About this map
The Dutch Revolt against Spanish Habsburg rule, from the Act of Abjuration (Plakkaat van Verlatinghe, 26 July 1581) to the Peace of Münster (1648), shown only for the Low Countries and their immediate borderlands in France and western Germany. The Thirty Years' War in Germany is deliberately left out; German places appear only where the Dutch-Spanish war itself was fought (Lingen, Rheinberg, Wesel, Schenkenschans, Jülich). Background (1566–1581): the Compromise of Nobles and the Iconoclastic Fury (1566) brought the Duke of Alba and his tercios (1567); Egmont and Horne were beheaded (1568) and the war began at Heiligerlee (May 1568). The Sea Beggars took Brielle (1572) and Holland and Zeeland rose for William of Orange; Haarlem fell (1573) but Alkmaar and Leiden held (1573–74). After the Spanish Fury at Antwerp (1576) all provinces joined in the Pacification of Ghent, but Don John's victory at Gembloux (1578) and the Unions of Arras and Utrecht (January 1579) split the Netherlands into a reconciled Walloon south and a rebel north. The map opens with that front line in July 1581. Colours: red = Spanish crown / royalists; orange = rebels, from 1588 the sovereign Republic of the United Provinces; blue = France (Anjou's protectorate at Cambrai 1581–95, conquests as Dutch ally from 1635); grey = the neutral Prince-Bishopric of Liège. Event pins are coloured by the side that prevailed (purple = political event); click a pin for the commanders. Smaller actions are shown as small dots (hover). Borders are approximate. Control is drawn by districts built from modern provincial borders, while in reality armies held fortified towns and the open countryside between them was often contested or paid contributions to both sides — hence the soft vintage borders. Modern coastlines are shown; the 17th-century coast (Zuiderzee, Haarlemmermeer, Zeeland islands) differed. The troop bar compares soldiers under arms (not casualties); many figures are estimates, shown with a lighter range band. Sources: Geoffrey Parker, The Dutch Revolt (1977) and The Army of Flanders and the Spanish Road (2004); Jonathan Israel, The Dutch Republic (1995); Marjolein 't Hart, The Dutch Wars of Independence (2014); Jan Glete, War and the State in Early Modern Europe (2002); Wikipedia, List of battles of the Eighty Years' War and related articles. Boundaries: Natural Earth.
Text version: https://www.movingpolygons.com/map/chrisjager/eighty-years-war-in-the-low-countries-15811648.md
Timeline
| Date | What the map shows |
|---|---|
| 26 Jul 1581 | Jul 1581 · Plakkaat van Verlatinghe |
| 18 Aug 1581 | Aug 1581 · Anjou relieves Cambrai |
| 30 Nov 1581 | Nov 1581 · Tournai falls to Parma |
| 5 Jul 1582 | Jul 1582 · Parma takes Oudenaarde |
| 15 Nov 1582 | Nov 1582 · Royalists take Steenwijk |
| 17 Jan 1583 | Jan 1583 · French Fury at Antwerp |
| 16 Jul 1583 | Jul 1583 · Parma takes Dunkirk & Nieuwpoort |
| 18 Sep 1583 | Sep 1583 · Tassis surprises Zutphen |
| 7 Apr 1584 | Apr 1584 · Ypres surrenders |
| 20 May 1584 | May 1584 · Bruges submits to Parma |
| 10 Jul 1584 | Jul 1584 · William of Orange murdered |
| 17 Sep 1584 | Sep 1584 · Ghent surrenders |
| 10 Mar 1585 | Mar 1585 · Brussels and Nijmegen fall |
| 17 Aug 1585 | Aug 1585 · Antwerp falls; Scheldt closed |
| 20 Aug 1585 | Aug 1585 · Treaty of Nonsuch with England |
| 7 Jun 1586 | Jun 1586 · Parma takes Grave |
| 28 Jun 1586 | Jun 1586 · Venlo surrenders to Parma |
| 17 Jul 1586 | Jul 1586 · Maurice and Sidney take Axel |
