This is a list of battles of the Eighty Years' War.
Until August 1567, the government of the Habsburg Netherlands, in the hands of Governor-General Margaret of Parma and her Stadtholders, was using local Netherlandish troops, such as schutterijen as city guards. Military law enforcement included the Bandes d'ordonnance (Dutch : Benden van ordonnantie), elite heavy cavalry formations drawn mostly from the Flemish (Dutch-speaking) and Walloon (French-speaking) aristocracy. The newly created Army of Flanders arrived in the Low Countries in August 1567 under the command of the Duke of Alba, who immediately carried out substantial military reforms. Alba reduced the prominence of the Bandes d'ordonnance (in part because he distrusted the local nobility) in favour of the well-known Habsburg multi-ethnic infantry regiments, the tercios , alongside Spanish light cavalry (the latter comprised just 8% of the army by 1573). [1]
Alba introduced Spanish (Castilian) as the language of communication in the Army of Flanders, and Spaniards received higher pay and most of the key positions in his high command. Alba had a low opinion of soldiers from other ethnicities (called "nations") in the tercios, such as Italians, Flemish and Walloons (flamencos or nativos, as the Spaniards called them), and Germans, and preferred relying on Spanish infantrymen, but the actual share of Spanish soldiers in the Army of Flanders – which was at one of the highest totals of the war during Alba's tenure – was a little over 15%. There were also Burgundian, Scottish, Irish, English and Portuguese "nations" at various stages of the war, and intermittently units from other ethnic backgrounds. [2]
Mutiny due to lack of troop payment was a common problem in the 1570s, which could result in increasing civilian sympathies for the rebel cause (notably the 1576 Sack of Antwerp leading to the Pacification of Ghent), while in the late 1580s and especially 1590s, ethnic tensions between the commanders of the "nations" (such as the Italian Parma, the German Mansfeld and the Spanish Fuentes) led to power struggles that left the Army of Flanders divided and largely paralysed. [2]
The rebels, who initiated their first actions of physical force during the Beeldenstorm (August–October 1566, initially mostly directed at Catholic Church property rather than governmental forces) started out as disparate riotous mobs of poorly armed and poorly trained but well-organised Calvinists, originally predominantly from industrial centres in western Flanders. [3] On 14 December 1566, the Habsburg Netherlandish government declared the city of Valenciennes – where Calvinists had seized power – to be "in state of rebellion", and in late December 1566, the first encounter battles occurred between the Habsburg Netherlandish governmental troops and Calvinist rebels. [4] Apart from managing to extend the Siege of Valenciennes (1567) for several months, the Calvinist rebels proved no match for the troops of Margaret of Parma (delegated to stadtholders such as Philip of Noircarmes), who crushed the disturbances in March 1567, before king Philip II sent Alba with the newly formed Army of Flanders from Spain to the Netherlands in April 1567. [5] [6]
During 1568 and 1572, William "the Silent" of Orange, the wealthiest and most powerful nobleman of the Netherlands, attempted two invasions from his Nassau-Dillenburg stronghold as a 'warlord' with mercenary soldiers organised in typical German fashion (here referred to as "Orangist troops") in opposition to Alba, though both met with little success. [7] Meanwhile in 1572, a mixture of groups of noblemen and common people sympathetic to his cause, or to Calvinism, known as Geuzen, formed paramilitary units that seized control of most of Holland and Zeeland, where Calvinists soon came to dominate politics. Orange functioned as minister of war and commander-in-chief of the Hollandic and Zeelandic troops from 1572 on. [8] It was not until 1575 that these units were merged into the Dutch States Army, organised and directed by the States of Holland and West Friesland and the States of Zeeland (which was illegal; only the king had the right to raise armies). Around the same time, starting in 1574 with the Admiralty of Rotterdam, five Dutch admiralties emerged to organise rebel fleets.
