Spinola left
Ostend on 6 July 1605, leading an army of 15,000 men, and crossed the
Rhine near
Kaiserswerth to begin his campaign. Throughout the operation, he was regularly assisted by the
Count of Bucquoy, who also achieved notable military successes.
Capture of Oldenzaal With the 15,000 men, Spinola first marched towards
Oldenzaal and arrived before the city on the 8th of August, which was defended by a garrison that consisted of three companies. Spinola began digging trenches the same night, and the day after began to fire with artillery. The same day the city started negotiations and surrendered the same day. After capturing Oldenzaal, Spinola marched straight towards
Lingen.
Siege of Lingen On 10 August, just two days after capturing
Oldenzaal, Spinola laid siege to the fortified town of
Lingen in the Ems valley. The city was defended by a garrison of 500 to 1,000 men under the command of Maerten Cobben. The news of Oldenzaal falling and Lingen being besieged arrived to the Dutch headquarters on the same day. The garrison, expecting an attempted relief by
Maurice of Nassau, tried their best to defend the city and hold out as long as possible before Maurice and his relief force arrived. After 9 days the expected relief by Maurice never came, and Spinola urged that the city surrendered, which they did on the same day.
Attacks on Bergen op Zoom On the 23rd of August, a Spanish army under Du Terrail arrived before
Bergen op Zoom in order to try and capture the city by surprise. Du Terrail and his army carried out two separate attacks. The Spanish forces made significant progress during their initial assault and came close to capturing the city. However, as they were advancing towards the city gate, the garrison, under command of Paulus Bax was alerted and began to bombard the Spanish with every weapon they had available. At daybreak, as water levels were rising, the Spanish forces were forced to retreat. A month later, on the 21st of September, the Spanish tried again. Though this time, the Dutch were more aware of the possibility of a Spanish attack on their city. Although the element of surprise was gone, the Spanish still decided to attack. Even in the pouring rain, the Spanish still attacked the city from 5 sides. The commander of the city, Paulus Bax, provided the citizens with weaponry. Due to the city now being properly manned with an adequate garrison, the second attack was also repelled. Two gates of the city were bombarded and captured by Spanish soldiers, the last gate however was fiercely defended by Dutch soldiers, women and children. The Spanish had to retreat by morning, and had suffered more than a hundred casualties, while Dutch casualties were light.
Battle of Mülheim In the autumn of 1605,
Ambrogio Spinola encamped his army in the
Ruhr area between
Duisburg and
Ruhrort. From there, an army of around 4,000 men marched towards
Mülheim an der Ruhr and Broich Castle in order to occupy them.
Maurice of Nassau, who was encamped near
Wesel received news of this. Together with his half brother
Frederick Henry and the commander Marcellus Bax, who was an experienced soldier during the
battle of Turnhout. The Dutch marched with an army of the same strength of the Spanish and attacked the Spanish forces by surprise on the 9th of October. Bax crossed the Ruhr and captured the castle without a fight, Bax also cut off the Spanish lines in case they were to retreat. Although everything went well for the Dutch forces, Frederick Henry at one point was cornered and a part of Maurice's army fled the battlefield. Maurice first had to relieve Frederick, but he no longer had proper control over his cavalry, and had to retreat.
Siege of Wachtendonk After Spinola was victorious at the battle of Mülheim, he set his eyes on
Coevorden, but he had to abandon that idea. He laid his eyes on
Wachtendonk instead, he sent the
Count of Bucquoy with an army of 6,000 men towards the city. Due to favourable weather, the Spanish had been able to storm the city a few times already, which meant that the occupation had weakened. Due to the favourable weather, Bucquoy had been able to dig canals and trenches within 7 days. After a few days, Buqcuoy was able to capture a
bastion which allowed him to conquer the city. On the 27th of October, negotiations began for surrender, which happened the next day. The garrison was allowed to leave with the
honours of war.
Siege of Krakau Castle After capturing
Wachtendonk, Spinola sent the Count of Bucqouy to Krakau Castle, near
Krefeld. The castle was under the leadership of the governor van Swieten, and a garrison of 400 men. Though the governor had no authority over the garrison. The siege began on the 8th of November. The soldiers fled from the
Ravelin to the castle. In the castle itself, the soldiers had to surrender and the castle was left in Spanish hands.
