Question: what happened in 1588 that changed the course of history forever
Answer: Defeat of the Spanish Armada , AD 1588 Excerpt : `` The England of our own days is so strong , and the Spain of our own days is so feeble , that it is not easy , without some reflection and care , to comprehend the full extent of the peril which England then ran from the power and the ambition of Spain , or to appreciate the importance of that crisis in the history of the world .