Eighty Years' War
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Was the intermittent war of independence of the Dutch Republic, a breakaway state from the Spanish Netherlands. .
Chronology
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Was the revolt of northern protestant regions of the Spanish Neterlands (the southern part was mainly Catholic) that led to the creation of the Dutch Republic.
1.1.Dutch Revolt
Was the revolt of the northern Spanish Netherland which later led to the formation of the Dutch Republic.
April 1572: The Dutch Rebels Captured the city of Brill on 1 April 1572.
July 1572: In 1572, Diederik Sonoy, a Dutch rebel leader, successfully persuaded the cities of Enkhuizen, Hoorn, Medemblik, Edam, Haarlem, and Alkmaar to defect to William of Orange's side during the Eighty Years' War against Spanish rule.
July 1572: Leiden, a city in the Netherlands, declared itself for William of Orange in a spontaneous revolt against Spanish rule in 1572.
January 1573: Count Willem IV van den Bergh was a Dutch nobleman and military leader who fought alongside his brother-in-law, William of Orange, in the Eighty Years' War against Spanish rule. In 1572, he successfully captured the city of Zutphen from the Spanish forces, marking a significant victory for the Dutch rebels.
January 1573: Cities in Gelderland and neighbouring Overijssel joined the Dutch revolt against Spain.
July 1573: The city of Haarlem was under siege by the Spanish forces led by the Duke of Alba. The defenders, including Kenau Simonsdochter Hasselaer, held out for over six months before surrendering due to starvation. This event was part of the Eighty Years' War between the Dutch rebels and the Spanish Empire.
January 1575: Fall of Middelburg to the Dutch Rebels during the Eighty Years' War.
July 1579: In 1579 the city was sacked by the Spanish army led by the Duke of Parma (Siege of Maastricht, 1579). For over fifty years the Spanish crown took over the role previously held by the dukes of Brabant in the joint sovereignty over Maastricht.
May 1572: Louis of Nassau, a Dutch nobleman and brother of William the Silent, led the Dutch Rebels in capturing Mons on May 24, 1572.
May 1572: The news of the capture of Brill by the Dutch Rebels, led by William the Silent, prompted the cities of Flushing and Veere to join the rebellion against Spanish rule on 3 May 1572. This marked a significant turning point in the Eighty Years' War for Dutch independence.
July 1572: In 1572, during the Eighty Years' War, the cities of Oudewater, Gouda, Gorinchem, and Dordrecht surrendered to Admiral Lumey, a Dutch rebel leader fighting against Spanish rule in the Netherlands. This marked a significant victory for the Dutch Rebels in their struggle for independence.
July 1572: Holland and Zeeland were in rebellion against Spanish rule. Amsterdam and Schoonhoven were the only major cities that remained loyal to the Spanish Crown.
1.2.The Union of Utrecht
Was a treaty signed on 23 January 1579 in Utrecht, Netherlands, unifying the northern provinces of the Spanish Netherlands.
April 1585: Brussels, the capital of the Spanish Netherlands, surrendered to the Spanish forces led by Alexander Farnese, Duke of Parma.
May 1579: Catholic Walloon provinces signed their own defensive Union of Arras on 6 January 1579. Grievances against Spain of Catholics who were becoming more and more concerned about Calvinist violence were satisfied and they could make a separate peace in the form of the Treaty of Arras in May 1579. All the cities of the union of arras that were still at war with spain renewed their allegiance to Spain.
January 1580: During the following months of 1579, other states signed the treaty as well, such as Ghent, cities from Friesland, as well as three of the quarters of Guelders (Nijmegen Quarter, Veluwe Quarter, Zutphen County).
March 1580: In February 1580, the cities of Lier and Bruges, along with the surrounding area, joined the Union of Utrecht.
July 1581: The Spanish military leader Alexander Farnese, also known as the Duke of Parma, successfully captured the town of Breda.
July 1581: Part of the Spanish Netherlands separated to form the autonomous Dutch Republic in 1581.
July 1581: Minor Spanish reconquests from the rebel Dutch state in 1581.
January 1583: The Spanish captured the fortress city of Steenwijk.
