Siege of Alkmaar
Part of theEighty Years' War
Spanish troops storming the walls of Alkmaar, byHerman Frederik Carel ten Kate
Date 21 August – 8 October 1573 Location Alkmaar (present-dayHolland) Result Dutch victory[1]
Belligerents
Dutch rebels	Spain
Commanders and leaders
Jacob Cabeliau	Fadrique Álvarez de Toledo Philip of Noircarmes (DOW)
Strength
2,000 (Geuzen and Civilians)[2] Scots Brigade	16,000 troops (estimated)[2]
Casualties and losses
24+ geuzen, 13 civilians	Over 500

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Thesiege of Alkmaar (1573) was a turning point in theEighty Years' War.^[3]

Theburghers of the Dutch city ofAlkmaar held off theSpanish (who had set up their camp inOudorp) between 21 August and 8 October 1573, with boiling tar and burning branches from their renewed city walls. On 23 SeptemberWilliam the Silent followed up on a request by Cabeliau dating from the beginning of the siege and ordered the dikes surrounding Alkmaar to be breached, thereby flooding thepolders in which the Spanish troops were camped, like theAchtermeer polder. This forced the Spanish commander,Don Fadrique,^[4] the son of the hatedAlba himself,^[5] to retreat and the last Spanish soldiers left on 8 October 1573.^[6]

The end of the siege is considered a turning point in the Eighty Years' War as Alkmaar was the first city to overcome a siege by the Spanish army.

The garrison included a detachment of Scots soldiers who had previously tried to defendHaarlem.^[7]

A first-hand account of the siege exists in the diary ofNanning van Foreest [nl], a local city councillor. Several archaeological examinations have uncovered remains of the battle.^[1]

• 
  A painting showing unfinished fortifications
• 
  The siege of Alkmaar byFrans Hogenberg.

• Nolan, Cathal J. (2006).The Age of Wars of Religion, 1000–1650: An Encyclopedia of Global Warfare and Civilization. Greenwood Publishing Group.ISBN 978-0313330452.
• Knüsel, Christopher; Smith, Martin (2013).The Routledge Handbook of the Bioarchaeology of Human Conflict. Routledge.ISBN 978-1134677979.
• Beets, Pieter (1873).Strijd en zegepraal, of De belegering en het ontzet van Alkmaar, in het jaar 1573. Herm. Coster & Zoon.

52°38′N4°45′E / 52.63°N 4.75°E /52.63; 4.75

• 1573 in Europe
• Conflicts in 1573
• History of Alkmaar
• Sieges of the Eighty Years' War
• Sieges involving Spain

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