History Buffs: Elizabeth the Golden Age

[Music] this episode's sponsored by curiosity stream hello and welcome history buffs my name is Nick Hodges and here is part 2 of my long-awaited double-feature review we're finishing things off with Elizabeth the Golden Age in my last episode with the Virgin Queen I said my biggest concern was the idea of some misinformed teacher showing these movies in the classroom to teach about Elizabethan history but I was shocked to find out just how many of you confirmed that to be true when you were in school which makes me realize just how important it is to put these movies in their place if my videos encourage others to think twice about what they see on the screen and pick up a history book to check then hopefully I will have done my job now in this episode I'll be covering the real history this movie is based on the Spanish Armada King Phillip of Spain's mighty fleet sent to invade Protestant England and overthrow its Queen Elizabeth the first and the only thing that stood in his way was the English Navy but as before I'll be also pointing out the movie's inaccuracies time jumps restructuring historical characters and outright lies and if you thought the 1998 Elizabeth movie was bad and brace yourself for this one because this is Elizabeth the Golden Age so the movie begins in 1585 over 30 years of past since the last one was set in that time England has found itself at the brink of war with the greatest empire on earth Spain Queen Elizabeth spent her entire reign try to avoid all our conflict as best she could but a policies at home and abroad were finally catching up to her to give you an idea of what led to this I'm gonna cover some of the key moments that provoke these two nations to war for the first 10 years of her reign the relationship between Elizabeth and King Philip of Spain was relatively peaceful even though it was a little tense at the beginning which she rejected his marriage proposal but was ultimately led to hostilities didn't take place in Europe but in the new world which as far as the Spanish were concerned was their domain and they didn't take kindly to foreigners crossing into it for a piece of the action English sailors such as John Hawkins and the famous Francis Drake who trafficked in slaves from Africa to plantations in the Americas with none of the money they made been taxed back to Spain to the Spanish they saw the english' spirits and would treat them as such after being caught in a violent storm a heavily damaged English fleet was forced to sail to the nearest port to repair and resupply which happened to be San Juan de Ulua in Mexico when they arrived in September 15 68 they were attacked by the Spanish Navy after being promised safe harbor in the battle that followed only two of the English ships were able to escape commanded by Francis Drake and John Hawkins who forever shared a lifelong hatred of the Spanish in November 1568 Elizabeth responded to this attack by seizing five Spanish bullion ships that were transporting gold to the Netherlands the Netherlands at this time was part of the Spanish Empire which also included Belgium Luxembourg and northeastern France another reason why Elizabeth may have seized those ships was because the gold on board was meant to pay the Spanish army who had been sent there to crush a Protestant rebellion that would become known as the Dutch Revolt like England before under Mary Tudor Protestants in the Spanish Netherlands were being persecuted under heresy laws and were fighting for their independence now whilst the English did sympathise with their fellow Protestants they were mainly concerned with the Spanish army being so close to their southeastern coastline and fear that the Netherlands could one day be used to launch an invasion of England so this convinced Elizabeth to not only support the Protestant rebels but also allowed us fire to take refuge in English harbors who are known as the sea beggars which angered King Philip because as far as he was concerned Elizabeth was interfering with Spanish affairs and helping to fanned the flames of dissent in 1571 hostilities only escalated further while Elizabeth spies uncovered the Ridolfi plot a conspiracy sanctioned by King Philip to assassinate the Virgin Queen and replace her with Mary Queen of Scots now this could easily be seen as an act of war but instead of responding with military force Elizabeth used a different tactic to hit the Spanish were had them the most their coffers so in 1572 Elizabeth provided John Hawkins and Francis Drake with a privateering license to raid Spanish treasure ships and ports throughout the new world which was basically state-sponsored piracy this was a cheap and indirect way of fighting the Spanish with very little risk and high reward and the Spaniards were furious with how effective it was he's not enough the English pirates attacked and robbed our ships these raids were having such a strain on the Spanish economy that King Philip's sent a massive fleet to the Caribbean to hunt down Elizabeth's privateers patrolling their Shores day and