Explain How Successful Was Henry Viii Foreign Policy
How successful was Henry VIII foreign policy.
Anastasiya Sosis
On this question there are two opposite views. First, traditional, is that Henry’s and Wolsey’s foreign policy was a complete failure; it was short-sighted, naïve, anachronistic and way too expensive. As John Guy said in 1988, Wolsey ‘overreached himself in diplomacy’. The other view, in contrast, is that Henry VIII and Cardinal Wolsey, although not reaching much success had a very practical, flexible and purposeful foreign policy. Witness for this view is Mandell Creighton who in 1888 said: ‘Wolsey had a capacity which amounted to genius’. However, in my opinion, both these views are extremes, stressing too much some fact or other in English foreign policy in 1509-1529.
The traditional view points out Henry’s most important failures and misfortunes in his foreign policy. First of all, Henry VIII was unlucky in the war with France of 1512-14, as his army proved to be quite disorganized when he first went to battle in 1512. …show more content…
They allied with France and in 1528 declared war on Charles V. This attempt, however, failed, as England was in an uncomfortable economical position, depending on trade with Burgundy, so Henry and Wolsey had to end this war, as the economical crisis broke out. This can not be defended, since the whole plan seems not thought through, because how else could one explain the embargo on cloth trade, if it was clear as day, this would affect English economy more than Burgundian. On the other hand, Henry might have counted that it would work, like when it worked with his father at the time Burgundy covered up the pretender Perkin Warbeck, however, he missed one important fact: Burgundian economy wasn’t as dependant on the trade with England as it used to be, since Charles V was not only the Duke of Burgundy, but also the ruler of Spain and Holy Roman Emperor, which was beneficial for economy in these
Anastasiya Sosis
On this question there are two opposite views. First, traditional, is that Henry’s and Wolsey’s foreign policy was a complete failure; it was short-sighted, naïve, anachronistic and way too expensive. As John Guy said in 1988, Wolsey ‘overreached himself in diplomacy’. The other view, in contrast, is that Henry VIII and Cardinal Wolsey, although not reaching much success had a very practical, flexible and purposeful foreign policy. Witness for this view is Mandell Creighton who in 1888 said: ‘Wolsey had a capacity which amounted to genius’. However, in my opinion, both these views are extremes, stressing too much some fact or other in English foreign policy in 1509-1529.
The traditional view points out Henry’s most important failures and misfortunes in his foreign policy. First of all, Henry VIII was unlucky in the war with France of 1512-14, as his army proved to be quite disorganized when he first went to battle in 1512. …show more content…
They allied with France and in 1528 declared war on Charles V. This attempt, however, failed, as England was in an uncomfortable economical position, depending on trade with Burgundy, so Henry and Wolsey had to end this war, as the economical crisis broke out. This can not be defended, since the whole plan seems not thought through, because how else could one explain the embargo on cloth trade, if it was clear as day, this would affect English economy more than Burgundian. On the other hand, Henry might have counted that it would work, like when it worked with his father at the time Burgundy covered up the pretender Perkin Warbeck, however, he missed one important fact: Burgundian economy wasn’t as dependant on the trade with England as it used to be, since Charles V was not only the Duke of Burgundy, but also the ruler of Spain and Holy Roman Emperor, which was beneficial for economy in these