Foreign Policy:Philip II

FOREIGN POLICY OF PHILIP II

Characterized by its wars against: France, the Netherlands, the Turkish Empire and England.

• Against France: Philip II maintained the wars with France, for the French support to the Flemish rebels, obtaining a great victory in the battle of San Quintín, fought on August 10, 1557, feast of San Lorenzo, in memory of which he built the monastery of El Escorial, a building with a grill-shaped floor plan that symbolizes the martyrdom of the saint..
• Against the Protestants in the Low Countries: Philip II had received as an inheritance from his father, Charles I, the Netherlands in union with Franche-Comté, so that Spain, at that time the most powerful nation in the world, would defend the Empire against France. For this reason, it was both a strategic and weak point for Philip II. A weakness, because for the Netherlands it was not only a change of king, but also a change of "owner", they went from being part of an empire to being part of the most powerful kingdom of the time. Unlike Castile, Aragon and Naples, the Netherlands was not part of the heritage of the Catholic Monarchs, and saw Spain as a foreign country. 
• Against the Ottoman Empire: The Ottoman Empire, which had already been an opponent of Charles I of Spain, again faced the Spanish Empire. In 1560, the Turkish fleet—which was a major power—had defeated the Christians at the Battle of Los Gelves. The siege of Malta, in 1565, however, was failed and also considered one of the most important sieges in military history and from the point of view of the defenders, the most successful (BATTLE OF LEPANTO (1517))  
  
  
  
• Against England: Philip II fought against the English Crown for religious reasons, for the support they offered to the Flemish rebels and for the problems posed by the English corsairs who stole American merchandise from the Spanish galleons in the Caribbean area from 1560.29 Thus, the main scenarios of the fighting would be the Atlantic and the Caribbean.