The Defeat of the Spanish Armada-西班牙舰队的失败

作者：Garrett. Mattingly

书名：The Defeat of the Spanish Armada《西班牙舰队的失败》

中文背景：西班牙舰队（西班牙语：Grande y Felicísima Armada或Armada Invencible，即最幸运的舰队或不可击败的舰队、无敌舰队）为16世纪后期著名的海上舰队，是由西班牙国王腓力二世在1588年所派出，意图征服英格兰却失败的舰队。无敌舰队之役是英西战争中其中一个大型的战役，也是战争过程之中第一个侵略性攻击意图。这场战争同时也是英国历史中最有名的战争。在格瑞福兰海战中，西班牙船舰被法兰西斯·德雷克所领导的英国海军用秘密武器即八艘火船击沉。

英文简介：Garrett Mattingly's thrilling narrative sets out the background of the sixteenth-century European intrigue and religious unrest that gave rise to one of the world's most famous maritime crusades and the naval battles that decided its fate. In putting the naval campaign of 1588 back into the context of the first great international crisis of modern history, Mattingly builds up, like the movements of a symphony, a broad picture of how events of the time affected men's actions, plans and hopes. He brilliantly connects a series of scenes or episodes, shifting the point of focus from England to the continent and from courts to ships and cities. The feeling of tension mounts to a crescendo throughout Europe as the great drama of the Armada is approached. The battle itself and the aftermath are so vividly and poignantly described that they might be happening in our world today. 'A rare and wonderful book, as readable and exciting as a novel, amazingly fresh and stimulating in its approach to a great subject, and impressive for the wide range and authority of its scholarship.' J.E. Neale