| 22 Sep 1586 | Sep 1586 · Zutphen: Sidney mortally hit |
| 29 Jan 1587 | Jan 1587 · Stanley betrays Deventer |
| 5 Aug 1587 | Aug 1587 · Sluis falls to Parma |
| 8 Aug 1588 | Aug 1588 · Armada fails off Gravelines |
| 13 Nov 1588 | Nov 1588 · Bergen op Zoom holds out |
| 10 Apr 1589 | Apr 1589 · Geertruidenberg sold to Parma |
| 4 Mar 1590 | Mar 1590 · Turf barge: Breda captured |
| 30 May 1591 | May 1591 · Maurice takes Zutphen |
| 10 Jun 1591 | Jun 1591 · Deventer retaken |
| 24 Sep 1591 | Sep 1591 · Maurice takes Hulst |
| 21 Oct 1591 | Oct 1591 · Nijmegen surrenders to Maurice |
| 4 Jul 1592 | Jul 1592 · Maurice takes Steenwijk |
| 12 Sep 1592 | Sep 1592 · Coevorden taken |
| 3 Dec 1592 | Dec 1592 · Parma dies at Arras |
| 25 Jun 1593 | Jun 1593 · Geertruidenberg won back |
| 23 Jul 1594 | Jul 1594 · Groningen surrenders |
| 9 Oct 1595 | Oct 1595 · Fuentes takes Cambrai |
| 24 Apr 1596 | Apr 1596 · Archduke Albert takes Calais |
| 18 Aug 1596 | Aug 1596 · Albert retakes Hulst |
| 24 Jan 1597 | Jan 1597 · Turnhout: Maurice routs Varax |
| 19 Aug 1597 | Aug 1597 · Maurice takes Rheinberg |
| 28 Sep 1597 | Sep 1597 · Groenlo surrenders |
| 12 Nov 1597 | Nov 1597 · Oldenzaal and Lingen taken |
| 2 May 1598 | May 1598 · Vervins: Calais back to France |
| 6 May 1598 | May 1598 · Netherlands ceded to Archdukes |
| 14 Oct 1598 | Oct 1598 · Mendoza retakes Rheinberg |
| 2 Jul 1600 | Jul 1600 · Battle of Nieuwpoort |
| 5 Jul 1601 | Jul 1601 · Siege of Ostend begins |
| 30 Jul 1601 | Jul 1601 · Maurice retakes Rheinberg |
| 20 Sep 1602 | Sep 1602 · Maurice takes Grave |
| 19 Aug 1604 | Aug 1604 · Maurice takes Sluis |
| 20 Sep 1604 | Sep 1604 · Ostend surrenders to Spinola |
| 19 Aug 1605 | Aug 1605 · Spinola takes Oldenzaal, Lingen |
| 14 Aug 1606 | Aug 1606 · Spinola takes Groenlo |
| 2 Oct 1606 | Oct 1606 · Spinola takes Rheinberg |
| 9 Apr 1609 | Apr 1609 · Twelve Years' Truce |
| 12 Nov 1614 | Nov 1614 · Treaty of Xanten |
| 13 May 1619 | May 1619 · Oldenbarnevelt executed |
| 9 Apr 1621 | Apr 1621 · Truce expires; war resumes |
| 3 Oct 1622 | Oct 1622 · Spinola fails at Bergen op Zoom |
| 5 Jun 1625 | Jun 1625 · Breda surrenders to Spinola |
| 1 Aug 1626 | Aug 1626 · Oldenzaal retaken |
| 19 Aug 1627 | Aug 1627 · Frederick Henry takes Groenlo |
| 19 Aug 1629 | Aug 1629 · Wesel stormed; Amersfoort raid |
| 14 Sep 1629 | Sep 1629 · 's-Hertogenbosch surrenders |
| 13 Sep 1631 | Sep 1631 · Battle of the Slaak |
| 4 Jun 1632 | Jun 1632 · Venlo and Roermond taken |
| 23 Aug 1632 | Aug 1632 · Maastricht surrenders |
| 2 Jul 1633 | Jul 1633 · Frederick Henry takes Rheinberg |
| 20 May 1635 | May 1635 · France joins: Les Avins |
| 28 Jul 1635 | Jul 1635 · Spanish seize Schenkenschans |
| 30 Apr 1636 | Apr 1636 · Schenkenschans retaken |
| 3 Sep 1637 | Sep 1637 · Venlo and Roermond lost again |
| 10 Oct 1637 | Oct 1637 · Frederick Henry retakes Breda |
| 20 Jun 1638 | Jun 1638 · Dutch defeat at Kallo |
| 29 Jun 1639 | Jun 1639 · French take Hesdin |
| 21 Oct 1639 | Oct 1639 · Tromp wins Battle of the Downs |
| 9 Aug 1640 | Aug 1640 · French take Arras |
| 9 Nov 1641 | Nov 1641 · Cardinal-Infante dies |
| 19 May 1643 | May 1643 · Rocroi: the tercios broken |
| 29 Jul 1644 | Jul 1644 · French take Gravelines |
| 7 Sep 1644 | Sep 1644 · Frederick Henry takes Sas |
| 30 Aug 1645 | Aug 1645 · French take Béthune |
| 5 Nov 1645 | Nov 1645 · Frederick Henry takes Hulst |
| 28 Jun 1646 | Jun 1646 · French take Kortrijk |
| 11 Oct 1646 | Oct 1646 · Dunkirk falls to Enghien & Tromp |
