1589.

This is coolbert:

Until just the other day, this historical event with a definite military dimension being totally unknown to me. Perhaps you too?

The English Armada.

Most students of history, especially those living in the English speaking sphere of influence, are keenly aware of the Spanish Armada.

That Spanish fleet [1588] deemed as "Invincible". The Spanish invasion, conquest and subjugation of Elizabethan England almost in advance considered as a done-deal.

That defeat of the Spanish Armada, resoundingly so, often considered as a critical and crucial event of history.

Again, as recorded by histories written in the English language, a victory not only for England but for the entire cultural domain of the Protestant and northern European nations during that period of the Renaissance/Reformation.

Protestant and northern Europe ascendant, autocratic Catholic and southern Europe as on the decline, and good for it too. So as reported, so as perceived.

That English Armada, however, not even ordinarily a footnote to history? Not even mentioned in the conventional histories?

"The English Armada, also known as the Counter Armada or the Drake-Norris Expedition, was a fleet of warships sent to the Iberian Coast by Queen Elizabeth I of England in 1589, during the Anglo-Spanish War (1585–1604) and the Eighty Years' War. It was led by Sir Francis Drake as admiral and Sir John Norreys as general, and failed to drive home the advantage England had won upon the dispersal of the Spanish Armada in the previous year. The campaign resulted in the defeat of the English fleet and eventually to a withdrawal with heavy losses both in lives and ships."

Those English in 1589 as markedly unsuccessful as the Spanish had been the previous year!

Loss of life heavy, many deaths due to sickness, disease, non-battlefield casualties, the Spanish relatively unscathed:

"11,000–15,000 killed, wounded or died of disease [English]. 900 dead or wounded [Spanish]."

These losses not entirely attributable to BATTLE LOSSES, warship versus warship, mano-a-mano style warfare on the high seas.

Perhaps even more significant, these losses at sea Spanish and English both in addition disastrous from the economic standpoint, treasuries depleted in an unseemly manner:

"With the opportunity to strike a decisive blow against the weakened Spanish navy lost, the failure of the expedition further depleted the crown treasury [English] that had been so carefully restored during the long reign of Elizabeth I. The Anglo-Spanish war was very costly to both sides, and Spain . . . had to default on its debt repayments in 1596"

War contrary to popular opinion is now,  has been, and always will be, bad for the economy.

coolbert.