Quote 474 of 497

To minds formed by A. T. Mahan and the theorists of empires, the issue
of 1588 seemed to be the command of the ocean seas and the opportunity
to exploit the newly discovered routes to Asia and the Americas.  To
such minds it was rational and right to fight for economic interests,
but absurd and rather shocking to fight about the relative validity of
conflicting systems of ideas.

The men of 1588 did not think so.  To them the clash of the English
and Spanish fleets in the Channel was the beginning of Armageddon, of
a final struggle to the death between the forces of light and the
forces of darkness. ... All Europe watched the battle in the Channel
with breathless suspense because upon its outcome was felt to hang not
just the fates of England and Scotland, France and the Netherlands,
but all of Christendom.  Ideological wars are revolutionary wars,
easily transcending national boundaries, and always, at least in
intention, and in the imaginations of the men involved in them, total
wars.  It was easier in 1940 to appreciate this point of view than it
had been in, say, 1890.
		-- The Armada, Garrett Mattingly, pp. v-vi

Tags: scotland suspense darkness 1940 intention pointofview validity clash armageddon christendom theorists imaginations fates mahan economicinterests revolutionarywars nationalboundaries struggletothedeath spanishfleets garrettmattingly