Eighty Years' War

The origins of the Eighty Years' War are complicated, and have been a source of disputes amongst historians for centuries.^[15]

The Habsburg Netherlands emerged as a result of the territorial expansion of the Burgundian State in the 14th and 15th centuries. Upon extinction of the Burgundian State in 1477/1482, these lands were inherited by the House of Habsburg, whose Charles V became both King of Spain^[l] and Holy Roman Emperor. While conquering and incorporating the rest of what would become the "Seventeen Provinces" during the Guelders Wars (1502–1543), and seeking to forge and centralise these disparate regions into one political entity, Charles aspired to counter the Protestant Reformation and keep all his subjects obedient to the Catholic Church.

King Philip II of Spain, in his capacity as sovereign of Habsburg Netherlands, continued the anti-heresy and centralisation policies of his father Charles V. This caused growing resistance among the moderate nobility and population (both Catholic and dissenting) of the Netherlands.^[m] This mood of resistance first led to peaceful protests (as from the Compromise of Nobles), but in the summer of 1566 erupted in violent protests by Calvinists, known as the iconoclastic fury, or (Dutch: Beeldenstorm) across the Netherlands. The Governor of the Habsburg Netherlands, Margaret of Parma, as well as authorities at lower levels, feared insurrection and made further concessions to the Calvinists, such as designating certain churches for Calvinist worship, but in December 1566 and early 1567 the first battles between Calvinist rebels and Habsburg governmental forces had taken place, commencing what would become known as the Eighty Years' War.^[16]

The period between the start of the Beeldenstorm in August 1566 until early 1572 (before the Capture of Brielle on 1 April 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.^[n] 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 (simply known as "Alba" or "Alva") 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.

Although virtually all historians place the start of the war somewhere in this period, there is no historical consensus on which exact event should be considered to have begun the war. Consequently, there is no agreement whether the war really lasted exactly eighty years. For this and other reasons, some historians have endeavoured to replace the name "Eighty Years' War" with "Dutch Revolt", but there is also no consensus either to which period the term "Dutch Revolt" should apply (be it the prelude to the war, the initial stage(s) of the war, or the entire war).^[18]

The period between the Capture of Brielle (1 April 1572) and the Pacification of Ghent (8 November 1576) was an early stage of the Eighty Years' War (c. 1568–1648) between the Spanish Empire and groups of rebels in the Habsburg Netherlands.

After Watergeuzen (in English known as "Sea Beggars") seized several poorly defended towns and cities in Holland and Zeeland in April 1572, the exiled stadtholder William "the Silent" of Orange launched his second invasion of the Netherlands from the east in another attempt to generate a general uprising against the repressive regime of Spanish General-Governor Fernando Álvarez de Toledo, 3rd Duke of Alba. Acting on orders of Philip II of Spain, Alba sought to exterminate all manifestations of Protestantism and disobedience through inquisition and public executions, as well as abolishing several privileges of the Netherlandish nobility and autonomy of cities, and introducing more stringent taxes.^[19]

William's second invasion in 1572 had mixed results, and Alba's son Don Fadrique went on a lightning campaign to retake all towns occupied by Orangist and Geuzen troops in October 1572. Several towns (including Mechelen, Zutphen and Naarden^[20]) which refused to surrender were brutally sacked by Fadrique's forces in an attempt to intimidate others into resubmitting themselves to the royal government, culminating in the seven-month-long Siege of Haarlem before it was conquered and sacked in July 1573.^[20] By this point, the rebel territory had been reduced to most towns in Holland (notably excluding royalist Amsterdam) and Zeeland, and two towns in Guelders; knowing that violent repression would result from resistance, these cities resolved to fight to the bitter end, while the others capitulated. The Spanish offensive stalled after Haarlem, with the Dutch rebels capturing Geertruidenberg, winning the Siege of Alkmaar and Battle of Delft, and achieving naval superiority. Citing ill health, Alba resigned and returned to Spain in December 1573.^[20]

