Siege of Ostend

Siege of Ostend
Part of the Eighty Years' War
Siege of Ostend by Pieter Snayers, oil on canvas.
Date 5 July 1601 – 16 September 1604 Location Ostend (present-day Belgium) Result Spanish victory
Belligerents
United Provinces England	Spain
Commanders and leaders
Daniel de Hertaing Francis Vere	Archduke Albrecht Ambrosio Spinola
Strength
40,000 infantry, 9,500 cavalry	68,500 infantry, 12,000 cavalry
Casualties and losses
30,000 dead or wounded 15,000 captured +30,000 civilians	35,000 dead or wounded

The Siege of Ostend was a three-year siege of the city of Ostend (in present-day Belgium) during the Eighty Years' War and one of the longest sieges in history. It is remembered as the bloodiest battle of the war, and culminated in a Spanish victory. It is said "the Spanish assailed the unassailable; the Dutch defended the indefensible."

Described as a "long carnival of death", in 1603, General Spinola assumed command of the Spanish forces. Under his able leadership, the Spanish tore Ostend's outer defenses from the exhausted Dutch and put what remained of the city under the muzzles of their guns, compelling the Dutch to surrender. The cost of the victory was enormous: 35,000 men in the blasted trenches and dugouts surrounding the ruined city.

Machines for the Siege of Ostend developed by Pompeo Targone and G. Gamurini. Drawn by P. Giustiniano, Delle guerre di Fiandra libri VI, Antwerp, 1609.

The devastation led to the first serious discussions for peace but the negotiations, instead, produced a Twelve-Year Truce (1609-1621) between Spain and the United Provinces.

References

• Simoni, Anna E. C., The Ostend Story: Early Tales of the Great Siege and the Mediating Role of Henrick van Hastens (‘t-Goy-Houten: HES & De Graaf Publishers, 2003) ISBN 9-0619-4159-8
• Routledge & Kegan Paul, Siege warfare: the fortress in the early modern world, 1494-1660‎.
• Lombaerde, P., "The fortifications of Ostend during the Great Siege of 1601-1604", Fort (Fortress Study Group), 1999, (27), pp93–112

External links

• Siege of Ostend Journal at Glasgow University