The Dutch 'Military Revolution' During The Eighty Years War | Early-Modern Warfare

The Dutch military reforms during the Eighty Years' War influenced the nature of European warfare strongly and lastingly. Facing the Spanish Army, the true military giant of the time, the Dutch were hard pressed to improve their own army with quick but decisive innovation.
The backbone of the Spanish Pike and Shot tactic was the so-called ‘Tercio’, a deep square formation consisting of pike men and shot infantry usually supplemented by cavalry and artillery. The basic idea was that the muskets and arquebuses shoot the enemies to pieces while the pikes provide sufficient protection from enemy cavalry attacks. But how did the Dutch counter this military goliath?
Recent historiography explains it as follows: During the Eighty Years’ War it became clear to Maurice of Nassau, prince of Orange, that he had to change his army significantly if he wanted to defend the newly formed Dutch federation. But during this period most armed conflicts actually weren't open field battles but sieges. As long as they were entrenched in or themselves sieging a fortress, the expert on this topic Olaf Van Nimwegen explains, the Dutch were well capable to go toe to toe with the Spanish. But it was crucial to have an effective force that could credibly challenge opponents in open field to prevent becoming the enemy’s puppet. The English officer John Bingham, who had served in the Dutch army, summarized this as follows: “he who is master of the field may spoyle the Enemies Country at his pleasure, he may march where he thinketh best” Thus, the Dutch were primarily concerned with ameliorating their capabilities in open field battles.

 #history #dutch #netherlands

Some of the music (this particular song is called the 'Landsknecht Music') was provided by MANIK dreams, a dear friend of mine. Check him out if you'd like to hear more.

 Bibliography
Arndt, J., s.v. ‘Niederländischer Aufstand’, in: Enzyklopädie der Neuzeit.
Ayton, A., / Price, J. L., (Hrsg.), The Medieval Military Revolution. State, Society and Military Change in Medieval and Early Modern Europe, 199J. Black, A Military Revolution? Military Change and European Society 1550–1800, 1991.
Dierk, W., s.v. ‘Heeresreform’, in: Enzyklopädie der Neuzeit
Meumann, M., s.v. ‘Military Revolution’, in: Enzyklopädie der Neuzeit.
Parker G., The »Military Revolution«, 1560–1660 – a Myth?, in: Journal of Modern History 48.2, 1976, 196–214
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Parker, G., The Limits to Revolutions in Military Affairs: Maurice of Nassau, the Battle of Nieuwpoort (1600), and the Legacy, in The Journal of Military History, 71;2, 2007; S. 331 – 372.
Parker, G., From the House of Orange to the House of Bush. 400 years of Revolutions in Military Affairs, in: militaire Spectator, 172, IV (2003), p. 177-93.
Roberts, M.: The military revolution, 1560–1660. In: Clifford J. Rogers: The military revolution debate. Readings on the military transformation of early modern Europe. Westview Press, Boulder, Colo. 1995, S. 13–35.
Rogers, C.J. / Tallet F. (editors),  European Warfare, 1350–1750, 2010.
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[Jakob_Herzog]

It's still mind-boggling for me as an American to try and comprehend the fact the dutch fought for 80 years to achieve independence. Our revolution was so short compared to it, it's hard to imagine holding out against one of the military juggernauts of the time for 80 years. Respect for these mad lads.

[Big_E_Soul_Fragment]

This is one topic most history-based channels rarely cover and I'm glad you're making it. Keep it up, my dude.

[HistoryHustle]

Very interesting to learn more about Dutch military tactics.

[wachtwoorden]

As a Belgian I'm still sad Flanders didn't end up being an integral part of the united provinces

[ImperialGuardsman]

Nieuwport is an interesting battle to me. Since the spanish tercios in flanders were probably the best soldiers in the world at that point. It was the major test for Maurice's reforms. You had a somewhat untested army relying on military reforms and breakthrough in approach to war facing off against the best the old way of fighting had to offer. The fighting was bloody and both sides got off worse than they thought they would.

[rikstan]

That moment when I need to make a historiographical paper on the Military revolution and you just gave me a lot of sources thanks man. Too bad the professors at Uni do not think highly of youtube historians otherwise I would definitely reference you

[Zepol]

I love how people in the early modern era had the same knowledge we do today about the tactics and battle formations of antiquity.

[su_morenito_]

Pretty sure what Gonzalo Fernandez did with the spanish army was a military revolution itself. People forget who created the pikenshot system

[allamaadi]

I appreciate the academic bent to your videos, especially your emphasis on citing and quoting specific scholarly works and naming the authors so that we, as viewers, can follow-up on your research on our own if we want.

[apokos]

youtube was missing a channel about this era of warfare. thank you for your work :)

[robplazzman]

Military history as taught to me in England. The battles of Hastings, Agincourt, Waterloo. The Charge of the Light Brigade at Balaclava. The First World War, the Second World War. That’s it, nothing else matters. Thank god for u tube !

[DefeatedRoyalist]

This channel is truly unparalleled in its ability to analyze and objectively retell history:) love your work!

[DJAvren]

Always happy when Youtube suggests video's like this one. My recent history video binge has really shifted the algorithm in my favour.
Great video, I learnt new things today.
I had the great fortune of visiting Het Rijksmuseum some time ago when there was an exhibit about the 80 years war. A notebook with the described tactics was on display at the museum, along with a huge collection of Dutch muskets.

[donkdump]

Thanks man, I really like your late medieval to early modern warfare history videos

[philRminiatures]

The proof that man is ingenious in waging war ... and the proof that your videos are, once again, informative, so well illustrated, ans so pleasant to look at!😍😍😍😍

[moor-music]

Another great video, proud to be a little part of it :-)!

[niu]

Perfect video on history. It's Your fist video that I've seen and I really appreciate how You include specific references. It's like reading a scientific paper with proper citations on the topic. Subscribed and hit the bell button after 2 minutes of this video. Great job.

[drlca]

Great content. You Baz and K&G are basically running an extensive world military history course. Excellent.

[iamhere]

Just got your videos through the youtube recommendations system and already completely love them

[clintmoor]

i love theses vids. thanks for uploading