When faced with large-scale mutinies in the Army of Flanders in 1576 known as the Spanish Fury, Catholic-dominated provinces of the Netherlands such as Brabant and Flanders (authorised by the Council of State in March 1576 [9] ) also began raising their own armies in self-defence against mutineers, but were unable to prevent the Sack of Antwerp. With the Pacification of Ghent (8 November 1576) all Seventeen Provinces except Luxemburg would agree to expel all foreign troops from the Habsburg Netherlands (essentially restoring the pre-1567 situation) while establishing a temporary general peace of religion. Although this resulted in much ad hoc cooperation between the rebel provinces and the inclusion of units from all of them into the States Army, organisation initially remained mostly provincial and decentralised, and the rebels suffered a catastrophe at the Battle of Gembloux (1578). Most of the rebel territories would go on to create a closer military alliance with the 1579 Union of Utrecht, proclaim independence by the 1581 Act of Abjuration, obtain English support in 1585 and establish the Dutch Republic in 1588, but the 1579–1588 period was marked by a long series of rebel defeats at the hands of Alexander Farnese, Duke of Parma. Effective military reforms of the Dutch States Army were only introduced by Maurice of Nassau in the subsequent Ten Years (1588–1598). By the 1620s, the annual costs of the Dutch States Army were 11,177,087 guilders, 58% of which were paid by Holland as most populous and wealthy province. [10] By the 1630s, Holland increasingly refused to fund land war operations, pleading for greater maritime expenses against the Dunkirker Privateers instead. [11] This led to tensions with stadtholder Frederick Henry, who unsuccessfully sought to merge the five admiralties into one in 1639, and then resumed his focus on financing the land war. [12]
Date | Battle | Region | Rebel forces | Royalist forces | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
10 August – October 1566 | Beeldenstorm | multiple | Calvinist mobs | ![]() | Inconclusive |
14 December 1566 – 23 March 1567 | Siege of Valenciennes (1567) | Hainaut | Calvinist rebels | ![]() | Royalist key victory |
27 December 1566 | Battle of Wattrelos | Flanders | Calvinist rebels | ![]() | Royalist victory |
29 December 1566 | Battle of Lannoy | Flanders | Calvinist rebels | ![]() | Royalist victory |
13 March 1567 | Battle of Oosterweel | Brabant | Calvinist rebels | ![]() | Royalist victory |
23 April 1568 | Battle of Rheindalen | Jülich | Orangist troops | ![]() | Royalist victory |
23 May 1568 | Battle of Heiligerlee | Groningen | Orangist troops | ![]() | Rebel victory |
May–July 1568 | Siege of Groningen (1568) | Groningen | Orangist troops | ![]() | Royalist victory |
10–11 July 1568 | Battle on the Ems | Groningen | Geuzen | ![]() | Rebel victory |
21 July 1568 | Battle of Jemmingen | East Frisia | Orangist troops | ![]() | Royalist victory |
20 October 1568 | Battle of Jodoigne | Brabant | Orangist troops | ![]() | Royalist victory |
12 November 1568 | Battle of Le Quesnoy | Hainaut | Orangist troops | ![]() | Rebel victory |
9–19 December 1570 | Battle of Loevestein | Guelders | Geuzen | ![]() | Royalist victory |
1 April 1572 | Capture of Brielle | Holland | ![]() | ![]() | Rebel victory |
6 April 1572 [13] | Flushing rebellion [13] | Zeeland | Civic militia [13] | ![]() | Rebel victory |
23 June – 19 September 1572 | Siege of Mons (1572) | Hainaut | ![]() | ![]() | Royalist victory |
17 July 1572 | Battle of Saint-Ghislain | Hainaut | ![]() | ![]() | Royalist victory |
12–15 September 1572 | Walloon Fury in Dokkum | Friesland | ![]() | ![]() | Royalist victory |
2 October 1572 | Spanish Fury at Mechelen | Mechelen | ![]() | ![]() | Royalist victory |
? 1572 | The Battle of Ijsselmeer | Holland | ![]() | ![]() | Rebel victory |
20 October 1572 | Relief of Goes | Zeeland | ![]() ![]() | ![]() | Royalist victory |
22 October 1572 | Massacre of Naarden | Holland | ![]() | ![]() | Royalist victory |
4 November 1572 – 18 February 1574 | Siege of Middelburg (1572–1574) | Zeeland | ![]() ![]() | ![]() | Rebel victory |
12 Augustus 1572 – 8 February 1578 | Blockades of Amsterdam | Holland | ![]() | ![]() | Rebel victory |
16 November 1572 | Massacre of Zutphen | Guelders | ![]() | ![]() | Royalist victory |
11 December 1572 – 13 July 1573 | Siege of Haarlem | Holland | ![]() | ![]() | Royalist victory |
