'Arise O Lord and avenge thy cause' -- 'The great bog of Europe' -- |'A fleet to impeach it' -- Armed neutrality, 1558-80 -- Cold war, 1581-5 -- The Grand Design and its architect -- Phoney war -- |The Armada takes shape -- |Medina Sidonia takes charge -- Advance to contact -- Battle stations -- Stalemate in the Channel -- The test of battle -- |'God blew and they were scattered' -- From dispersal to disaster -- Analysis of failure -- The bitterness of defeat -- The counter-Armada -- If the Armada had landed -- The Armada in history and legend -- The Armada shipwrecks.

Drawing on archives from around the world, Colin Martin and Geoffrey Parker also deploy new evidence from Armada shipwrecks off the coasts of Ireland and Scotland. Their illustrated account provides a fresh understanding of how the rival fleets came into being; how they looked, sounded, and smelled; and what happened when they finally clashed. Looking beyond the events of 1588 to the complex politics which made war between England and Spain inevitable, and at the political and dynastic aftermath, Armada deconstructs the many legends to reveal why, ultimately, the bold Spanish mission failed.