Siege of Bredevoort The Spanish, under the command of Guielmo Verdugo entered the city after falsely declaring themselves to be soldiers of the
States army. Once inside, the Spanish plundered the city. From surrounding citites troops were immediately sent to
Bredevoort in order to prevent the Spanish from strengthening themselves within the city. Though the Spanish did attempt to help the Spanish within
Bredevoort from
Ruhrort, but when these reinforcements saw that the Dutch had already encamped themselves outside the city, the left in a hurry, leaving behind all of their supplies, including food and gunpowder, this meant that Verdugo was now starving. Local farmers that found those supplies sold it to the Dutch soldiers for reasonable prices. Verdugo's position within
Bredevoort did not improve, since the city was shot at from all sides.
Frederick Henry also arrived before the city with a cavalry contingent, Verdugo saw that he had no chance, and had to surrender.
Battle of the Berkumerbridge After Bredevoort, Spinola had sent a part of his forces to
Almelo to sail down the Regge and Vecht with ships that contained reinforcements. Once the Spanish arrived near
Mastenbroek, the Spanish conquered Fort Kijk and started to besiege the city of
Zwolle on the side of the city that was not fortified. While that happened, Gerard van Warmelo spotted the Spanish ships. Aware of their intentions, he rushed towards the Berkumer bridge with three infantry companies and one cavalry company. On the 2nd of August, a fierce battle between Dutch and Spanish forces ensued. The Dutch army tried to prevent the Spanish from reaching the Zwartewatersdijk on the other side, in which the Dutch succeeded. The battle resulted in heavy casualties and the Spanish had to retreat.
Siege of Lochem After Bredevoort, Spinola tried to gain a foothold in the
Veluwe and the
Betuwe. But he had to abandon that idea after his army was cut off by Maurice. However, Spinola did manage to conquer
Groenlo and
Lochem. Out of fear of facing Spinola on the battlefield again after Mülheim, Maurice severely doubted in trying to recapture the city. On the 24th of October Count
Ernest Casimir arrived before the gates of Lochem and commenced his siege of Lochem. The siege itself lasted five days until the garrison stationed in the city had to surrender. Maurice tried the same with
Groenlo, but to no avail.
Siege of Groenlo After Lochem, Spinola was not headed towards
Groenlo, and arrived before the city on the 3rd of August. The siege lasted until the 14th of August when the city was forced to surrender. Maurice received the news of this the day after and was told that the garrison of 1.100 men headed towards
Zutphen. Spinola headed to
Rheinberg afterwards. In October, the Spanish army experienced another
mutiny, Maurice viewed this as an opportunity to attempt to recapture Groenlo. Maurice besieged the city on the 30th of October, the Spanish garrison that had a strength of 2,000 put up fierce resistance. Spinola, finally put up with the mutineers, marched towards Groenlo. Upon hearing this, Maurice did not wait for Spinola to arrive, he abandoned the siege and headed to
Doesburg.
Siege of Rheinberg , 1606 After capturing
Groenlo, Spinola urged the
Count of Bucquoy to take the strategic city of
Rheinberg. On the 24th of August, the Spanish arrived before the city and started to surround it and started to dig trenches.
Maurice of Nassau tried his best to relieve the city, but he could not since Spinola's fortifications were too strong. Maurice sent 12,000 of his infantrymen and 3,000 cavalry to encamp near Alphen and sent 2,000 men to
Meurs. Maurice also considered to send Frederick Henry to Rheinberg with his cavalry, but decided not to since it was too risky. Maurice would also eventually decide not to relieve the city, since a successful relief meant that the Spanish would most likely retreat towards the
Betuwe, and he did not want to risk cities of higher importance in contrast to a city that was located pretty far from the mainland
Dutch Republic. Although the Spanish army greatly outnumbered the Dutch garrison, the garrison did show fierce resistance. But the city was forced to surrender on the 1st of October due to starvation. The loss of
Oldenzaal,
Lingen,
Groenlo and now Rheinberg caused the defense of the Eastern
Dutch Republic to weaken. ==Aftermath==