Siege of Antwerp (1584–1585)

Siege Plan (1875 map)

The siege of Antwerp by troops of the Spanish King Philip II took place from July 1584 to August 1585 as part of the Eighty Years' War , in which the originally seventeen provinces of the Spanish Netherlands - including Antwerp - rose against the rule of the Spanish king had.

prehistory

After the Reformation , under the Catholic King Philip II, there had been violent religious tensions and attempts at centralization, which from 1568 onwards led to a series of revolts and battles against the Spaniards. In September 1575, King Philip II had to declare Spain bankrupt. The Spanish troops deployed in the county of Flanders remained without pay for a long time, mutinied after the death of the Spanish governor Luis de Zúñiga y Requesens in March 1576 and plundered through the Netherlands. On November 4th, 1576, they attacked Antwerp as a Spanish fury , at that time the richest city in the Spanish Netherlands with about 100,000 inhabitants, and caused a three-day massacre. Already on November 8, 1576, almost all Dutch provinces in the Ghent pacification demanded the withdrawal of all Spaniards from the Netherlands.

Confessional differences, however, led to the formation of the Union of Arras (Dutch: Unie van Atrecht ) of the Catholic French-speaking southern provinces on January 6, 1579 , whereupon the northern Protestant provinces signed the Union of Utrecht on January 23, 1579 (Dutch: Unie van Utrecht ) responded. A number of other provinces and cities, etc. a. Antwerp, later joined the Union of Utrecht, which declared itself independent in 1581 with the Plakkaat van Verlatinghe and founded the Republic of the Seven United Provinces (also: Republic of the United Netherlands or States General ). This sealed the separation into the States General and the Spanish Netherlands.

During Philip II's struggle against the independence of the States General, parts of the southern provinces were subdued , partly after difficult sieges by the Spaniards under the new governor Alexander Farnese , the son of Margaret of Parma and later Duke of Parma .

The siege

Siege rings

The Spanish troops had been continuously reinforced under Alexander Farnese and in 1584 finally numbered 61,000 men. Alexander Farnese had made sure that the supply lines of the Spaniards were protected by fortresses built at regular intervals and that the troops were reliably supplied. At the beginning of the siege of Antwerp, the Spanish troops were therefore well equipped. Initially, siege rings were built around Antwerp and forts were built along the Scheldt without attempting large attacks against the fortified city. However, it was not possible to completely enclose the semicircular town on the broad Scheldt. On the river, the Antwerp people were able to bypass the siege again and again, especially at night and when the tidal current was favorable .

Ship bridge over the Scheldt

Ship bridge over the Scheldt

Alexander Farnese therefore decided to completely block the Scheldt below Antwerp with a ship bridge in order to cut off the connection between the city and its allies. The bridge was built between Callo , today's Kallo, a district of Beveren and Oordam (which has now disappeared in the extensive area of ​​the port of Antwerp) about 8 km below the old town of Antwerp. The Scheldt is said to have been around 720 m wide and 18 m deep there, with a tidal range of 3.6 m. From the Fort of Callo, a wooden yoke bridge was built as far as possible (60 m) into the river, the end of which formed a rectangular platform. Both were reinforced several times with additional piles and cross braces. The yoke bridge was 3.60 m wide, so enough for 8 soldiers marching close together, the platform was about 12 m × 15 m in size. The bridge and platform were equipped with 1.50 m high side walls made of strong planks as parapets and a 60 cm wide storm roof against enemy musket fire. On the other bank, a comparable but considerably longer bridge with a platform was built from the Fort of Oordam. Guns were positioned on the platforms to defend the bridge. The remaining space of around 380 m was closed with a floating bridge made of ships, which, however, had to be laboriously brought in. The bridge finally consisted of 31 or 32 ships, each almost 20 m long and 3.60 m wide and fixed at a distance of 6.60 m from one another with anchors in front and behind and with ropes and chains. Above and below the bridge, additional floating barriers made of mast trees and beams were anchored, which were reinforced with iron-studded spikes facing the river. The ships were manned with armed soldiers and cannons; together with the guns on the bridge platforms, a total of 97 guns of different calibers were in use on the bridge. In addition, 40 armed ships were waiting to repel attacks by the Dutch.

Countermeasures by the Antwerp people

The ship bridge in the flooded land

As a countermeasure against the encirclement by the Spaniards, the Dutch flooded the low-lying plains on both sides of the Scheldt. This was intended to flood the Spanish forts, or at least to isolate them; the Dutch hoped to regain control of the Scheldt with the possibility of sailing flat boats in the flooded fields. The well-trained soldiers in the Spanish positions were mostly able to hold their positions in sometimes fierce battles. The Dutch tried the bridge with fireships damaging, but the Spaniards managed usually push away the burning ships, even if there were significant losses in the explosion of the ships. A ship equipped with infernal machines by Federigo Giambelli reached the bridge on the night of April 4th and 5th. The explosion damaged the bridge considerably and is believed to have killed 1,000 Spanish soldiers, but it failed to break the barrier.

The Finis Belli , a specially equipped warship that was supposed to force a breakthrough with its numerous cannons and around a thousand crew members, ran aground on its first mission and failed. Famine and demoralized after the fall of Brussels, Antwerp people finally saw their cause as lost. It is estimated that 8,000 people died on their side from fighting or starvation.

surrender

Entry of the Spanish troops into Antwerp in 1585

Antwerp capitulated on August 17, 1585. Alexander Farnese stationed experienced Castilian troops in Antwerp to prevent the city from falling again into the hands of the enemy. He had strictly forbidden the soldiers from looting, who, to the great astonishment of the residents after the experience with the Spanish Fury , behaved in a disciplined manner. Alexander Farnese also made cautious demands, giving Protestants two years before they had to leave the city. Some residents returned to the Catholic faith, but many left the city heading north. Of the original population of around 100,000, only 40,000 remained. Many of the well-trained and experienced emigrants contributed to the flourishing of the northern provinces and their golden age .

The Dutch fleet maintained its blocking of the Scheldt, directed against the Spaniards, and thus cut Antwerp off from international sea trade. This and the restriction of the Antwerp economy connected with the emigration ended the city's heyday. The sea blockade was upheld in the Peace of Westphalia and only lifted in 1795 and 1815, the "Scheldt customs" in 1863.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ The article is based in part on the article in the English Wikipedia
2. ↑ ^{a b c} Johann G. von Hoyer: Handbuch der Pontonnier-Wissenschaften with the intention of applying them to field use , Volume 1, 2nd edition, Verlag von Johann Ambrosius Barth, Leipzig, 1830; Digitized on Google Books
3. ↑ So the picture of the ship bridge
4. ↑ The etching Pontis Antwerpiani fractura , National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, London is a vivid illustration .

Web links

• Asedio de Amberes, 1584–85 ( Memento from October 26, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) (Spanish)
• Friedrich Schiller, Siege of Antwerp