July – King Henry III of France capitulates to the Duke of Guise and returns to Paris.
July 31 – First engagement between the English and Spanish fleets off Plymouth. The English have the better of it.
August 2 – The English and Spanish fleets meet again off Dorset. (The English fleet is led by Lord Howard of Effingham and Sir Francis Drake.) The English again have the better of it.
August 7 – The English and Spanish fleets again engage off the coast of Flanders. The English again are more successful.
August 8 – August 9 – The Spanish are unable to reach the coast of Flanders to meet up with the army of the Duke of Parma. Medina Sidonia decides to return to Spain.
August 12 – The Spanish fleet sails past the Firth of Forth, and the English cease their pursuit. Much of the Spanish fleet is destroyed as it sails around Scotland and Ireland.
Ahmad al-Mansur, sultan of Morocco, demands that the king of Songhay give a heavy tribute in exchange of a Saharan salt, probably in an intentional provocation. When Songhay's answer is defiant, he declares war and marches his army through Sahara to Songhay