17 April 1573 | Battle of Flushing | Zeeland | ![]() | ![]() | Rebel victory |
11 October 1573 | Battle of Borsele | Zeeland | ![]() | ![]() | Rebel victory |
22 April 1573 | Battle on the Zuiderzee | Zuiderzee | ![]() | ![]() | Rebel victory |
21 August – 8 October 1573 | Siege of Alkmaar | Holland | ![]() | ![]() | Rebel victory |
28 August 1573 | Capture of Geertruidenberg (1573) | Holland | ![]() ![]() ![]() | ![]() | Rebel victory |
October 1573 | Battle of Delft (1573) | Holland | ![]() ![]() | ![]() | Rebel victory |
October 1573 – 3 October 1574 | Siege of Leiden | Holland | ![]() | ![]() | Rebel key victory |
27/29 January 1574 | Battle of the Scheldt (1574) (Battle of Reimerswaal) | Zeeland | ![]() ![]() | ![]() | Rebel victory |
Early February 1574 | Capture of Valkenburg (1574) | Holland | ![]() ![]() | ![]() | Royalist victory |
14 April 1574 | Battle of Mookerheyde | Cleves | ![]() | ![]() | Royalist victory |
30 May 1574 | Battle of Lillo | Brabant | ![]() | ![]() | Rebel victory |
19 July – 7 August 1575 | Siege of Oudewater (1575) | Utrecht | ![]() | ![]() | Royalist victory |
11–24 August 1575 | Siege of Schoonhoven (1575) | Holland | ![]() ![]() ![]() | ![]() | Royalist victory |
October 1575 – 29 June 1576 [14] | Siege of Zierikzee | Zeeland | ![]() | ![]() | Royalist victory |
25 July 1576 | Sack of Aalst | Flanders | City guard | Spanish mutineers | Mutineer victory |
14 September 1576 | Battle of Vissenaken | Brabant | ![]() | Spanish mutineers | Mutineer victory |
15 September – 11 November 1576 | Siege of the Spanjaardenkasteel | Flanders | ![]() ![]() ![]() | Spanish mutineers | Rebel victory |
4–7 November 1576 | Sack of Antwerp | Brabant | ![]() German/Walloon troops Armed citizens | Spanish mutineers | Mutineer victory |
December 1576 – February 1577 | Siege of Vredenburg | Utrecht | ![]() ![]() | Spanish mutineers | Rebel victory |
24 July 1577 | Capture of the Namur citadel | Namur | ![]() | ![]() | Royalist victory (Coup d'état) |
1–2 August 1577 | Capture of the Antwerp citadel | Brabant | ![]() | German mutineers | Rebel victory |
4 August – 4 October 1577 | Siege of Breda (1577) | Brabant | ![]() | ![]() | Rebel victory |
28 October 1577 | Ghent Calvinist coup | Flanders | ![]() | Calvinist victory (Coup d'état) | |
31 January 1578 | Battle of Gembloux | Brabant | ![]() | ![]() | Royalist key victory |
20–24 February 1578 | Siege of Zichem | Brabant | ![]() | ![]() | Royalist victory |
8–12 March 1578 | Siege of Nivelles (Dutch) (French) | Brabant | ![]() | ![]() | Royalist victory |
26 May 1578 | Alteratie of Amsterdam | Holland | ![]() Calvinist radicals | Calvinist victory (Coup d'état) | |
25 June – 20 July 1578 | Siege of Kampen (1578) | Overijssel | ![]() | ![]() | Rebel victory |
31 July 1578 | Battle of Rijmenam | Brabant | ![]() | ![]() | Rebel victory |
3 August – 19 November 1578 | Siege of Deventer (1578) | Overijssel | ![]() | ![]() | Rebel victory |
22 September – 7 October 1578 | Siege of Binche | Hainaut | ![]() | ![]() | Rebel victory |
2 March 1579 | Battle of Borgerhout | Flanders | ![]() ![]() ![]() | ![]() | Royalist victory |
8/12 March – 29 June/1 July 1579 | Siege of Maastricht | Limburg | ![]() | ![]() | Royalist victory |
29 March 1579 | Street battle in Mechelen [15] | Mechelen | ![]()
Calvinist armed citizens | Catholic armed citizens | Royalist victory |
1 July 1579 | Schermersoproer in Den Bosch | Brabant | Calvinist city guard | Catholic guilds | Royalist victory |
3 March – 18 June 1580 | Siege of Groningen (1580) | Groningen | ![]() | ![]() | Royalist victory (Coup d'état) |
9 April 1580 [15] | English Fury at Mechelen | Mechelen | ![]() ![]() | ![]() City guard | Rebel victory |
9 June 1580 | Taking of Diest (1580) | Brabant | ![]() ![]() | ![]() | Rebel victory |
15–16 June 1580 | Zwolle riot | Overijssel | ![]() Kampen Calvinists | Catholic armed citizens Catholic farmers | Calvinist victory |
17 June 1580 | Battle of Hardenberg | Overijssel | ![]() | ![]() | Royalist victory |
18 October 1580 – 23 February 1581 | Siege of Steenwijk (1580–1581) | Overijssel | ![]() | ![]() | Royalist victory |
September 1580 – 17 Augustus 1581 | Siege of Cambrai (1581) | Cambrésis | ![]() ![]() | ![]() | Rebel victory |
19 July 1581 | Battle of Kollum | Friesland | ![]() ![]() | ![]() | Rebel victory |
26–27 July 1581 | Capture of Breda (1581) | Brabant | ![]() ![]() | ![]() | Royalist victory |
