Siege of Ostend

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Siege of Ostend

Date	July 5, 1601 – September 16, 1604
Location	Ostend, present-day Belgium
Result	Spanish victory

Combatants

United Provinces

Spain

Commanders

Francis Vere

Archduke Albrecht
Ambrosio Spinola

Strength

Unknown

Casualties

30,000 dead or wounded
15,000 captured

55,000 dead or wounded

Eighty Years' War
Oosterweel – Rheindalen – Heiligerlee – Jemmingen – Jodoigne – Brielle – Haarlem – Flushing – Borsele – Zuiderzee – Alkmaar – Leiden – Reimerswaal – Mookerheyde – Gembloux – Maastricht – 1st Breda – Punta Delgada – Antwerp – Boksum – Zutphen – 1st Bergen op Zoom – Gravelines – 2nd Breda – Turnhout – Nieuwpoort – Ostend – Sluys – Gibraltar – 2nd Bergen op Zoom –3rd Breda – Bay of Matanzas – 's-Hertogenbosch – Maastricht – 4th Breda – Kallo – The Downs – Hulst – Puerto de Cavite

The Siege of Ostend was a three-year siege that resulted in a Spanish victory. It is remembered as the bloodiest battle of the Eighty Years' War and one of the longest sieges in history: It is said "the Spanish assailed the unassailable; the Dutch defended the indefensible."^{[citation needed]}

In 1603, General Spinola assumed command of the Spanish forces. Under his able leadership, the Spanish tore Ostend's outer defenses from the exhausted Dutch and put what remained of the city under the muzzles of their guns, compelling the Dutch to surrender. By that point the Spanish had lost almost 60,000 men in the blasted trenches and dugouts surrounding the ruined city.

The ruin and devastation of the siege led to negotiations that produced a twelve-year truce (1609-1621) between Spain and the United Provinces.