It seems more likely, however, that even had the Spaniards snatched a victory at sea the final picture of Europe, when peace came, would not have been much different. … By its very nature the war between Spain and England was likely to be indecisive, and men being what they are even its object lesson proved to be in vain. Most of Europe had to fight another war, thirty years long, before deciding that crusades were a poor way of settling differences of opinion, and that two or more systems of ideas could live side by side without mortal danger to either.

Garrett Mattingly, The Defeat of the Spanish A…, loc. 896