Siege of Leuven | |||||||||
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Part of the Eighty Years' War, the Thirty Years' War and the Franco-Spanish War (1635-1659) | |||||||||
![]() Relief of Louvain. Oil on canvas by Peter Snayers. | |||||||||
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Belligerents | |||||||||
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Commanders and leaders | |||||||||
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Strength | |||||||||
Garrison: 4,000[2][3][4] Relief force: 11,000[5] |
50,000[2] 30,000 Dutch 20,000 French | ||||||||
Casualties and losses | |||||||||
700 | At least 12,000 casualties[6][a] | ||||||||
The siege of Leuven (24 June – 4 July 1635) was an important siege in the Thirty Years' War in which a Franco-Dutch army under Frederick Henry of Orange and the French Marshals Urbain de Maillé-Brezé and Gaspard III de Coligny, who had invaded the Spanish Netherlands from two sides, laid siege to the city of Leuven, defended by a force of 4,000 comprising local citizen and student militias with Walloons, Germans, Spanish and Irish of the Army of Flanders under Anthonie Schetz, Baron of Grobbendonck.[4] Poor organization and logistics and the spread of sickness among the French, along with the appearance of an Imperial-Spanish relief army of 11,000 under Cardinal-Infante Ferdinand and Ottavio Piccolomini, forced the invading army to lift the siege.[7][8] This failure allowed the Spanish forces to take the initiative and soon the invaders were forced into a headlong retreat.[1]
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The Rape of Belgium And The Battle of Tannenberg I THE GREAT WAR - Week 5
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Transcription
August 28th 1914. Throughout August, 1914, as the war progressed in Belgium, France, and Serbia, the Austrian and German high command either sanctioned or ignored the widespread execution and rape of civilians and the sacking and burning of occupied towns. A shocked and revolted world looked on. My name is Indy Neidell. Welcome to the Great War. Here’s where we stood on the battlefields of Europe at the beginning of the week: In the west, there were three German armies- 750,000 men. The left flank was in Lorraine, and the rest were marching through Belgium at 30 km per day, an amazing speed, and pretty much slaughtering the French armies they encountered, and the British Expeditionary Force under John French was approaching from the west. Okay? In the East, the Germans were on the retreat out of East Prussia and the Russians were advancing. Now, in the west, after all the victories of the past few weeks, things were looking good for the Germans but their reputation was doing anything but that, and the atrocities the German troops committed against civilians in the west grew and grew. In Dinant, German soldiers repairing a bridge were fired on by a few Belgian civilians, and as a reprisal over 600 Belgian men, women, and children were shot. On August 20th, it happened in Andenne. There was even a printed announcement from German General von Bulow, posted in Liege that read the following “The population on Andenne, after manifesting peaceful intentions towards our troops, attacked them in the most treacherous manner. With my authorization the general who commanded these troops has reduced the town to ashes and shot 110 persons.” In Tamines, 384 men were rounded up near the church and shot. In Rossignol 122 people were executed for supposedly supporting the French army, who had just themselves been crushed there in battle. There were dozens more such incidents, known collectively as “the Rape of Belgium”, but in Leuven, though, it was completely out of control. The Germans had occupied Leuven on August 19th, right? On the 25th, the Belgian army, coming from Antwerp, harassed the Germans, but once this was over, the German command decided the people of Leuven were to blame, so for the next five days the German troops executed hundreds of citizens of both sexes, including many clergy, and burned the city and many of its famous medieval buildings. In the international press there were horrible eyewitness accounts and even a headline in the New York Tribune “Germans sack Louvain, women and clergy shot.”10,000 civilians were driven from the city. In total over 6,000 civilians are known to have been killed in cold blood in Belgium and France by Germans in the first weeks of the war. Now, I have to point out that some people today believe that the charges of war crimes against Germany in occupied Belgium and France are greatly exaggerated or even fabricated, but this is completely at odds with contemporary evidence. And it’s important to note that these crimes were not only tolerated by military command, but in many cases even sanctioned by them. Even some of the German newspapers, instead of denying or downplaying what happened, tried to explain and justify civilian executions and town burnings. The results of this were as you’d expect- French and Belgian hearts hardened against the Germans and anti-German sentiment grew all over the world. The stories of German atrocities were particularly abundant in the British papers, where propagandists wanted to move away from the killing of an aristocrat in a far away country to atrocities closer at hand in Belgium as a moral impera tive for fighting the war. This would motivate the British troops enormously when, on August 23, the Germans ran into the British for the first time in the war at the Battle of Mons. Now, the German high command had been mocking the British army for weeks and joking that they should just send the police to arrest them, but the British regulars, the