The Netherlands Revolution

In contemporary historiography, the eighty-year war (1568-1648), known as the Netherlands Revolution, is the struggle of seventeen provinces (the personal union of states in the Lower Countries) for independence against the most powerful Spanish empire in Europe under King Philip II.

It is not a question of a long war. Throughout all 80 years it was manifested in many individual uprisings, as well as perennial periods of armistice (in 1609 -1621 years). The struggle for independence led to the separation of the Northern and Southern Netherlands and the formation of the Republic of the United Provinces of the Netherlands.

The most common opinion is that the Netherlands revolution began with the plundering of churches and convents in 1566.

The reasons for the uprising are explained by the poor economic situation of people, high taxation, oppression of the new Calvinist religion.

The severance of relations between Catholics and the King on the one hand, on the other hand by Calvinists and dissatisfied nobles, who demanded freedom in the confession, led to sedition. Wilhelm I of Orange became the leader of the Calvinists.

In order to suppress the mutiny, Philip sent a new deputy to the Lower Countries, Fernando Alvarez de Toledo, Duke of Alba, who very energetically proceeded to accomplish the task assigned to him. On the day of his arrival in Brussels, at the head of a selective army, he approved the Disorder Council - better known as the Blood Council because of the many executed death sentences. The council was created to punish the instigators of political and religious problems in the Netherlands. In total, under the Duke of Alba from 1567 to 1573 in the Netherlands, about 18,000 people were executed.

The Netherlands revolution began with two unsuccessful invasions, in 1568 and 1572, of Wilhelm of Orange with a mercenary army consisting of sea geese, irregular Dutch land and naval forces. Because of the meager funding of the army and small public support, the invasions were doomed initially.

But quite unexpectedly the Gyozes captured the city of Brielle on April 1, 1572, which became a sign for the Calvinists in the provinces of Holland and Zeeland to rise again.

The Spaniards were mostly successful, but the Netherlands revolution cost them huge cash outlays. In this regard, the peace talks were started, however, they failed. Meanwhile, the Duke of Alba, who did not like the Lower Countries, above all because of the humid climate, asked Philip several times to release him from his duties as viceroy. Philip finally agreed, and in 1573, Louis de Recênes was appointed the new governor. But in 1576 he suddenly died.

Apart from the fact that there was no successor at that time, mercenaries were not paid for months in advance, and a serious discontent arose in the Spanish troops, which resulted in a mutiny called "Spanish fury". The soldiers defeated and plundered Antwerp, killing 10,000 of its inhabitants.

The revolution in the Netherlands continued, as these circumstances further strengthened the determination of the insurgents to seek the independence of the country.

November 8, 1576 was concluded Ghent pacification. Holland, Zeeland and the southern (Catholic) provinces agreed on religious tolerance and mutual cooperation in driving the Spaniards off the Dutch land. The other northern provinces joined the Ghent agreement.

On January 6, 1579, the alliance was weakened by apostasy from the Ghent Agreement of the Walloon provinces, which signed the Arras Union, to which they expressed loyalty to the Spanish king. In response, on Jan. 23, 1579, a union was created in Utrecht against the Spanish governorship, uniting the seven northern regions of the Netherlands and laid the foundations for a future independent Republic.

By 1588 the Spaniards, under the governor of the Netherlands, Alessandro Farnese, the Duke of Parma, re-conquered the southern Lower Countries. The birth of the Dutch Republic in the north was under attack. But Spain in parallel led military companies against England and France, which allowed the Netherlands to launch a counteroffensive

During the Twelve-Year Armistice (since 1609), the borders of the Dutch state were finally fixed.

By and large, the Netherlands bourgeois revolution covers the first fifty years of struggle between Spain and the Netherlands (1568-1618). During the last thirty years (1618 -1648), the conflict between Spain and the Netherlands was combined with a pan-European war known as the Thirty Years' War.