night their large numbers were thought to be more than enough to discourage the English from trespassing any further but they were wrong in 1577 elizabeth commissioned francis drake to launch an expedition where no Englishman had ever been before to bypass the heavily guarded waters of the West Indies and sail around South America through the Straits of Magellan and into the Pacific all along the west coast drake raided Spanish ports and towns until he had reached his targets upon the ruins of the Inca Empire lay the richest silver mines in the world and every year 220 tons of it will halt by ship to the west coast to Panama where was then transported overland to the Caribbean with the Pacific being completely unguarded Drake was able to plunder to treasure galleons bursting with silver knowing that news of the raids was soon reached the Spanish Drake knew he couldn't return to England the way he came without getting caught so instead he sailed west through the Pacific and became the first Englishman to circumnavigate the globe he arrived in Plymouth Harbor in September 1580 and received a hero's welcome Elizabeth had snubbed the Spanish and received a 5,000 percent return on her investment this spot of good news was sorely needed because a few months before in June Philip had invaded Portugal with an army of 40,000 men after the Portuguese King died without leaving an heir so Philip claimed the throne for himself and by 1581 the two global empires of Portugal and Spain became one but what was especially alarming to Elizabeth was that Philip also inherited Portugal's world-class Navy which posed a serious threat to England now at the height of his power Philip was a more dangerous foe than ever before to keep Spain at bay Elizabeth spent the next few years applying the Dutch rebels but the struggle soon took a drastic hit in 1584 when their leader William of Orange was assassinated with him out of the picture Spain became ever closer to sweep over the Netherlands and ending the Dutch Revolt out of options Elizabeth was forced to send English troops in December 15 85 to the Netherlands she placed her old flame Lord Robert Dudley in command of the army but gave him explicit instructions to not antagonize the enemy or engage them unless absolutely necessary Dudley's orders were to employ a defensive strategy only and Elizabeth hoped that the presence of English troops would be enough to deter the Spanish but instead Dudley ignored Elizabeth's commands when he made himself the governor-general of the Netherlands in Philips eyes this was an act of war and the gloves were finally coming off his army pressed on with the attack giving no quarters to the English and when it became clear that the Spanish were close to overwhelming the Netherlands Elizabeth ordered Dudley and his army to return to England in December 1586 now although Elizabeth the golden age is set in 1585 we never see Robert Dudley's military campaign in the Netherlands but I still thought it was worth mentioning it since it was one of the defining moments that led England and Spain to war but if he had to trace all of these moments and disputes back to its source it was simply because Spain refused to budge on allowing England's access to the new world and the origin behind this decision is covered in this interesting documentary called the story of Europe which talks about the impact of Europe on the world and this is one scene where the go over the Treaty of Tordesillas in 1494 when the Spanish and Portuguese monix divided the world for themselves by stretching a chord over a map and with the Pope's blessing they believed that will be enough to settle the matter the Treaty of Tordesillas is intended to establish a definitive peace between the two rivals America to the west of this randomly fixed line is promised to the Spanish kings while all the territory to the east meaning Africa and Asia goes to the Portuguese the treaty doesn't even consider the other maritime powers such as England and it's definitely worth checking out if you're into this sort of thing and if you are you could find this documentary in thousands like it on curiosity stream it's a subscription streaming service has nothing on it but documentaries including history and he could watch them all for just $2.99 a month but the best part is that fans of history buffs can get their first 30 days for free and what's more is that with curiosity stream you also be getting nebula for free another streaming service that has content from many creators including history buffs it's a platform with other restrictions of advertiser friendly policies you'd find elsewhere so basically any videos of mine they need to be heavily edited or go missing we'll have no problem being uploaded to nebula the way they were meant to be seen to get started all you have to do is enter the promo code curiosity stream comm forward slash history buffs [Music] so at the start of the movie we see King Philip of Spain attending church with his daughter princess Isabella and he expresses his plan to invade England and overthrow its