The siege of Jülich was a major operation in the second phase of the Eighty Years' War that took place from 5 September 1621 to 3 February 1622. A few months after the Twelve Years' Truce between the Dutch Republic and the Spanish Monarchy expired, the Spanish Army of Flanders, led by the Genoese nobleman Ambrogio Spinola, went on the offensive against the Republic and approached the Rhine river to mask its true intentions: laying siege to the town of Jülich, which the Dutch States Army had occupied in 1610 during the War of the Jülich Succession. Although the capture of the town would not allow for a Spanish invasion of the Republic, its location between the Rhine and Meuse rivers rendered it strategically significant for both sides, given that the United Provinces greatly benefited from the river trade with the neighboring neutral states and Spain was pursuing a strategy of blockading the waterways which flowed across the Republic to ruin its economy.
The siege of Calais of 1596, also known as the Spanish conquest of Calais, took place at the strategic port-city of Calais, between 8 and 24 April 1596, as part of the Franco-Spanish War (1595–1598), in the context of the French Wars of Religion, the Anglo-Spanish War (1585–1604), and the Eighty Years' War. The siege ended when the city fell into Spanish hands after a short and intense siege by the Spanish Army of Flanders commanded by Archduke Albert of Austria, Governor-General of the Spanish Netherlands. The French troops in the citadel of Calais resisted for a few days more but finally, on 24 April, the Spanish troops led by Don Luis de Velasco y Velasco, Count of Salazar, assaulted and captured the fortress, achieving a complete victory. The Spanish success was the first action of the campaign of Archduke Albert of 1596.
The siege of Aachen took place in 24 August 1614, when the Spanish Army of Flanders, led by Ambrogio Spinola, 1st Marquis of the Balbases, marched from Maastricht to Germany to support Wolfgang Wilhelm, Count Palatine of Neuburg, during the War of the Jülich Succession. Despite its status as a free imperial city, Aachen was under the protection of John Sigismund of Brandenburg, Neuburg's ally, and then rival, in the battle for the United Duchies of Jülich-Cleves-Berg. In 1611, the Protestant population of Aachen had revolted against the Catholic city council and had seized power. When the Holy Roman Emperor Rudolf II, observing the Peace of Augsburg, had ordered the previous state to be restored, the Protestants had allied themselves with the Margraviate of Brandenburg. The unexpected arrival of a Spanish army at the gates of the city, however, caused the Protestants to lose courage and surrender Aachen to Spinola. A Catholic garrison was installed and a process of re-Catholicization began.
The siege of Lingen of 1605 took place between 10 August and 19 August 1605, at Lingen, District of Emsland, Lower Saxony, between Spain and the United Provinces, during the Eighty Years' War. Prince Maurice of Nassau tried to preserve Lingen at all costs. The Dutch garrison led by Captain Maerten Cobben, expecting to be aided by Maurice's army, held out for nine days, but were finally forced to surrender. The siege was part of Spinola's successful campaign of 1605–1606.
The Battle of the Lippe was a cavalry action fought on 2 September 1595 on the banks of the Lippe river, in Germany, between a corps of Spanish cavalry led by Juan de Córdoba and a corps of Dutch cavalry, supported by English troops, led by Philip of Nassau. The Dutch stadtholder Maurice of Nassau, taking advantage of the fact that the bulk of the Spanish army was busied in operations in France, besieged the town of Groenlo in Gelderland, but the elderly governor of the citadel of Antwerp, Cristóbal de Mondragón, organized a relief army and forced Maurice to lift the siege. Mondragón next moved to Wesel, positioning his troops on the southern bank of the Lippe river to cover Rheinberg from a Dutch attack. Maurice aimed then, relying on his superior army, to entice Mondragón into a pitched battle, planning to use an ambush to draw the Spanish army into a trap. However, the plan was discovered by the Spanish commander, who organized a counter-ambush.
The siege of Rheinberg 1586–1590, also known as the capture of Rheinberg of 1590, took place at the strategic Cologne enclave of Rheinberg, one of the principal crossing-points over the Rhine on the stretch between the Electorate of Cologne and the Dutch border, between 13 August 1586 and 3 February 1590, during the Eighty Years' War, the Cologne War, and the Anglo-Spanish War (1585–1604). After an initial siege in 1586, and a long blocking by the Spanish forces until September 1589, Don Alexander Farnese, Duke of Parma (Spanish: Alejandro Farnesio), commander-in-chief of the Spanish army, sent a substantial force, under Peter Ernst, Count of Mansfeld, to besiege Rheinberg. Despite the efforts by Maarten Schenck van Nydeggen, and Sir Francis Vere, to relieve the fortress city, the Protestant garrison finally surrendered to the Spaniards on 3 February 1590.
The siege of Oldenzaal was a short siege that took place during the Eighty Years' War and the Anglo–Spanish War by a Dutch and English army led by Maurice of Orange of the city of Oldenzaal from 20 to 23 October 1597. The city surrendered to the overwhelming Dutch and English force. The siege was part of Maurice's campaign of 1597 known as the Ten Glory Years, his highly successful offensive against the Spaniards.
