Siege of Rees (1599)

Siege of Rees (1599)
Part of the Eighty Years' War and the Anglo-Spanish War (1585–1604)
Photography of the old walls of Rees in 2011.
Date September 10–12, 1599 Location Rees, Lower Rhine, Duchy of Cleves (present-day Germany) Result Spanish victory Protestant-German mercenary army destroyed Re-established Spanish control of the fortress of Rheinberg
Belligerents
United Provinces Electoral Palatinate  England Brunswick-Lüneburg Lower Saxon Circle	Spain
Commanders and leaders
Count of Lippe Count of Solms Philip of Hohenlohe Supported by: Maurice of Nassau	Ramiro de Guzmán Hendrik van den Bergh Supported by: Francisco de Mendoza
Casualties and losses
Count of Lippe: 25,000 Hohenlohe & Solms: Unknown	1,500–3,000

Spanish victory

The Siege of Ress of 1599, also known as the Relief of Ress (Socorro de Rees in Spanish), was an unsuccessful attempt by Protestant-German forces led by Count Simon VI of Lippe, and Anglo-Dutch forces sent by Prince Maurice of Nassau (Dutch: Maurits van Oranje), commanded by Philip of Hohenlohe-Neuenstein and the Count Ernst of Solms, to capture the strategic stronghold of Rees, Lower Rhine, Duchy of Cleves (present-day Germany) from the Spanish forces of Don Francisco de Mendoza, Admiral of Aragon, second-in-command of the Army of Flanders, and Governor Don Ramiro de Guzmán, between 10–12 September, 1599, during the Eighty Years' War and the Anglo-Spanish War (1585–1604). This Spanish victory was part of the campaign of Francisco de Mendoza and Cardinal Andrew of Austria of 1598-1599, also called the Spanish Winter of 1598-99.

In 1598, under the mediation of the papal legate Cardinal Alessandro de'Medici (the future Pope Leo XI), Spain and France concluded the Peace of Vervins on 2 May. Spain gave up its conquests, except the occupation of the Prince-Archbishopric of Cambray, thereby restoring the situation of Cateau-Cambrésis. On 5 September, following the orders of the Archduke Albert of Austria, Governor-General of the Spanish Netherlands, Francisco de Mendoza at the head of the army, captured Orsoy from the Dutch defenders, a passage-town on the banks of the Lower Rhine. After the construction of a fort to defend the passage, the Spanish forces crossed over the Rhine and captured Alpen on 24 September, and the castle of Broich two days later. In mid-October, after the capture of Meurs on 12 October, the Spanish forces defeated the Dutch forces at Rheinberg, and re-captured the fortress. Then, Mendoza divided his forces, invaded the province of Gelderland, and seized the town of Doetinchem on 8 November. Meanwhile, the rest of the Spanish army marched over the Lippe, and on 30 October, captured Rees, forcing the garrison to surrender. The Spanish army established its winter quarters in these environs, and in the Bishopric of Münster.

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