Flanders army

In the mid-sixteenth century, rebellions launched by the Calvinists began in seventeen provinces , and the Spanish king Philip II decided to send significant troops to help Marguerite of Parma . In 1567, from northern Italy, along the route that later became known as the “ Spanish Road ”, it was decided to send to the Seventeen Provinces 8,000 foot and 1,200 horse soldiers, who were to form the core of the Spanish army in the Netherlands. It was assumed that this army would grow to 60 thousand foot and 10 thousand horse soldiers, his commander was Fernando Alvarez de Toledo , Duke of Alba.

Then the Spanish authorities considered that 70 thousand people was too much and certainly too expensive, and as a result, 10 thousand Spaniards and an infantry regiment recruited in Germany were sent north. Arriving in the Netherlands, they joined the 10 thousand Walloons and Germans, already in the service of Margarita of Parma. Relying on these professional soldiers who formed the Flanders Army, the Duke of Alba began mass repressions. Of the 12 thousand people arrested, about 1 thousand were sentenced to death, the rest were confiscated property.

Initially, in 1567, there were about 20 thousand people in the Flanders Army. Having defeated William of Orange , the Spaniards planned next year to reduce it to 3,200 Walloon infantry and 4,000 Spanish infantry, which were to be deployed along the borders of the Netherlands, and in the interior of the territory it was planned to place a strategic reserve of 4,000 Spanish infantry and 500 light cavalry. However, the Dutch revolution led to the beginning of the growth of the army, and by 1574 its size reached (at least on paper) 86 thousand people.

The Spaniards were considered the best soldiers, but the local population did not like them, and there were two cases when, to reassure the locals, the Spaniards were taken out of the Netherlands. Soldiers in the army were recruited both in the Catholic possessions of the Habsburgs, and by hiring in other parts of Europe. In the 1590s in Europe there was a whole competition between recruiters: soldiers were required for the Flanders Army, for other possessions of the Habsburg empire, and for participation in religious wars in France . A similar competition took place at the beginning of the 17th century: soldiers were required both in the Flanders Army and in the Habsburg Army in Hungary. The need to maintain a large army in Flanders caused an overstrain of Spanish finances, since in parallel it was required to maintain large military forces in the Mediterranean to fight the Turks. The payment was fixed: until 1634 the soldier received three escudos per day, since 1634 the payment was increased to four escudos per day.

Despite the fact that the army was usually made up of volunteers, other methods were also used in emergency situations: having once formed a third of Catalan criminals for fighting in Flanders, Philip II subsequently continued to send Catalan criminals there all the time he was on the throne.

Various modern auxiliary military structures often appeared in the Flanders Army earlier than in other armies of that time. So, in 1567, the Duke of Alba opened a military hospital in Mechelen , which was closed the next year, but subsequently, according to numerous demands of the rebels, reopened in 1595. This hospital employed 49 people and had 330 beds, its maintenance was partially paid by the troops. Later, a home for the disabled was opened, in 1596 a trustee service was created to address issues related to the inheritance of soldiers who died in the service. Since 1609, small barracks began to be built to place the army outside the territory of the main cities - later this system was adopted by other countries.

Having entered the Flanders Army in the Netherlands, the Duke of Alba, despite losing the battle of Heiligerle , was able to suppress the uprisings in the north and calm the country until a new outbreak of performances took place in 1572. In 1573, the Duke of Alba, unable to cope with the crisis, was replaced by Luis de Recensense i Zunigu . The bankruptcy of the Spanish crown in 1575 left Rekensens-i-Sunigu without funds to support the army. The Flanders army rebelled and, after the death of Rekensens-i-Zunigi in 1576, actually ceased to exist, having broken up into many rebel groups. Juan of Austria, who took command of the troops, tried to restore discipline, but could not prevent the looting of Antwerp .

