commanded by Don Juan - José , an illegitimate son of the Spanish King Philip . The Spanish army of 15 , 000 troops was augmented by a force of 3 , 000 English Royalists — formed as the nucleus of potential army for the invasion of England by Charles II , with Charles ' s brother James , Duke of York , among its commanders . The Commonwealth fleet blockaded Flemish ports but , to Cromwell ' s annoyance , the military campaign started late in the year and was subject to many delays . Marshal Turenne spent the summer of 1657 campaigning against the Spanish in Luxembourg and made no move to attack Flanders until September . Mardyck was captured on 22 September and garrisoned by Commonwealth troops . Dunkirk was besieged in May 1658 . A Spanish relief force attempted to lift the siege but was defeated on 4 June at the Battle of the Dunes . The Commonwealth contingent in Turenne ' s army fought with distinction and impressed their French allies with a successful assault up a strongly defended sandhill 150 feet high during the battle . When Dunkirk surrendered to Turenne on 14 June , Cardinal Mazarin honoured the terms of the treaty with Cromwell and handed the port over to the Commonwealth , despite the protests of Louis XIV . The Commonwealth also honoured its obligations in respecting the rights of the Catholic populations of Mardyck and Dunkirk . A contingent of Commonwealth troops remained with Turenne ' s army and were instrumental in the capture of Gravelines and other Flemish towns by the French . With the privateering threat of Dunkirk threat out of the way , England ' s mercantile fleet suffered far fewer losses ; not only because the Dunkirkers had lost their largest base but also because English trade had already been largely lost to the Dutch . Aftermath . The war between France and Spain ended with the signing of the Peace of the Pyrenees on 28 October 1659 . Cromwell ' s death in 1658 left England in political turmoil that would result in the return of the Stuarts to the throne of England . After the Restoration of Charles II in England , the Anglo - Spanish War was formally terminated in September 1660 . Charles sold Dunkirk to Louis XIV of France in November 1662 – though less than £300 , 000 of the promised half million was ever paid . Although the " Western Design " failed in its primary objective of capturing the island of Hispaniola , as a first step toward the conquest of Central America , Jamaica remained an English colony despite the exiled king ' s promise to return it after the Restoration . The purpose of the " Western Design " survived the Protectorate itself , later to be revived in the raids of Henry Morgan and Christopher Myngs under the behest of the Jamaican governor Thomas Modyford . Modyford ' s pretexts for licensing the buccaneers was his suspicion that Spain would never be secure until the Spanish government acknowledged England ' s possession of Jamaica and Cayman Islands and named it in a treaty . Spain formally recognised England ' s ownership of the islands in 1670 at the treaty of Madrid . England and Spain had both suffered heavy economic loses . Spain suffered , mainly from Blake ' s blockade of Cadiz . The effect of this , particularly with the action off Cadiz and at Santa Cruz , was the disruption of the Spanish economy , which depended upon silver and gold from the Americas . This added to the difficulties of Philip ' s IV ' s armies , who for years had been on the defensive in their campaigns in Italy , the Pyrenees , Flanders and Portugal . The Spanish answered with a privateering campaign that all but wiped out English shipping trade . Consequently , the Dutch enjoyed a rapid and lasting recovery from the shipping and trade losses they had suffered during the Anglo - Dutch war , at the expense of the English .