January 1584: The cities of Dunkirk and Nieuwpoort fell to the Spanish forces led by Alexander Farnese, Duke of Parma.
June 1584: Bruges conquered by spain.
October 1584: Ghent, cities from Friesland, as well as three of the quarters of Guelders (Nijmegen Quarter, Veluwe Quarter, Zutphen County) conquered by spain.
September 1585: Antwerp was besieged and it surrendered to the Spanish in August.
January 1581: In 1580, the city of Groningen shifted its allegiance to the Union of Utrecht under the influence of George van Rennenberg, the stadtholder for Friesland. This decision was significant as it strengthened the Union of Utrecht's position in the region.
September 1579: In 1579, the cities of Amersfoort, Ypres, Antwerp, Breda, and Brussels joined the Union of Utrecht, a treaty signed by the northern provinces of the Netherlands to oppose Spanish rule. This alliance was led by William the Silent, Prince of Orange, and played a crucial role in the Dutch Revolt against Spanish control.
July 1580: Spanish forces managed to capture most of Groningen, Drenthe and Overijssel.
May 1584: Ypres conquered by spain.
May 1580: In April 1580, Overijssel and Drenthe signed a treaty with the Union of Utrecht.
January 1579: The treaty for the formation of the Union of Utrecht was signed by the provinces of Holland, Zeeland, Utrecht (excluding some areas), and Groningen (excluding the city).
1.3.English Protectorate in the Netherlands
The Dutch rebels of the northern Spanish Netherlands became an English protectorate with the Treaty of Nonsuch, signed on 10 August 1585, as a measure of protection against Spain.
February 1587: In January 1587, the English garrisons led by Sir John Norreys at Deventer and Zutphen were bribed to defect to Spain by the Governor of the Spanish Netherlands, Alexander Farnese. This marked a significant loss for the English forces in the region, as they also lost control of Zwolle, Arnhem, and Ostend to the Spanish.
August 1585: After the assassination of William of Orange on 10 July 1584, both Henry III of France and Elizabeth I of England declined offers of sovereignty. However, the latter agreed to turn the United Provinces into a protectorate of England (Treaty of Nonsuch, 1585), and sent the Earl of Leicester as governor-general.
January 1588: The English protectorate in the Netherlands was unsuccessful and in 1588 the provinces became a confederacy.
October 1587: English forces led by the Earl of Leicester (the English supported the Dutch Republic) occupied Gouda, Schoonhoven and a few other cities in September 1587.
1.4.Expansion of the Dutch Republic
Were a series of Dutch military actions during the Eighty Years' War that led to the expansion of the newly created Dutch Republic by conquering territories from the Spanish Netherlands.
January 1605: In 1604, the stadtholders, Maurice of Nassau and Ambrosio Spinola, captured Spanish fortresses in Grave, Sluys, and Aardenburg.
January 1593: Maurice of Nassau, Prince of Orange, joined his cousin William Louis, Count of Nassau-Dillenburg, in capturing the cities of Steenwijk and Coevorden in 1592.
March 1590: The city of Breda was recaptured by the Dutch Republic from the Spanish Empire.
January 1592: In 1591, Maurice of Nassau, Prince of Orange, used his expanded army and innovative river transportation methods to conquer Zutphen and Deventer in the Netherlands, further expanding the territory of the Republic of the Seven United Netherlands.
January 1592: A campaign led by Maurice of Nassau, Prince of Orange, and his cousin William Louis, Count of Nassau-Dillenburg resulted in the conquest of Hulst and Nijmegen by the Dutch.
January 1598: Maurice of Nassau first seized the fortress of Rheinberg, a strategic Rhine crossing, and subsequently Groenlo, Oldenzaal, and Enschede, before capturing the county of Lingen.
April 1609: A ceasefire was signed in Antwerp by Spain and the Dutch Republic, thus ending the Dutch Revolt starting the Twelve Years' Truce. Spain recognized the Dutch Republic with the borders of the current military situation.
January 1607: Lochem conquered by spain.
January 1606: In 1605, Oldenzaal, a city in the Dutch Republic, was captured by Maurice of Nassau from the Spanish Netherlands.
