Editing Battle of Nieuwpoort (section)

==To Dunkirk==
Maurice used these setbacks to capture several important border forts. Chief among those was the brand new and very strong fort Crevecoeur (north of [['s-Hertogenbosch]], part of previous year's ambitious plans). Its men had mutinied but stayed loyal to the King of Spain. After a two month siege, and despite Spanish relief efforts, it surrendered in May 1600, with full honours intact. Maurice had offered them the pay they were still due by Spain, plus service in the Dutch army, all of which they accepted.<ref>Most of the Crevecoeur mutineers were Walloon. These formed a new Walloon regiment in the Dutch army. They were nicknamed the New Beggars and wore red sashes instead of Dutch orange, but over the wrong - left - shoulder, to proudly show their ancestry. The Spanish army had standing orders to execute any of these men if captured. <br>At Nieuwpoort, this was the only unit in the Dutch army that hadn't been drilled up to army standards yet. Maurice therefore expressed some doubts about them before the battle. Their field commander Ltn-Col Marquette replied by having the whole regiment swear an oath there and then on the beach, to either fight or die with Maurice that day. They performed well.</ref>

The relatively easy victory convinced the Dutch government to try something bigger. [[Dunkirk]] was the Spaniards main port in the north. It inflicted a lot of damage on Dutch merchants and fishermen. Maintaining a permanent blockade was quite expensive. Capturing it would also give the Dutch a bargaining chip with France and England. It was an ambitious target though and two earlier attempts (1594, 1595) to land an army close by had failed. A safer tactic was to use Dutch-held [[Ostend]] to the north as a base of operation. Only two obstacles remained between the two ports: Fort Albert just south of Ostend, and the port city of Nieuwpoort. It was decided to land an army right in front of [[Nieuwpoort, Belgium|Nieuwpoort]], take it and the fort, and then march to Dunkirk.

The time was right for an operation deep inside enemy territory. Apart from Spanish mutiny issues, Ostend was being slowly encircled by forts. It was only a matter of time before Albert would lay siege to it: so using Ostend as a base was a matter of now or never. Maurice and the military didn't agree on Dunkirk however. They'd much rather focus on [[Sluis]], the Spanish galley port north of Ostend. Maurice knew the area well, after landings in 1586, 1591, and two in 1593. Sluis was closer to the Republic and important to control the sea access of major trade centre [[Antwerp]]. The government overruled the military however: it was to be Dunkirk.