Siege of Groenlo (1595)

Part of the Eighty Years' War & the Anglo–Spanish War

View of the siege of Groenlo in 1595.

Date	14–24 July 1595
Location	Groenlo, Gelderland (present-day the Netherlands)
Result	Spanish victory

Belligerents

United Provinces

England

Spain

Commanders and leaders

Maurice of Nassau

Francis Vere

Cristóbal de Mondragón
(Spanish Tercios)

Jan van Stirum
(In Groenlo)

Strength

6,000 infantry
200-300 cavalry
16 artillery pieces

(Spanish Tercios)
7,000 infantry
1,300 cavalry
(In Groenlo)
600 infantry

The Siege of Grol or Groenlo in 1595 was a siege of Groenlo by States forces under Maurice of Nassau during the Eighty Years' War in an attempt to capture it from the Spanish Empire. It lasted from 14 to 24 July 1595, ending with the arrival of a Spanish relief force under Cristóbal de Mondragón and Maurice's retreat. Two years later, in 1597, Maurice returned to carry out another Siege of Groenlo. Both these sieges formed part of what would later be called the Ten Years.

The fortified town of Grol, present-day Groenlo, was a small, but relatively important stronghold along the eastern border of the Dutch Republic. Groenlo formed a crucial link between the Dutch cities that were members of the Hanseatic League, such as Deventer, Kampen, Zwolle and Zutphen, and the Holy Roman Empire. Situated in a difficultly passable region, Groenlo developed extensive fortifications that from the late Middle Ages were constantly improved, so that by 1595 the medieval brick city wall was itself surrounded with motes and bastions and armed with cannons. In 1580, after the Spanish took control of the provinces of Friesland, Groningen, Drenthe and Overijssel, Groenlo, which itself lay in the bordering province of Guelders, was taken over by Spanish troops as well. From 1581 onwards, a Spanish garrison was stationed in the city.

Meanwhile, Maurice of Orange, then the stadtholder of Holland, Zeeland and Utrecht, had launched an offensive against the Spanish forces, led by Alexander Farnese, Duke of Parma, to retake the Dutch forts and cities that were in Spanish hands. As a result, Maurice managed to take Breda, Deventer and Zutphen between 1590 and 1593. In 1594, Maurice started to plan a campaign to retake the cities of Twente, such as Enschede, Oldenzaal and Lingen. To form a bridgehead into Twente, Maurice planned a siege on Groenlo, despite discouragements of Maurice's nephew and military advisor, William Louis, Count of Nassau-Dillenburg, who thought that the fortifications of the city were as good as impregnable. William Louis advised Maurice to belay siege on Lingen instead, but Maurice wove his critique aside and started the preparations for his plans anyway. Maurice had great difficulty to find enough funds and troops for his plans, whereby the campaign into Twente did not start until 1595, when the siege of Groenlo finally begun.

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Wikipedia