| Siege of Alkmaar | |||||||
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| Part of the Eighty Years' War | |||||||
The Siege of Alkmaar by Frans Hogenberg |
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| Belligerents | |||||||
| Dutch Rebels | Spain | ||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||
| Jacob Cabeliau | Fadrique Álvarez de Toledo | ||||||
| Strength | |||||||
| 800 Geuzen, ca.1,300 civilians | 6,500 to 16,000 troops | ||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||
| 24+ geuzen, 13 civilians | over 500 | ||||||
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The Siege of Alkmaar (1573) was a turning point in the Eighty Years' War. The burghers of the Dutch city of Alkmaar fought the Spanish (who had set up their camp in Oudorp) with boiling tar and burning branches from their renewed city walls. This battle was a turning point in the war, when the Spanish commander, Don Fadrique, the son of the hated Alva himself, was defeated and retreated.