When in 1578 Alessandro Farnese became the Spanish governor of the Netherlands , the territory finally split into the rebellious North and a loyal South. Farnese focused on regaining Spanish control of the South, repelling Antwerp and other major cities in the region. Since at that moment Spain entered the war with England , the Flanders Army was reassigned with its usual task of pacifying the Netherlands to prepare for a landing in England, and was relocated to Ostend and Dunkirk . The defeat of the “Invincible Armada” prevented the implementation of this plan.

In 1592, Alessandro Farnese was replaced by Peter Ernst I , in 1594 the Archduke of Austria Ernst became the new governor, and in 1595 (after Ernst's death) - Albrecht VII of Austria . Due to the fact that at this time Spain intervened in religious wars in France , the Flanders army re-aimed south to counter France, and the north of the Spanish Netherlands became de facto independent. Despite the fact that the Spaniards did not manage to recapture the North, at the beginning of the XVII century the Flanders Army remained a serious opponent of the Army of the General States

Thanks to the gold and silver coming from the American colonies, Spain was the only European state of that time to contain an army of this size so far from the mother country. Nevertheless, this financial burden turned out to be too strong even for her: if in 1568 1.873.000 florins a year were spent on the maintenance of the Flanders Army, then in 1574 it was already 1.200.000 florins a month , Castile could send no more than a month 300,000 florins , and taxes collected in the Spanish Netherlands, also could not rectify the situation. The bankruptcy of the Spanish crown in 1575 led to the complete cessation of the receipt of money. As a result, from 1572 to 1609, more than 45 rebellions occurred in the Flanders Army, caused by non-payment of salaries.

The riots led to problems of three varieties. First, soldiers who refused to fight confused the plans of the Spanish command. Secondly, in search of a livelihood, soldiers robbed the local population, further reducing its loyalty to the Spanish crown. Thirdly, interruptions in hostilities caused by the Spanish rebellion allowed the Dutch rebels to compensate for military losses.

In the first campaigns of the Thirty Years War, the Flanders Army, as a mobile field army, played an important role for supporters of the Holy Roman Emperor . In 1620, the 20,000th Flanders army, under the command of Ambrosio Spinola, entered the Lower Palatinate and, united with the army of the Catholic League , defeated the Protestants in the Battle of White Mountain . After that, bypassing the Netherlands from the flank, Spinola launched the siege of Breda , which eventually surrendered in 1624. The siege, however, caused an overstrain of Spanish finances and, not being able to compensate for the losses suffered, the Flanders army went on the defensive.

In 1634, the Spaniards threw fresh reinforcements from Italy along the Spanish Road under the command of Ferdinand of Austria , who defeated the Swedes at the Battle of Nördlingen along the way. However, Spanish successes were countered by the fact that France sided with the Netherlands .

Initially, the Flanders Army operated successfully in the Franco-Spanish War, forcing the Somme in 1636 and creating a threat to Paris. However, in subsequent years, the power of the French troops grew, which led in 1643 to the crushing defeat of the Flanders Army at the Battle of Rocroix . Such a sharp change in the strategic situation forced Spain to start negotiations, which eventually led to the Peace of Westphalia in 1648. This world ended the war in Germany, but the war with France and the Netherlands continued.

After the Battle of Rocroix, 6,000 people remained in the Flanders Army who did not have time to battle. The large expenses of the Spanish government during the Thirty Years' War did not significantly restore the armed forces, and in 1658 the Flanders Army was defeated by the French in the Battle of the Dunes . Spain was forced to sign the Iberian world .

In the second half of the XVII century, Spain did not have enough funds to support the large Flanders army, it was often replenished not by volunteers, but by prisoners of war, or recruits supplied by settlements as a result of the draw. Nevertheless, in spite of the disgusting material situation of the soldiers, there were no rebellions similar to those of the past century.

The War of Spanish Succession that broke out in 1701 led to the collapse of the Spanish state machine and the disappearance of the system on which the troops relied. In 1706, the Flanders Army was officially liquidated.

• Henry Kamen “Spain: the road to the empire” - Moscow: “AST” - “AST Moscow” - “The Guardian”, 2007. ISBN 978-5-17-039398-5