Battle of Oosterweel

Infobox Military Conflict
conflict=Battle of Oosterweel
partof=the Eighty Years' War


caption=Battle of Oosterweel
date=March 13, 1567
place=near Antwerp, present-day Belgium
result=Spanish victory
combatant1=Dutch rebels
combatant2=
commander1=Jan de Marnix van Aldegonde †
commander2=de Beauvoir
strength1=2.500
strength2=1.000
casualties1=700–800 dead
casualties2=UnknownThe Battle of Oosterweel took place on March 13, 1567, and is traditionally seen as the beginningref|start of the Eighty Years' War. The battle was fought near the village of Oosterweel, north of Antwerp. A Spanish professional army under General Beauvoir defeated an army of radical Calvinists rebels under Jan de Marnix.

The prisoners were considered rebels and all were killed. 700-800 Protestants died.

William the Silent, the Burggraaf of Antwerp, did not allow the Protestants of the city to come to their aid, because he, as lord of the city of Antwerpen, was bounded to an oath of supporting the spanish king.

Notes

#The Dutch people typically view Louis of Nassau's surprise victory at Heiligerlee in 1568 as the first true battle of the Eighty Years' War.

External links

* [http://www.zum.de/whkmla/military/16cen/dutchrevolt.html Dutch Revolt, (1566) 1579-1648]