30 September 1581 | Battle of Noordhorn | Groningen | ![]() ![]() ![]() | ![]() | Royalist victory |
3–24 October 1581 | Siege of Niezijl | Groningen | ![]() ![]() | ![]() | Rebel victory |
10 October – 30 November 1581 | Siege of Tournai (1581) | Tournaisis | ![]() | ![]() | Royalist victory |
22 July – 15 September 1582 | Siege of Lochem (1582) | Guelders | ![]() ![]() ![]() | ![]() | Rebel victory |
26 July 1582 | Battle of Ponta Delgada (also part of the War of the Portuguese Succession) | Azores | ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() | ![]() ![]() | Royalist victory (Pro-Philip victory) |
1–2 August 1582 | Siege of Lier (1582) | Brabant | ![]() ![]() | ![]() | Royalist victory |
17 January 1583 | French Fury | Brabant | ![]() | States victory (Failed coup) | |
7 February – 23 April 1583 | Siege of Eindhoven (1583) | Brabant | ![]() ![]() ![]() | ![]() | Royalist victory |
17 June 1583 | Battle of Steenbergen (1583) | Brabant | ![]() ![]() ![]() | ![]() | Royalist victory |
October 1583 – 17 September 1584 | Siege of Ghent (1583–1584) | Flanders | ![]() of Ghent | ![]() Malcontents | Royalist victory |
Early February 1584 | Capture of Aalst (1584) | Flanders | ![]() ![]() | ![]() | Royalist victory |
May–July 1584 | Siege of Zutphen (1584) | Guelders | ![]() | ![]() | Royalist victory |
July 1584 – 17 August 1585 | Siege of Antwerp | Brabant | ![]() | ![]() | Royalist key victory |
6–15 October 1585 | Siege of IJsseloord | Guelders | ![]() ![]() | ![]() | Rebel victory (Anglo-Dutch victory) |
4–8 December 1585 | Battle of Empel | Brabant | ![]() | ![]() | Royalist victory |
17 January 1586 | Battle of Boksum | Friesland | ![]() | ![]() | Royalist victory |
Early April – 7 June 1586 | Siege of Grave (1586) | Brabant | ![]() ![]() | ![]() | Royalist victory |
June 1586 | Siege of Venlo (1586) | Guelders | ![]() ![]() | ![]() | Royalist victory |
17 July 1586 | Capture of Axel | Flanders | ![]() ![]() | ![]() | Rebel victory |
26 July 1586 | Destruction of Neuss | Cologne | ![]() ![]() | ![]() ![]() | Royalist victory (Ernest-Spanish victory) |
13 August 1586 – 3 February 1590 [16] | Siege of Rheinberg (1586–1590) | Cologne | ![]() ![]() | ![]() ![]() | Royalist victory (Ernest-Spanish victory) |
22 September 1586 | Battle of Zutphen (Battle of Warnsveld) | Guelders | ![]() ![]() | ![]() | Royalist victory |
12 June – 4 August 1587 | Siege of Sluis (1587) | Flanders | ![]() ![]() | ![]() | Royalist victory |
27 February – 29 April 1588 | Siege of Medemblik (1588) | Holland | ![]() ![]() | States victory (Failed coup) | |
29 July 1588 | Battle of Gravelines | Channel | ![]() ![]() | ![]() ![]() | Rebel key victory (Anglo-Dutch victory) |
23 September – 13 November 1588 | Siege of Bergen op Zoom (1588) | Brabant | ![]() ![]() | ![]() | Rebel victory (Anglo-Dutch victory) |
10 April 1589 | Capture of Geertruidenberg (1589) | Holland | ![]() ![]() | ![]() | Royalist victory |
Early 1590 | Battle of Bayona Islands (1590) | Spain | ![]() ![]() | ![]() | Royalist victory |
4 March 1590 | Capture of Breda (1590) | Brabant | ![]() | ![]() | Rebel victory |
19–30 May 1591 | Siege of Zutphen (1591) | Guelders | ![]() ![]() | ![]() | Rebel victory (Anglo-Dutch victory) |
1–10 June 1591 | Siege of Deventer (1591) | Overijssel | ![]() ![]() | ![]() | Rebel victory (Anglo-Dutch victory) |
30 June – 15 July 1596 | Capture of Cádiz | Spain | ![]() ![]() | ![]() | Rebel victory (Anglo-Dutch victory) |
2 July 1591 | Capture of Delfzijl | Groningen | ![]() ![]() | ![]() | Rebel victory (Anglo-Dutch victory) |
15–25 July 1591 | Siege of Knodsenburg | Guelders | ![]() ![]() | ![]() | Rebel victory (Anglo-Dutch victory) |
Late August 1591 | Battle of the Gulf of Almería (1591) | Spain | ![]() ![]() | ![]() | Royalist victory |
20–24 September 1591 | Siege of Hulst (1591) | Flanders | ![]() ![]() | ![]() | Rebel victory (Anglo-Dutch victory) |
17–21 October 1591 | Siege of Nijmegen (1591) | Guelders | ![]() | ![]() | Rebel victory |
December 1591 – May 1592 | Siege of Rouen (1591–1592) | France | ![]() ![]() ![]() | ![]() ![]() | Royalist victory (Spanish-Catholic victory) |
24 April – 21 May 1592 | Siege of Caudebec | France | ![]() ![]() ![]() | ![]() ![]() | Rebel victory (Navarre-Anglo-Dutch or 'Protestant' victory) |
30 May – 5 July 1592 | Siege of Steenwijk (1592) | Overijssel | ![]() ![]() | ![]() | Rebel victory (Anglo-Dutch victory) |
