THE GEOPOLITICAL PROBLEM

During the quinquennium 1618–22, Europe witnessed an astonishing resuscitation of Spain's continental hegemony. The reassertion of the Spanish Monarchy's influence which this initiated would not have been so impressive, and arguably could not have taken place at all, without the corollary revival of its maritime features. If the smaller phenomenon was subsumed in the greater for most intents and purposes, both seemed all the more striking, coming after a decade of apparent torpor within the Spanish System. In the wider context, they were produced by a complex conjuncture of events. The revolt of the Bohemian Estates in 1618 finally sparked off the intercommunal warfare within the Holy Roman Empire which had been anticipated for some years. The Spanish and German Habsburgs were already linked by a military alliance, the working details of which were confirmed by the Council of State in a series of decisions around the time of the Bohemian crisis. Manoeuvring in response to these events, Spain's leaders brought about startling improvements in the strategic position vis à vis the United Provinces. Negotiations were in hand to extend or revive the Truce of Antwerp, but in the event they failed to prevent a return to a state of war in April 1621. Within this turbulent international context, a specific series of coincidences influenced the creation of a more ambitious Spanish naval policy.

To some degree the evolving maritime programme represented a deliberate and conscious bid for strategic survival.