The Dutch Win Independence

In 1573,Holland was part of the Spanish Netherlands,ruled by the King of Spain,Phillip II.The Dutch,a Protestant people,revolted against the Catholic Spanish.Phillip sent an army under the Duke of Alva to crush the little country.Alva laid siege to the Dutch city of Alkmaar,and after a period of indecisive skirmishes,on Sept. 18,after a steady cannonade of 12 hrs,Alva ordered an assault.Two regiments from Lombardy stormed the walls.Every living man in Alkmaar was on the walls defending.The Spanish were assailed with cannon,musketry,pistols,boiling water,pitch,boiling oil,molten lead,and unslaked lime.Hundreds of burning hoops were skilfully quoited around the necks of the Spanish,while as fast as any of the invaders planted foot on the breach they were confronted with sword and dagger.Three times the Spanish renewed their assault,three times they were thrown back.Finally the trumpet of recall was sounded,and the Spanish retired,leaving over 1,000 dead in the trenches.The Dutch lost 37 men.Then the vast sluices called the Zyp were opened and the surrounding land began to flood.The Spanish left.Though Holland was not effectively independent until 1609,the Spanish after Alkmaar did not have the stomach to try to continue to subdue the Dutch.