26 July – 2 September 1592 | Siege of Coevorden (1592) | Drenthe | ![]() ![]() | ![]() | Rebel victory (Anglo-Dutch victory) |
14 January – 10 February 1593 | 1593 Luxemburg campaign Siege of Sankt Vith | Luxemburg | ![]() ![]() ![]() | ![]() | Royalist tactical victory Rebel strategic victory |
27 March – 24 June 1593 | Siege of Geertruidenberg (1593) | Holland | ![]() | ![]() | Rebel victory |
28 October 1593 – 6 May 1594 | Siege of Coevorden (1593) | Drenthe | ![]() ![]() | ![]() | Rebel victory (Anglo-Dutch victory) |
19 May – 22 July 1594 | Siege of Groningen (1594) | Groningen | ![]() | ![]() | Rebel key victory |
January–June 1595 | 1595 Luxemburg campaign Siege of Huy (1595) | Luxemburg Liège | ![]() ![]() | ![]() ![]() | Royalist victory |
2 September 1595 | Battle of the Lippe | Cologne | ![]() ![]() | ![]() | Royalist victory |
11–28 September 1595 | Siege of Groenlo (1595) | Guelders | ![]() ![]() | ![]() | Royalist victory |
14 October 1595 | Sack of Lier | Brabant | ![]() | ![]() | Royalist victory |
8–24 April 1596 | Siege of Calais (1596) | France | ![]() ![]() ![]() | ![]() | Royalist victory |
Mid-July – 18 August 1596 | Siege of Hulst (1596) | Flanders | ![]() ![]() | ![]() | Royalist victory |
24 January 1597 | Battle of Turnhout | Brabant | ![]() | ![]() | Rebel victory |
June – August 1597 | Islands Voyage | Azores | ![]() ![]() | ![]() | Royalist victory |
9–19 August 1597 | Siege of Rheinberg (1597) | Cologne | ![]() ![]() | ![]() | Rebel victory (Anglo-Dutch victory) |
29 August – 3 September 1597 | Siege of Meurs (1597) | Moers | ![]() ![]() | ![]() | Rebel victory (Anglo-Dutch victory) |
11–28 September 1597 | Siege of Groenlo (1597) | Guelders | ![]() | ![]() | Rebel victory |
1–9 October 1597 | Siege of Bredevoort (1597) | Guelders | ![]() | ![]() | Rebel victory |
1–10 October 1597 | Siege of Bredevoort (1597) | Guelders | ![]() ![]() | ![]() | Rebel victory (Anglo-Dutch victory) |
18–19 October 1597 | Capture of Enschede (1597) | Overijssel | ![]() ![]() | ![]() | Rebel victory (Anglo-Dutch victory) |
19–21 October 1597 | Capture of Ootmarsum | Overijssel | ![]() ![]() | ![]() | Rebel victory (Anglo-Dutch victory) |
20–23 October 1597 | Siege of Oldenzaal (1597) | Overijssel | ![]() ![]() | ![]() | Rebel victory (Anglo-Dutch victory) |
25 October – 12 November 1597 | Siege of Lingen (1597) | Overijssel | ![]() ![]() | ![]() | Rebel victory (Anglo-Dutch victory) |
28 April – 2 May 1599 | Siege of Schenckenschans (1599) | Guelders | ![]() ![]() | ![]() | Rebel victory (Anglo-Dutch victory) |
15 May – 22 July 1599 | Siege of Zaltbommel | Guelders | ![]() ![]() | ![]() | Rebel victory (Anglo-Dutch victory) |
10–12 September 1599 | Siege of Rees (1599) | Cleves | ![]() ![]() | ![]() | Royalist victory |
28 January – 6 March 1600 | Siege of San Andreas (1600) | Guelders | ![]() ![]() | ![]() | Rebel victory (Anglo-Dutch victory) |
5 February 1600 | Battle of Lekkerbeetje | Brabant | ![]() | ![]() | Royalist victory |
2 July 1600 | Battle of Nieuwpoort | Flanders | ![]() | ![]() | Rebel tactical victory |
12 June – 2 August 1601 | Siege of Rheinberg (1601) | Cologne | ![]() ![]() | ![]() | Rebel victory (Anglo-Dutch victory) |
5 July 1601 – 20 September 1604 | Siege of Ostend | Flanders | ![]() | ![]() | Royalist key victory |
1–27 November 1601 | Siege of 's-Hertogenbosch (1601) | Brabant | ![]() ![]() | ![]() | Royalist victory |
18 July – 20 September 1602 | Siege of Grave (1602) | Brabant | ![]() ![]() | ![]() | Rebel victory (Anglo-Dutch victory) |
1 September 1602 – 18 May 1604 | Mutiny of Hoogstraten | Brabant | ![]() ![]() | ![]() | Rebel victory (Mutineer–allied victory) |
3–4 October 1602 | Battle of the Narrow Seas (Battle of the Dover Straits) | Channel | ![]() ![]() | ![]() | Rebel victory (Anglo-Dutch victory) |
26 May 1603 | Battle of Sluis | Flanders | ![]() | ![]() | Rebel victory |
19 May – 19 August 1604 | Siege of Sluis (1604) | Flanders | ![]() | ![]() | Rebel victory |
10–19 August 1605 | Siege of Lingen (1605) | Overijssel | ![]() | ![]() | Royalist victory |
16 June or 6 October 1606 | Battle of Cape St. Vincent (1606) | Portugal | ![]() | ![]() | Royalist victory |
3–14 August 1606 (royalists) 30 Oct. – 9 Nov. 1606 (rebels) | Siege of Groenlo (1606) | Guelders | ![]() | ![]() | Royalist victory |
25 April 1607 | Battle of Gibraltar (1607) | Spain | ![]() | ![]() | Rebel victory |
28 July – 2 September 1610 | Siege of Jülich (1610) | Jülich | ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() | ![]() | Rebel victory (Franco-Dutch victory) |
