Warbler February 2019
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HISTORY<br />
Wilnecote <strong>Warbler</strong><br />
<strong>February</strong> 2020<br />
GCSE HISTORY - SPANISH ARMADA<br />
At the end of last term/start of this year 10 studied the threats to Elizabeth I from<br />
both within England and abroad. As part of this, they looked at the declining<br />
relationship with Spain which led eventually to the Spanish Armada.<br />
All sorts of myths and legends surround the Armada, partly due to Elizabeth’s own<br />
propaganda which put forward the view that the Armada was defeated because God<br />
was on England’s side!<br />
To understand the real reasons for the Armada’s defeat and to be able to evaluate the<br />
most important reason, year 10 re-enacted the Armada in a role play. With students<br />
playing the parts of the Spanish fleet; the English admirals like Howard and Drake; the<br />
Spanish army waiting in the Netherlands under Parma and the Dutch rebels, each student<br />
took up their starting position.<br />
The Armada, formed in a crescent formation which made it difficult to attack, shuffled<br />
slowly (to represent the slow-moving Spanish galleons) up the English Channel. The<br />
students representing the English strode after them (to show how much quicker the<br />
English fleet was) but they were unable to stop the Armada despite the number of shots<br />
they took (throwing paper at the Armada students to represent cannonballs).<br />
Needing to get a message to Parma, the Armada students then “docked at Calais”<br />
(shuffled into a small section of the room) but at this point they became vulnerable to<br />
English tactics. One student was set on fire (not literally! They were given a fire picture<br />
to represent the English fireships) and then “sailed” into Calais. Panicked by this, the<br />
Armada students fled out into the North Sea no longer in formation. At this point the<br />
Battle of Gravelines began (lots more throwing of paper) but the Armada students were<br />
told at this point about some disadvantages their ships had that handicapped them in<br />
the battle (can your son/daughter explain what they were?). As a result, the Spanish ships<br />
were picked off one by one before a “storm” blew what was left of the Armada north.<br />
The lesson has given the students a clear sense of why the Armada failed, as was<br />
demonstrated in the exam question they were able to tackle successfully in the following<br />
lessons.<br />
6
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