Protestant Queen in blunderers - La Veta you showed us now I will credit the movie for the way they portray Philip and his religious zeal he truly believed that he was chosen by God to spread Catholicism throughout the world and saw his upcoming war with England as a holy crusade to save the souls of Catholic Englishmen who had been driven underground by Elizabeth's regime so all of that stuff is great but the same can't be said for princess Isabella for some reason her characters portrayed as a child but in 1585 she would have been around 18 or 19 years old and I don't know why the filmmakers chose to do this I'm guessing that they're trying to make King Phillip look Bad's later in the movie for wanting to make a child from the Queen of England but even if that was true it's not exactly the weirdest thing to ever happen in history I mean for example Ivan the sick was crowned emperor of Russia when he was just two months old even Elizabeth's brother Edward the sixth became King of England when he was nine years old so what exactly is your point movie I have forgot these films have a habit of changing the ages of the historical characters like in the last one where they made cat Ashley as old as Elizabeth when in real life she should have been in her mid 50s the woman wasn't her BFF she was more of a mother figure to Elizabeth or just as unnecessaries when they changed to William Cecil's age by casting Richard Attenborough I mean don't get me wrong I liked his performance but the real man was only 13 years older than Elizabeth so did they really need to have his character played by father Christmas I really hate that man so in the next scene we see Elizabeth's advisors voicing their fears about the potential threat of a Catholic uprising now this wasn't exactly something new to Elizabeth she survived many plots in the past and the previous Pope had signed a papal bull that ordered all of England's Catholics to disobey her under the threat of excommunication now they don't mention this in the movie but the reason why these men are especially paranoid is after that pope died the new one Gregory the thirteenth changed one thing in his predecessors papal bull that Catholics were now allowed to obey Elizabeth for appearances sake just as long as they rose up when the time was right like if Elizabeth was suddenly assassinated or the Spanish army was marching on London this simple alteration now made it difficult for a majesty's government to no friend from Majesty we have proven reason to fear every Catholic in there creates fear I am NOT ignorant of the dangers sir but I will not punish my people for their beliefs because England was facing the very real threats of an upcoming Spanish invasion I can imagine this conversation taking place even if it had many times before next up we are introduced to Mary Queen of Scots and her characters scenes are dumber than you might think by 1585 Mary Stewart had been Elizabeth's prisoner for nearly 20 years and the film shows us that she's currently locked up in fathering a castle which is wrong in 1585 she would have been in charley castle and was moved to fathering a until September 15 86 but whatever I'm willing to overlook small inaccuracies if the film is at least trying to be historically authentic which is why I can't forgive this fathering a castle was located in Northamptonshire England not in a Scottish lock in the bloody Highlands I mean think about how dumb would you have to be to lock up a foreign Queen in her own country I swear it the logic of this decision was like how do you let the audience know that she's Scottish I know let's have a live in Scotland and speak with a Scottish accent her friends right to give us hope even when I pray never mind the fact that she was raised in France I would have spoken English with a French accent like this as you see I am NOT well seriously it's like if they made a movie about El Chapo but instead his final trial taking place in New York City they wanted to make it really clear to the audience he's Mexican anyway later in the movie were back in Spain where King Philip is surveyed the constructor of his Armada that he plans to invade England with who knows what is this van yeah my time has come majesty send me back to England to picking God's work oh yeah do you guys remember my last review when I mentioned how the filmmakers had to recycle the Babington plot again for a list but the Golden Age wall meets Robert Reston a Jesuit priest sent by Philip to assassinate Elizabeth and replace her with Mary Queen of Scots the only problem here is a Robert Reston didn't exist he's actually meant to be John Ballard who's played by Daniel Craig in the last film but because they already used him they had to invent a completely new character and in the next scene we see his co-conspirator Anthony Babington a fanatical English Catholic nobleman stalking Elizabeth in the crowd but I'll get more into him later because we're about to see the big reveal and one of the most famous Elizabeth and historical figures a puddle in the way majesty so this is Walter Raleigh