The (Staggering) Siege of Antwerpen 1584/85 | Eighty Years' War

on the 3rd of July 1584 a Spanish army under the Duke of Parma arrived in the region of Antwerp and this was the beginning of a siege so spectacular that the famous German poet Friedrich Schiller wrote a historical account about it it was a siege characterized by a monstrous warship the flooding of an entire region and ingenious siege craft such as huge fire ships and pontoon bridge spending more than 700 meters across the rivers held a this is how contemporary historiography tells the story of the staggering siege of Antwerp on [Music] in 1579 during the eighty years war fought between the Dutch and the Spanish Hapsburg the Duke of Parma Alexander for nazy launched a counter-offensive against the rebellious Dutch and captured must treat he was freshly appointed governor-general of the Spanish Netherlands according to de story and christopher duffy Parma's expertise in siege warfare was unmatched and his arrival quote presented the rebels with the most formidable opponent they had yet encountered and quote in 1580 the catholic party in the north eastern provinces arose in the favor of spain and expelled the rebels from the towns of Groningen delsa Govardhan and alden south Parma took full advantage of this diversion and by 1584 he had conquered large parts of the Dutch territory and sealed off brussels Mechelen and hint by forts and trenches then he turned to the city of antwerp and according to the expert on dutch warfare olaf an invasion this is meant to conclude his victory March the prospering city of Antwerp and was home to more than 100,000 people because of its ideal location on the rivers held a it made great profit from trade therefore it was of great importance to the Dutch William of Orange the main leader of the Dutch Revolt hurry to warn the mayor of the city Philips firm onyx from Sint alda Gandhi when he heard of an impending Spanish attack his trick advised the people of the city to break through the dikes called black Vardon and Cowan Stein's a day to flood a large area around on Terrapin this would have made sure that the Dutch fleet would be able to reach the city across the flooded fields in case the enemy would block the rivers held a however nobody believed that Parma would be able to bard as held a while the alderman of the city were in favor of flooding the fields the butcher's killed of Antwerp and intervened because the flooding would have destroyed the grazing grounds on which a large part of their cattle was fattened in the end the citizens of an apartment confined themselves to reinforce existing field works along the scale day adding some additional readouts and breaking the dikes near soft hangman to flood the nearby land when the Spaniards arrived in the region of Antwerp and they first interrupted trade routes and sealed off strong halts in the surrounding area in the meantime Parma had decided that surrounding the city and cutting its supply lines was the best approach in accordance with this plan the Spaniard started encircling the city on the 3rd of July 1584 the army was divided in two groups the first attachment advanced to lift kentuc while the second commanded by the count of monster crossed the river scaled at quarry Becca captured here and toss and then circled around on therap and to establish a camp near stub Rock because the first attack on leaf consumed was repelled by the defenders of the redoubt the Spaniards resorted to a stratagem of war on a 10th of July they placed some hay carts under the walls and set them ablaze due to the smoke division of the defenders were severely hampered thus the Spaniards took control over the walls quickly on the same day William of Orange was shot to death in his residence in Delft and maurits of orange was appointed his successor in the following days the Spaniards captured Sven Dresden dog Parma's army then moved to lay low and succeeded in reaching its walls despite the advantage resulting from this it took the attackers an order three weeks to capture lay low throughout the next months additional strongholds in the vicinity were taken by the Spanish so that Antwerpen was closed off step by step [Music] now the citizens of Antwerp and realized the seriousness of the situation the veter was a good chance that Parma would achieve what was believed to be impossible to block their most important support route finally the butcher skilled consented to break the dikes however since the Spaniards had already seized control over the Cowen steins a day which prevented ships to get to the city even when the area was flooded it was too late by now subsequently the question arose on how to supply all inhabitants when the city would be cut off despite the Spanish comes along the Salva supply ships made it to the city regularly especially during night however the defenders chose a rather problematic solution each inhabitant should amass enough food on their own budget to live off of it for two years this didn't work out at all while the Richer inhabitants fear that their grain would be stolen and bought only a limited amount of grain many of the poorer people lived from hand to mouth and could not afford to buy reserves anyways the alderman even said a low price limit to ensure that there was enough affordable grade for the poor citizens but the low prices and the high risk deterred many ships from venturing to the city all these factors resulted in too little grain being bought and stored in October Parma established his headquarters in Beveren by now he had seized control over most of the surrounding towns and villages Antwerpen was cut off except for the rivers he'll day to get his lost route sealed Parma wanted to accomplish the impossible to build a bridge over the more than 900 metres White's held it to do so his men built a fort on each side of the stream from where they constructed two very stable bridge heads because of the river current they could only reach a certain distance into the river and the Dutch ships could still pass them without much trouble to fill the gap Parma ordered to confiscate the number of cleiton a type of transport ship used on inland water however before the bridge was completed winter came and the river froze Parma received word that the atmosphere within the city was tense and some citizens had been imprisoned as traitors because they wanted to negotiate with him on the 13th of November he sent a letter to the alderman in which he offered the best terms possible if they capitulated however they declined as the ice began to melt the Spaniards took up work on the bridge again by late February they finished a pontoon bridge of about seven hundred thirty metres held in place by chains planks and anchors the construction was not a simple bridge but Roger a swimming wall equipped with a strong parapet and artillery positions to make this structure even more resistant a line of ships equipped with long strong Pike's was linked to each side of the bridge also 40 warships were waiting on the banks of the Sahel they ready for intervention over 1,500 men were ready to defend the bridge the German poet Friedrich Schiller summarizes over 200 years later quote the bridge was amply equipped with the tools of death so that like a living being it could defend itself spew flames at