The siege of Rheinberg took place from the 9 to 19 August 1597 during the Eighty Years' War and the Anglo–Spanish War by a Dutch and English army led by Maurice of Orange. The siege ended with the capitulation and the withdrawal of the Spanish after much unrest in the garrison. The liberation of the city of Rheinberg was the commencement of Maurice's campaign of 1597, a successful offensive against the Spaniards during the period known as the Ten Glory Years.
The Mutiny of Hoogstraten was the longest mutiny by soldiers of the Army of Flanders during the Eighty Years' War. Frederick Van den Berg's attempt to end the mutiny by force, with a siege to recapture the town, ended in defeat at the hands of an Anglo-Dutch army under of Maurice of Nassau. After a period of nearly three years the mutineers were able either to join Maurice's army or rejoin the Spanish army after a pardon had been ratified.
The siege of 's-Hertogenbosch of 1601(Sitio de Bolduque de 1601 in Spanish) was an unsuccessful Dutch attempt led by Prince Maurice of Nassau and William Louis of Nassau-Dillenburg to capture the city of 's-Hertogenbosch, North Brabant, Spanish Netherlands, garrisoned by about 1,500–2,000 Spanish soldiers led by Governor Anthonie Schetz, Baron of Grobbendonck, between 1 and 27 November 1601, during the Eighty Years' War and the Anglo-Spanish War (1585–1604), in the context of the long and bloodiest siege of Ostend.
The Capture of Geertruidenberg of 1589, also known as the English betrayal of Geertruidenberg, took place on April 10, 1589, at Geertruidenberg, Duchy of Brabant, Flanders, during the Eighty Years' War and the Anglo-Spanish War (1585–1604).
The siege of Sluis (1604), also known as the Sluis campaign or the Battle of the Oostburg Line, was a series of military actions that took place during the Eighty Years' War and the Anglo–Spanish War from 19 May to 19 August 1604. A States and English army under Prince Maurice of Orange and Horace Vere respectively crossed the Scheldt estuary and advanced on land taking Cadzand, Aardenburg, and IJzendijke in the Spanish Netherlands. This soon led to the culmination of the siege of the Spanish-held inland port of Sluis.
The siege of Hulst of 1596 took place between mid-July and August 18, 1596, at the city of Hulst, Province of Zeeland, Low Countries, during the Eighty Years' War, the Anglo-Spanish War (1585–1604). The siege was won by the Spanish forces of the Archduke of Austria. After a short siege, during which Maurice of Orange launched a failed attempt to relieve the city, the garrison of Dutch and English troops fell into Spanish hands on August 18, 1596.
The siege of Grave was a siege that took place between 18 July and 20 September 1602, as part of the Eighty Years' War and the Anglo–Spanish War. The Spanish-held city of Grave was besieged by a Dutch and English army led by Maurice of Orange and Francis Vere respectively. After a siege of nearly two months the city surrendered when a Spanish relief army under Francisco de Mendoza was defeated just outside the city by the besiegers. The defeat was severe enough to cause a major mutiny in the Spanish army.
The siege of Rheinberg, also known as the Rhine campaign of 1601, was the siege of the towns of Rheinberg and Meurs from 12 June to 2 August 1601 during the Eighty Years' War and the Anglo–Spanish War. Maurice of Orange with an Anglo-Dutch army besieged the Spanish-held cities in part to distract them before their impending siege at Ostend. Rheinberg, an important city, eventually capitulated on 28 July after a Spanish relief force under Herman van den Bergh failed to relieve the city. The towns of Meurs surrendered soon after.
The siege of Schenkenschans was a siege that took place from 28 April to 2 May 1599 as part of the Eighty Years' War and the Anglo–Spanish War. Schenkenschans was garrisoned largely by English troops and was besieged by a Spanish force led by Francisco de Mendoza. The siege failed with losses and the Spanish were forced to retreat when a relief force arrived.
The siege of Zaltbommel was a campaign that took place during the Eighty Years' War and the Anglo–Spanish War from 15 May to 22 July 1599. The Spanish led by Francisco López de Mendoza y Mendoza launched an offensive campaign around Bommelerwaard, which was defended by an Anglo-Dutch force under the command of Maurice of Orange. A siege on the town of Zaltbommel by Spanish troops was attempted but they had to lift the siege and were defeated in subsequent attempts to regain the initiative. Mendoza retreated and the Spanish army then found itself in chaos: mutinies took effect and as a result further operations were suspended for a number of years. As a result, the Dutch and English followed with a counter-offensive in the Spanish Netherlands.
The siege of San Andreas also known as the siege of Sint-Andries was a military event that took place during the Eighty Years' War and the Anglo–Spanish War from 28 January to 6 March 1600. The Spanish garrison of San Andreas was besieged by an Anglo-Dutch force led by Maurice of Nassau. A Spanish relief force under the command of Luis de Velasco failed to relieve the fort after having been turned back by the besiegers. The fort surrendered after the garrison mutinied and accepted payment from Maurice.
Francisco López de Mendoza y Mendoza, in the literature often simply referred to as Francisco de Mendoza, was a Spanish nobleman, diplomat, general, and eventually bishop, who briefly played an important role in the Eighty Years' War.
The years 1599–1609 constituted a phase of 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 that 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.