Late August 1614 | Siege of Aachen (1614) | Aachen | ![]() ![]() | ![]() | Royalist victory |
15 April 1617 | Battle of Playa Honda | Philippines | ![]() | ![]() | Royalist victory |
21 August 1621 | Battle of Gibraltar (1621) | Spain | ![]() ![]() | ![]() | Royalist victory |
5 September 1621 – 3 February 1622 | Siege of Jülich (1621–1622) | Jülich | ![]() | ![]() | Royalist victory |
8 July – 2 October 1622 | Siege of Bergen op Zoom (1622) | Brabant | ![]() | ![]() | Rebel victory |
29 August 1622 | Battle of Fleurus (1622) | Hainaut | ![]() German soldiers | ![]() | Royalist victory |
28 August 1624 – 5 June 1625 | Siege of Breda (1624) | Brabant | ![]() | ![]() | Royalist key victory |
1 April – 1 May 1625 | Recapture of Salvador | Brazil | ![]() | ![]() ![]() | Royalist victory |
24 September – 2 November 1625 | Battle of San Juan (1625) | Antilles | ![]() | ![]() | Royalist victory |
1–7 November 1625 | Cádiz expedition (1625) | Spain | ![]() ![]() | ![]() | Royalist victory |
25 July – 1 August 1626 | Siege of Oldenzaal (1626) | Overijssel | ![]() ![]() | ![]() | Rebel victory (Anglo-Dutch victory) |
20 July – 19 August 1627 | Siege of Groenlo (1627) | Guelders | ![]() | ![]() | Rebel victory |
7–8 September 1628 | Battle in the Bay of Matanzas | Cuba | ![]() | ![]() | Rebel key victory |
30 April – 14 September 1629 | Siege of 's-Hertogenbosch | Brabant | ![]() | ![]() | Rebel key victory |
12 September 1631 | Battle of Abrolhos | Brazil | ![]() | ![]() ![]() | Royalist victory |
12–13 September 1631 | Battle of the Slaak | Holland | ![]() | ![]() | Rebel victory |
9 June – 22 August 1632 | Capture of Maastricht | Limburg | ![]() | ![]() | Rebel key victory |
25 June – 1 July 1633 | Capture of Saint Martin (1633) | Antilles | ![]() | ![]() | Royalist victory |
11 June – 2 July 1633 | Siege of Rheinberg (1633) | Cologne | ![]() | ![]() | Rebel victory |
8–20 May 1635 | Siege of Philippine | Flanders | ![]() | ![]() | Royalist victory |
20 May 1635 | Battle of Les Avins | Liège | ![]() | ![]() | Rebel victory (French victory) |
8–10 June 1635 | Sack of Tienen | Brabant | ![]() ![]() | ![]() | Rebel victory (Franco-Dutch victory) |
24 June – 4 July 1635 | Siege of Leuven | Brabant | ![]() ![]() | ![]() ![]() | Royalist victory |
30 July 1635 – 30 April 1636 | Siege of Schenkenschans | Guelders | ![]() | ![]() | Rebel victory |
18 February 1637 | Battle off Lizard Point | England | ![]() | ![]() | Royalist victory |
20–25 August 1637 | Siege of Venlo (1637) | Guelders | ![]() | ![]() | Royalist victory |
21 July – 11 October 1637 | Siege of Breda (1637) | Brabant | ![]() | ![]() | Rebel victory |
April – May 1638 | Siege of Salvador (1638) | Brazil | ![]() | ![]() ![]() | Royalist victory |
20–22 June 1638 | Battle of Kallo | Brabant | ![]() | ![]() | Royalist key victory |
18 February 1639 | Action of 18 February 1639 | North Sea | ![]() | ![]() | Rebel victory |
18 September 1639 | Action of 18 September 1639 | Channel | ![]() | ![]() | Inconclusive |
21 October 1639 N.S. | Battle of the Downs | Channel | ![]() | ![]() | Rebel key victory |
12–17 January 1640 | Action of 12–17 January 1640 | Brazil | ![]() | ![]() ![]() | Rebel victory |
August 1641 | Battle of San Salvador (1641) | Brazil | ![]() | ![]() | Rebel strategic victory |
4 November 1641 | Battle of Cape St. Vincent (1641) | Portugal | ![]() | ![]() | Inconclusive |
August 1642 | Battle of San Salvador (1642) | Brazil | ![]() | ![]() | Rebel victory |
6 November 1642 – 28 December 1643 | Dutch expedition to Valdivia | Chile | ![]() | ![]() | Royalist victory |
20 March – 17 April 1644 | Attack on Saint Martin | Antilles | ![]() | ![]() | Royalist victory |
7 October – 4 November 1645 | Siege of Hulst (1645) | Flanders | ![]() | ![]() | Rebel victory |
15 March – 4 October 1646 | Battles of La Naval de Manila | Philippines | ![]() | ![]() | Royalist victory |
October 1646 | Siege of Venlo (1646) | Guelders | ![]() | ![]() | Royalist victory |
10 June 1647 | Battle of Puerto de Cavite | Philippines | ![]() | ![]() | Royalist victory |
The Eighty Years' War or Dutch Revolt was an armed conflict in the Habsburg Netherlands between disparate groups of rebels and the Spanish government. The causes of the war included the Reformation, centralisation, excessive taxation, and the rights and privileges of the Dutch nobility and cities.
