Dutch Revolt

Beginning in 1568, the provinces of the Low Countries rebelled against Habsburg Spain in the Eighty Years War, winning independence for the Dutch Republic.

Overview

Heavy taxation, centralization under Philip II, and the persecution of Protestants provoked unrest in the Habsburg Netherlands. After a wave of iconoclasm in 1566, the Duke of Alba imposed harsh repression, and William of Orange led the nobility into open revolt in 1568. Rebel privateers known as the Sea Beggars captured Brill in 1572, giving the rebels a foothold in Holland and Zeeland. The northern provinces united in the Union of Utrecht in 1579 and formally abjured Philip in 1581. The southern provinces were reconquered by Spain. Spain recognized the independent Dutch Republic in the Peace of Munster in 1648, by which time it had become a leading commercial power.