The Spanish Armada (Old Spanish: La felicissima armada, "most fortunate fleet"; modernly la Armada Invencible, "the Invincible Fleet") was a fleet which the Habsburg King Philip II of Spain used as part of an attempt to invade England in 1588. It was the largest battle of the Anglo-Spanish War, the first of several invasion attempts in the course of the war, and one of the most famous episodes in English history. The Spanish fleet was scattered by the English under Francis Drake in the battle of Gravelines and the invasion failed.