Siege of Steenwijk (1592)

Siege of Steenwijk 1592
Part of the Eighty Years' War & the Anglo–Spanish War
The siege of Steenwijk in 1592; Print from Atlas Van Loon: The detonations of the mines are made visible.
Date 30 May - 5 July 1592 Location Steenwijk Present day the Netherlands Result Anglo Dutch victory
Belligerents
Dutch Republic England	Spain
Commanders and leaders
Maurice of Orange Francis Vere	Antonio Coquel Francisco Verdugo
Strength
6000 troops 2000 cavalry	1060 300 (relief)
Casualties and losses
600 casualties	550 casualties 800 surrendered

The Siege of Steenwijk was a siege that took place between 30 May - 5 July 1592 as part of the Eighty Years' War and the Anglo–Spanish War by a Dutch and English force under Maurice of Orange. By taking Steenwijk the Republic's army would take out one of the two main transport routes overland to the Drenthe capital of Groningen, the other lay at Coevorden. After a failed bombardment an assault was made in conjunction with the detonation of mines under important bastions and with two out of three successfully assaulted; the Spanish troops surrendered on 5 July 1592 and handed over the city to the Dutch and English army. This siege was one of the first in history to make use of pioneers as a separate military unit although they were still at the time regarded as soldiers.

Maurice is Orange had conducted a successful campaign from 1590 that commenced with the capture of Breda and from there an offensive was launched that soon captured several important strategic cities, which included Nijmegen During this campaign Delfzijl was captured which meant that Groningen was gradually getting cut off.

The States determined to open the campaign with the siege of Steenwijk, a strongly fortified town on the route from the IJssel at Deventer in order to cut off Groningen further. This was however against the wishes of the Zeeland representatives in the States-General who preferred to see Geertruidenberg taken, or a campaign to be conducted in Spanish held Flanders. The Duke of Parma had marched into France, leaving Ernst I von Mansfeld as his deputy, while Francisco Verdugo was in command of the area as the Spanish Stadtholder of Friesland, Groningen, Drenthe and Overijssel.

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