Siege of Schenkenschans | |||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Part of the Eighty Years' War and the Franco-Spanish War | |||||||
Siege of Schenkenschans by Gerrit van Santen. | |||||||
| |||||||
Belligerents | |||||||
Dutch Republic | Spain | ||||||
Commanders and leaders | |||||||
Frederick Henry | Gomar de Fourdin | ||||||
Strength | |||||||
30,000 | 1,500 | ||||||
Casualties and losses | |||||||
Very High | 900 |
The siege of Schenkenschans (30 July 1635 – 30 April 1636) was a major siege of the Eighty Years' War. In a successful campaign the Army of Flanders, commanded by Spanish general Cardinal-Infante Ferdinand of Austria, captured Schenkenschans along with a number of important towns, reversing recent Dutch gains and opening the Dutch Republic to a possible invasion. The Dutch Stadtholder, Fredrick Henry, pushed the republic's military efforts to their limit to recapture the fortress of Schenkenschans to counter the threat to the exposed Dutch heartland. He succeeded in doing so after a costly nine month siege.