Siege of Jülich (1621–1622)

Siege of Jülich

Part of: Thirty Years War
Eighty Years War

date	September 5, 1621 to February 3, 1622
location	Jülich
exit	Handover of the city

Parties to the conflict
Spain	United Netherlands
Commander
Ambrosio Spinola	Frederik Pithan
Troop strength
11,500–40,000 men (unclear)	2,500 men

The siege of Jülich by Spanish forces under the command of General Marquis Ambrosio Spinola and General Count Heinrich von dem Bergh took place from September 5, 1621 to February 3, 1622 during the Thirty Years 'War and the Eighty Years' War . Like the previous siege , it ended with the surrender of the fortress, but only after more than five months of resistance.

prehistory

Shortly after the outbreak of the Thirty Years' War, the strong Jülich fortress , which had already been besieged in 1610 , again became the focus of interest. The resurgence of fighting between the Dutch States General and Spain in the course of the Eighty Years' War marked the beginning of a new siege. Both sides had signed a twelve-year armistice in 1609, which expired that year. This immediately led to renewed hostilities, and the Spaniards raised an army to invade the Netherlands from Jülich and Kleve. General Ambrosio Spinola was in command of 40,000 Spaniards, Germans and Walloons, of whom a delegation of 7,000 infantrymen and 700 mounted men under the command of Count Heinrich von dem Bergh Jülich should initially block. The Dutch under Moritz von Orange also called their troops to arms, and their army gathered at Schenkenschanz . This was hampered by the fact that, due to the defensive attitude of the States General, a large part of the Dutch troops in the fortresses of their homeland expected the Spanish attack as a garrison and only a few units were actually available. The main Spanish army initially moved unexpectedly in the direction of Wesel and not directly against Jülich. Spinola apparently did not want to get his troops bogged down unnecessarily in a long siege and instead sought the decisive battle. Due to the weakness of their field army, the Dutch withdrew 1,000 soldiers from Jülich immediately before the start of the hostilities, which weakened the crew dangerously.

The siege

The Spanish Commander in Chief Marquis Ambrosio Spinola

On September 5, the besiegers set up camp on Galgenberg on the Merscher Höhe not far from Broich , and on September 8, Ernst von Isenburg-Grenzau joined them with a further 4,000 men and eight guns. Again the city was cut off from the outside world by a ring of entrenchments, and as in the previous siege, the Spaniards mainly attacked the citadel from the elevated position of the Merscher Höhe. Instead of the aggressive attack strategy of the previous siege, however, there was a blockade and starvation tactic, as the Spaniards were not under time pressure and wanted to avoid losses if possible. The 2,500-strong crew under the 72-year-old Dutch serjeant major Frederik Pithan , who had been in command of the fortress since 1614, allegedly consisted of four French, six English and four Scottish companies as well as eight Dutch ensigns and one company of cavalry. They offered tough resistance from the reinforced positions in front of the citadel and repeatedly carried out attacks to disrupt the work of the besiegers, which was made easier by the passive strategy of the Spaniards. In the meantime, Spinola himself appeared in front of Jülich and asked the defenders to surrender on September 24, but they refused. Although Pithan was well aware of the hopelessness of the situation, he was far from thinking of giving up.
Already on October 5th a sortie with 700 foot soldiers and the whole cavalry was undertaken against a redoubt near Bourheim , whereby 52 Spanish soldiers and an officer were captured. A particularly successful sortie on October 5th with 250 musketeers and a company of riders led the defenders to the camp of the Burgundian companies on the Galgenberg (Merscher Höhe). A fire had broken out there, diverting the attention of the Spaniards and allegedly causing considerable damage to the camp. The besieged reached the stables of the Count von dem Bergh, took some entrenchments and plundered the camp, but were thrown back into the fortress by the newly formed Spaniards, losing 1 captain, 1 lieutenant and 36 soldiers. As with the siege in 1610, the defenders had failed to bring the contents of the magazines in the area to the fortress in good time, so that supplies soon became scarce. Horse meat was served from November 3rd , later on even less appetizing varieties such as dogs , cats , rats and mice were used .

Drawing of the siege works

There was no prospect of relief, because the Spaniards blocked the Dutch army at Kleve, so that Moritz von Orange could not send any help. Again it came to the issue of Token . When Spinola's army opposed the armies of the States General during a scanning advance by the Dutch in December 1621, hope of relief was finally extinguished, and Moritz of Orange released his soldiers into the winter quarters, so that Spinola himself appeared before Jülich with his entire army . On the Merscher Höhe he had a raised cavalier poured in, from whom the Spanish batteries had a much improved firing position, and he intensified the bombardment. The occupation was initially unimpressed, although food shortages took on more and more dramatic forms and diseases began to rampant in the city. Nevertheless ruled out of fights sometimes strangely civilized states, so were allowed to officers of the garrison z. B. to buy groceries in the camp of the besiegers, and the wife and sister of Count von Bergh were allowed to view the works in front of the citadel from the outside without fear of being shot at. In January it got very cold, so that the guards in the fortress allegedly froze to death several times . Pithan refused the surrender twice and gave Count von dem Bergh to understand that one should wait for Easter before thinking of surrendering . Finally, after a further request for surrender, he started negotiations on January 17, 1622, and it was decided to wait another twelve days for relief. This did not materialize, and on February 3, 1622, Pithan handed Jülich over to the Spaniards, whereby he and his 2,000 soldiers were granted the honorable withdrawal with their weapons to Nijmegen . Apparently, however, his superiors were of the opinion that he had not done the utmost in defense, and Pithan was dismissed from his regiment because of the handover of Jülich.

Aftermath

The handover of Jülich , painting by Jusepe Leonardo around 1635 in the Museo del Prado

During the remaining war years, the Spaniards occupied the fortress and carried out some renovations and extensions. Among other things, they probably moved the Aachen Gate from the extension of the Hexenturm to its current position around 1648 . Allegedly, the Spaniards were not very popular with the population and were viewed as oppressors. The Spaniards left Jülich long after the Peace of Westphalia around 1660, when the Franco-Spanish War was over, and gave their property back to the Palatinate-Neuburg family . After the final settlement of the Jülich-Klevian succession dispute, this now undisputedly placed the legal masters of the duchies of Jülich and Berg .

sources

• Neumann, Hartwig : The Citadel Jülich. A walk through history , Verlag Jos. Fischer, Jülich 1971.
• Historical reminiscences of the fortress Jülich , anonymous, Verlag Jos. Fischer, Jülich 1889.
• Westphalen and Rhineland , first year, edition dated February 23, 1822.

Web links

• Westphalen and Rhineland , first year, edition dated February 23, 1822
• Historical reminiscences of the fortress Jülich , anonymous, Verlag Jos. Fischer, Jülich 1889 (Download)