During the 1500s, the Spanish had succeeded in amassing more land in Europe than any other country. This also included Spain's vast overseas territories. At the time, Spain quickly rose to become one of the most powerful and wealthiest countries in Europe. This was done during the age of exploration in history. However, in contrast to Spain's startling growth of political power and prestige during the 16th century, the 17th century is commonly known in history for Spain's deterioration and weakening due to intolerable sacrifices. Initially for Spain, "it appeared there was not enough time to devise a more efficient plan to impede the spreading of the Protestant religion." Sequentially, Spain's bold decision to attack England and rage, "a ridiculously costly war against Protestantism" yielded the desolation of Spain's 16th century prolific power. However, if decisions to go to war against England could be revised, would Spain then not have suffered political impotence by the end of the 17th century? Spain became the "big loser" in the war all because of problems like bad communications between crews, inadequate ships, and lack of experience with England's weather and climate.
The "War of Religion" is not completely accurate when characterizing these conflicts as just simple religious animosity. These wars were also campaigns of hasty political struggles. It first began with the repression and hostility of the Protestants but eventually evolved into rising tensions between the nations. Undoubtedly, Spain's leaders had presumptuous ideas they could, "easily eradicate Dutch Calvinism Churches from the Netherlands" and then the King of Spain could directly demand the inhabitants to support only Catholicism due to the fact he nominally controlled these lands. However, the English, who were currently under the Protestant rule of Queen Elizabeth, were aiding the Protestants in the Netherlands which forced a larger scaled rebellion.