the famous English explorer an entrepreneur who quickly rose through the court and became one of the Queen's favorites there are many colorful stories about the man including this one where he supposedly lay his coat in a puddle before Elizabeth's feet another is when Raleigh's servant chucked a bucket of water over his head thinking that he was on fire when he was actually smoking his pipe tobacco was still fairly new to England and Raleigh was one of the first men to popularize it it's difficult to confirm which of these stories are true but they're certainly wrapped up in the legend of the man having said that it's unlikely that he first met Elizabeth by laying his coat over a puddle and certainly not by 1585 as shown in the movie Raleigh first became known to the Queen because of his military service in Islands five years before charmingly he had been volved in a massacre during the desmond rebellion and gained access to the Elizabethan Court by saying he found intelligence amongst the rebel dead many of whom were made up of Spanish and Italian mercenaries so you could see why he was rushed off to London and it was his outspoken criticism of the way the English were handling things in Ireland that brought him to the attention of Queen Elizabeth and through his charisma alone earned her favour and over the years Raleigh was awarded a monopoly of wine licenses and cloth exports making him one of the richest men in England anyway back in the movie we see Elizabeth greets Royal envoys who present to her suitors from the countries for marriage very badly I might add and not to mention very dead Erik of Sweden died eight years before in 1577 so we're already off to a bad start again Ivan the Terrible was also dead by this point do you guys have anyone still alive finally someone's still breathing but that doesn't make him a good suitor younger brother to maximilian ii Holy Roman Emperor cousin of Philip of Spain wealthy he's rather hanson and already married to his niece Maria Anna of Bavaria as far back is 1571 now in all fairness both Eric of Sweden and Charles of Austria who wants potential suitors but that was way back in the day truth is by 1585 Elizabeth was in her 50s and had given up the idea of marriage so after the envoys leave we see Walter Raleigh make his big appearance before the court and what we're about to see is based on real history but the amount of liberties taken will make your head spin what do you want I'm just returned from the New World Majesty I have claimed the fertile coast in your name and called it Virginia in honor of Virgin Queen change the name I asked for your gracious permission Majesty to return to the new world with your royal warrant to found a colony under the laws and protections of England's money okay so there's a lot of things he said that which just aren't true although water Ollie's remembered as a famous explorer he never actually visited North America he was forbidden by Elizabeth to sail himself because she liked his company so much so instead he was more of the money guy stayed in England and bankroll his expeditions for a share of the profits one of them was indeed to look for a suitable place to start a colony but not only did this happen back in 1584 he had already received a royal warrant by Elizabeth to do it the thing is you can't just go off and claim land in America for your Queen without getting permission first because you're likely to be arrested when you get back this is the problem with having these characters meet for the first time in the movie because the real water Olly spent years sweet-talking the Queen before he's granted the rights to start a colony now this part is true Walter Raleigh's expedition 1584 did return with two Native Americans they were called Wanchese and Manteo and they were picked up on a small island in North Carolina kuroh anoke which with the future setting of the infamous Roanoke colony which was the first permanent English settlement in America whose inhabitants one day disappeared without a trace it's a huge mystery but in any case water Olly used these two Native Americans to creep up also not sure if he was specifically the one who introduced potatoes or tobacco to England but I don't see any harm with the film showing that he did unlike the Spanish ambassador in the scene who takes personal offense with Raleigh's gifts especially this one majesty I am sensitive to the smell of open sewer I cannot accept the fruits of fire and yet you did by the way if you're wondering what is the Spanish ambassador doing there you're absolutely right he shouldn't be in Elizabeth's course by 1585 and I'll explain why in a bit Philip of Spain is no friend of England majesty the more gold I take from him the safer you will be yeah but you didn't steal it yourself you paid other people to do it for you this is my issue with the movie it's pretty cleared they're combining walter raleigh's character with Francis Drake Drake was more the famous pirate and Explorer and as far as I'm aware the only time Walter Reilly sail to North America was in 1578 when he