His successor Requesens was more conciliatory,^[20] but was unable to force or persuade many places back into governmental control, losing the Siege of Leiden (1573–1574).^[21] After his death in March 1576, exacerbated by Spain's state bankruptcy in November 1575, mutinies amongst the unpaid Spanish soldiers started spreading into what became known as the "Spanish Fury", plundering many towns and villages even in loyal territories of the Netherlands.^[22] Faced with the mutineer atrocities, particularly the Sack of Antwerp, all the provinces except Luxembourg made an alliance known as the Pacification of Ghent, rising in revolt in November 1576 to demand that Philip II withdraw all foreign troops from the Netherlands, suspend the persecution of Protestants, and consult the States-General in matters of local governance rather than rule by unilateral autocratic action.^[23]

The period between the Pacification of Ghent (8 November 1576), and the Unions of Arras (6 January 1579) and Utrecht (23 January 1579) constituted a crucial phase of the Eighty Years' War (c. 1568–1648) 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.^[1] The Pacification formulated several agreements amongst the rebellious provinces themselves, and laid down their demands – including the immediate withdrawal of foreign (mostly Spanish, Italian and German) troops from the Netherlands, restitution of old rights and privileges, and self-rule – to king Philip II of Spain.^[1]

From 8 November 1576 until 23 July 1577, the new Spanish Governor-General of the Netherlands John of Austria (known to history as "Don Juan") engaged in peace negotiations with the States-General. The First Union of Brussels (9 January 1577) confirmed the Pacification, adding that the States would uphold the Catholic religion in their provinces. By signing the Edict of 1577 on 12 February 1577 at Marche-en-Famenne, Don Juan nominally accepted all demands of the Pacification.^[24] Most foreign troops withdrew to the territory of Luxemburg, which had not joined the Pacification. Although a few sieges of cities with Spanish garrisons that refused to withdraw took place, these were mostly resolved quickly by paying them off; in general, the situation had potential for putting an end to the war if agreements could be reached and respected between the parties.^[24]

From 24 July 1577 until 6 January 1579, starting with the capture of the Citadel of Namur, Don Juan and his second-in-command and successor Alexander Farnese, Duke of Parma launched a military offensive against the United Provinces, while seeking to reconcile provinces that were willing to subject themselves back under the Spanish royal government under certain conditions.^[24] In response, the States-General's Second Union of Brussels (10 December 1577) showed a more fierce and determined opposition to the Spanish government, now demanding (and themselves guaranteeing) equal protection for Catholics and Protestants in all provinces of the Netherlands. William "the Silent" of Orange became the de facto political leader of the United Provinces, while Matthias of Austria was brought in to replace Don Juan as Governor-General.^[24]

The Battle of Gembloux (31 January 1578) was a devastating defeat for the rebels, however, and many began to talk about surrender. Moreover, radical Calvinists had seized power in various cities in Flanders and Brabant, most notably the so-called Calvinist Republic of Ghent, persecuting Catholics and alienating many Catholic allies which had up until that point supported the rebellion, but now became known as the Malcontents.^[24] Parma was able to successfully exert his diplomatic skills on some of these Malcontents, negotiating with several Catholic noblemen and regents in various southern provinces with promises of respecting their interests in return for abandoning the revolt.^[24] Finally, the united front of the States-General collapsed on 6 January 1579 when the County of Artois, the County of Hainaut and the city of Douai signed the Union of Arras, seeking to revert to Catholicism and the Spanish government under more moderate demands than the Pacification.^[25] On 17 May 1579, they signed a separate peace treaty with the king. In response, most of the other provinces and cities (virtually only in the Dutch-speaking parts of the Low Countries) sought to reaffirm their commitment to the Pacification, as well as the Second Union of Brussels, and forging an even closer political and military alliance by concluding the Union of Utrecht on 23 January 1579.^[3]

The years 1579–1588 constituted a phase of the Eighty Years' War (c. 1568–1648) 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 (8 November 1576) 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.^[26][24][27]

In response, most of the remaining rebel provinces and cities would forge or later accede to the Union of Utrecht,^[28] a closer military alliance treaty that would go on to become the most important fundamental law of the United Provinces,^[29] who on 26 July 1581 proclaimed the Act of Abjuration, a de facto declaration of independence from Spain.^[30] While the nascent polity was struggling to find a new sovereign head of state, including Matthias of Austria, Francis of Anjou, William "the Silent" of Orange and Robert of Leicester,^[30] before giving up and deciding to become a republic by passing the Deduction of Vrancken on 12 April 1588,^[4] the Duke of Parma continued his successful military and diplomatic offensive, bringing ever more provinces and cities in the southern, eastern and northeastern parts of the Netherlands back into royalist hands.^[30]