| 14 Mar 1647 | Mar 1647 · Frederick Henry dies |
| 30 Jan 1648 | Jan 1648 · Peace of Münster signed |
| 15 May 1648 | May 1648 · Peace ratified: Republic free |
Layers
Timeline · Prince-Bishopric of Liège (neutral) · Kingdom of France · French-held: Cambrai 1581–95, conquests 1639–46 · Spain: loyal Walloon provinces & Luxembourg · Spain: Flanders & Brabant front · Spain: northern & eastern front · Dutch: Holland, Zeeland & the core · Dutch: Flanders & Brabant front · Dutch: northern & eastern front
Events
- 26 Jul 1581, Act of Abjuration (Plakkaat van Verlatinghe): 26 July 1581, The Hague. The States-General of the Union of Utrecht declare that Philip II has forfeited his rule over the Netherlands by acting as a tyrant. The rebel provinces offer sovereignty to François, duke of Anjou; William of Orange remains the driving force. In effect a declaration of inde…
- 1 Oct 1581, Siege of Tournai: October – 30 November 1581. Attacker: Alexander Farnese, duke of Parma. The defence is led by Christine de Lalaing, princess of Epinoy, in her husband's absence. Tournai capitulates with honours — the start of Parma's methodical reconquest of the south. [Spanish side prevailed]
- 17 Jan 1583, French Fury at Antwerp: 17 January 1583. Anjou tries to seize Antwerp with his French troops; the citizens fight back and kill hundreds of them. Anjou is discredited and leaves the Netherlands. [Dutch side prevailed]
- 3 Jul 1584, Siege of Antwerp: July 1584 – 17 August 1585. Attacker: Parma, who closes the Scheldt with a fortified ship-bridge. Defender: burgomaster Philips van Marnix, lord of Sint-Aldegonde. Federigo Giambelli's 'hellburner' fireships blow a gap in the bridge (April 1585), and Zeeland troops nearly break through at the Kouwen…
- 10 Jul 1584, Assassination of William of Orange: 10 July 1584, Prinsenhof, Delft. Balthasar Gérard, a Catholic Burgundian, shoots William the Silent, claiming the reward Philip II had put on his head in 1580. Leadership passes to the States of Holland (Johan van Oldenbarnevelt) and, militarily, to William's 17-year-old son Maurice of Nassau. [Pol…
- 20 Aug 1585, Treaty of Nonsuch: England intervenes: 20 August 1585. Elizabeth I takes the rebels under her protection: some 6,400 foot and 1,000 horse, with Flushing (Vlissingen) and Brielle as English 'cautionary towns'. Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester, becomes governor-general (1586–87); after his failure the States-General assume sovereignty in 1…
- 22 Sep 1586, Battle of Zutphen (Warnsveld): 22 September 1586. Leicester's English try to stop a Spanish supply convoy for Zutphen; the convoy gets through. Sir Philip Sidney is mortally wounded in the thigh and dies at Arnhem. [Spanish side prevailed]
- 12 Jun 1587, Siege of Sluis: June – August 1587. Attacker: Parma, who wants a port for the planned invasion of England. Defenders: Arend van Groenevelt and the Welsh veteran Sir Roger Williams. Leicester's relief attempt fails. [Spanish side prevailed]
- 8 Aug 1588, Spanish Armada defeated off Gravelines: 8 August 1588. Medina Sidonia's Armada is mauled by the English fleet off Gravelines. Parma's invasion army of about 27,000 waits at Dunkirk and Nieuwpoort, but cannot sail: Justinus of Nassau's Zeeland flyboats blockade the Flemish coast. The invasion of England is abandoned. [Political event]
- 23 Sep 1588, Siege of Bergen op Zoom: September – November 1588. Parma turns his idle Armada army on Bergen op Zoom; the Anglo-Dutch garrison under Lord Willoughby and Thomas Morgan holds, helped by a double-agent ruse. Parma withdraws — the first sign the tide is turning. [Dutch side prevailed]