and his half-brother Gilbert went looking for the Northwest Passage but they never reached their destination what Raleigh is best known for are as two expeditions to South America where he went looking for the fabled city of El Dorado but this was in 1594 which is years after Elizabeth the golden age so basically any time we see Raleigh in this movie bragging about his trip to America just know that he's a big fat liar at first it's no more than a haze on the horizon and it's a smudge the shadow modify water for a day [Music] so anyway whilst the queen is distracted by Raleigh's tall tales we see our enemies closing in around her the main group is led by John Ballard sorry sorry I meant John Reston and his co-conspirator Anthony Babington who write letters to Mary Queen of Scots to inform her of their plans to rescue her and assassinate Elizabeth make sure she and only she reads this we wait for her the order must be given clearly now the correspondence between Babbington and Mary Stewart didn't begin until 1586 a year after the movie is set which isn't a huge inaccuracy but the reason I mention is because they tie this plot to another plot that took place three years before and make it look like the boat the same one I am of course talking about the Throckmorton plot of 1583 its objectives was the same as the others just another half-assed attempt to kill Elizabeth and place Mary Stuart on the throne different this time is that was led by Francis Throckmorton the cousin of Elizabeth's lady-in-waiting best Throckmorton in the movie received Francis lied to his cousin so he can use her connection with the Queen in order to kill her and as far as I am aware that was what the plan originally was but in real life he didn't even get that far because he was arrested very quickly by Francis Walsingham in November 15 83 and under torture he confessed that the plot was sanctioned by the Spanish this is what led to Elizabeth expelling the Spanish ambassador from England and there was never another during her reign that's why I mentioned earlier had this not supposed to be one her court by 1585 in the movie however Francis reveals the existence of the Spanish Armada and Philips plan to invade England even though that didn't start to be formulated until a few years later in any case this is held up as the reason why Elizabeth throws out the Spanish ambassador in a fit of fury as he threatens England with war you see and you think you know which way the wind blows there is a wind coming mera that will sweep away your cry okay that's not bad Elizabeth I think we need more energy can you try one more time but more over-the-top much better anyway shortly after Elizabeth's outburst we see Frances Throckmorton executed for treason however the filmmakers decided to keep it pg-13 by using a method called a long drop which didn't exist in Britain until 1872 in those days for high treason you would have been hung drawn and quartered which is exactly what happened to Frances in 1584 after his death we see his grieving cousin Bess being consult by Walter Raleigh who would the worst timing possible now decides to make a move where does this guy get his tips from wedding crashers grief is nature's most powerful aphrodisiac now whilst is true that Walter Raleigh and Bess Throckmorton had an affair it wasn't right after a cousin's execution but six years later in 1590 and like we see in the film their relationship was kept a secret because Elizabeth's ladies-in-waiting was strictly off limits without her consent which she would never give because the Virgin Queen was an extremely jealous woman meanwhile Mary Queen of Scots reached the last the conspirators letters and writes back with clear instructions to kill Elizabeth new Queen commands you too said to the gentlemen to work I think we have it this gentleman of course is Anthony Babington and later was his character storm into Saint Paul's Cathedral where Elizabeth is praying takes aim with his pistol and fires but to his shock he finds out that his gun was never even loaded now before he stopped asking yourself why that is just know that it doesn't even matter in the end because his entire scene is made up the thing is Anthony Babington and the plotters were arrested long before there was any real danger to Elizabeth thanks to a brilliant spy master Francis Walsingham a few years earlier after the throckmorton plot war scene was convinced that Mary Stuart had to have been involved he just couldn't prove it though and his job has made that much harder when Elizabeth cut off her lines of communication so what he did instead was open up a new one by delivering secret letters from her supporters hidden in barrels of beer then he simply waited for Mary to incriminate herself and he had all the proof he needed to arrest her the trouble with intrigues is nice so many secrets you can never quite be sure who's on whose size til the game ends all singing is every lesson [Music] once Mary's implication and the Babington plot became clear Walsingham moved her from charlie castle to a more secure location at fathering