Editing History of Belgium (section)

== Dutch Revolt and 80 Years' War ==
{{Main|Dutch Revolt}}
{{See also|Dunkirkers}}
[[File:Spaanse Furie, plundering.jpg|thumb|The Sack of Antwerp in 1576, in which 17,000 people died.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Sugg |first=Richard |page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=jqagh4PLTxQC&pg=PT198 198] |title=Mummies, Cannibals and Vampires: the History of Corpse Medicine from the Renaissance to the Victorians |publisher=Taylor & Francis |date=2012 |isbn=978-1-1365-7736-9}}</ref>]]
[[File:Famien Strada Histoire-Capture of Tournai 1581-ppn087811480 MG 8936T3p287.tif|thumb|Siege and capture of Tournai, 1581]]
[[File:1579 Siege of Maastricht - Aranjuez Palace.jpg|thumb|The Siege of Maastricht (1579) by an anonymous painter]]
[[File:Slag bij Nieuwpoort - Nicaise De Keyser.jpg|thumb|The [[Battle of Nieuwpoort]] (1600)]]

The northern part of Belgica Regia, comprising seven provinces and eventually forming the Dutch Republic, became increasingly [[Protestant]] (specifically, [[Calvinist]]), while the larger part comprising the ten southern provinces remained primarily Catholic. This schism, and other cultural differences which had been present since ancient times, launched the [[Union of Atrecht]] in the Belgian regions, later followed by the [[Union of Utrecht]] in the northern regions. When [[Philip II of Spain|Philip II]] ascended the Spanish throne he tried to abolish all Protestantism. Portions of Belgica Regia revolted, eventually resulting in the [[Eighty Years' War]] (1568–1648) between [[Habsburg Spain|Spain]] and the [[Dutch Republic]].<ref name="Geoffrey Parker 1990">{{Cite book |last=Parker |first=Geoffrey |title=The Dutch Revolt |date=1990 |publisher=Penguin Books |isbn=978-0-1401-3712-5 |edition=Revised}}</ref> The horrors of this war—massacres, religious violence, mutinies—were precursors to the [[Thirty Years' War]] (1618–1648) with which it would merge.

After the [[Beeldenstorm|Iconoclastic Fury]] of 1566, Spanish authorities were able to largely gain control of the Low Countries. The most notable event of this period was the [[Battle of Oosterweel]], in which Spanish forces destroyed an army of Dutch Calvinists. King Philip II sent in [[Fernando Álvarez de Toledo, 3rd Duke of Alba]], as Governor-General of the [[Spanish Netherlands]] from 1567 to 1573. Alba established a special court called the [[Council of Troubles]] (nicknamed the "Council of Blood"). The Blood Council's reign of terror saw it condemn thousands of people to death without due process and drive the nobles into exile while seizing their property. Alba boasted that he had burned or executed 18,600 persons in the Netherlands, in addition to the far greater number he massacred during the war, many of them women and children; 8,000 persons were burned or hanged in one year, and Alba's Flemish victims totalled at least 50,000.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Sharp Hume |first=Martín Andrew |title=The Spanish People: Their Origin, Growth and Influence |page=372}}</ref>

The [[Dutch Revolt]] spread to the south in the mid-1570s after the [[Army of Flanders]] mutinied for lack of pay and went on the rampage in several cities. At the [[Battle of Gembloux (1578)|Battle of Gembloux]], on January 31, 1578, the Dutch were followed by [[John of Austria|Don Juan of Austria]], who sent forward a picked force that attacked the rearguard and dispersed it, and then, falling suddenly upon the main body, utterly routed it, killing at least 10,000 rebels.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Gillespie |first=Alexander |title=The Causes of War: Volume III: 1400 CE to 1650 CE |date=2017 |publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing |page=131}}</ref> Don Juan of Austria died on October 1, 1578, and was succeeded by [[Alexander Farnese, Duke of Parma]].