The Pacification of Ghent, signed on 8 November 1576, was an alliance between the provinces of the Habsburg Netherlands. The main objectives were to remove Spanish mercenaries who had made themselves hated by all sides due to their plundering, and to promote a formal peace with the rebellious provinces of Holland and Zeeland.
The Spanish Fury was a number of violent sackings of cities (lootings) in the Low Countries or Benelux, mostly by Spanish Habsburg armies, that happened in the years 1572–1579 during the Dutch Revolt. In some cases, the sack did not follow the taking of a city. In others, the sack was ordered, or at least not restrained, by Spanish commanders after the fall of a city.
Willem IV, Count van den Bergh (1537-1586) was the Dutch Stadtholder of Guelders and Zutphen from 1581 until his arrest for treason in 1583.
The Army of Flanders was a field army of the Spanish Army based in the Spanish Netherlands between the 16th and 18th centuries. It was one of the longest-serving field armies of the early modern era, being founded in 1567 and disbanded in 1706. Taking part in numerous battles of the Eighty Years' War and Thirty Years' War, it employed or pioneered many developing military concepts, including permanent units (tercios), barracks and military hospitals long before they were adopted in most of Europe. As a result, the Army of Flanders has been considered the world's de facto first modern professional standing army. Sustained at huge cost and at significant distances from Spain via the Spanish Road, the Army of Flanders also became infamous for successive mutinies and its ill-disciplined activity on and off the battlefield, including the sack of Antwerp in 1576.
The Capture of Aalst of 1584, also known as the Betrayal of Aalst, took place in early February, 1584, at Aalst, County of Aalst, Flanders, during the Eighty Years' War and the Anglo-Spanish War (1585–1604). In 1584, after the successful Spanish military campaign of 1583, the Governor-General Don Alexander Farnese, Prince of Parma, was focused in subjecting by hunger the cities located on the Scheldt and its tributaries. One of these cities was Aalst, located on the Dender river. In January, the garrison of Aalst, composed of English troops under the command of Governor Olivier van den Tympel, was surrounded and blocked by the Spanish forces led by Parma. In this situation, the English soldiers, tired of the lack of supplies and pay, finally surrendered the city to Parma, in exchange for 128,250 florins and entered the service of the Spanish army.
Willem Bloys van Treslong was a nobleman from the Southern Netherlands and military leader during the Dutch war of Independence. He was best known as one of the leaders of the Sea Beggars who captured Den Briel on 1 April 1572.
The Calvinist Republic of Ghent was a Calvinist republic that existed between 1577 and 1584 in the Flemish independent city of Ghent.
Jan van Hembyse or Hembyze was a Flemish politician and popular leader, with a demagogic tendency, who together with François van Ryhove brought about the Calvinist Republic of Ghent and for two periods led that regime in the early stage of the Dutch Revolt and the Eighty Years' War as it unfolded in the County of Flanders.
The Battle of Wattrelos at the Flemish town of Wattrelos on 27 December 1566 between a Calvinist rebel army and troops of the Spanish Netherlands government. It is sometimes considered as one of the first battles of the Eighty Years' War.
The Ten Years were a period in the Eighty Years' War spanning the years 1588 to 1598. In this period of ten years, stadtholder Maurice of Nassau, the future prince of Orange and son of William "the Silent" of Orange, and his cousin William Louis, Count of Nassau-Dillenburg and stadtholder of Friesland as well as the English general Francis Vere, were able to turn the tide of the war against the Spanish Empire in favour of the Dutch Republic. They achieved many victories over the Spanish Army of Flanders, conquering large swathes of land in the north and east of the Habsburg Netherlands that were incorporated into the Republic and remained part of the Netherlands into the present. Starting with the important fortification of Bergen op Zoom (1588), Maurice and William Louis subsequently took Breda (1590), Zutphen, Deventer, Delfzijl, and Nijmegen (1591), Steenwijk, Coevorden (1592) Geertruidenberg (1593), Groningen (1594), Grol, Enschede, Ootmarsum, and Oldenzaal (1597)., recovering territories lost in 1580 through the treachery of George de Lalaing. Maurice's most successful years were 1591 and 1597, in which his campaigns resulted in the capture of numerous vital fortified cities, some of which were regarded as "impregnable". His novel military tactics earned him fame amongst the courts of Europe, and the borders of the present-day Netherlands were largely defined by the campaigns of Maurice of Orange during the Ten Years.