a castle on the 25th of september 1586 now in the movie her character's been a fathering a castle this entire time but for the purpose of pacing you could see why the filmmakers did this in any case Mary was brought before trial on the 5th of October and the whole thing was pretty much a farce she wasn't allowed legal counsel to call any witnesses or reviewed the evidence beforehand her main defense was that she couldn't be tried for treason since she wasn't English but a Scottish Queen and you can't really argue with that logic this defiance devastated Elizabeth because she hopes that if Mary admitted guilt and begged for mercy then she could possibly spare her life but that wasn't to be Mary refused any wrongdoing and was convicted on the 24th of October and sentenced to death and the movie does accurately show Elizabeth's reluctance to sign her death warrant not because she felt guilty or anything but because she was worried how the Catholics in England and Scotland would react never mind the rest of Europe Elizabeth also fit for her own sake because executing a queen might set a bad precedent since monarchs are normally supposed to be above the law it's for the protection refusing to accept responsibility Elizabeth procrastination on the issue for about three months before finally signing Mary's death warrant on the 1st of February 1587 but even after doing so she was purposely vague to a secretary on what to do with it wait do not give that to the council until I say as for now it is as if I never signed it do you understand not really think about it if Elizabeth seriously changed her mind then why didn't she ask her back it's far more likely she knew that warrant would find its way to a council and they would make a decision for her well I should have known if they asked I'll have no great experience to bring this document to have a signature and then she chose him deliberately I know she wants the woman dead but she cannot bear to give the order this was ever her way sideways sideways sideways the Earl of Leicester is right we must all put her hand to this order of execution now of course we don't see any of this in this but the Golden Age but I thought be worth to point out that Cate Blanchett's public displays of grief or much like the real Elizabeth it was just an act and so on the 8th of February 1587 in fathering a castle Mary Queen of Scots approached the scaffold to await her execution in credit to the movie the scene is mostly accurate but it's also very romanticized and you'll see why in a bit mary was led to the block by her ladies who disrobed her black gown revealing a blood-red petticoat the colour of a Catholic martyr Mary lay down on the block and her executioner knelt beside her and asked forgiveness and although we don't hear what Mary said because of the music we could see her lips saying Mary's last words I forgive you with all my heart but then the film decides to censor what happened next as the music swells to a crescendo and the executioner lops off her head with one fell swoop unfortunately this is how it actually happened yeah you can kind of see why they chose to leave that bit out even if it is the most famous part of Mary's execution but sometimes when filmmakers feel justified changing one little thing they see no problem changing everything else especially if they feel that history can get in the way of a good story for example right after Mary's execution we see King Philip of Spain exploit her death as an excuse to launch his Amada which fair enough he did this in real life but let's be honest he was gonna do this anyway so why does Walsingham suddenly feel like he made this terrible mistake I have failed you how have you failed me Philip of Spain as a god-fearing man who cannot declare war without adjusted cause I intercepted every letter Mary stood secretly dispatched but fail to see that Spain knew I was reading them they waited for her to write the words that would in my eyes confirm a truce okay this is just ridiculous if King Philip needed the so-called Just Cause then why was he building in a martyr in the first place construction started as far back as 1585 way before Mary Stuart was beheaded his whole plan didn't heed to hinge on her death for a Just Cause because he had a whole bunch of other reasons to pick from England's act of piracy interfering the Netherlands you name it I mean dis washing him really think that Mary Stuart was spared that Philip would just keep his ships docked and not do anything with them the scale of the Samanta was enormous it cost Spain two-thirds of its Empire's revenue to build with 125 ships he was considered to be at that time one of the largest fleets to ever set sail in Europe so you better believe you after spending all that money Philip was going to use it no matter what except not according to the movie because immediately after Mary's death the Spanish Armada set sail for England which didn't actually happen till a year later on the 21st of July 1588 but whatever so whilst the country's preparing for war the character best Throckmorton