With the arrival of large numbers of troops from Spain, Farnese began a campaign of reconquest in the south.<ref>Bart de Groof, "Alexander Farnese and the Origins of Modern Belgium", ''Bulletin de l'Institut Historique Belge de Rome'' (1993) Vol. 63, pp. 195–219.</ref> He took advantage of the divisions in the ranks of his opponents between the Dutch-speaking Flemish and the Walloon-speaking south to foment growing discord.<ref name="Violet Soen 1592 pp. 1-22">Violet Soen, "Reconquista and Reconciliation in the Dutch Revolt: The Campaign of Governor-General Alexander Farnese (1578–1592)", ''[[Journal of Early Modern History]]'' (2012) 16#1 pp. 1–22.</ref> By doing so he was able to bring back the Walloon provinces to an allegiance to the king. By the [[Union of Atrecht|treaty of Arras]] in 1579, he secured the support of the "Malcontents", as the Catholic nobles of the south were styled. The seven northern provinces, controlled by Calvinists, responded with the [[Union of Utrecht]], where they resolved to stick together to fight Spain. Farnese secured his base in [[County of Hainaut|Hainaut]] and [[Artois]], then moved against [[Duchy of Brabant|Brabant]] and [[Flanders]]. He captured many rebel towns in the south:<ref>{{Cite book |last=Black |first=Jeremy |title=The Cambridge Illustrated Atlas of Warfare: Renaissance to Revolution, 1492–1792 |volume=2 |date=1996 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-0-5214-7033-9 |page=58}}</ref> [[Siege of Maastricht (1579)|Maastricht]] (1579), [[Tournai]] (1581), [[Oudenaarde]] (1582), [[Dunkirk]] (1583), [[Bruges]] (1584), and [[Siege of Ghent (1583–1584)|Ghent]] (1584).<ref name="Violet Soen 1592 pp. 1-22"/>

On August 17, 1585, Farnese laid siege to [[Antwerp]]. Antwerp was one of the richest cities in northern Europe and a rebel stronghold ever since Spanish and Walloon troops [[Sack of Antwerp|sacked it]] in 1576. The city was open to the sea, strongly fortified, and well defended under the leadership of [[Marnix van St. Aldegonde]]. Engineer Sebastian Baroccio cut off all access to the sea by constructing a [[bridge of boats]] across the [[Scheldt]]. The Dutch sailed fireships, called [[Hellburners]],{{Efn|Hellburners were a special type of [[fireship]] designed by an Italian engineer, [[Federigo Giambelli]].}} against the bridge and blew up a 200-foot-long span and [[Largest artificial non-nuclear explosions|killed 800 Spaniards]]. The besiegers repaired the damage, however, and pressed the investment. [[Fall of Antwerp|The city surrendered in 1585]] as 60,000 Antwerp citizens (60% of the pre-siege population) fled north.<ref name="Violet Soen 1592 pp. 1-22"/> [[Brussels]], [[Mechelen]] and [[Geertruidenberg]] fell the same year.
Farnese's strategy was to offer generous terms for surrender: there would be no massacres or looting; historic urban privileges were retained; there was a full pardon and amnesty; return to the Catholic Church would be gradual.<ref name="Violet Soen 1592 pp. 1-22"/> Catholic refugees from the North regrouped in Cologne and Douai and developed a more militant, [[Council of Trent|tridentine]] identity. They became the mobilising forces of a popular [[Counter-Reformation]] in the South, thereby facilitating the eventual emergence of the state of Belgium.<ref>Geert H.  Janssen, "The Counter-Reformation of the Refugee: Exile and the Shaping of Catholic Militancy in the Dutch Revolt", ''Journal of Ecclesiastical History'' (2012) 63#4 pp. 671–692</ref>

In 1601, the Spanish [[Siege of Ostend|besieged Ostend]], producing more than 100,000 casualties before Ostend finally fell in 1604. While the former northern part of Belgica Regia, the [[Dutch Republic|Seven United Provinces]], gained independence, [[Southern Netherlands|Southern Belgica Regia]] remained under the rule of Spain (1556–1713). The southern part spoke various romance languages and the northern part used Dutch, yet court accounts were kept in [[Spanish language|Spanish]].