The failure to secure a successor for Elizabeth brought on international struggles for power which England engaged.  She was drawn into the conflicts of European Protestants because she would not marry a Catholic prince.

            One of the queen’s firsts acts was to make a truce with France.  But despite this truce France continued to cause trouble in England. Over troubles in Scotland.  Mary Queen of Scots, a Catholic, was married to the king of France, and after his death in 1560 returned to rule Scotland.  But Scotland was being opposed by it’s own Protestant Reformation that was supported by Elizabeth and, with France’s assistance, was opposed by Mary.  In the year of 1568 Mary lost her Scottish crown and was banished to England, where she continued to plot against Elizabeth.

            A similar struggle took place in France in 1562 and 1563, as French Protestants, who were supported by Elizabeth, fought for religious freedom from the Catholic monarch.

             The most important English international expeditions were in support of the Dutch Protestants.  In 1581 the Dutch proclaimed their independence from the Spanish Empire.  Spain was the most powerful nation in Europe, and the Dutch would have had no hope of surviving as an independent nation without outside help.  The earl of Leicester convinced Elizabeth to support the Dutch Protestants, and in 1585 he was given command an army that fought with the Dutch.  The campaign was a complete failure, not only did it fail to prevent the loss of the crucial port of Antwerp, but it also roused the anger of Phillip II against England.