Siege of Geertruidenberg (1593)

Siege of Geertruidenberg
Part of the Eighty Years' War & the Anglo–Spanish War
Siege of Geertruidenberg in 1594 by Giovanni Battista Boazio - the semi circle curve at bottom are brigantines blockading the city
Date March 27–24 June 1593 Location Geertruidenberg Present day the Netherlands Result Anglo-Dutch victory
Belligerents
Dutch Republic England	Spain
Commanders and leaders
Maurice of Orange Francis Vere	Count of Mansfeld Earl of Masieres  † Sieur de Gissant  †
Strength
12,000	800 (Garrison) 8,000 troops & 1,500 cavalry (Relief)
Casualties and losses
Light 500 to disease	1,000 killed wounded or captured

The Siege of Geertruidenberg was a siege of the city of Geertruidenberg that took place between March 27 to 24 June 1593 during the Eighty Years' War and the Anglo–Spanish War. Anglo-Dutch troops under the commands of Maurice of Nassau and Francis Vere laid siege to the Spanish garrisoned city. The siege was unique in that the besiegers used a hundred ships, forming a semicircle in a chain on the Mass river to form a blockade. A Spanish relief force under the command of the Count of Mansfeld was attempted in May but this was defeated and he was later forced to withdraw. Three Governors of the city were killed - after the last fatality and as a result of the failed relief the Spanish surrendered the city on 24 June 1593. The victory earned Maurice much fame and had thus become a steadfast strategist in the art of war.

In 1573 Geertruidenberg had been taken by a mixed Protestant force of English, French and Dutch troops. In 1589 however the Spaniards though had won the town back as they successfully bribed the treacherous long overpaid English brigands who had been garrisoned there. Despite this the Spanish Army of Flanders however had been hampered in its effort to overcome the local resistance. When the Spanish forces were committed in France to halt the collapse of the Catholic League, Dutch and English forces under the command of Maurice of Nassau went on the offensive. Maurice adopted the same tactics as the Duke of Parma by creating defensible barriers and zones of control; this resulted in many towns and regions falling into Anglo-Dutch hands throughout the 1590s.

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