In 1632,
Frederick Henry, Prince of Orange (Dutch nickname:
De Stedendwinger, the Conqueror of Cities), conquered the city of
Venlo from the
Spaniards in the
Eighty Years' War. In 1637, after a long siege, he lost the city to the same Spaniards. Although the city had built a solid defense structure during the 16th century, a decision was made to build this fort on the west bank of the river
Meuse. In 1646, Frederick Henry took another attempt to siege the city. Because the fort was already completed by then, he failed in his attempt. Around 1450, there was already a
fortification on the west bank. When the city of Venlo was added to the
Dutch Republic in the 18th century, three new forts were built around the city:
Fort Ginkel (named after
Godard van Reede, Baron Ginkel, the local military commander at that time),
Fort Beerendonck (named after a former farmhouse at that site) and
Fort Keulen (Fort
Cologne). The 14th century Tegelpoort (Gate to
Tegelen) was replaced by the Roermondsepoort (Gate to
Roermond). Because the military needed more space throughout the years, the barracks were found too small. After all, soldiers were still located in the houses of the citizens of Venlo. Therefore, the commander decided to have the soldiers located into bigger barracks and the forts. In the 18th century, a report mentioned the severe state of the forts, especially Fort St. Michiel. Furthermore, the fort was situated too far from the river according to that report. This made the fort easy to conquer. Therefore, in 1831
Fort Leopold was built, an earth based fort named after
Leopold I of Belgium. ==Slighting==