Editing Netherlands (section)

===Burgundian, Habsburg and Spanish Habsburg Netherlands (1384–1581)===
{{Main|Burgundian Netherlands|Habsburg Netherlands|Spanish Netherlands}}
{{multiple image|perrow=1/2/1|align=left|total_width=250|caption_align=center
| title = Habsburg Netherlands
| image1 = Carlos V en Mühlberg, by Titian, from Prado in Google Earth.jpg|caption1=''[[Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor|Charles V]], Lord of the Netherlands at the [[Battle of Mühlberg]]'' (1547), by [[Titian]]
| image2 = Political map of the Low Countries (1350)-NL.svg|caption2=The Low Countries in the late 14th century
| image3 = William I, Prince of Orange by Adriaen Thomasz. Key Rijksmuseum Amsterdam SK-A-3148.jpg|caption3=[[William the Silent|Prince William I of Orange]], leader of the [[Eighty Years' War|Dutch Revolt]], by [[Adriaen Thomasz. Key]]
}}

Most of the [[Holy Roman Empire|Imperial]] and [[France in the Middle Ages|French]] fiefs in what is now the Netherlands and Belgium were united in a [[personal union]] by Philip the Good in 1433. The [[House of Valois-Burgundy]] and their [[House of Habsburg|Habsburg]] heirs would rule the Low Countries from 1384 to 1581. The new rulers defended Dutch trading interests. The fleets of the [[County of Holland]] defeated the fleets of the [[Hanseatic League]] several times. [[Amsterdam]] grew and in the 15th century became the primary trading port in Europe for grain from the [[Baltic region]]. Amsterdam distributed grain to the major cities of Belgium, Northern France and England. This trade was vital because Holland could no longer produce enough grain to feed itself. Land drainage had caused the [[peat]] of the former [[wetland]]s to reduce to a level that was too low for drainage to be maintained.<ref>{{Cite encyclopedia |date=31 May 2023 |title=Low Countries {{!}} Facts, Map, & History  |url=https://www.britannica.com/place/Low-Countries |access-date=21 June 2023 |encyclopedia=Encyclopedia Britannica |language=en}}</ref>

Under Habsburg [[Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor|Charles V]], all fiefs in the current Netherlands region were united into the [[Seventeen Provinces]], which included most of present-day Belgium, Luxembourg, and parts of France and Germany. In 1568, under [[Philip II of Spain|Phillip II]], the [[Eighty Years' War]] between the Provinces and their [[Spanish Empire|Spanish]] ruler began. The level of ferocity exhibited by both sides can be gleaned from a Dutch chronicler's report:<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/risedutchrepubl01motlgoog|title=The Rise of the Dutch Republic, Volume 2|last=Motley|first=John|year=1859|pages=[https://archive.org/details/risedutchrepubl01motlgoog/page/n33 25]}}</ref>
<blockquote>On more than one occasion men were seen hanging their own brothers, who had been taken prisoners in the enemy's ranks... A Spaniard had ceased to be human in their eyes. On one occasion, a surgeon at Veer cut the heart from a Spanish prisoner, nailed it on a vessel's prow, and invited the townsmen to come and fasten their teeth in it, which many did with savage satisfaction.</blockquote>

The [[Fernando Álvarez de Toledo, 3rd Duke of Alba|Duke of Alba]] attempted to suppress the Protestant movement in the Netherlands. Netherlanders were "burned, strangled, beheaded, or buried alive" by his "[[Council of Troubles|Blood Council]]" and Spanish soldiers. Bodies were displayed along roads to terrorise the population into submission. Alba boasted of having executed 18,600;<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://necrometrics.com/pre1700a.htm#Ne1566|title=Twentieth Century Atlas – Historical Body Count|website=necrometrics.com}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Clodfelter |first1=Micheal |title=Warfare and Armed Conflicts: A Statistical Encyclopedia of Casualty and Other Figures, 1492–2015, 4th ed. |date=9 May 2017 |publisher=McFarland |isbn=978-0-7864-7470-7 |pages=16 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8urEDgAAQBAJ |access-date=11 November 2020 |language=en}}</ref> this figure does not include those who perished by war and famine.<ref>{{cite book|last=Sharp Hume|first=Martin Andrew|title=The Spanish People: Their Origin, Growth and Influence|date=1901|page=372}}</ref>

