Anglo-Spanish War

The Anglo-Spanish War was a war that broke out between England and Spain in 1585.

Background
Since the English Reformation, the Hapsburgs had seen themselves as protectors of disenfranchised English and Irish Catholics. After the ascendancy of Queen Elizabeth and the reestablishment of Protestantism as the official state religion of England. Spanish King Philip II, the widower of Elizabeth's Catholic predecessor Mary Tudor, had an antagonistic relationship with his sister-in-law. Meanwhile, Philip was attempting to suppress a Protestant rebellion in the Netherlands led by William the Silent. Elizabeth supported the Dutch rebels in the Anglo-Dutch Alliance, and in 1585, war broke out between England and Spain to protest this act of aggression.

Dutch Rebellion
An English army under Sir Robert Dudley travelled to the Netherlands to support William the Silent's men. The English were decisively defeated by a Spanish army led by the Duke of Parma, leaving England vulnerable if an invading army could land on Britain.

The Execution of Mary Queen of Scots
Mary Queen of Scots, the Catholic queen-in-exile of Scotland, was imprisoned in the Tower of London. Catholics saw her as the legitimate heir to the English throne and Elizabeth as Henry VIII's bastard daughter. Mary was at the center of a number of plots against Elizabeth's life. In 1587, Elizabeth ordered Mary's execution, further enraging Catholics the world over

Invasion of England
In 1588, Philip II sent the Spanish Armada to challenge the Royal Navy in the English Channel. The Armada defeated the Royal Navy and advanced to the Netherlands, where the Duke of Parma's army boarded them. The Armada then landed Parma's forces in England, where Parma once again defeated an English army led by Dudley. England was conquered. Elizabeth was deposed and imprisoned in the Tower. Most of England's Protestant aristocrats were killed or exiled, with the notable exception of William Cecil. Philip's daughter Isabella and son-in-law Albert were installed as King and Queen of England. They restored Catholicism as the state religion. Catholic Ireland became a free and sovereign nation, no longer an English feudal colony. A multinational force of Spanish, English, and Irish soldiers occupied England and enforced the Hapsburgs' rule.

End of Occupation of England
Upon the death of Philip II and the ascension of the far less capable Philip III as King of Spain, Robert Cecil led a revolt of English Protestants planned by his father. The Spanish were expelled and Elizabeth was restored to the throne. Presumably, the war continued.