From the fifteenth to the seventeenth centuries, Spain dominated the seas with its powerful naval power, during which time it slaughtered a large number of Native Americans, established a large number of colonies in North and South America, and colonized it, and this influence still exists today. From the sixteenth century onwards, the Spanish royal family was replaced by the Habs family in Austria, Carlos I and Philip II father and son established the Habs dynasty, since then Spain entered a period of imperial glory, the territory expanded rapidly, annexing the Portuguese Empire, southern Italy, Belgium, the Netherlands and other places, becoming the largest colonial empire in the West. However, the prosperity is bound to decline, because of various internal reasons of Habs and the blows of external enemies, the disease-ridden Carlos II took the throne, the once powerful Spanish dynasty ushered in the demise, while the United Kingdom across the sea is rising strongly, dominating the sea with a powerful navy, and the British Empire officially became the hegemon of the sea in the seventeenth century. So how did The British defeat the mighty Habs dynasty?
One?
Internal causes of the Habsian dynasty
1.?
The imperial ruling power is weak
The Habs dynasty does not have a stable social ruling base and the recognition of the masses of the people, relying only on the marriage between the families and family members to maintain the rule, resulting in the people have no sense of identity with the country, a king may have the throne of many countries, today's king or a member of this family may become a member of another married family tomorrow, the people do not have a sense of identity with the king, naturally will not think of the interests of the state as a point of interest, the instability of the ruling base can be imagined.
2.?
Strategies for imperial expansion
Spain's vast lands also come from political marriages, such as Charles V not only succeeded his grandfather Maximilian I to obtain Burgundy and the Netherlands through marriage, but also Hungary and Bohemia, which were left without ownership due to the death of the king, and launched a large number of foreign wars during the reign of the Habs dynasty, and the instability caused by marriage also dragged the country into the abyss of war. At the same time, it violently intervenes in the sovereignty, resources, and institutional construction of the state in the ruled areas, strikes at the forces of various forces in its own national territory, uses its own power to claim the resources of the ruled country, and ignores the interests of other countries, all of which have caused Spain's political foundation to be weak.
3.?
The composition of national power is uneven
The Habs dynasty expanded rapidly, practiced hegemonism, made enemies on all sides, and used a large amount of the country's human, material, and financial resources to rule the war, resulting in an empty treasury, a withering livelihood, economic capacity and enough to support a large number of wars, and the development of national strength was extremely unbalanced. The benefits brought to Spain by the war launched at the same time were small, and the resistance of domestic opposition forces and the eyes of hostile countries abroad, the uneven allocation of human and material resources, and the large amount of military expenditure all brought great threats to Spain.
The Habs dynasty's ruling base was unstable, arbitrarily interfering in the internal affairs of western countries, making enemies on all sides, pouring out its national strength to carry out expansion wars, but completely ignoring the domestic resistance forces, resulting in its internal and external control, the weakening of the Habs dynasty gave Britain the opportunity to develop, and the British government also seized this opportunity, successfully defeated Spain and opened the period of hegemony in Great Britain in the seventeenth century.
Two
The rise of the British Navy
Unique geographical location in the UK
Britain was an island nation that curbed the sea routes of western and northern Europe, which determined that Britain must vigorously develop its navy if it wanted to be strong, as Recorded in Mahan's Theory of Sea Power: "When Britain is threatened by the sea, it is located in ... The sea fleet... Enemies who attempt to cross the English Channel and their allies can be quickly countered. "A strong navy could allow Britain to keep it out of the country in the event of external aggression. At the same time, Britain's unique geographical location allowed Britain to eliminate the interference of the army with the navy and could fully develop the navy, while the relative other countries had to abandon the development of the navy for various reasons. The vigorous development of the navy can open and control the sea lines of communication, carry out maritime trade and colonial economy, and the development of the navy and the development of the economy have formed a benign interaction and sustainable development.
Persistent capital investment
In addition, the British government can persevere in the investment of the navy, constantly invest funds in the construction of warships, docks and supporting measures, recruit and train naval officers, accumulate and inherit the experience of maritime warfare after navigation, all of which do not require the accumulation of time, and the United Kingdom from Henry VII onwards, each generation of kings have attached importance to the construction and development of the navy, and the development of the Elizabeth I navy has reached its peak, this tradition has been handed down, which is one of the important reasons why the British navy dominates the seas.
Linkage of navigational technology and naval tactics
Stable finances and the policy of encouraging the people to enter the Navy, as well as the backward support measures for naval officers and men, have provided a huge role in the vigorous development of the Navy, in the history of the development of the Navy, the development of navigation technology has brought about the innovation of naval warfare technology, the innovation of tactics has spawned more powerful technological progress, and the linkage of the British Navy in navigation technology and naval tactics has also made the British Navy burst out of great vitality.
Three
The role of the looting vessel and the charter system in this
The development of the army is bound to need economic support, the navy is a very money-burning military force, at that time Spain established colonies in the Americas, monopolized a large amount of wealth from the Americas, the weak Britain chose the pirate robbery way to rob Spanish transport ships, this is the British early robbery ship system, through this robbery system, Britain quickly accumulated a lot of wealth, to develop its own navy, the strength of the navy to improve the British plundering ability to improve, naval strength and wealth formed a cumulative effect.
Spain lost three million Dukats to this system every year, and the money lost went into the British "pocket", through the plundering system made the British taste sweet, so the British secretly cultivated a large number of puppets to plunder, the most famous is John Hobbes and Francis Drake two people, for Hawkins, queen Elizabeth also invited him to become the British treasurer, and converted large sea ships into shares in Hawkins's fleet; for Drake, Elizabeth I personally granted him " Knight" title. The two not only brought great wealth to Britain with the support of britain, but also entered the British navy with the support of the queen, and during their tenure, the two reorganized the navy, saved the navy's expenses, and participated in the British naval battles, making great achievements, and dominating the sea after the British Royal Navy had indelible merits.
In the European Middle Ages, there was a charter system, the king gave the lord's territory the right of grace from jurisdiction and issued a certificate, this certificate can independently exercise taxation and adjudication power in the territory, which recognizes the autonomous power of the city and the privileges of industry and commerce, clarifies the rights and obligations of the citizens, the implementation of the charter makes medieval Europe from the original family rule to democratic rule, so that the people have a sense of identity with the country.
When the Habs dynasty was still immersed in the glorious achievements of the sixteenth century, unaware of the internal and external difficulties it was in, Britain, which was far away from the sea, had begun to show its fangs, and its unique geographical location enabled Britain to develop its navy exclusively, without external interference, and the British government also invested a lot of money to develop the navy, constantly improving the naval system, constantly innovating navigation technology and warship technology, studying new naval warfare tactics, and being ready to put the fledgling navy into the battlefield. It was this idea of safety that allowed Britain to sanction its former hegemon, Spain, in subsequent wars, and eventually defeat Spain to dominate the seas.
bibliography:
"The Theory of Sea Power" Mahan
"The Rise of the British Navy in the Age of Sail" Huang Wen