The first great siege was Alba's effort to capture [[Haarlem]] and thereby cut Holland in half. It dragged on from December 1572 to the next summer, when Haarlemers finally surrendered on 13 July upon the promise that the city would be spared from being sacked. It was a stipulation [[Fadrique Álvarez de Toledo, 4th Duke of Alba|Don Fadrique]] was unable to honour, when his soldiers mutinied, angered over pay owed and the miserable conditions of the campaign.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Arnade |first1=Peter J. |title=Beggars, Iconoclasts, and Civic Patriots: The Political Culture of the Dutch Revolt |page=237}}</ref> On 4 November 1576, Spanish [[tercio]]s seized [[Antwerp]] and subjected it to the worst pillage in the Netherlands' history. The citizens resisted but were overcome; seven thousand were killed and a thousand buildings were torched.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Durant |first1=Will |last2=Durant |first2=Ariel |title=The Age of Reason Begins: A History of European Civilization in the Period of Shakespeare, Bacon, Montaigne, Rembrandt, Galileo, and Descartes: 1558–1648 |page=451}}</ref>

[[File:Philip II of Spain berating William the Silent Prince of Orange by Cornelis Kruseman.jpg|thumb|[[Philip II of Spain]] reproaches William of Orange in [[Vlissingen]] upon his departure from the Netherlands in 1559.]]
Following the [[sack of Antwerp]], delegates from Catholic Brabant, Protestant Holland and Zeeland agreed to join Utrecht and [[William the Silent]] in driving out Spanish troops and forming a new government for the Netherlands. [[Don Juan of Austria]], the new Spanish governor, was forced to concede initially, but within months returned to active hostilities. The Dutch looked for help from the Protestant [[Elizabeth I]] of England, but she initially stood by her commitments to the Spanish in the [[Treaty of Bristol]] of 1574. When the next large-scale battle occurred at [[Gembloux]] in 1578, the Spanish forces won easily.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Gillespie |first1=Alexander |title=The Causes of War: Volume III: 1400 CE to 1650 CE |date=2017 |publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing |page=131}}</ref> In light of the [[Battle of Gembloux (1578)|defeat at Gembloux]], the southern states of the Seventeen Provinces distanced themselves from the rebels in the north with the 1579 [[Union of Arras]]. Opposing them, the northern half of the Seventeen Provinces forged the [[Union of Utrecht]] in which they committed to support each other against the Spanish.<ref>Motley, John Lothrop (1855). [https://books.google.com/books?id=8isNLCXfNycC&pg=PA411 ''The Rise of the Dutch Republic''] Vol. III, Harper Bros.: New York, p. 411.</ref> The Union of Utrecht is seen as the foundation of the modern Netherlands.<ref>{{Cite encyclopedia |title=Union of Utrecht {{!}} European history  |url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/Union-of-Utrecht |access-date=21 June 2023 |encyclopedia=Encyclopedia Britannica |language=en}}</ref>

Spanish troops sacked [[Maastricht]] in 1579, killing over 10,000 civilians.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Nolan |first1=Cathal J. |title=The Age of Wars of Religion, 1000–1650: An Encyclopedia of Global Warfare and Civilization, Volume 1 |date=2006 |publisher=Greenwood Publishing Group |page=247}}</ref> In 1581, the northern provinces adopted the [[Act of Abjuration]], the declaration of independence in which the provinces officially deposed Philip II.<ref>Motley, John Lothrop (1855). [https://books.google.com/books?id=8isNLCXfNycC&pg=PA508 ''The Rise of the Dutch Republic''] Vol. III, Harper Bros.: New York, p. 508.</ref> Against the rebels Philip could draw on the resources of the [[Spanish Empire]]. Elizabeth I sympathised with the Dutch struggle and sent an army of 7,600 soldiers to aid them.<ref>Willson, David Harris (1972). ''History of England'', Holt, Rinehart & Winston: New York, p. 294.</ref> English forces faced the Spanish in the Netherlands under the [[Alexander Farnese, Duke of Parma|Duke of Parma]] in a series of largely indecisive actions that tied down significant numbers of Spanish troops and bought time for the Dutch to reorganise their defences.<ref>{{cite book |title=Ground Warfare: An International Encyclopedia, Volume 1 |date=2002 |publisher=ABC-CLIO |page=45}}</ref> The war continued until 1648, when Spain under King [[Philip IV of Spain|Philip IV]] recognised the independence of the seven north-western provinces in the [[Peace of Münster]].<ref name=":022" /> Parts of the southern provinces became ''de facto'' colonies of the new republican-mercantile empire.<ref>{{Cite encyclopedia |title=History of Spain |url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/history-of-Spain |access-date=21 June 2023 |encyclopedia=Encyclopedia Britannica |language=en}}</ref>