- 4 Mar 1590, Turf barge of Breda: 4 March 1590. Planned by Maurice: about 70 soldiers under Charles de Héraugière hide in skipper Adriaen van Bergen's peat barge, are towed into Breda castle and seize the town by night. The opening move of Maurice's 'Ten Years' (1588–1598). [Dutch side prevailed]
- 20 May 1591, Maurice takes Zutphen: May 1591. Maurice and his cousin William Louis start their offensive along the IJssel. Soldiers disguised as peasant women seize the Zutphen sconce; the town follows within days. [Dutch side prevailed]
- 28 Mar 1593, Siege of Geertruidenberg: 28 March – 25 June 1593. Attacker: Maurice, in a textbook siege with double lines of circumvallation that Spanish relief under Count Peter Ernst of Mansfeld cannot break. Europe's officers come to study it. [Dutch side prevailed]
- 20 May 1594, Siege of Groningen: 20 May – 23 July 1594. Attackers: Maurice and William Louis of Nassau. The city's surrender ('Reductie') brings the north-east into the Union as the seventh province, Stad en Lande. [Dutch side prevailed]
- 24 Jan 1597, Battle of Turnhout: 24 January 1597. Maurice, with Sir Francis Vere's cavalry, surprises and routs the Count of Varax's column; Varax is killed. A rare open-field Dutch victory. [Dutch side prevailed]
- 6 May 1598, Netherlands ceded to the Archdukes: 6 May 1598, Brussels. Shortly before his death Philip II cedes the Netherlands to his daughter Isabella and her husband Archduke Albert of Austria. The north refuses to recognise them. [Political event]
- 2 Jul 1600, Battle of Nieuwpoort (the Dunes): 2 July 1600. On orders of the States-General, Maurice invades Flanders to take the privateer base Dunkirk. Archduke Albert catches him on the beach at Nieuwpoort; Francis Vere's English hold the dunes and Maurice's cavalry counter-attack wins the day. Strategically fruitless: Maurice withdraws. [Du…
- 5 Jul 1601, Siege of Ostend: 5 July 1601 – 20 September 1604. The longest siege of the war. Attackers: Archduke Albert, then from 1603 the Genoese banker-general Ambrogio Spinola. Defenders: Sir Francis Vere, followed by a series of Dutch governors (incl. Daniel de Hertaing). Ostend, supplied by sea, finally surrenders as a rui…
- 28 May 1604, Siege of Sluis: May – 19 August 1604. Maurice lands in Cadzand and besieges Sluis as compensation for Ostend; Spinola's relief is beaten off. The west of Zeeuws-Vlaanderen becomes Dutch. [Dutch side prevailed]
- 9 Apr 1609, Twelve Years' Truce signed: 9 April 1609, Antwerp. Exhausted and bankrupt, Spain agrees a truce that treats the United Provinces 'as if' free states. Negotiated by Oldenbarnevelt (against Maurice's wishes) and, for Spain, Spinola. Front lines are frozen until 1621. [Political event]
- 13 May 1619, Execution of Oldenbarnevelt: 13 May 1619, Binnenhof, The Hague. After the Synod of Dort settles the Remonstrant quarrel in favour of strict Calvinists, Maurice has the 71-year-old Land's Advocate beheaded for treason. Maurice now dominates the Republic as the Truce runs out. [Political event]
- 9 Apr 1621, Truce expires; war resumes: 9 April 1621. The Truce ends without renewal; Archduke Albert dies in July and the southern Netherlands revert to the Spanish crown, with Isabella as governor. Philip IV and Olivares choose war and a trade embargo on the Dutch. [Political event]