only fully professional army in Europe before the war, held off the numerically superior Germans for many hours, inflicting three times the losses they took themselves. German howitzers arrived in the afternoon, though, with which the British artillery could not compete, and the British began to retreat, parallel to the French retreat as the Germans quickly pushed through Belgium and slaughtered the unprepared French army. There was heavy fighting for the British along the retreat over the next few days, especially when they turned and held their ground on August 26th at Le Cateau, long enough for thousands of men to withdraw in good order, A British General, Sir Horace Smith-Dorrien, had decided to stop and fight as the Germans were so close and the rearguard divisions were becoming so scattered that a catastrophic battle was otherwise inevitable. Smith-Dorrien was a general who had seen a lot of action, for over 30 years all over the world with the British Colonial Army, and he knew what he was doing. Although the action that day would prove deadlier for the British army than the D-Day invasion 30 years later, Smith-Dorrien would give his army a 12 hour start on the Germans, but the troops were exhausted, and there was now even talk in the air that the war would indeed be over by Christmas, but with Germany the victor. Although on the Eastern front, things to that point hadn’t been going well at all for the Germans, especially after their recent defeat at Gumbinnen, which caused the German retreat. After this, German army chief of staff von Moltke dismissed his paranoid General von Prittwitz and brought General von Hindenburg out of retirement to replace him. Hindenburg had retired in 1911, but unlike many of the European generals so far this war, Hindenburg had seen action going as far back as the 1860s. Now, on the surface, things looked good for the Russians, but they had colossal logistical and communications problems. They didn’t even encode their telegrams so all wire communications could be monitored by anyone, and one tiny event occurred that had huge later repercussions: After the battle of Gumbinnen, a note was found on a dead Russian officer that outlined most of the Russian plans for their offensive. Armed with this knowledge, Hindenburg and his second in command Ludendorff broke off the German retreat and decided to go on the attack. It’s the little things, you know? On August 24th, the Russians collided with the Germans and the Russian center made great progress, but it was a complete illusion. On the 26th, the German western flank cut through the Russian left and cut off communications, and on the 27th the German Eastern flank did the same to the Russian right flank. The Russian army was trapped in the middle, running out of basically everything, and on August 28th they began surrendering in droves, nearly 100,000 men with 50,000 more killed or wounded over the course of several days. This was the most spectacular defeat of the war and made Hindenburg a German national hero, even if much of the credit rightly belonged to the ironically named German General Francois. There was a village nearby named Tannenberg, where in a medieval battle the Slavs had defeated the Teutonic Knights[ad], and this village gave its name to the battle, which would become a big symbol of German pride. This was a big moment, because it put East Prussia now totally under German control. But further south, Germany’s ally Austria-Hungary was having huge difficulties with control, which the Austrian army used as an excuse for wartime atrocities of their own. The Austro-Hungarian Empire had launched this war in the first place to teach Serbia a lesson or even end her existence, and there was no love lost between the two, so when Austria-Hungary invaded it provoked widespread Serbian civilian resistance to the invading army- guerilla warfare- and this really upset the Austrians, particularly their stuck-in-the-past aristocratic military leaders, who wanted the war conducted on their terms, and they decreed that they would deal with civilian resistance ruthlessly. And they did, shooting, hanging, and bayonetting Serbian civilians, most of whom were innocent- men, women, and even children. But the Serbian guerillas were good at creating chaos in the Austrian lines, often waiting for them to pass before sniping them with rifles from behind. This was effective but it had its cost- an estimated 3,500 Serbian civilians were executed during just the first two weeks of the August campaign. And we have a lot of evidence of this because executing Serbian civilians was not something the Austrians tried to hide. In fact, Austrian army chief of staff Conrad von Hotzendorf wanted people to see these punishments, so many of the executions of civilians were photographed and the photos were published. Mass executions and mass graves. And here we are at the end of the week, with Germany ascendant in both the east and the west, and a terrified citizenry- including over a million Belgians- fleeing from the invaders. Many formerly anti-war people decided this week that the war was, after all, justified, and that Germany must be stopped at all costs to preserve civilization in Europe, and we see years later that the massacres of civilians by the Germans in August 1914 were a direct factor in the harsh conditions imposed on Germany after the war which indirectly, or maybe even directly led to Nazism and the Second World War. That’s all for this week. Click subscribe to get each and every episode. If you want more Background Information on our programm or more history info about WORLD WAR 1 than follow us on Facebook or Twitter. And share us on those plattform if you like.