The years 1599–1609 constituted a phase in the Eighty Years' War between the Spanish Empire and the emerging Dutch Republic. It followed the Ten Years (1588–1598) that saw significant conquests by the Dutch States Army under the leadership of stadtholders Maurice of Nassau and William Louis of Nassau-Dillenburg, and ended with the conclusion of the Twelve Years' Truce (1609–1621) on 9 April 1609. The 1599–1609 period was generally marked by a stalemate; the well-known Battle of Nieuwpoort (1600) brought the Dutch a tactical victory without long-term gain, while Spanish conquests in the Siege of Ostend (1601–1604) and Spinola's 1605–1606 campaign were effectively balanced out by the Dutch naval triumph in the Battle of Gibraltar (1607) and the Spanish state bankruptcy of the same year. Financial troubles were amongst the primary motives that prompted the Dutch, and even more so the Spanish, to head to the negotiating table for a ceasefire.
The period between the Pacification of Ghent, and the Unions of Arras and Utrecht constituted a crucial phase of the Eighty Years' War between the Spanish Empire and the rebelling United Provinces, which would become the independent Dutch Republic. Sometimes known as the "general revolt", the period marked the only time of the war where the States–General of all Seventeen Provinces of the Habsburg Netherlands, except Luxemburg, were in joint active political and military rebellion against the Spanish Imperial government through the Pacification of Ghent. The Pacification formulated several agreements amongst the rebellious provinces themselves, and laid down their demands – including the immediate withdrawal of foreign troops from the Netherlands, restitution of old rights and privileges, and self-rule – to king Philip II of Spain.
The years 1579–1588 constituted a phase of the Eighty Years' War between the Spanish Empire and the United Provinces in revolt after most of them concluded the Union of Utrecht on 23 January 1579, and proceeded to carve the independent Dutch Republic out of the Habsburg Netherlands. It followed the 1576–1579 period, in which a temporary alliance of 16 out of the Seventeen Provinces' States–General established the Pacification of Ghent as a joint Catholic–Protestant rebellion against the Spanish government, but internal conflicts as well as military and diplomatic successes of the Spanish Governors-General Don Juan of Austria and Alexander Farnese, Duke of Parma split them apart, finally leading the Malcontent County of Artois, County of Hainaut and city of Douai to sign the Union of Arras on 6 January 1579, reverting to Catholicism and loyalty to the Spanish crown.
The aftermath of the Eighty Years' War had far-reaching military, political, socio-economic, religious, and cultural effects on the Low Countries, the Spanish Empire, the Holy Roman Empire, as well as other regions of Europe and European colonies overseas. By the Peace of Münster, the Habsburg Netherlands were split in two, with the northern Protestant-dominated Netherlands becoming the Dutch Republic, independent of the Spanish and Holy Roman Empires, while the southern Catholic-dominated Spanish Netherlands remained under Spanish Habsburg sovereignty. Whereas the Spanish Empire and the Southern Netherlands along with it were financially and demographically ruined, declining politically and economically, the Dutch Republic became a global commercial power and achieved a high level of prosperity for its upper and middle classes known as the Dutch Golden Age, despite continued great socio-economic, geographic and religious inequalities and problems, as well as internal and external political, military and religious conflicts.
The period between the Capture of Brielle and the Pacification of Ghent was an early stage of the Eighty Years' War between the Spanish Empire and groups of rebels in the Habsburg Netherlands.
The historiography of the Eighty Years' War examines how the Eighty Years' War has been viewed or interpreted throughout the centuries. Some of the main issues of contention between scholars include the name of the war, the periodisation of the war, the origins or causes of the war and thus its nature, the meaning of its historical documents such as the Act of Abjuration, and the role of its central characters such as Philip II of Spain, William "the Silent" of Orange, Margaret of Parma, the Duke of Alba, the Duke of Parma, Maurice of Orange, and Johan van Oldenbarnevelt. It has been theorised that Protestant Reformation propaganda has given rise to the Spanish Black Legend in order to portray the actions of the Spanish Empire, the Army of Flanders and the Catholic Church in an exaggerated extremely negative light, while other scholars maintain that the atrocities committed by the Spanish military in order to preserve the Habsburg Netherlands for the Empire have historically been portrayed fairly accurately. Controversy also rages about the importance of the war for the emergence of the Dutch Republic as the predecessor of the current Kingdom of the Netherlands and the role of the House of Orange's stadtholders in it, as well as the development of Dutch and Belgian national identities as a result of the split of the Northern and Southern Netherlands.
The period between the start of the Beeldenstorm in August 1566 until early 1572 contained the first events of a series that would later be known as the Eighty Years' War between the Spanish Empire and disparate groups of rebels in the Habsburg Netherlands. Some of the first pitched battles and sieges between radical Calvinists and Habsburg governmental forces took place in the years 1566–1567, followed by the arrival and government takeover by Fernando Álvarez de Toledo, 3rd Duke of Alba with an army of 10,000 Spanish and Italian soldiers. Next, an ill-fated invasion by the most powerful nobleman of the Low Countries, the exiled but still-Catholic William "the Silent" of Orange, failed to inspire a general anti-government revolt. Although the war seemed over before it got underway, in the years 1569–1571, Alba's repression grew severe, and opposition against his regime mounted to new heights and became susceptible to rebellion.