- 18 Jul 1622, Siege of Bergen op Zoom: 18 July – 3 October 1622. Attacker: Spinola. Supplied by sea through Zeeland, the garrison holds; Maurice's approach and the arrival of the mercenary armies of Mansfeld and Christian of Brunswick (who fought their way through at Fleurus) make Spinola lift the siege. [Dutch side prevailed]
- 28 Aug 1624, Siege of Breda: 28 August 1624 – 5 June 1625. Attacker: Ambrogio Spinola, who starves the town out. Defender: Justinus van Nassau, illegitimate son of William of Orange. Maurice dies during the siege and Frederick Henry's relief attempts fail. The surrender, with honours, is immortalised in Velázquez's 'The Surrend…
- 20 Jul 1627, Siege of Groenlo (Grol): 20 July – 19 August 1627. Attacker: Frederick Henry, with a 16-km line of works. Spanish relief under Hendrik van den Bergh fails to break through. [Dutch side prevailed]
- 30 Apr 1629, Siege of 's-Hertogenbosch: 30 April – 14 September 1629. Attacker: Frederick Henry, with some 28,000 men; he dams the rivers and pumps the marshes dry with horse-mills to reach the 'unconquerable' fortress. Defender: Anthonie Schetz, baron of Grobbendonck. Financed in part by Piet Hein's capture of the Spanish silver fleet (1…
- 14 Aug 1629, Spanish raid to Amersfoort: August 1629. To pull Frederick Henry away from 's-Hertogenbosch, Hendrik van den Bergh and the imperial general Ernesto Montecuccoli invade the Veluwe and take Amersfoort. They retreat when the Dutch storm their supply base Wesel. [Spanish side prevailed]
- 10 Jun 1632, Siege of Maastricht: 10 June – 23 August 1632. Attacker: Frederick Henry. An imperial relief army under Pappenheim attacks the Dutch lines and is repulsed (17 August). Maastricht becomes a Dutch fortress, shared with the Prince-Bishop of Liège. [Dutch side prevailed]
- 20 May 1635, Battle of Les Avins: 20 May 1635. A French army under marshals Châtillon and Brézé, marching to join Frederick Henry, defeats Prince Thomas of Savoy. Start of the Franco-Dutch invasion of the Spanish Netherlands. [French side prevailed]
- 28 Jul 1635, Siege of Schenkenschans: 28 July 1635: a Spanish raiding party surprises the Schenkenschans, a vital Dutch fort where the Rhine splits (now in Germany). Frederick Henry besieges it for nine months and retakes it on 30 April 1636. [Dutch side prevailed]
- 21 Jul 1637, Siege of Breda (1637): 21 July – 10 October 1637. Attacker: Frederick Henry. Breda is Dutch again, for good. [Dutch side prevailed]
- 21 Oct 1639, Battle of the Downs: 21 October 1639, off the Kentish coast. Lieutenant-Admiral Maarten Tromp destroys Antonio de Oquendo's armada carrying troops and money for Flanders. Spain's sea route to the Netherlands is broken. [Dutch side prevailed]
- 19 May 1643, Battle of Rocroi: 19 May 1643. The 21-year-old Duke of Enghien (the future Great Condé) destroys Melo's invading army; the Spanish tercios lose their aura of invincibility. [French side prevailed]
- 19 Sep 1646, Siege of Dunkirk: September – 11 October 1646. The Duke of Enghien besieges Dunkirk while Maarten Tromp's Dutch fleet blockades it from the sea; the Marquis of Leede surrenders. The privateer nest is gone — and the Dutch, now fearing France more than Spain, hurry to make peace. [French side prevailed]
- 30 Jan 1648, Peace of Münster: Signed 30 January 1648, ratified 15 May 1648 in Münster. Spain recognises the United Provinces as a free and sovereign republic, ending the Eighty Years' War. The Republic keeps its conquests in Brabant, Flanders and Limburg (the Generality Lands) and the Scheldt stays closed to Antwerp. Negotiated…