Background
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In 1635 the Dutch Republic concluded an alliance with France with the objective of taking on the Army of Flanders from two sides, in the hope of breaking the strategic stalemate in the Eighty Years' War and dividing up the Spanish Netherlands between the two partners in the alliance. The French invaded from the south and defeated the Spanish army at Les Avins on 20 May, eventually joining forces in Maastricht with Frederick Henry of Orange, who had departed the Dutch Republic in command of 20,000 infantry and 6,000 cavalry soldiers,.[9] Meanwhile, the Cardinal-Infante Ferdinand, who was in Leuven, ordered the Spanish Tercios to move to Tienen and sent the Count of Fuenclara to Germany with instructions to call the Imperial army for help.[9]
The joint army of France and the United Provinces, then numbering 50,000 men,[9] composed by French, Dutch, German and English soldiers,[9] marched to Tienen, defended by a small garrison under Captain Martín de los Alarcos. The town was taken by assault, looted for three days, and finally razed.[9] The Spanish garrison and most of its inhabitants were massacred.[9] This event gave Ferdinand time to improve the fortifications of Leuven and to camp his army in a fortified position next to the city. The Franco-Dutch army made its appearance soon after and camped two leagues from Ferdinand's headquarters. Nevertheless, they remained inactive for eight days, which allowed the populace of all the country, but specially of Brussels, where the news of the sack of Tienen had caused great fear, to escape to safer places.[9]
Siege
First operations
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On 20 June the Franco-Dutch army raised camp and advanced its lines to the eastern bank of the Dijle river. Francisco de Moncada, 3rd Marquis of Aitona, commanding the Spanish Tercio of Marquis of Celada, several other tercios, and the cavalry under John VIII of Nassau-Siegen, proceeded to reinforce the German garrison of a fortified bridge over the Dijle fearing that the invading army would use it to cross the river.[5] The Spanish troops spent two hours observing the Franco-Dutch forces moving over the hills of the opposite riverside, when they discovered that they were crossing the Dijle using an undefended footbridge located a league from the first one.[5] The Duke of Lerma was immediately sent to prevent the crossing, in command of some cavalry under Juan de Vivero and 300 musketeers of Celada's tercio led by Captain Antonio de Velandia. By the time they arrived, more than 4,000 Franco-Dutch had passed the bridge and occupied strong defensive positions, as they had begun the maneuver at dawn of the same day.[5] Seeing this, the Duke of Lerma ordered Celada to withdraw, warning him through Captain Diego de Luna that he could not relieve him if his men were attacked, as the cavalry under Johann von Nassau-Siegen had fallen behind.[5]
Siege
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That night all the artillery and baggage marched back to Brussels, and the following day so did the Cardinal-Infante with his camp,[10] leaving the defense of Leuven in charge of the veteran Anthonie Schetz, baron of Grobbendonck. He was in command of the Tercio of his son, Baron of Wezemaal, the Walloon Tercio of Ribacourt, and the Irish Tercio of Thomas Preston, besides five militia companies of citizens of Leuven and students of the University of Leuven, and some cavalry units.[3] The Franco-Dutch army, having crossed the Dijle, looted the village of Tervuren, residence of the Dukes of Brabant, and reached the outskirts of Brussels. They soon turned back to Leuven to invest the town. Siege warfare ensued, with the allied artillery firing over Leuven's fortifications and the pioneers driving trenches and mines toward the ramparts. Most of the works were carried out at the gate of Vilvoorde, defended by Preston with his Irish tercio, whose numerous sorties to obstruct the siege works easily demoralized the poorly supplied French soldiers.[11] Walloon troops and students of the University also made many sorties, and the sap works were destroyed regularly every night.[11]
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The besiegers, irritated by the obstruction to their works, decided to storm the ramparts even exposed to enemy fire, taking advantage of their numerical superiority.[11] On one night three regiments assaulted the ramparts and bulwarks from the most advanced entrenchments, but were bloodily repelled by the wakeful defenders.[11] The following night, Frederick Henry in person led an assault on the ravelin which protected the gate of Mechelen, guarded by just a handful of Irish. Despite the initial success of the attack, the Irish, aided by some Germans and bourgeois, managed to reject Frederick Henry inflicting him serious losses.[11] Much of the failure was caused by the fact that the maneuvers of his army were being observed from a well-fortified tower, situated between the gates of Mechelen and Vilvoorde, popularly called Verlooren-Kost.[12] This tower, besides as artillery position, served as look-out to Baron of Grobbendonck. When the Franco-Dutch realized this, the Verlooren-Kost was put under heavy artillery fire, but the 9-meter-thick walls of the tower could not be overthrown.[12]