order and spill perdition on everything that came near her bewilderment was great when the people of antworten heard that the bridge was finished now they were completely cut off on the 28th of May the defenders of Antwerpen produced the first secret weapon the Feeney's belly or fern della guerra a huge warship they had constructed over the past six months it resembled a floating platform and carried a castle meant by a thousand Musketeers and a huge number of guns the people of antwerpen put all of their hopes in it hence its name end of war however it proved too heavy to maneuver in the shallow waters of the flooded area so sources report that it ran aground others say it sailed against the Dyke shortly after he'd left the harbor a few days after the crew had abandoned it the spaniards captured the swimming fortress they gave it the name los gastos perdidos the lost expenditure after it had been stripped of most of its equipment parma ordered it to be dismantled while the spaniards had been working on the bridge the defenders didn't remain idle while the Gandhi had pushed the Dutch to make rapid progress in search of an ally and to speed up the negotiations with France and England he also repeatedly asked a fleet of Sealand to lead a blow against the works of the Spaniards after some delay the fleet arrived at the foot of leaf conserve and manage to reduce it and seize it along with other strongholds and the island of Dole this put them into a position from which they had immediate access to Parma's bridge it was agreed that the fleet should stay ready while the beseeched would breach the bridge the man entering the stage to execute this plan was the man - an engineer Frederico gambelli ironically this clever mechanic had offered his services to philip ii of spain multiple times however as the historian Christopher Duffy notes philip ii had little time for such gadgetry and he used his courtiers and servants to keep John Bailey at arm's length upon this the frustrated John Bailey settled in Antwerp and married a local girl and worked as a physicist and mechanic as soon as he heard that the bridge was under construction he began to develop a plan to get back at the Spaniards on his request the alderman placed two boats at his disposal John Bailey stuffed them with about 7,000 pounds of gunpowder each and had layers of grave stones stone shops scrap iron and similar materials on them soon John bellies fire ships were ready on the night of the 4th to the 5th of April 1585 the two infernal machines swept down to the Spanish bridge with em tight while one of the boats stranded the other hit the bridge just where the pontoon bridge and the bridge had met a moment of silence was followed by an ear-splitting explosion the daddy fright of John bellies fire ship rang down from the sky within several kilometers according to Christopher Duffy about eight hundred Spaniards were blown to pieces Parma himself only got away by the skin of his teeth the bridge was broken however the defenders of Antwerpen did not exploit his victory none of the books sent out by aldy Gandhi actually ventured down to the bridge to investigate the damage the defenders learned of jam belly's success too late Parma's men had already boards the way again when further attempts against the bridge failed as well the Dutch forces turned her attention to the Cowan steins a day which hindered the ships from Salem to get to the city however Parma had anticipated this and fortified the Dyke extensively as he saw the intentions of the defenders he delegated the defense of the bridge to the count of Mansfeld and took the command of the Dyke himself in the meantime the fleet from Ceylon and Holland commanded by the count of hoon lui threatened the position of the Spaniards on several occasions when the town gave the signal five hundred cylinders stormed the Dyke and took the nearest redoubt by surprise however the promised support flotilla of the town who should have attacked from the other side didn't arrive and after heavy fighting the man of horn lui were forced to retreat some days later on the 16th of May a second attack was launched this time it was coordinated better both the forces of an therapy it is supporting fleet through everything they had into the fray all in all about two hundred ships attacked a dike while an under attack on the bridge should divide the enemy's forces the battle was opened with a stratagem of war for burning ships seemingly fire ships but actually meant steered towards today when the Spaniards who vividly remembered the early devastating attack on the bridge pulled back to the closest redoubt the man in the ships sprung ashore the ships of Antwerpen approached the same spot from the other side United the man began to build to parapets to cut off the Spaniards from each other and to protect pioneers who had already begun puncturing the died while ships with supplies for the city were waiting to pass through the bridge the Spanish artillery kept up fire on the fleet and a brutal fight ensued about 5,000 men fought on the narrow Ridge of the dam which in some places was no more than nine steps wide fortunes seemed to be on the side of the besieged as they pushed back to Spanish to the nearest redoubts the heavy fire of the shapes of the attackers took its toll on both the Spaniards and their defenses however when Parma recognized what was going on he hurried to relief the man of the dyke the arriving support heightened the Spanish morale and slowly step by step they managed to turn the tables when they won over their enemy's ramparts the battle was over the troops from Holland Zeeland and on Terrapin are turned away in flight trying to reach their ships which were retreating to deeper waters as the tides were lowering the Spaniards pursued them killed many and even captured some of their ships the last attempt to lift the siege had failed this defeat was a severe blow the Spaniards were now the undisputed masters of the flooded area and thus held with each day on which they held their position the city came closer to starvation until some of the disunited townspeople urged to surrender on a 17th of August antwerpen capitulated the terms of capitulation included free conduct for the enemies of the Spaniards the re-establishment of Catholicism in the city rebuilding of churches and reintegrating expelled Catholic families and clergy Antwerpen had to pay 400 thousand guilders of reparation and all Protestants had to leave the city within four years in the end only forty thousand inhabitants remained in the city the prosperity of Antwerpen had been ended violently 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Channel: SandRhoman History

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Keywords: siege of antwerp, siege antwerpen, antwerpen siege 1584, siege of antwerpen 1584, siege of antwerpen 1585, eighty years' war, eighty years war, staggering sieges, sandrhoman, education, educational, documentary, history, dutch history, belgium history, antwerpen history, 17th century history, 17th century, kings and generals, early modern warfare, king and generals, history documentary, decisive battles, military history, animated historical documentary, early modern history

Id: zCkuONNFp_U

Length: 15min 52sec (952 seconds)

Published: Sun Jun 21 2020