Essay Plan: Henry VII's main Foreign Policy Goal was to Avoid War - How Far do you Agree
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Course
AS Unit F961 - British History Period Studies
Institution
OCR
This is a detailed essay plan on the Subject of Henry VII's foreign policy and how he avoided war. It includes well-thought out, bullet-pointed arguments with examples to support them, and judgements are reached for each argument. There is also a written introduction and conclusion. I used these no...
Henry VII’s Main Aim in Foreign Affairs was to Avoid War.
How far do you Agree?
Avoiding war was incredibly important to Henry’s foreign policy, so much so that he
essentially established his foreign policy around that exact idea. Henry did not want war, as
it would make achieving his other aims, such as stimulating trade and securing his throne,
far more difficult. Going to war with a foreign nation would also increase the likelihood of
him being deposed or usurped. Therefore, Henry used several methods, including making
alliances and trade agreements, in order to successfully avoid the possibility of war.
1. Treaties and alliances with other countries played a huge part in his foreign policy.
Alliances strengthened international relations and are usually a sign of peace
between the two countries.
He used them for all sorts of things, like improving trade (the Intercursus magnus)
and for creating marriage alliances.
However, no matter what their goal was, they all helped in establishing peace and
avoiding conflict.
The alliances often had agreements about foreign powers giving support to
pretenders to the English throne.
As it was, foreign powers supporting claimants was a particularly serious issue to
henry as he knew how dangerous it could be to him.
He himself had gained support from France, sailed to England, started a conflict, and
overthrew the king.
For example, the Treaty of Étaples with France stated that France could no longer
support pretenders or claimants to the throne.
Although this could suggest that his main goal here was to secure his throne against
pretenders, the overall achievement was that it avoided conflict, i.e., war.
The treaty also lessened the threat that Scotland posed to England through its
alliance with France (the Auld Alliance), thus lessening the threat of war with
Scotland.
Another part of the treaty was that he would receive the French Pension, of £5000
per year.
Henry used alliances fairly successfully to avoid war
In several different treaties, he managed to negotiate incredibly favourable terms
for England, without having to give away too much in return.
This meant that he was able to make peace with several European powers, thus
lessening the chance of war.
But, these alliances were not as successful as his organisation of marriage alliances
for his children.
2. Marriage Alliances
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