4.29 Europe: a.d. 1501 to 1600  (Page 18/29)

In the middle of the century the Huguenots came in from France and Charles abdicated in 1555, giving the Netherlands to his son, Philip. The latter fought Protestantism in a bitter conflict that eventually broke the Netherlands in two. In these conflicts, known as the 80 Years War or simply as the Dutch Wars, starting in 1568, Philip's Spanish General Alva came opposite William the Silent, of Orange, a great Dutch leader. The Dutch began to win at the siege of Alkmaar in 1573 and in 1576 the "Pacification of Ghent" directed the withdrawal of all Spanish soldiers from the country as part of Philip's political bankruptcy settlement. However, after the Spanish king had made peace with the Turks and annexed. Portugal he felt that his finances would be- adequate and he renewed the war with the Dutch in 1583, only to eventually lose again. (Ref. 279 ) In the next century the Dutch were officially free. although Belgium remained under Catholic rule.

Professor William McNeill (Ref. 279 ) has emphasized the-very important contributions to the European military made by Maurice of Nassau, Prince of Orange (1567-1625), Captain-General of Holland and Zeeland after 1585. Maurice stressed three things:

• The spade.He felt that the spade was mightier than the musket, in that by systematically digging ditches and erecting earthen ramparts, a besieging army could protect itself while continuing the siege
• Systematic close order drill, including repetitive drill on loading and firing of weapons "by the numbers". McNeill believes that this, in itself, promotes psychological and sociological effects that solidifies an army into a close, social, professional, responsive group
• Division of army into smaller tactical units on down to platoons, where a single voice could control the movements of all the men

The chief architect of the new Belgium, once separated from Holland, was Alexander Farnese, Duke of Parma, a military genius who had led the Spanish forces in their attempted subjugation of the Lowlands and their frustrated attempts at crossing the English Channel under the hoped for protection of the Spanish Armada. The Dutch had prevented any potential landing barges from leaving the Belgium waterways, while the English navy chased away those ships of the Spanish fleet which remained afloat. Farnese, a grandson of Pope Paul III, was unable to conquer the northern provinces of Holland, but retained Belgium for the Spanish crown and the pope, in spite of the attempt by William the Silent to reconcile various southern social groups under a national program to be carried out by the Estates-General. (Ref. 51 , 133 )

At the end of the century Dutch sea power had increased to where it could challenge Spain and Portugal and they were raiding the overseas colonies of those powers. The defeat of the Spanish Armada and Spanish involvement in the French civil wars allowed the Dutch to drive the Spanish from the north and they were whittling away at the Portuguese monopoly on the spice trade. Both Holland and Belgium benefitted from a 16th century agricultural revolution, with efficient, commercialized farming systems developing progressively through the next three centuries. The Dutch used- the increased capital they obtained through trade to reclaim land from the sea, and they developed better methods of crop rotation.