How did the English victory over the Spanish Armada in 1588 fundamentally alter the geopolitical landscape and strategic priorities of Elizabethan England during the subsequent seven years? R. B. Wernham, a distinguished historian of the Tudor period, utilizes extensive archival research and diplomatic correspondence to analyze the transition from defensive naval warfare to a broader continental intervention. The work argues that the defeat of the Armada did not secure English safety but instead forced the state into a complex, costly, and protracted struggle for influence across Western Europe.

Historians regard this work as a foundational text for understanding the complexities of late Elizabethan foreign policy. Readers frequently note the academic density of the prose, which provides a rigorous examination of the period's diplomatic maneuvers.