Relief
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On 29 June, Feast of Saints Peter and Paul, while the Franco-Dutch remained inactive, Grobbendonck ordered 250 selected defenders to make a sortie. They went out from three different gates and met in front of the Verlooren-Kost tower.[12] Then they stormed the besieging entrenchments by surprise, taking the troops occupying them completely unprepared. About 400 men, including a large number of officers, were killed. Despite the setback he suffered, Frederick Henry urged Grobbendonck that same day to surrender, threatening to massacre the inhabitants of the town.[12] Five days later a relief army under Ottavio Piccolomini of 8,000 cavalry troops and the tercios of Alonso Ladrón and Sigismondo Sfondrati, which had been garrisoned at Namur to recover the defeat of Les Avins, and a rearguard of 3,000 infantry and cavalry troops arrived in the outskirts of Leuven.[10] Their presence forced the Franco-Dutch army, which was then suffering food shortages, to lift the siege and retreat north towards the United Provinces.[1] A large number of soldiers deserted and were killed or captured by the Spanish cavalry and the Flemish peasants.[10] Shortly afterwards the Cardinal-Infante also made his appearance in command of 22,000 infantry and 14,000 cavalry men.[10]
Aftermath
The Franco-Dutch failure in front of Leuven's walls allowed the Spanish to take the initiative.[1] The Cardinal-Infante counter-attacked, pushing the Franco-Dutch army back to the Dutch border. He made a north-easterly thrust to the Rhine in the direction of Cleves, recapturing Diest and Tienen.[1] A party of 500 German mercenaries under Lt.-Col. Eyndhouts, roaming on his left flank, managed to surprise the Dutch fortress of Schenkenschans that at the time had a garrison of only 120 soldiers, in the night of 27/28 July. A large garrison was then put in the fortress, at first under the command of Eyndhouts. The Dutch brought up reinforcements right away, but could not prevent the occupation by a Spanish army of 20,000 of the Duchy of Cleves during August and September,[13] with the aim of linking the fort of Shenck with the main body of the Spanish Netherlands.[13] This army was a threat to the Dutch heartland and it was therefore urgent that this threat be countered. Frederick Henry personally started the siege of Schenkenschans within days of its fall, but soon transferred command to his cousin John Maurice, Prince of Nassau-Siegen. The fort fell to the Dutch but only after a long and very costly siege that lasted through the winter months.[1] Having secured the Dutch frontier, the Spanish forced the French back and counter-invaded the north of France towards the Somme, reaching as far as Corbie.[14]
Notes
References
- ^ a b c d e f Israel p. 70
- ^ a b Guthrie p. 181
- ^ a b Collin de Plancy p. 128
- ^ a b Ayres p. 127
- ^ a b c d e de Luna y Mora p. 393
- ^ a b Wilson 2009, p. 560.
- ^ Parrott p. 74
- ^ Israel p. 69
- ^ a b c d e f g de Luna y Mora p. 392
- ^ a b c d de Luna y Mora p. 394
- ^ a b c d e Collin de Plancy p. 129
- ^ a b c d Collin de Plancy p. 130
- ^ a b Israel p. 71
- ^ Israel p. 76
- Ayres, Ruby Mildred (2008). A Popular History of Ireland. BiblioBazaar, LLC. ISBN 978-0-554-33033-4.
- Collin de Pancy, Jacques Albin Simon (1836). Fastes militaires des Belges, ou Histoire des guerres, sièges, conquêtes, expéditions et faits d'armes qui ont illustré la Belgique depuis l'invasion de César jusqu'à nos jours (in French). Brussel, Belgium: Au Bureau des fastes militaires.
- Guthrie, William P. (2001). The Later Thirty Years War: From the Battle of Wittstock to the Treaty of Westphalia. Westport, USA: Greenwood Publishing Group. ISBN 978-0-313-32408-6.
- Israel, Jonathan Irvine (1997). Conflicts of Empires: Spain, the Low Countries and the struggle for world supremacy, 1585–1713. London, UK: Continuum International Publishing Group. ISBN 978-1-85285-161-3.
- Parrott, David (2001). Richelieu's Army: War, government, and society in France, 1624–1642. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-79209-7.
- Luna y Mora, Diego (1842–1895). Relación de la campaña del año 1635, in Colección de documentos inéditos para la historia de España (in Spanish). Vol. LXXV. Madrid, Spain: Impr. de la Viuda de Calero.
- Wilson, Peter H. (2009). The Thirty Years War: Europe's tragedy. Harvard University Press. ISBN 978-0-674-03634-5.
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