confesses to Walter Raleigh that she is pregnant with his child and the two secretly marry and when Elizabeth finds out she is furious so this scene is partially true but it happens years after the Spanish Armada like I said earlier water and best hooked up sometime in 1590 and they didn't get married until November 15 91 after best found out that she was pregnant their secret was inevitably discovered a year later when the baby was born and Elizabeth had them arrested and thrown into the tower she did eventually release Walter Raleigh and then later Bess but it wasn't for the reason the movie says and release Raleigh her decision to release Rolly had nothing to do with forgiveness but simple greet during a stay in the tower one of Raleigh's expeditions returned to England with a Spanish ship called the Madre de Dios it was the richest prize ever captured but when his men found out that Raleigh had been imprisoned they chose to keep everything for themselves so Elizabeth reluctantly released Raleigh in order for him to secure her share of the treasure as for best the reason she was released was because Elizabeth felt guilty her baby died of plague while she was in the tower which makes it super awkward to watch when the movies Elizabeth asked her bless her baby I'd like to give your son my blessing anyway we're close to the end of the movie and quite frankly my patients so let's just wrap things up with a Spanish Armada like we see in the film the fleet was spotted off the coast of Cornwall on the 29th of July 1588 warning beacons were lit throughout England to spread the news the invasion was on its way King Philip's plan was to sent 125 ships up the English Channel to link up with an army of 27 thousand men in flanders and escort them in their barges to Kent and beseech London and the only thing standing their way was the English Navy but the way this battles betrayed is so woeful e inaccurate that I dare say it is the worst part of the movie for starters Walter Raleigh wasn't on board any of the ships at sea he was action commander one of the land forces and played no role in the actual fighting but here he's presented the central figurehead and defeating the Spanish when he was really Francis Drake and it gets even worse when the film greatly exaggerated s-- the english casualties another four ships lost we must continue to engage in harris the enemy we're outgunned break decisively we're losing too many ships witness fall back and defend the coast you honestly want to know how many ships the English actually lost zero not a single one was lost in the entire battle so this idea of the English being outgunned is laughably ridiculous yes the Spanish outnumbered them and the ships were bigger but they were designed in the medieval tradition of naval warfare that become obsolete they had high fall castles and aft castles to give their soldiers a race platform to fire their guns from the Spaniards idea fighting at sea was to close in on an enemy ship fire off a single salvo with their cannons pull it in with grappling hooks and board them and if your enemies following the same rules you are then a paste have a biggest ship with more soldiers trouble is the English weren't interested in playing that game anymore they had built their ships to be sleeker and low in the water making them faster more maneuverable their preferred way of fighting was to keep a safe distance and blasted enemy's ship to pieces with cannon fire and it was in that regard that the English really excelled since the cannons were made from superior cast iron this meant that the English cannons were more accurate more powerful are all made of roughly the same quality it also didn't help the Spanish that they had land cannons on board their two-wheeled gun carriages made it incredibly awkward to reload in the cramped decks whilst their crews desperately tried to match cannonballs meant for specific guns that had been tossed carelessly into piles meanwhile the English didn't have such problems because they had smaller four wheeled carriages that could easily slide in and out of the gun ports and their ammunition fit all their weapons this meant that the English could fire five times as quickly as a Spanish if they even fired at all so don't believe the movie for a second that the Spanish outgunned the English because it's just crap anyway following that scene we get Elizabeth's famous speech to assaulters in Tilbury now the speech did happen but what we see is another very romanticized version of it I mean for one thing Elizabeth didn't wear a full suit of armor remember that this woman was in the mid 50s by this point and in poor health the only thing she wore was a single breast plate over her dress and that was it Elizabeth wasn't going into battle this is just a boost morale but the biggest inaccuracy about this speech is this we see the sales of the enemy approaching Spanish guns over the water so now we won't meet them face to face if you think you find her words moving or patriotic even just know that this speech wasn't given until 10 days after the Spanish