Parma's reconquests more or less stalled after the Fall of Antwerp (1585),^[31] and finally came to an end with the failure of the Spanish Armada (July–August 1588) and Philip II ordered him to intervene in the French Wars of Religion (September 1589) to prevent the Succession of Henry IV and France becoming a Protestant kingdom.^[31] These developments gave rise to a new phase,^[31] 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 the Dutch Republic's rise as a commercial great power.^[32][33]

The Ten Years (Dutch: Tien jaren) were a period in the Eighty Years' War spanning the years 1588 to 1598.^[34] 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).,^[35] 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 of in the Eighty Years' War (c. 1568–1648) 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 [nl] were effectively balanced out by the Dutch naval triumph in the Battle of Gibraltar (1607) and the Spanish state bankruptcy that same year.^[36] 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.^[36]

The years 1621–1648 constituted the final phase of the Eighty Years' War (c. 1568–1648) between the Spanish Empire and the emerging Dutch Republic. It began when the Twelve Years' Truce (1609–1621) expired, and concluded with the Peace of Münster in 1648.

Although the Dutch and Spanish were both involved in opposite sides of the War of the Jülich Succession (June 1609 – October 1610; May–October 1614) in Jülich-Cleves-Berg, they carefully avoided each other, and thus the hostilities never spread back into the Habsburg Netherlands, and the truce held firm.^[41] Nevertheless, attempts to negotiate a definitive peace also failed, and the war resumed as anticipated in 1621.^[42] Essentially, it became a side theatre of the wider Thirty Years' War that had already broken out with the Bohemian Revolt in 1618 in eastern parts of the Holy Roman Empire (Bohemia and Austria), pitting Central Europe's Protestant Union against the Catholic League, although the two conflicts never fully merged.^[43] With several back and forths – notably, the Spanish conquered Breda in 1625, but the Dutch took it back in 1637^[43] – the Dutch Republic was able to conquer the eastern border forts of Oldenzaal (1626) and Groenlo (1627), the major Brabantian city of 's-Hertogenbosch (1629), the fortified cities of Venlo, Roermond and Maastricht along the Meuse (1632), and Sas van Gent (1644) and Hulst (1645) in Zeelandic Flanders.^[43]

Nevertheless, peace talks in 1629–1630 came to nothing. More ambitious plans to conquer Brussels in 1632–1633 with the help of anti-Spanish nobility in the Southern Netherlands never came to fruition. Several attempted Northern republican surprises and sieges of Antwerp were parried by the Spanish royal Army of Flanders.^[44]

Nor did the Franco-Dutch alliance bring significant changes to the situation on the ground. It began with a disastrous Franco-Dutch invasion of the southern Netherlands in 1635. This in fact made matters worse for the Dutch when French and Dutch troops sacked the city of Tienen, which cost them the sympathies of the southern Netherlands population.^[45]

However, French intervention and internal discontent at the costs of the war in the Low Countries led to a change in Spain's 'Netherlands First' policy. Instead Spain focused on suppressing the French-backed Reapers' War in Catalonia.^[46] The resulting stalemate and financial troubles, plus Spanish military exhaustion and Dutch desire for formal political recognition, eventually convinced both sides in the mid-1640s to hold peace talks.^[44]

The outcome was the 1648 Peace of Münster, which confirmed most agreements already reached with the Truce of 1609.^[47]

The aftermath of the Eighty Years' War (c. 1568–1648) 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 (15 May 1648), 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.^[51][52]

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 (most notably "Eighty Years' War" versus "Dutch Revolt"^[53]), the periodisation of the war (particularly when it started, which events to include or exclude, and whether the effective length of the war justifies counting "eighty years" or not^[53]), the origins or causes of the war (the Protestant Reformation or the violation of the rights and privileges of the nobility and autonomous cities^[53]) and thus its nature (a religious war, a civil war or a war of independence^[53]), 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.^[53]