Armada was defeated on the 18th of August 1588 now there were rumors the Spanish army and Netherland still planned to invade by using their barges but this is just Elizabethan propaganda because following the speech her army was quickly disbanded but in any case how exactly what the Spanish defeated well in the movie we see them dropping anchor somewhere off the coast of England due to bad weather in reality the Armada has successfully sailed up the channel despite being harassed by the English Navy the entire way and by the 6th of August 1588 the anchored off the coast of Calais are waiting for the Spanish army to get ready for the invasion desperately low in ammunition the English decided to attack the following night by sending in 8 fire ships packed with gunpowder pitch and tar straight at the heart the Armada in the film the fire ships caused extensive damage and the impression we get is that they sink the entire fleet there's even a show Elizabeth watches it burn in the distance which is complete rubbish in real life these fire ships didn't cause any damage whatsoever but the threat was real enough that most the Spaniards cut their anchors in panic and fled the scene and so on Monday morning the 8th of August 1588 the English Navy launched an all-out assault on the scattered Spanish fleet to inflict as much damage as possible the English sailed as close as they could to their ships before firing the fighting continued throughout the day but it was only when the English were close to running out of ammunition that they pulled back the Amada had suffered terrible casualties in the battle but had escaped total destruction in the end the Spanish campaign was only finished when the next day's wind picked up sharply and blew their ships into the North Sea and because they had cut their anchors there was little they could do about it so the Yamada's side of the cut its losses and sail back to Spain by going north instead around Scotland and Ireland however on their way home the Amada was hit by violent storms and half its fleet was smashed to the rocky coasts of the British Isles and that's pretty much for the movie ends England has saved King Phillip looks like he just got dumped by his entire clergy and for some reason the camera spins around Elizabeth in a circle I'm guessing the subtle imagery's meant to further a mantas eyes the Virgin Queen and to be honest with you I'm pretty tired of it of course Elizabeth is remembered as one of England's greatest monix but she was still human at the end of the day in these movies she's propped up as an almost saint-like figure I actually can't think of any floor she has in the series apart from that one scene where she gets jealous and Chuck's Rowley and best in the tower but even then it's only briefly now Elizabeth was a great Queen and did many great things but she did have a dark side as well what the film doesn't mention is that after the modest defeat when the English Navy returned its sailors were forcibly kept aboard ship for weeks Elizabeth and her governments excuse was that it was just in case the Spanish returned but it was really because the fleet had been hit by typhus and dysentery and Elizabeth was too cheap to look after them in fact she refused to spend a single penny and knew every day that passed meant having to pay less to the survivors by the end of it between six to eight thousand sailors died from starvation and disease now I'm fully aware that after all these films efforts and making her look good there was no way they could have shown that and just shrug it off as Elizabeth having a bold personality a bold personality we know where there's code for [ __ ] but if they hadn't just obsessed over the legends of Elizabeth and focused more on the woman her good qualities and bad and these could have been interesting films Elizabeth presented herself to the world as Gloriana but like many great leaders she wasn't infallible she could be Noble she could be jealous she be kind she could be cruel the Virgin Queen and her reign was awash with contradictions but in the end that's what makes her such a fascinating historical figure anyway that about wraps it up my name is Nick Hodges and thanks for watching history buffs and remember if you like the show help the channel grow if you wish to support history buffs then he can out do so at patreon and as always let me know in the comments section what you thought about Lisp at the golden age and of course what historical movie should a review next in the meantime check out the history buzz Twitter and Facebook page for new updates until then I'll see you next time [Music]

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Views: 852,263

Rating: 4.9354205 out of 5

Keywords: History Buffs, Nick Hodges, Elizabeth the Golden Age, Movie Review, Tudor, Elizabeth I, historical accuracy, historical inaccuracies, The Spanish Armada, Mary Stuart, Mary Queen of Scots, Cate Blanchett, English Crown, Royal Family, British History, queen elizabeth, Accurate

Id: TON70FHymno

Length: 41min 33sec (2493 seconds)

Published: Fri May 01 2020